If you live where there is a meal known as tea, what time is it?

[Laurie4b]

I may be hosting folks from outside the US for tea. Can anyone give me an idea of the time of day this is served? Is 4:00 pm too early? 5:30 pm too late? I need a general range. Thanks!

[Audrey]

I may be hosting folks from outside the US for tea. Can anyone give me an idea of the time of day this is served? Is 4:00 pm too early? 5:30 pm too late? I need a general range. Thanks!

 

Here is it 4:00. To me, it seems to be just a local version of "coffee break," so maybe that's not really when real tea would be.

[SweetMissMagnolia]

just did a quick google and here's a "wiki" link.....scroll down and you'll find several times listed for different countries....but for the english tea it says between 3-5pm (but I always thought it was earlier)....

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_(meal)

[Hedgehog]

:D Here in West Yorkshire, UK, tea is the evening meal, which is any time from 5pm to 7pm. It's usually the dinner-type meal of the day, not sandwiches and cake.

[Moira in MA]

tea can be any time from 3-6.

 

Early tea would be just that: tea and maybe a cookie (i.e. biscuit)

Later tea would include a slice of cake or some small sandwiches

Even later would be high tea which is akin to a light supper -- maybe poached egg or beans on toast.

 

I'd think you'll be safe offering tea with a selection of sandwiches, cookies and cake.

 

HTH

~Moira

[aggieamy]

This is an interesting topic. I always thought tea was more of a mid-afternoon thing. I was thinking it'd be around 2 o'clock or so but it sounds like tea time is when I usually eat dinner (5 o'clock). What time do you have dinner if you have tea at 5ish? Does it spoil your dinner to have tea and a cookie so late?

 

ETA: Maybe everyone eats dinner later than I do. I lived with my grandmother for YEARS until I got married and since she was older we'd eat dinner early. Right after Jeopardy was over in fact. What great years though!

Edited November 5, 2010 by aggieamy

[OrganicAnn]

There is 'tea' and then there is 'high tea'. Originally tea was to help with a little pick me up in the afternoon to sustain one till a late dinner/supper. It was also became an afterschool snack. 'High tea' is a meal than is more substantial that 'tea'. Americans would probably think of high tea as an early supper and despite its name was originally more normal among the working classes. Tea (light sandwich/tea) was also what was served when people visited your home.

 

So generally 3 to 5 o'clock and if early people would expect it to be the lighter fare (tea cakes and finger sandwiches). If you schedule it for later 5 to 6, then it might be more open to interpreted as more of a meal. Local customs can also vary.

Edited November 5, 2010 by OrganicAnn

[Nan in Mass]

As far as I can tell from dealing with various English, Irish, and Scottish friends, you need to know what kind of tea. Some of them mean supper when they say tea, and some of them mean late afternoon snack (like 4ish). It seems to depend on whether they are the sort of person who has a proper dinner latish in the evening (like 7 or 8). Those sorts of people do the snack sort of tea. The people who eat their main meal at noon, or who want their dinner earlier in the evening, seem to do the supper sort of tea. If I were you, I would try to find out what sort of tea they are expecting. It might be that setting the time sets which sort - a 4 oclock tea would be a snack; a 5 oclock or later tea would be a supper? I know my recorder group (mostly foreign) were careful to tell me that they had tea after recorder but it was high tea so nobody had to make dinner. (They are all old, with no children waiting for them at home.)

-Nan

[Hedgehog]

I may be hosting folks from outside the US for tea. Can anyone give me an idea of the time of day this is served? Is 4:00 pm too early? 5:30 pm too late? I need a general range. Thanks!

 

Where are your expected guests from?

[Laurie4b]

Where are your expected guests from?

 

Kenya.

[Laurie4b]

There is 'tea' and then there is 'high tea'. Originally tea was to help with a little pick me up in the afternoon to sustain one till a late dinner/supper. It was also became an afterschool snack. 'High tea' is a meal than is more substantial that 'tea'. Americans would probably think of high tea as an early supper and despite its name was originally more normal among the working classes. Tea (light sandwich/tea) was also what was served when people visited your home.

