ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -The Duchess of Bedford, Anna Maria Stanhope was the originator of the British ‘afternoon tea’ in mid-1830. The long afternoons between the lunch and dinner used to leave Anna very hungry and initially she used to ask the servants to sneak in a pot of tea and bread to help her last.

Detailed explanation-2: -Green tea exported from China was first introduced in the coffeehouses of London shortly before the 1660 Stuart Restoration. Thomas Garway, a tobacconist and coffee house owner, was the first person in England to sell tea as a leaf and beverage at his London coffeehouse in Exchange Alley in 1657.

Detailed explanation-3: -During the 19th century, it was the custom to take an early breakfast and a late supper. Anna Maria Stanhope, the seventh Duchess of Bedford (1783-1857), found that this long gap between meals resulted in a “sinking feeling” at about four o’clock, and so invented afternoon tea as a way to fill the gap.

Detailed explanation-4: -Although it is a typically British ritual, the five o’clock tea was taken to the island by a Portuguese princess, born on the 25th of November of 1638, that later by marriage became queen consort of England, of Scotland and Ireland.

Detailed explanation-5: -The origins of High Tea It originated among the wealthy classes of England during the 1840s, but it was only during the latter part of the 19th century that the tradition was observed by both the upper and middle classes.