Afternoon Tea at Sofitel
Afternoon Tea at Sofitel
I heard that afternoon tea at Sofitel is great. Do they have a dresscode to get in and how much does it cost?
Yeah smart casual for evening meals, lunches are ok in smart shorts and polo top type effect.I stayed at the Sofitel 2 years ago and really if your dress smart casual in any of the bars/resteraunts that will be OK.
The staff/management aren't too fussy it's just some of the residents go overboard and look down on others.
SJ
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Georgy Porgy
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You Brits and your tea... what's up with that anyway? I seem to remember we dumped all of ours in the Boston harbor. 
Personally I'd rather have an afternoon Chang in one of the little Thai restaurants by the railroad in old shorts, a worn out t-shirt, and flip-flops than a snooty, pinky in the air, cup of hot tea in the afternoon at the Sofitel!
I saw on TV that no matter where she is in the world, the Queen of England stops at precisely 5 p.m. every day and has a formal afternoon tea with all the trimmings. She actually travels with a fancy tea service and someone to set it all up and make tea for her. Can someone explain the history behind this custom?
Personally I'd rather have an afternoon Chang in one of the little Thai restaurants by the railroad in old shorts, a worn out t-shirt, and flip-flops than a snooty, pinky in the air, cup of hot tea in the afternoon at the Sofitel!
I saw on TV that no matter where she is in the world, the Queen of England stops at precisely 5 p.m. every day and has a formal afternoon tea with all the trimmings. She actually travels with a fancy tea service and someone to set it all up and make tea for her. Can someone explain the history behind this custom?
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Cowtown Comedy
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I'm not British, but I respect the fact that they hang on tight to old traditions.You Brits and your tea... what's up with that anyway?
Unfortunately, when so many people emigrated from England, many of these wonderful traditions disappeared.
“Don't worry about a thing, every little thing is gonna be alright”.....B. Marley
Yes, I don’t blame you, it sounds very civilized.mrco wrote:Thanks for your replys. I´m not British either but I tried afternoon tea at The Ritz in London 10 years ago and it was great so I thought I would try it in Hua Hin too.
Don’t listen to these American’s; they’ll all be in Starbucks drinking a paper-cup of mud for a thousand baht a go!
Afternoon or high tea
Afternoon tea history I believe that it was not just sitting down for a cup of earl gray ... But in fact it is almost alway has a light snack to keep you going until dinner later in the day. Traditionally in the early nineteenth century dependent on your class , the upper classes would serve a ‘low' or ‘afternoon' tea around four o'clock, while the middle and lower classes would have a more substantial ‘high' tea later in the day, at five or six o'clock, in place of a late dinner
It was also called High tea or Low tea, which the names derive from the height of the tables on which the meals are served, high tea being served at the dinner table.
I like a cream tea myself,(best one on the IOW) do they also do this there? if so that is one thing i will have to to try
It was also called High tea or Low tea, which the names derive from the height of the tables on which the meals are served, high tea being served at the dinner table.
I like a cream tea myself,(best one on the IOW) do they also do this there? if so that is one thing i will have to to try
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It's to do with tradition, sophistication, class, getting dressed up and treating yourself. I appreciate you're probably not familiar with these concepts, so to explain it, it's sorta like your equivalent of putting on that brightest Hawaiin shirt and best sandals and taking the family down KFC for a bargain bucket EACH, before deciding what to have for main course.hhfarang wrote:You Brits and your tea... what's up with that anyway? I seem to remember we dumped all of ours in the Boston harbor.
Personally I'd rather have an afternoon Chang in one of the little Thai restaurants by the railroad in old shorts, a worn out t-shirt, and flip-flops than a snooty, pinky in the air, cup of hot tea in the afternoon at the Sofitel!
SJ
PS: I've never done it, but love a good bit of Kentucky
Oh... now I get it. Thanks for putting a perspective on it that I could understand. We only do that on a Saturday night though, not every afternoon!It's to do with tradition, sophistication, class, getting dressed up and treating yourself. I appreciate you're probably not familiar with these concepts, so to explain it, it's sorta like your equivalent of putting on that brightest Hawaiin shirt and best sandals and taking the family down KFC for a bargain bucket EACH, before deciding what to have for main course.
Enjoy!
Thanks again for the wonderful explanation SJ, but the following (well, maybe a shorter version) was really what I was looking for. Maybe you can read it and learn a little yourself?
History of Tea Time - English High Tea
Prior to the introduction of tea into Britain, the English had two main meals, breakfast and dinner. Breakfast was ale, bread, and beef. During the middle of the eighteenth century, dinner for the upper and middle classes had shifted from noontime to an evening meal that was served at a fashionable late hour. Dinner was a long, massive meal at the end of the day.
