Afternoon Tea Etiquette of 1917

A tea set for easy serving that is comprised of a set of 6 cups and saucers, spoons, a sugar bowl and a creamer on a stand.

“And while the bubbling and loud-hissing

Throws up a steamy column, and the cups 

That cheer but not inebriate, wait on each,

So let us welcome peaceful evening in.” — Cowper

A question that readers frequently ask is whether or not napkins should be served with afternoon tea. And the answer is: you may do as you choose. If you do serve napkins don't make the mistake of serving dinner napkins. 

Small napkins about twelve inches square are most appropriate. The Madeira napkins are suitable but rather expensive. Squares of white linen neatly hem- stitched and marked, perhaps, with an initial or monogram at the corner are less expensive for the hostess who has time for needlework.

A popular book on etiquette makes the statement that it is the fashion nowadays to drink weak tea. Perhaps so, though, personally, it seems as if the drinking of strong afternoon tea was a transgression of the question is sometimes raised as to whether it is “smarter to drink tea with milk, cream or lemon.” 

Readers also want to be informed as to the amount of sugar that good form the permits in sugaring tea. Concerning seems as if Commissioner Hoover had more to say than Dame Fashion and since it is our patriotic duty to give up unnecessary lavishness in sugar, I venture to say that during the period of the war one lump is the correct amount of sugar to use. 

If you wish less than a lump it is awkward to attempt to break or bite a lump in two. Rather put in in in in your cup and do not stir your tea with your spoon after you have gained the desired amount of sweetness. 

A complete tea service includes a pitcher of light cream or leman. There is no good or bad form about lemon or milk— it is simply a matter of individual taste.

Nowadays tea is usually brought in the drawing room or sitting room on a large tray on which the complete tea service is arranged. A muffin stand may be brought in also bearing wafers or bread and butter sandwiches or small cakes or crackers. Sometimes a tea wagon holding the entire service is rolled in from the kitchen or pantry instead.

If you have a satisfactory alcohol tea kettle it is very nice to have this on the tea tray with the kettle full of hot water and proceed to bring the water to a boil and then make the tea, taking the tea leaves from a small tea caddy on the tea tray. But it is just as well, and sometimes more convenient, to have a teapot of freshly made tea and a jug of boiling water brought in from the kitchen. 

If you have no maid it is a simple matter to bring in the tea tray for yourself and drink tea in your living room, and that is in much better form than to take afternoon tea in the dining room. —By Mary Marshall Duffee, 1917

🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Tea Etiquette and Use in Early America

 The bitter concoction that New Englanders made with tea was enough to discourage anyone from adopting it. Few knew how to prepare it. Most often they boiled the leaves much too long, and then, after drinking the liquid, they salted the leaves and ate them with butter, as had been done in England in the 1650s. — Pictured above is grouping of Georgian and Regency Era tea equipage, including a rare mote spoon. 
—Photo source, Etiquipedia private library 

“Tea was first brought to America in the late 17th century. At that time cider, ale, and wine were the favorite table drinks, and the bitter concoction that New Englanders made with tea was enough to discourage anyone from adopting it. Few knew how to prepare it. Most often they boiled the leaves much too long, and then, after drinking the liquid, they salted the leaves and ate them with butter, as had been done in England in the 1650s. After New Amsterdam passed into the hands of the English and became New York, it took on English customs, and tea, though still expensive, became more popular.

“At fashionable dinner parties, the ladies withdrew after the meal was finished, and were rejoined later by the gentleman in the parlor. Dessert in the form of fruit, biscuits, or cakes, was then served with tea. Tea was also taken privately in the morning and socially in the afternoon, following the English custom. In the homes of professional men, tea was served with their earlier family supper. And so drinking tea went hand-in-hand with the development of the private and social life of the 18th century. Acquiring the proper equipage and the etiquette for serving tea was the ambition of every housewife with social obligations. And even the very young used dolls’ tea sets in the very serious world of make-believe.” — Patricia Easterbrook Roberts, 1960

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia