The 5 O'Clock Tea - a Major British Icon

Colegiul National ,,Mircea cel Batran”,
Constanta

               

      Five O’Clock Tea- A Major British Icon

Coordinating teacher:                           Student:
                                                        Weiss Alexandra

                                                   

Constantza, May 2012



  Five O’Clock Tea- A Major British Icon

TABLE OF CONTENT

ABSTRACT       ………………………………………………………….
Introduction     …………………………………………………………
Chapter 1:

Argument

The present paper deals with the tradition of five o'clock tea in Great Britain. Besides a historical approach, which is unavoidable in explaining such an issue, I have intended to offer the reader a cultural insight of this controversial beverage as well as some classical recipes.
Further on I attempted to shed some light on a couple of barely known subjects such as high tea or low tea.
There are four distinct types of tea; white tea, green tea, oolong tea, and black tea. All come from the same plant and it is the method of processing that produces the characteristics of each tea. Black tea, which accounts for 98% of all exported tea, is fully fermented during manufacturing. Oolong tea, made in China and Taiwan, is partially fermented. Green tea, primarily produced in China and Japan skips the fermenting stage altogether, making green tea very nearly caffeine free. White tea is comprised of only the buds of an extremely rare tea plant during a short three day "first flush" of the year and is also unfermented. This tea is very pale in color and delicately aromatic. In addition to numerous varietals flavor choices within each category of tea, the leaves may be smoked, pressed, rolled, scented, or flavored to produce an endless array of choices for the tea connoisseur.
Besides a theoretical presentation of the existing kinds of teas or of the tea ceremonial in Great Britain as part of British culture we tried to deal with a historical survey and a hagiographic presentation of tea's...