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Remember being little and having tea parties with your friends (or stuffed animals)? There is something so chic and posh and lovely about taking afternoon tea, with its dainty sandwiches and delectable pastries. I know having such a formal tea is not common in daily British life these days, but if the Royal Wedding isn’t the perfect excuse to throw a little tea party, I don’t know what is.

I was curious to learn more about the origins of afternoon tea, so I headed to Wikipedia to see what I could find out. Here’s the scoop:

Afternoon tea, also known as low tea, is a light meal typically eaten between 3pm and 5pm. The custom of drinking tea originated in England when Catherine of Bragança married Charles II in 1661 and brought the practice of drinking tea in the afternoon with her from Portugal. Traditionally, loose tea is brewed in a teapot and served in teacups with milk and sugar. This is accompanied by sandwiches (customarily cucumber, egg and cress, fish paste, ham, and smoked salmon), scones (with clotted cream and jam, see cream tea) and usually cakes and pastries (such as Battenberg, fruit cake or Victoria sponge). Nowadays, a formal afternoon tea is usually taken as a treat in a hotel, café or tea shop. In everyday life, many Britons take a much simpler refreshment consisting of tea and biscuits at teatime.

High tea (also known as meat tea) is an early evening meal, typically eaten between 5pm and 6pm. It is now largely followed by a later lighter evening meal. High tea would usually consist of cold meats, eggs or fish, cakes and sandwiches. In its origin, the term “high tea” was used as a way to distinguish it from “low tea” or afternoon tea. The words ‘low’ and ‘high’ refer to the tables from which either tea meal was eaten. Low tea was served in a sitting room where low tables (like a coffee table) were placed near sofas or chairs generally. The word high referred to a table, this one on a dining room table, and it would be loaded with substantial dinner dishes – meats, cheese, breads, perhaps the classic shepherd’s pie or steak and kidney pie.

Who knew that high tea originally referred to the table height??? I love learning about the history behind cultural customs!

Are you going to be having tea while you watch the Royal Wedding? If so, you simply must try this recipe for delicious currant scones, written by my friend Lesley Elliott, from Five o’Clock Food.

Based in Orange County, Lesley is a fabulous cook and even picks up catering jobs on the side when she can (so if you’re in OC and need someone to cater your next shindig, she’s your girl!). According to Lesley, “these scones are perfectly light, not too sweet, and the flavor of the currants balances very well with all of the other flavors. You can use this “base” scone recipe and add a myriad of ingredients: chocolate chips, cinnamon and apples, lemon zest…the sky’s the limit.”

Currant Scones (recipe posted with permission from Five o’Clock Food)

4 C All Purpose flour
4 tbsp sugar, plus a little extra for garnish
1 tsp kosher or sea salt
5 tsp baking powder
8 oz butter, cold, and cubed into pea-size pieces
1 C currants
1 1/2 C (plus extra for brushing) heavy cream

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Using a standing mixer with the paddle attachment, add the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder to the mixing bowl; turn on mixer and thoroughly combine dry ingredients. [Editor's Note: If you don't have a stand mixer, you could make these scones using a food processor, a pastry cutter, or even a wooden spoon and your fingers if you work quickly. I don't have a stand mixer, so these are the techniques I use when making pastries.]

Next, add chilled butter to the dry ingredients. Make sure to try to separate each of the cubes into the flour.

Turn the mixer on, starting slow and working up to medium speed, allowing the butter to “break up” or “cut” into the flour mixture, creating what sort of looks like crumbly sand. This will take about 8 minutes if not longer.

Next, add the currants to the butter-flour mixture. Turn mixer on to low to combine all of the ingredients thoroughly.

Add the cream to the mixer, and starting on low mix the ingredients together until the dough just comes together. Then turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface; lightly knead the dough until it comes together in one cohesive mass.

Roll out the dough to about 1″ thick, and cut as you desire. Lesley prefers cutting the dough into triangular shaped wedges. Brush each scone with a little cream and sprinkle with a little sugar.

Bake at 375°F for about 10-15 minutes or until the scones are light brown on top and appear cooked through on the sides. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 8-10 minutes before serving.

{Image Credits: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7. If you would like to see more pictures of the scone recipe, please visit Lesley’s blog here}