Day 118 - Take time for tea

WILL you come to our party to-day, Carrie Wynn?

The party is all ready now to begin;

And you shall be mother, and pour out the tea,

Because you’re the oldest and best of the three.

From: The Children's Party by Elizabeth Sill

The phrase, "Shall I be mother?" is used widely in the UK, and is meant to mean, "Shall I pour the tea?"  It is thought to have derived from the poem above published in 1873. It then made its way into polite society.

Even on work days like today, we always stop to partake in a nice cup of tea in the middle of the afternoon.

The number one selling brand in the UK is Tetley (27% market share), followed by PG Tips (24%), Typhoo (13%), Twinings (11%) and Yorkshire Tea (6%). I have a love of Twinings English Breakfast, stopping in at the original shop in London whenever possible to try new flavours and stock up. But this Christmas my daughter Rebecca moved me over to being a more regular Earl Grey drinker.

Inside Twining's London store on the Strand. At 300 years old, it's the oldest
tea shop in London. Very narrow, but worth a visit.

Here are a few of the finer points of drinking tea according to a few etiquette sites:

Source: Twinings.co.uk

• When you hold a tea cup, you shouldn't wave it around in the air as you drink. Take a sip, then put it back on the saucer (I suppose this is because no one wants to wear your tea). 
• Despite the images of posh tea drinkers, your pinky finger is not suppose to stick out as you hold the tiny tea cup handle. All fingers should curl inwards (probably because no one wants your finger in their eye as you are waving your cup around).
• Warm the tea pot with hot water first, rinsing it around then pouring it out. This way the tea pot won't be "shocked" when the boiling water hits (and then lands in your guest's lap as your antique teapot breaks in half).
• The milk goes in AFTER you pour the tea. This argument has been around for ages: milk first or after? When the poorer members of a household had their tea, they drank it from unrefined clay mugs. They added a bit of milk first to prevent the mug from cracking when the hot water was added. Fine china doesn't require this tempering apparently (which doesn't explain the previous point about teapot tempering to me at all). Also, you have no idea how strong the tea will be, so you have no idea how much milk it will need. 
• Don't STIR your tea around and around the cup (apparently once again a "downstairs" trait). Move the spoon from the 6 o'clock position to 12 and back to 6. 
• If you're the host, you pour the tea (at least the first time), then place the pot back on the table with the spout facing you. (Maybe that's so you can see if it's about to drip on the beautiful new white linen table cloth you just bought to impress your friends. Then you can swiftly run your little finger under the drop when no one is looking).
• Pour a cup, hand it out, then pour the next. (I'm certain this is so no one can complain that their cup has less in it then the next person's, but I couldn't find a reason in my research).
• If you have a napkin, when you are done, fold it and place it to the left of your plate. This signifies to the hostess that you would like to be invited back. (If you are the hosted and don't want the person to leave their napkin on the left of the plate, ignore all of the previous rules. That should work.)

On another blog, let's talk Afternoon Tea and just what should go on each of those tray layers.