 

So generally 3 to 5 o'clock and if early people would expect it to be the lighter fare (tea cakes and finger sandwiches). If you schedule it for later 5 to 6, then it might be more open to interpreted as more of a meal. Local customs can also vary.

 

Yes, it's my understanding that at home, they would eat what we call supper/dinner at a much later time in the evening and that tea is a light meal to stave off hunger. So would a start time between 3-4:30 or so be okay?

[Isabella]

Here in Australia, it's common for the evening meal to be called tea. Time served would be as varied as any other country, I guess, but tends to be sometime between 5pm and 7pm.

[Peela]

Tea is a synonym for evening dinner here- around 6pm. We say "be home for tea" and "be home for dinner" meaning the same thing.

[Laura Corin]

Tea means different things in southern England, depending on class and age of recipients. If the people are adult and middle class, it's a cup of tea and biscuits/cake at around 4pm. If adult and working class then it's the main evening meal at around 5:30 or 6pm. If children of any class, then it's the main evening meal at any time from 5pm onwards. Clear as mud?

 

My stepmother (upper middle class) invited my brother's (working class) future in-laws over for tea one afternoon. They arrived at around 4pm and were served tea and biscuits. And they sat, and sat, and sat. Finally, my stepmother had to say, "I'm really sorry, I need to put the children to bed now." It was 8pm and the in-laws were waiting for their evening meal. I'm still not sure if my stepmother understands what the misunderstanding was. I tend to invite people for 'a cup of tea' in order to reduce the scope for misunderstanding.

 

Laura

Edited November 5, 2010 by Laura Corin

[Lakeside]

Tea means different things in southern England, depending on class and age of recipients. If the people are adult and middle class, it's a cup of tea and biscuits/cake at around 4pm. If adult and working class then it's the main evening meal at around 6pm. If children of any class, then it's the main evening meal at any time from 5pm onwards. Clear as mud?

 

Laura

 

Are children fed separately?

[Mrs Mungo]

Tea is a synonym for evening dinner here- around 6pm. We say "be home for tea" and "be home for dinner" meaning the same thing.

 

Not to further confuse the issue, but in many parts of the US dinner is lunch (in Little House on the Prairie they talk about their dinner pails, for example) and supper is the evening meal. :D

[Melissa in Australia]

Here in Australia, it's common for the evening meal to be called tea. Time served would be as varied as any other country, I guess, but tends to be sometime between 5pm and 7pm.

:iagree: that is what we call the main meal of the day. We eat between 6pm and 7pm. My Dh found it pretty confusing in the beginning, as he comes from Canada, and calls the evening meal supper.

To me supper would be something like hot chocolate or a snack just before going to bed.

[Laura Corin]

Are children fed separately?

 

In some families - if the working member(s) come(s) home late - the children may be fed separately. When the boys were small, husband didn't get home until 8pm or later, and the children were too tired to eat then. In addition, sometimes evening activities (scouts, etc.) take place before the working adult can reasonably get home and eat.

 

If you go back to the times when children in upper middle class families lived very separate lives in the nursery with a nanny, then yes, the children always ate separately, then saw their parents between then and the parents' evening meal (called 'dinner' or 'supper').

 

Currently, we all eat together at around 7:00 or 7:30 on Saturdays, Sundays, Thursdays and Fridays; on those nights there is no 'tea' as we all have 'supper' or 'dinner'. On the other nights, I feed tea to the boy with the activity, then the remaining boy, my husband and I have supper together after husband gets home at 6:30 or 7:00.

 

Laura

Edited November 5, 2010 by Laura Corin

[Deb in NZ]

Here in New Zealand...

 

Morning Tea = a "cuppa" (tea or coffee) & scones or a light snack ~10:00am

 

Afternoon Tea = a cuppa & a light snack ~3:00pm

 

Tea = the evening meal (meat + 5 veg.)

[freerange]

Tea = evening meal, regardless of time, although if very late & smaller may be called supper instead

 

Dinner = midday, unless eating out at a restaurant, in which case could be midday or evening.

[ThatCyndiGirl]

I know, I know: I'm the only immature one here, but.....

 

"If you live where there is a meal known as tea, what time is it?"

 

:lol: Ohmydeityofyourchoice. Can't breathe. Peals of immature snickering laughter over here....