The practice
Afternoon tea is a small, codified meal served between lunch and dinner, typically 3-5pm. The standing format places three courses on a tiered serving stand: finger sandwiches first (cucumber; smoked salmon; egg-and-cress; ham-and-mustard are the conventional set), scones with clotted cream and preserves second (jam and lemon curd offered separately; cream-first or jam-first remains a regional choice and a point of debate), and cakes and pastries third. The tea itself is loose-leaf brewed in a pot and poured by service staff, with milk and sugar offered separately. The setting is a small table laid with china teaware; the convention is closer to a ceremony than a buffet.
Origin and codification
The practice is traditionally attributed to Anna Russell, Duchess of Bedford, around 1840 - though the attribution is anecdotal. The contemporary format was codified into hotel service through the late 19th century by the grand London hotels (the Savoy, Brown's, Claridge's, the Ritz), whose afternoon tea services set the template that survives today.
Variants and edges
The most common confusion is with high tea, which is a different meal entirely. High tea is a substantial evening meal of cold meats, savouries, pies, and hot tea, served around 5-6pm in 19th and 20th century British and Irish working households - named "high" tea because it was eaten at a high (dining) table, in contrast to "low" or "afternoon" tea taken at low tables. Despite this, "high tea" is used in international hotel marketing - particularly in the United States and Asia - to mean what is actually afternoon tea. The Lexicon's reading: a hotel offering "high tea" at 3pm with a tiered stand is offering afternoon tea using the wrong name. Champagne afternoon tea (with a glass served at the start of the meal) is a contemporary upmarket variant that does not disturb the core sequence. Cream tea is a simpler version that drops the savouries and cakes, retaining only the scones with clotted cream and preserves.