Tea etiquette: A lesson in table napkins

This seemingly modest piece of cloth can speak volumes about you as soon as you sit at the table.

We will explore together how a British afternoon tea table napkin should be and how you should use it appropriately. Sit comfortably, with good posture and a straight back, hands on the lap, ready to learn.

The English word napkin originates from the Latin mappa, who turned into nappe, or tablecloth in old French, with the added suffix kin, a diminutive used in late Middle English.

The napkin uses and sizes have changed enormously through time, from a huge roll to clean the mouth, teeth and face in ancient times to a wrapping cloth for delicacies to be taken away. Its history is long and frankly astonishing, but here I set out only to give you some practical guidance for your quintessentially British afternoon tea.

Afternoon tea napkins are perfect cloth squares, sized between 12 to 15 inches (30.5cm to 38 cm). 

The clean and crisp square is usually made of cotton, linen or mixed fibre.

Traditionally, they are light in colour. However, depending on the occasion or the decor stronger colours may be used, particularly for a themed afternoon tea or a special celebration where hues could be significant.

A table napkin should be placed on your lap, folded in half with the hem inside, and with the crease folded towards you if you are a gentleman.

However, if you are lady, you want to place your folded napkin with the crease away from you. 

The benefit of the different placement will become apparent in a second. 

Dab your mouth with the napkin, never wipe, bringing the napkin to your mouth. Do not bend down to meet the table napkin, sit comfortably and upright.

The gentleman can gently dab using the inconspicuous side by the crease.

The lady can simply reach for the nearest corner, open it slightly, dabbing with the inside of the napkin. She then closes the napkin again and places it back on her lap. The napkin still looks pristine as the stains are inside.

If you need to take a break, excuse yourself from the table, and leave your napkin on your chair. This signals that you are coming back. Depending on the setting, gently push the chair under the table. 

When you sit down again, place your napkin on your lap as before.

The end of the afternoon tea will be prompted by the host/ess picking their napkin and placing it on the table to their left.

As soon as you are ready, pinch the napkin in the middle and place it on the table to your left too, with the seams toward you. 

The napkin is crumpled but in a somewhat neat way. Note that it touches the table only at the end of the afternoon tea.

I very much work in the traditional British way and proudly host afternoon teas with tea leaf reading. I enjoy it tremendously.

Get in touch to book your full afternoon tea experience!

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Tea Travels

The etiquette of accepting and enjoying a cup of tea around the world reflects the rich culture and social rituals of the place.

Here we will look at drinking tea in daily life, perhaps in a cafe, as a guest, or in a market, in a few countries.

From mint tea to an East Frisian tea cloud, from yerba mate to chai this is what you should do to behave like a local when consuming your drink.

This shared pleasure unites people and brings joy. Read on to be prepared for your trip around the globe!

Turkey

Native, strong black tea and flavoured apple tea are readily offered to guests everywhere.

So, expect it in shops and bazaar, where it will be made in a çaydanlik teapot (a Turkish version of the samovar) and served in small, curved and transparent glasses. The saucers are colourful and decorated.

You are meant to drink it without milk or cream. Locals enjoy dipping sugar cubes in the tea and sucking on them before they dissolve in the tea.

Always accept it, as a sign of courtesy, even if you only pretend to drink it.

Egypt

Tea will be offered to you if you are out shopping. As a hospitality gesture, you are expected to accept it, even if you don’t drink it.

If you are a guest of someone and out dining, be mindful of your companion's teacup or glass. If it’s less than half full, you are meant to refill it.

They are expected to do the same with you when it’s your turn. If they don’t, pour a little more into their cup or glass until they realise your need and perform their duty.

The Himalayas & Central Asia

Yak butter tea (or po cha, cha süma, sūyóu chá, gur gur cha, cha suskan) is made of black or

pu'erh tea, traditionally in brick or cake form; yak butter; salt.

