Tea Party at the Woolmill + Top 10 Facts About Afternoon Tea

Afternoon Tea Week (14th - 20th August) is a celebration of one of the nation’s favourite traditions. 

Along with establishments up and down the country, the woolmill is hosting a special event to honour the tradition.

Join us in the Woolmill garden on Friday the 17th of August from 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm for an outdoor afternoon tea party!

For more information, please click here.

Top 10 Facts About Afternoon Tea

1. Anna Maria Russell, the 7th Duchess of Bedford and lifelong friend of queen Victoria, is credited with introducing afternoon tea in the 1840's as a way to solve  the “sinking feeling” she had the in afternoon (at that time in Britain, people would eat two large meals a day: breakfast and dinner, which left a long gap in between). 

2. For PG Tips 75th birthday in 2015, a British jeweller made the worlds most expensive tea bag - the £7,500 tea bag was studded with 280 diamonds! A spokesman for PG Tips said: “As it’s our 75th birthday, we wanted to do something special to remind people just how much they love the great British cup of tea.”

3. According to Tetley's 2018 Tea Report, there's more than 51 million tea drinkers in Britain and 165 million cups of tea are drunk every day!

4. In an attempted to create the best afternoon tea, Cliveden House in Berkshire designed a spread costing an impressing £550.00 per couple, which is possibly the world's most expensive afternoon tea! The afternoon tea menu includes the rare DaHong Pho Tea which costs £2,000 per kilogram.

5.  Historically, people who used fine china decided it was hazardous to put in the hot tea first - they chose to pour the milk into the cup before the tea in case the china broke.

6. Thomas Sullian invented tea bags in 1908. Thomas, who was a New York tea merchant, would send tea samples to his customers in silken bags. Many people thought the bags were meant to be used in the same way as metal infusers, by dropping the whole bag into to pot, rather than emptying out the tea leaves... this resulted in the tea bag being born! Tea bags in Britain did not gain popularity until the 1950's.

7. During the Victorian era, English tea gardens provided one of the very few places where men and woman could mix socially in public without scandal or criticism.

8. Tea tastes better when it is slurped because it aerates the tea and enhances its taste. According to Twinings, "the louder the slurp, the better."

9. Upper-class woman during the 1880's would change into long gowns and would wear a hat and gloves for their afternoon tea.

10. Today in Britain, afternoon tea is normally enjoyed as a rare indulgence or to celebrate a special event such as a birthday, hen party, or baby shower party.