It’s tea-time, folks!
Stylish afternoon tea is enjoying a revival with new tea sets on offer in Hong Kong restaurants. Afternoon tea was first introduced in England in the 1840s by Anna, the Duchess of Bedford, a lifelong friend of Queen Victoria and a lady of style. The practice continues with ladies who lunch and Hong Kong is no exception.
Today some of the dos and don’ts from that era still survive. These include the cautioning against putting lemon and milk together in one’s tea to stop it from curdling. Then there are some other rules that are not followed any more. For example: do not place items that are not part of the tea service, such as keys, sunglasses, or phones, on the tea table. Just try telling that to anyone here in Hong Kong!
Initially consumed mostly as a medication, the soothing properties of tea were discovered by the Chinese ruler Shen Nong about 5,000 years ago when tea leaves fell into his cup of hot water by happenstance. Today, the planet’s most ancient tea tree is over 3,200 years old and located in Fengqing county in Southwest China’s Yunnan province.
Tea was first introduced to Europe by a Portuguese priest called Jasper de Cruz who traveled to China in 1560 and brought some tea plants back home with him.
Commercial production of tea in India was begun by the British East India Company who converted large tracts of land into tea plantations. Today, India is one of the largest tea producers in the world, with over 70 percent of the produce being consumed within the country.
One of the most astute tea-related comments was probably made by a former first lady of the United States, Eleanor Roosevelt: “Women are like tea bags — they don’t know how strong they are until they get into hot water!”
That’s as maybe. Two Hong Kong restaurants of the Cafe Deco Group are serving afternoon tea as a speciality at the moment. The Made in HK Restaurant at APM, Millennium City 5 in Kwun Tong and the Dim Sum Bar in Gateway Arcade of Harbour City in Tsim Sha Tsui are offering Spring Honey
Dim Sum Bar