Tea Time

Hong Kong was transferred from British control to China in 1997. While by all accounts Hong Kong has changed since the handover, all-things-British have not disappeared and clearly some vestiges of its colonial days remain.

Still, with Hong Kong being such an international city in Asia, I’ve never felt like I’ve been steeped in English culture. That is, until one day I experienced an English afternoon tea.

On that day, I learned that I had mistakenly believed "afternoon tea" was interchangeable with what is called "high tea." Definitely a sign (along with doing things like use the letter 'z' in words like 'organize') to the local Britons that I'm yet another a savage, uncultured American. :)

So, does it really matter what you call it if you don't care about staying on the good side of the British culture/etiquette police? The answer is yes - because there really is a difference between the two.


High tea is actually dinner and only sounds fancy. It doesn't have any real cultural significance. Afternoon tea, on the other hand, is a British tradition that began in the 1800s when the Duchess of Bedford started having a tray of tea with bread and butter in the mid-afternoon. When the duchess started inviting high-society women to join her, it evolved into a much more elaborate, formal affair. It is fancy.

Now that I've got the definition out of the way (you know, to keep you from making a faux pas with your next tea invitation), I’ll get back to my tea story.

A group of women and I gathered for a baby shower for a friend at a place called The Verandah in Repulse Bay. It felt like we’d gone back in time with a very traditional colonial setting.



The waiters were very formal, dressed in suits. They insisted on pulling back our chairs, putting our napkins on our laps, and calling us each “madam.” However, their jobs after that were quite simple - other than allowing us to select the type of tea (or coffee) that we preferred there were no other choices; the afternoon tea menu was set.

Although I figured the fare would be better than bread and butter, I was astonished at what came out:

The food was not only pretty to look at, it tasted delicious. We had everything from miniature Belgian waffles to cucumber sandwiches.

I learned a bit about the English tea tradition that afternoon, but also learned about different baby shower traditions. Only the American women brought gifts for the mom-to-be. The other women, from Denmark and Israel, said that in their cultures it is very bad luck to give presents in advance. In fact, they said that formally acknowledging the new baby with a shower before its birth is not accepted in their home countries. They marveled that in America we have gift registries for babies!

I’m glad that the British afternoon tea tradition carries on in Hong Kong. I plan to do it again with Lydia. And, more important than anything else in this post, I’m happy to report that my friend’s baby boy was born healthy…despite our early celebration!