Nikki Lin
These days, when you walk into a place that serves high tea, you’ll see Asian faces.
Going to high tea is becoming a trend in Vancouver within Chinese community. It’s interesting, because afternoon tea or so-called high tea isn’t from Chinese culture.
Traditional high tea comes from England. Historically, it was considered to be a women’s social occasion and you’ll find more women in a restaurant drinking afternoon than men now as well. People enjoy their afternoon tea with it’s associated like manners, lace and dainty food.
Afternoon tea is typically served in the mid-afternoon and it was traditionally served on low tables. On the other hand, high tea is traditionally enjoyed by working class, and it’s served on a high table at the end of the workday, shortly after five p.m. with a heavier meal. According to Lindsey Goodwin’s article “High Tea vs. Afternoon Tea,”, “Legend has it that afternoon tea was started in the mid-1800s by the Duchess of Bedford. Around this time, kerosene lamps were introduced in wealthier homes, and eating a late dinner (around eight or nine p.m.) became fashionable. At the time, there were only two meals each day – a mid-morning, breakfast-like meal and the other was an increasingly late dinner-like meal. The story goes that the Duchess found herself with a ‘sinking feeling’ (likely fatigue from hunger during the long wait between meals) and decided to have some friends over for assorted snacks and tea (a very fashionable drink at the time). The idea of an afternoon tea gathering spread across high society and became a favourite pastime of ladies of leisure. Later, it spread beyond the highest echelons of society and became more accessible for some other socioeconomic group.”
There are many places in Vancouver that serve afternoon tea. Most of those serve tea with three-layer tray of delicacies. Usually there are savoury dishes, such as cucumber sandwiches and croissants, on the bottom layer. On the middle layer, there are scones served with cream cheese and jelly. Desserts are always on the top layer of the tray.
Nikki Lin
Nikki Lin
A lot of high tea places are doing their best to please their Asian customers. Instead of using an ordinary tea pot and tableware, they use tableware that most Asian customer would consider cute. Because of the large Chinese market in Vancouver, more cafés want to get into the business.
“My boss asked me to come up with a high tea menu, because I’m Chinese and understand the customers,” said Sylor Zhang who works in a downtown café owned by an German couple Downtown.
