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I have my tweed waistcoat on
because we're about to experience
the most quintessential British custom afternoon tea.
And so we thought we'd take the opportunity
to do a little etiquette refresher,
so that next time you're in the island
you know everything about the do's and the don'ts
of four o'clock tea.
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Oh wow! The intensity of the smell guys.
This is green tea with petals, rose petals.
How romantic.
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First thing : knowing your terms right.
There's a difference between high tea and afternoon tea
This is afternoon tea.
High Tea was actually a term coined
during the Industrial Revolution
when workers, after a long day of work,
would come back home and have a big meal at the high table
with tea.
This is not the same thing
Afternoon tea actually has roots in the aristocracy.
In the 1800s, if I'm correct,
Anna always had these cravings around 4 p.m.,
you know, my kind of girl,
and so she would always call up tea
with bread, butter and cake.
Eventually she called up her friends,
and the friends of her friends,
and it became a social thing.
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On to the tea itself, how to hold your cup.
This is your cup.
This is Thumb. - [Male voice] Thumb.
- Thumb.
Your thumb.
Thumb.
This is your index.
Make them meet in the middle,
and let it all rest on your middle finger.
See, never ever do a hook.
That would be a disgrace to your family.
And now, how about the pinky up?
When china used to be made
in a way that there was no handle to balance it,
you would have your pinky up.
But now you have a handle so you don't need a pinky up.
Oh, no hook.
(laughs)
And now about stirring.
By the way, regarding milk.
You can put it before or after, it doesn't matter.
The reason why
some people think that it's better to put it before is,
china used to be made out of soft paste porcelain.
And that was kind of fragile.
To temper the cup and make sure it didn't crack,
they would put milk first and then the hot tea.
But now, you can put it before or after.
Regarding stirring it.
So never going round.
Always go back and forth, back and forth,
between six and 12 o'clock.
A little drip, put it in the saucer, and enjoy.
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Now on to the food.
So you'll see we have a beautiful carry.
Back in the days, they would always put the scone first.
To keep the scone warm,
they would have this kind of mini dome.
Here we have the sweets, the savory and the scone.
How do you eat the scones?
Your knife is not made for cutting the scone in two,
like this, like this or like this.
A scone is broken open like any bread you would find,
and a good scone is one that breaks very easily.
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See these perfect two circles?
Wow, this is quality scones.
It's a Victorian scone that we make, it's buttermilk,
it's a very traditional recipe.
Scones usually come with what we call clotted cream,
which is 55% fat guys.
(laughs)
And beautiful raspberry homemade raspberry jam.
There's a big, big debate in England right now,
about do you put the cream first
or do you put the jam first.
Well people from Devon, a county in England, would say,
"Put the cream first."
And people from Cornwall will be like,
"You know nothing, put the jam first."
To be honest, put whatever you like first
and whatever you like as well second,
because you only have two choices,
as long as you spread it everywhere.
And don't be stingy.
I mean this is meant to be spread.
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Also,
do not dip your scones into the jam or the clotted cream,
these are not nachos.
Make sure that you finish sipping your tea before you eat,
it's not supposed to be a huge party in your mouth.
And in the end, just stay classy and enjoy your time.
On this, if ever you're in Ottawa,
do make sure you come for afternoon tea
at the Fairmont Hotel.
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