Here’s all you need to know to celebrate ‘tea time’

In planning your observance of national “Tea for Two Tuesday” on March 19, it will be helpful to know the proper time for tea. NPR can help with this.

 

A network reporter caught up with Bruce Richardson in London, England, a historian who specializes in British tea. “Afternoon tea is generally served around 3 or 4 p.m. these days,” he said. 

A sampling of delicate open-faced sandwiches, scones, crumpets, fruit tarts and cakes often accompanies the tea.

 

Tea etiquette requires that “you don’t actually want to appear hungry at this meal – propriety calls for restraint,” Richardson said. “Splashing tea, clinking cups and spoons and finger licking will make you appear beastly.” 

“Americans in the tearoom of The Ritz London stand out because they work so hard to keep their pinkies extended while holding their teacup,” Richardson said. (Keep those pinkies curled down and under.)

 

Kriszti Nagy of Tea Shirt Tailored Refreshments in London, said that for centuries, the process for preparing tea was: “Put a quantity of tea leaves in a pot and pour hot water thereon.”

 

“However, this practice involves the use of a considerable quantity of tea leaves to prepare the desired supply of tea, and the tea, if not used directly, soon becomes stale or wanting in freshness, and therefore unsatisfactory. Frequently, a large portion has to be thrown away, involving much waste and corresponding expense.” 

Roberta Lawson and Mary McLaren of Milwaukee, Wis., came up with a solution in 1901, Nagy said. They invented a “tea leaf holder – a single-use, porous and sealed sachet used to brew tea.”

 

Roberta Lawson

“The aim was simple. Brew a single cup of fresh tea while no leaves were floating around the cup to spoil the experience,” Nagy said.

 Although a U.S. patent was granted in 1903, it seems that Lawson and McLaren just faded from the tea scene. A new legend emerged. Thomas Sullivan, a tea merchant in New York City, began packaging “tea samples” into small silk bags to send out to his best customers in 1908.

 

One tea historian wrote: “Sullivan’s customers mistakenly placed the whole bag in hot water – rather than just the tea itself. Sullivan was shocked when his customers ordered more of the ‘individually packaged bags,’ rather than the standard containers of loose tea.” 

“While the American population took to tea bags with enthusiasm, the British were naturally wary of such a radical change in their tea-making methods,” the source said. “This was not helped by horror stories told by Britons who had visited America and reported being served ‘cups of tepid water with a tea bag on the side waiting to be dunked into it.’” 

John Harney of Harney & Sons, a tea company in Salisbury, Conn., said: “All a teabag needs to be lifted to perfection is ‘furiously boiling water’ and five minutes’ steeping – ‘no more, no less.’” 

There’s just one more thing to learn, according to Bob Matthews of Rochester, N.Y., the guy who established Tea for Two Tuesday as a “holiday.” 

“It’s so tempting to squeeze out every drop of tea goodness after steeping, but never squeeze your tea bag,” he advises. “It doesn’t release the extra flavor that you think. It can completely ruin your experience, releasing concentrated tannins, resulting in a bitter cup of tea.” 

“Always wait until your tea is as dark as you like it,” Matthews said. “Then remove the bag with your spoon and hold it over the cup so it can drain, then place it on your saucer.” 

But, please, refrain from clinking.