Photo by Sebastian Coman Photography on Unsplash

The traditional concept of Afternoon Tea was first introduced in 1840. At 4 o’clock in the afternoon, a small gathering of friends and family will sit at the table and enjoy tea and small bites such as scones, sandwiches and various sweet treats. As lunch would be served at 12pm and dinner at 8pm, afternoon tea would fill in the eight-hour gap.

Anna, the seventh Duchess of Bedford, created this practice and it soon spread to the public, becoming a social get together for a catch up or celebratory meals. It often consists of women and men wearing formal attire, eating and drinking from fine China dishes and classically used by upper class individuals. Those forced to work for a living could not obviously partake.

Afternoon Tea is a meal of three courses and should be consumed in a specific order. For example, tea will be drunk though the whole duration of the meal, sandwiches should be eaten first, then scones and followed lastly by the cakes.

The public does not treat this daily tradition as seriously as they did during the Victorian era but can still indulge here in Glasgow and across the UK. Various cafes and tearooms offer the choice of afternoon tea. The Willow Tea Rooms, located on Buchanan Street, were designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh who took inspiration from Kate Cranston’s Ingram Street Tea Room.

The Willow Tea Rooms allows customers to enjoy a filling afternoon treat as well as enjoy some of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s designs. He participated in the creation of the tearoom in 1903, using his previously made designs from the late 1800s. The furniture, napkins, chairs, lampshades, windows and artwork on the walls pay homage to Mackintosh himself.

Wax Fruit, a television series set in the Victorian era of Glasgow, is currently being created from a trilogy written by Guy McCrone in 1947. The books will be rereleased in July this year. The TV series will be filmed in various parts of Glasgow to recreate the Victorian era where no doubt the main protagonists will indulge in the nicest of cucumber sandwiches.

How the Victorians introduced afternoon tea