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CULTURE & SCIENCE TIME for TEA Sit back, relax and enjoy our guide to the history behind a traditional English afternoon tea Clockwise, from facing page: Afternoon tea service on board Viking ocean ships; Camellia sinensis, the source of all tea; Victorian women enjoying afternoon tea What could be more relaxing and utterly civilized than a proper English tea? This time-honored ritual is an invitation to take a break from everyday cares and enjoy a restorative moment of sensory pleasure. You may think of tea as the quintessential English beverage, but it did not arrive in Britain until the late 17th century. The Portuguese, who had active trading operations in the Far East, had been enjoying tea for some time. When England’s King Charles II married Portuguese princess Catherine of Braganza, tea was part of her dowry. Soon it became the drink of royalty, and courtiers then followed suit. Capitalizing on the trend, the East India Company began importing tea and the market erupted. Even coffee shop owners started serving it, and smugglers sold it on the black market. By the mid-1700s, tea was also the preferred drink of the lower classes, over ale and gin. For aristocrats, tea was truly elevated as a symbol of privilege and leisure in the 1840s when one of Queen Victoria’s ladies-in-waiting, the Duchess of Bedford, invented afternoon tea. She would order an afternoon snack and a pot of tea to be brought to her room to sustain her through the long interval between lunch and dinner. Soon, she began inviting friends to her chambers to share this treat, and the so-called “at-home tea” was born. Others began hosting “at homes” so that on almost any day of the week, members of the gentry would have an occasion to socialize. And they did not limit their afternoon teas to the home. In warm weather, the elite would flock to outdoor tea gardens or host garden parties, at which afternoon tea was followed by what came to be known as the “tea dance.” All teas are derived from the same Camellia sinensis plant. Beyond that, the different categories—white, yellow, green, oolong, black and post-fermented—are a matter of processing and oxidation. Tea is a natural antioxidant that is rich in vitamins, including B1, B2, B6 and folic acid, and minerals, such as potassium, manganese and calcium. Though tea leaves contain a mild stimulant called theanine, brewed tea has less than half the caffeine found in coffee. EXPLORE MORE VIKING.COM 93