These tea bricks or cakes were used as currency till WWII in many parts of Asia, like Siberia,

Tibet, Mongolia, Nepal, Bhutan, Turkmenistan, etc.

A personal po cha cup is a symbol of status and wealth. It can be made of gold, silver, inlaid with precious stones, etc. Even the most basic teacup will be beautifully decorated.

When offered one of these beautiful cups, you are meant to receive it with both hands to show respect, gratitude, and appreciation.

Do not finish the tea if you don’t want more, but leave some at the bottom. As your host is bound to look after you, they will continually refill it. 

China

As the largest producer and consumer of tea, in China offering tea is a rule and a pleasure.

If you are a guest, do not pour tea for yourself, but wait to be served. Also, wait for your host to start drinking before you take a sip.

In a restaurant, have the teapot lid open for a refill. Gently tap two fingers (index and middle) on the table to express your gratitude when served the tea.

India

Politely turn down the offer of a cup of tea. After allowing some insistence from the host, graciously accept the offer and drink the tea.

If you are outside drinking a chai tea sold by a street vendor, or chai wallah, crush the small clay cup, called kulhud, on the ground at the end. 

The hand-less cup will soon disintegrate without polluting.

Russia Russian tea is normally black and served with snacks (a selection of cheese, cured meats called sushkie, pretzels), varenye (a jelly-like fruit concoction), biscuits, or a piece of cake. The samovar would be your starting point: get some of your concentrated tea (zavarka) in the cup from the top teapot, then add boiling water. As a guest, you will be offered milk and sugar, although Russians like their tea plain. You are meant to merrily eat and drink.  Being served only a cup of tea, without food, would be considered very rude. Similarly, it would be seen as impolite not to accept the food.

Japan

Taste your tea, then decide if you really want to add anything, like sugar or milk. Slurping is acceptable.

Green tea, in different forms, is the most common beverage and it is drunk plain by Japanese people.

Here, Sencha is the most popular tea. When drinking, it’s polite to hold your tea bowl with both hands as a sign of respect.

Germany Prepared with strong Assam tea, an East Frisian tea cloud must be sipped without stirring. This is not to disturb the carefully arranged top layer, or cloud, made of cream. This tea ceremony implies that the sugar at the bottom represents the land; the tea brew the sea; and the top layer of cream the sky.

Argentina 

When passed a gourd of yerba mate (technically not a tea as it does not contain the camellia sinensis plant), accept it without saying ‘thank you’. The ‘thank you’ would signify 'pass' and you will be expected to pass it to your neighbour and not partake of it.

The gourd is refilled with hot water after each round by the cebador. Traditionally, it moves anticlockwise.

Do not stir the yerba mate with the special straining straw called bombilla. This metal straw has an inbuilt filter to separate the liquid from the small parts of the leaves.

Morocco

If enjoying your mint, or Maghrebi tea, in a shop or bazaar, make sure you empty your glass before you start haggling or discussing any sort of business.

Be prepared to be served three times and expect a slightly different flavour from the same brew. As for tradition "The first glass is as gentle as life, the second is as strong as love, the third is as bitter as death”.

Refusing a serving is unthinkable!

With thanks to Yosomono, Jaida Stewart, Davide Ragusa, Aditya Chinchure for some of the photographs

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From humble bag to star of the tea trade

To celebrate Afternoon Tea Week, opening on 10th August, we learn how, from humble beginnings, the tea bag became a star of the tea trade.