17th Century
Afternoon tea may have been started by the French. According to the monthly newsletter called TeaMuse, in the writings of Madame de Sévigné (1626 to 1696), one of history's greatest letter writers on life in 17th Century France:
It's a little known fact, but after its introduction to Europe in the 17th century tea was tremendously popular in France. It first arrived in Paris in 1636 (22 years before it appeared in England!) and quickly became popular among the aristocracy. . . Tea was so popular in Paris that Madame de Sévigné, who chronicled the doings of the Sun King and his cronies in a famous series of gossipy letters to her daughter, often found herself mentioning tea. "Saw the Princesse de Tarente [de Sévigné wrote]... who takes 12 cups of tea every day... which, she says, cures all her ills. She assured me that Monsieur de Landgrave drank 40 cups every morning. 'But Madame, perhaps it is really only 30 or so.' 'No, 40. He was dying, and it brought him back to life before our eyes.' . . . Madame de Sévigné also reported that it was a Frenchwoman, the Marquise de la Sablière, who initiated the fashion of adding milk to tea. "Madame de la Sablière took her tea with milk, as she told me the other day, because it was to her taste." (By the way, the English delighted in this "French touch" and immediately adopted it.)
1600 - Queen Elizabeth l (1533-1603) granted permission for the charter of the British East India Company (1600-1858), also known as the John Company, on December 31, 1600 to establish trade routes, ports, and trading relationships with the Far East, Southeast Asia, and India. Trade in spices was its original focus, but later traded in cottons, silks, indigo, saltpeter, and tea. Due to political and other factors, the tea trade didn’t begin until the late 1670s.
1662 - King Charles II (1630-1685) while in exile, married the Portuguese Infanta Catherine de Braganza (1638–1705). Catherine's dowry was the largest ever registered in world history. Portugal gave to England two million golden crusados, Tangier and Morocco in North Africa, Bombay in India, and also permission for the British to use all the ports in the Portuguese colonies in Africa, Asia and the Americas, thus giving England their first direct trading rights to tea.
As Charles had grown up in the Dutch capital, both he and his Portuguese bride were confirmed tea drinkers. When the monarchy was re-established, they brought this foreign tea tradition to England with them. Her influence made tea more popular amongst the wealthier classes of society, as whatever the royals did, everyone else wanted to copy. Soon tea mania spread swept across England, and it became the beverage of choice in English high society, replacing ale as the national drink.
The reign of Charles II was crucial in laying the foundations for the growth of the British tea trade. The East India Company was highly favored by Charles II. Charles confirmed its monopoly, and also extended it to give the Company unprecedented powers to occupy by military force places with which they wished to trade (so long as the people there were not Christians).
1663 - The poet and politician Edmund Waller (1606-1687) wrote a poem in honor of Queen Catherine for her birthday crediting her with making tea a fashionable drink amongst courtiers:
Venus her Myrtle, Phoebus has his bays;
Tea both excels, which she vouchsafes to praise.
The best of Queens, the best of herbs, we owe
To that bold nation which the way did show
To the fair region where the sun doth rise,
Whose rich productions we so justly prize.
The Muse's friend, tea does our fancy aid,
Regress those vapours which the head invade,
And keep the palace of the soul serene,
Fit on her birthday to salute the Queen
18th Century
By 1700, tea was on sale by more than 500 coffee houses in London. Tea drinking became even more popular when Queen Anne (1665–1714) chose tea over ale as her regular breakfast drink. Anne's character was once portrayed as a tea-drinking, social nonentity with lesbian tendencies.
During the second half of the Victorian Period, known as the Industrial Revolution, working families would return home tired and exhausted. The table would be set with any manner of meats, bread, butter, pickles, cheese and of course tea. None of the dainty finger sandwiches, scones and pastries of afternoon tea would have been on the menu. Because it was eaten at a high, dining table rather than the low tea tables, it was termed "high" tea.
19th Century
According to legend, one of Queen Victoria's (1819-1901) ladies-in-waiting, Anna Maria Stanhope (1783-1857), known as the Duchess of Bedford, is credited as the creator of afternoon teatime. Because the noon meal had become skimpier, the Duchess suffered from "a sinking feeling" at about four o'clock in the afternoon. At first the Duchess had her servants sneak her a pot of tea and a few breadstuffs. Adopting the European tea service format, she invited friends to join her for an additional afternoon meal at five o'clock in her rooms at Belvoir Castle. The menu centered around small cakes, bread and butter sandwiches, assorted sweets, and, of course, tea. This summer practice proved so popular, the Duchess continued it when she returned to London, sending cards to her friends asking them to join her for "tea and a walking the fields." The practice of inviting friends to come for tea in the afternoon was quickly picked up by other social hostesses.
History of Tea Time - English High Tea
Prior to the introduction of tea into Britain, the English had two main meals, breakfast and dinner. Breakfast was ale, bread, and beef. During the middle of the eighteenth century, dinner for the upper and middle classes had shifted from noontime to an evening meal that was served at a fashionable late hour. Dinner was a long, massive meal at the end of the day.
17th Century
Afternoon tea may have been started by the French. According to the monthly newsletter called TeaMuse, in the writings of Madame de Sévigné (1626 to 1696), one of history's greatest letter writers on life in 17th Century France:
It's a little known fact, but after its introduction to Europe in the 17th century tea was tremendously popular in France. It first arrived in Paris in 1636 (22 years before it appeared in England!) and quickly became popular among the aristocracy. . . Tea was so popular in Paris that Madame de Sévigné, who chronicled the doings of the Sun King and his cronies in a famous series of gossipy letters to her daughter, often found herself mentioning tea. "Saw the Princesse de Tarente [de Sévigné wrote]... who takes 12 cups of tea every day... which, she says, cures all her ills. She assured me that Monsieur de Landgrave drank 40 cups every morning. 'But Madame, perhaps it is really only 30 or so.' 'No, 40. He was dying, and it brought him back to life before our eyes.' . . . Madame de Sévigné also reported that it was a Frenchwoman, the Marquise de la Sablière, who initiated the fashion of adding milk to tea. "Madame de la Sablière took her tea with milk, as she told me the other day, because it was to her taste." (By the way, the English delighted in this "French touch" and immediately adopted it.)
1600 - Queen Elizabeth l (1533-1603) granted permission for the charter of the British East India Company (1600-1858), also known as the John Company, on December 31, 1600 to establish trade routes, ports, and trading relationships with the Far East, Southeast Asia, and India. Trade in spices was its original focus, but later traded in cottons, silks, indigo, saltpeter, and tea. Due to political and other factors, the tea trade didn’t begin until the late 1670s.
1662 - King Charles II (1630-1685) while in exile, married the Portuguese Infanta Catherine de Braganza (1638–1705). Catherine's dowry was the largest ever registered in world history. Portugal gave to England two million golden crusados, Tangier and Morocco in North Africa, Bombay in India, and also permission for the British to use all the ports in the Portuguese colonies in Africa, Asia and the Americas, thus giving England their first direct trading rights to tea.
As Charles had grown up in the Dutch capital, both he and his Portuguese bride were confirmed tea drinkers. When the monarchy was re-established, they brought this foreign tea tradition to England with them. Her influence made tea more popular amongst the wealthier classes of society, as whatever the royals did, everyone else wanted to copy. Soon tea mania spread swept across England, and it became the beverage of choice in English high society, replacing ale as the national drink.
The reign of Charles II was crucial in laying the foundations for the growth of the British tea trade. The East India Company was highly favored by Charles II. Charles confirmed its monopoly, and also extended it to give the Company unprecedented powers to occupy by military force places with which they wished to trade (so long as the people there were not Christians).
1663 - The poet and politician Edmund Waller (1606-1687) wrote a poem in honor of Queen Catherine for her birthday crediting her with making tea a fashionable drink amongst courtiers:
Venus her Myrtle, Phoebus has his bays;
Tea both excels, which she vouchsafes to praise.
The best of Queens, the best of herbs, we owe
To that bold nation which the way did show
To the fair region where the sun doth rise,
Whose rich productions we so justly prize.
The Muse's friend, tea does our fancy aid,
Regress those vapours which the head invade,
And keep the palace of the soul serene,
Fit on her birthday to salute the Queen
18th Century
By 1700, tea was on sale by more than 500 coffee houses in London. Tea drinking became even more popular when Queen Anne (1665–1714) chose tea over ale as her regular breakfast drink. Anne's character was once portrayed as a tea-drinking, social nonentity with lesbian tendencies.
During the second half of the Victorian Period, known as the Industrial Revolution, working families would return home tired and exhausted. The table would be set with any manner of meats, bread, butter, pickles, cheese and of course tea. None of the dainty finger sandwiches, scones and pastries of afternoon tea would have been on the menu. Because it was eaten at a high, dining table rather than the low tea tables, it was termed "high" tea.
19th Century
According to legend, one of Queen Victoria's (1819-1901) ladies-in-waiting, Anna Maria Stanhope (1783-1857), known as the Duchess of Bedford, is credited as the creator of afternoon teatime. Because the noon meal had become skimpier, the Duchess suffered from "a sinking feeling" at about four o'clock in the afternoon. At first the Duchess had her servants sneak her a pot of tea and a few breadstuffs. Adopting the European tea service format, she invited friends to join her for an additional afternoon meal at five o'clock in her rooms at Belvoir Castle. The menu centered around small cakes, bread and butter sandwiches, assorted sweets, and, of course, tea. This summer practice proved so popular, the Duchess continued it when she returned to London, sending cards to her friends asking them to join her for "tea and a walking the fields." The practice of inviting friends to come for tea in the afternoon was quickly picked up by other social hostesses.
Afternoon tea at Sofitel
Sorry to disagree chaps but the best cream are from Devon, plain scones no butter, cream on first then strawberry jam. I believe the Cornish put the jam on first, how uncivilised.