Hey Uk'ers, Please explain tea?

[MonstHer]

lol, so I'm moving to the UK soon, and I'm rather confused about the tea terminology.
I've tried to research it but I don't get it?!

for one thing,
what is this "cook tea?"
I've gathered tea is served as a meal and it's just called tea?
And then it's served just whenever?
What is served generally with the tea?

And this high tea and other level thing is rather confusing as well.
It's according to the table height and not the time of day?

Please explain beef tea. It sounds quite interesting, but doesn't sound any different then just beef broth?

Sorry for the ignorance!

 

[MonstHer]

Oh, If I'm invited to tea, what does one bring to tea?!

 

[hpjagged]

.,,,,

 

[honey08]

all i do on a morning is shove a tea bag in a cup ,boil the kettle , pour it in, add milk/sugar take the tea bag out and drink, dont think people invite others for tea .... more like wine and vodka

 

[tina3747]

I think you mean tea time!!! Tea is your meal in the evening, might be more of a northern term??
If I invite you round for tea it probably would mean food as in dinner... If they invite you for a cuppa then it's a cup of tea!

You wouldn't normally need to take anything maybe a small gift to show appreciation, box of chocolates or flowers maybe.

 

[punk_pig]

"I'm off to cook tea" - evening meal, quite often used to describe the last meal of the day a child will have, but can be adult supper too.

"afternoon tea" - not a common practice anymore, thought rather posh. Usually consists of a cup of tea with sandwiches and cakes or toasted bakery goods if it is winter (English muffins, crumpets etc.)

"cup of tea" as it sounds

 

[tina3747]

"I'm off to cook tea" - evening meal, quite often used to describe the last meal of the day a child will have, but can be adult supper too.

"afternoon tea" - not a common practice anymore, thought rather posh. Usually consists of a cup of tea with sandwiches and cakes or toasted bakery goods if it is winter (English muffins, crumpets etc.)

"cup of tea" as it sounds

It might not be in your house but we have afternoon tea daily in ours... Cucumber sandwiches with the crusts cut off, French fancies and earl grey in our very best bone china.!!!..

 

[lindseymw]

As others have said, "tea" can be referring to evening meal "dinner" is usually referring to meal you have at 12ish.

Then you have "cup of tea" which is referring to the drink. If someone asks "do you want a cuppa?" cuppa is a hot drink, so could be tea or coffee.

Afternoon Tea or Cream Tea or High Tea is a cup of tea (can have coffee as well though), sarnies, scones with jam & cream & little cakes, traditionally you would this at 3ish but it's not common practice in the homes now.

If someone invites you for tea, you don't necessarily have to bring something. If it's an "adult" tea (bit more formal & usually starts later), maybe take wine, if it's just tea with the kids, I would take something for dessert.

Beef tea, not too sure. I'm guessing it's beef stock. We just call it OXO (OXO is the brand name of stock cubes)

 

[Loui1001]

I've not thought about it before but tea is confusing

 

[EllaAndLyla]

Tea - the drink, is kind of like having a coffee except its much weaker. You put a tea bag in a tea cup/mug add boiling water, milk and sugar if you like then take the tea bag out and drink it. Its a common drink in the UK and I find when your visiting people etc, a common question out of politeness is 'would you like a tea?'

Tea Time - Is another way of wording dinner/supper time, some people may even have a seperate tea time where they will have a light snack to fill the hole between lunch and dinner. So if someone says 'its tea time' they most usually mean they are cooking dinner. Where as if someone says 'would you like tea?' they most usually mean a cup of tea/drink. If your asked 'are you staying for tea' it could mean either but I'd lean more towards the food

Beef Tea - Isn't really a drink, although you can drink it (Bovril) but its mainly used for flavouring dishes and can be used on lots of things, much like gravy.

 

[Dragonfly]

Depends on how you say it, cook tea is dinner or just tea means the drink.We are found of cups of tea in Ireland.

 

[MrsPoodle]

Mmmm Bovril! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovril

It's also nice on toast, better than marmite as it's not so tangy.

ETA - I think this is what you mean by beef tea?

 

[Tasha]

I think it is also a regional thing. I live in the South of England and tea is just the drink, and you have breakfast, lunch and dinner with no tea time. My Nan was Northern so my dad says breakfast, dinner and tea time plus there is the drink tea. I think southern it is less confusing but that is probably cos it is what I am use to

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

I am in the south and tea is just a cup of tea,

Morning- Breakfast
Midday- Lunch
Afternoon on sundays is tea lol (cakes etc)
Evening- Dinner.

 

[Hayley90]

dinner is my evening meal. i dont say 'tea' for anything.

its a regional thing i dont drink tea either, tbh i think it'd be easier if all migrants come and live with me, i clearly use better terminology

 

[lepaskilf]

I'd have said beef tea is a beef dinner, like chicken tea (chicken dinner), fish tes (fish dinner) ??

We say brew or panad (welsh, although I don't speak welsh! But live there)

 

[Leafy]

Im in Wales & we have tea as a later meal and cups of tea!

 

[Celesse]

It will depend on what part of England you are in.

North of England:
8am: Breakfast
12noon: Dinner
6pm: Tea

South of England
8am: Breakfast
12noon: Lunch
6pm: Dinner


Tea can also be a brewed beverage.

Some people have afternoon tea, which is a light meal at around 4pm, usually served with the drink tea. Often considered posh, but its the kind of thing you would eat to keep yourself going if you were going out for an evening meal at 8pm or later.

If you are invited for tea in the North of England at 6pm expect a full evening meal. If you are invited for tea in the South of England at 11am, expect drinks and cake.

 

[deafgal]

The word tea is used to have dinner or to have a drink. A cup of tea. I know from your other posts your moving to lakenheath/mildenhall. When you get there, there is a place in Mildenhall that is very british everything to do with tea and scones.
When someone says to you come around for a cup of tea, you generally don't have to bring anything. But I sometimes took biscuits. Biscuits in the UK are different in the US. There more like cookies than than salty and buttery biscuits you have at a main meal.

Now some people host tea parties where you will bring something around for the tea party, which is their best fine china and good teas

some cookies here are called biscuits, but probably because those cookies are based from UK.

 

[flubdub]

I love this!