winter survival: afternoon tea

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winter survival: afternoon tea

February 16, 2011 by Katie Noah Gibson

As the days continue cold and often wet, I’ve been drinking my morning tea with the usual regularity, sometimes brewing up a second cup mid-morning if I’m especially cold or needing a pick-me-up. But after lunch, usually around two or three p.m., I’ve been coming back to the kettle for afternoon tea.

I don’t usually celebrate afternoon tea as the English do, or even as I often did in Oxford. A proper tea there includes scones, you know, with clotted cream and/or jam (and at Queen’s Lane Coffee House, my favorite Oxford cafe, they always serve their scones warm). But my afternoon tea is a little simpler – just a cuppa, usually Earl Grey or another flavored black tea, sometimes with a cookie or a bright clementine or a couple of peanut butter crackers. As the afternoon sun slips behind the western wall of our house, and as the time to turn on the twinkle lights approaches, my afternoon tea provides a pick-me-up, a warm-me-up, and a nice break in the routine of the day.

As I transition back to the workplace, this is one ritual I hope to carry over into my new job. (I certainly brewed my fair share of afternoon cups of tea at ACU – in all my offices there!) The view may be a bit different, but I have a feeling I’ll need my afternoon cuppa as much as – or more than – ever as I adjust to a new workplace rhythm.

(Tea at Queen’s Lane, May 2008…still one of my favorite photos
from my entire time in Oxford.)

Posted in food, musings | Tagged Boston, comfort, Oxford, rituals, tea, warmth, winter | 8 Comments

8 Responses

on February 16, 2011 at 10:05 am | Reply Julie

oh, I love afternoon tea as well! the full-on afternoon tea is always a real treat, I try to squeeze in a good high tea when I’m in the Uk. that photo is lovely.
on February 16, 2011 at 1:10 pm | Reply Christine

I haven’t been able to work afternoon tea into my current job, but I wish I could. Good luck – I hope you’re able to do it! (It helps if you have an office. I’m in more of a customer service position…) And congratulations on the job! I’ve always thought that if I ever go back to school for a Master’s, I would try to get into a program at Emerson.
on February 16, 2011 at 1:33 pm | Reply peacefulknitter

I love a cup of something hot and a bite of something sweet in the late afternoon hours. It just restores me that little bit and provides me with the inspiration to get up and keep going about my day.
Congrats on the job! I hope your first week is going well and that you are able to steal away for a tea break.
on February 17, 2011 at 7:24 pm | Reply janesmom

I walked by Queen’s Lane just the other day, and thought “that looks like a delightful spot for tea.” I’ll have to go there soon — JA and I have a date tomorrow, maybe we’ll head there!
on February 20, 2011 at 3:01 pm | Reply Becca

Afternoon tea is always a good thing 🙂 It’s snowing here (again!) and I’m just about to put the kettle on right now.
on March 4, 2011 at 8:46 am | Reply one little word, two months in « cakes, tea and dreams

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