The invention and popularization of the tea bag revolutionised the tea-drinking habits formed in previous centuries. It was 1560 when tea first reached Europe, carried by a Portuguese catholic missionary.  It is from Portugal that tea spread across Europe initially, reaching England in the mid-1600s. Tea was an expensive commodity imported from China, the type of tea was what we would now define as green tea. The secret of tea was in the hands of and closely guarded by the Chinese who had grown, processed, and drank the delicious brew for aeons. Much happened, and it was only in the 1840s the British managed to begin experimenting with tea in the Indian subcontinent. Finally, they broke the Chinese monopoly and in 1887 started importing black tea with their fast tea clippers directly from two of their colonies at the time, India and Sri Lanka (or Ceylon).  The first tea bag patent was granted on 24 March 1903 and was filed by Roberta C. Lawson and Mary McLaren of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, for a ‘novel tea-holding pocket constructed of open-mesh woven fabric, inexpensively made of cotton thread'. The device was hand-sewn and not much in use. Till Thomas Sullivan, a New York tea and coffee merchant, unwittingly popularised it in 1908. He had to send out tea samples to win customers for the tea varieties he was representing. He decided to pack his samples in small, clear, sealed silk bags so that the fragrant content would be visible.  Only after orders and comments come in, he discovered his clients were pouring boiling water directly on to the small bags, leaving them to steep as they would have using an infuser.  As the appliance gained popularity, two sizes of tea bags were produced and sold in the 1920s America: a small bag for a single teacup, as we know it today; and a larger one for a teapot. When demand for black tea for tea bags grew by the end of the 1920s, tea estates realised that they needed lower grade teas (fannings and dust) instead of the prized whole and broken leaf grades processed with the orthodox method. A new process to crush/cut, tear and curl (CTC) the leaves by machine was introduced and it is still used today widely.

" A woman is like a tea bag, you never know how strong she is until she gets in hot water "

Eleanor Roosevelt

In the United Kingdom, the tea bag began circulating commercially only in 1953, introduced by Tetley. Initially, British people were suspicious and resisted the idea. They preferred using loose leaf tea, but then the pace of modern life took over.  We are at a point now where only about 4-5 per cent of the whole British tea market relies on loose leaf tea. Most often than not, the loose leaf tea is for connoisseurs only, with various degrees of quality, but all with a certain distinction. The remaining 95-96 per cent of the British market is made up of teabags. Tea houses offer a selection of loose leaf teas to enjoy onsite and often double as tea shops, selling favourites to their customers as a treat to enjoy at home. Exclusive tea shops are fewer and tend to be historical and/or world-famous brands. Usually, they have the teabag option in stock, at least for the most popular teas, with the intention of catering for all.

However, fannings and dustings (the bits inside the tea bag proper names) do their job splendidly as the steeping time is reduced. Let's recognise the fact that the commercial tea bag is all about convenience and speed, less about quality and complex flavours. There are a few specialist brands selling exactly the same tea as loose leaves in packaged tea bags.  You might be surprised to hear they are not as wildly successful as expected. Why? People now associate and use the tea bag for a shorter brewing time, dropping it into a mug or flask, often drinking it while on the go. It is unlikely the consumer will sit down and focus on the tea to appreciate it fully. Also, the cost is higher. Further, we have to be conscious that a standard tea bag contains and releases, around 60 micrograms of plastic. The tiny pieces of this microplastic (between 100 nanometres and a maximum of 5 millimetres in size for sealants) end up in our living system and in the environment. While the industry is looking into improvements, some tea bags seem to contain more plastic than others. There is the use, and debate, on bio-plastic. This byproduct, derived from renewable biomass sources, is not all biodegradable and the decaying speed is not always faster than the more common plastic obtained from oil. Currently, you can find tea bags made of various materials, from filter paper to nylon, either square, circular, rectangular or tetrahedral. Most commonly they are sold full, but you can also purchase empty tea bags to fill and carry your favourite tea with you.  They are reusable and vary in style too: some are like small drawstring bags, other like pouches. These are made of cotton or filter paper. There is also the option of a silicone tea bag, but this verges more on the infuser side in my opinion. There is no doubt, the humble tea bag is a favourite for a quick cuppa and it is also the ‘enemy’ of tea leaf readers like me. Tea Leaf Holder patent: https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/d1/db/93/00278d81f2d7f3/US723287.pdf

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