Mount Lavinia Hotel has its Governor’s High tea on their terrace with its famous view and Cinnamon Grand has its own high tea every weekend in their cozy Tea Lounge as do Title Tattle of Hilton Colombo and as so many other hotels. However, the irony is that the high teas of all these hotels - without exception - are a low tea!

The history of high teas and the low teas- or rather the low teas and the high teas - came about because of a social butterfly. When tea permeated into the English society, the effect was remarkable. Regardless of rank, class or society, all of England enthusiastically took to drinking tea. At the time, the English had only two main meals - breakfast and a very heavy dinner, or rather the supper.

Anna the Duchess of Bedford, found the gap between these two meals yawning and the heavy supper dreadful. Been the social butterfly she was, she began to invite friends for ‘tea and conversation’ in the late afternoon - around five-ish. With tea she served wafer-thin, crust-less cheese or cucumber sandwiches, bite-sized cakes, scorns and crumpets, with fresh cream and jam.

This trend quickly caught on and soon every household in the upper crust of the English society were enjoying an additional meal. As this tea was taken was taken in the low part of the afternoon, this meal came to be known as the ‘low tea’. It is this low tea that is now been served in our hotels as the ‘high’ tea!

The blue collars of the British society also came to imitate the white collars. They however needed something much more substantial than the flimsy fare of the low tea cuisine. Thus, they had their afternoon teas with the solid meal of roast beef, mashed potatoes, peas and tea of course. As this was the ‘high’ meal of the day for the hard-working blue collars, this became the ‘high tea’.

Of course, to serve the afternoon teas in its correct term - low tea - might not be that enticing, for who would want to come for something ‘low’!!! Our hotels may be thus forgiven for interchanging the low teas with the high’ teas, for after all, what’s in a name, if the food is delicious!

Now that the history ‘lesson’ is over, here’s a tip to enjoy your so-called high, but really low tea (but we’re really not bothered with all that high’s and low’s now are we?!?) - if you are a savory fan, and would be nibbling the cheese or cucumber sandwiches or the other dozen or so savory morsels added on by our very talented chefs, order a light, self-drinking tea (or what we Sri Lankans call a plain tea) such as a Nuwara Eliya tea. Don’t even think of mixing your Nuwara Eliya tea with milk and do give a miss to sugar if you can, for this delicate brew can’t handle either that well.

If you are biting into the sweet delights, then do try the low-country Ruhuna teas, which are strong and mixes well with milk and sugar if you please. If you are trying a bit of everything, then do go for a mid-country tea such as Kandy tea, which is great as a self-drinking tea, but doesn’t grumble if you pour in milk.

Now remember, if you are having your tea with milk, then it should be milk, which should be at room temperature, first and then the hot tea. It not only makes a fine cup of tea- it’s also good etiquette!

On a final note on high teas, Cinnamon Grand should really have a ‘high coffee’ than a ‘high tea’ as the best coffees of Colombo are served at their Coffee Stop, which almost excuses them for their atrocious fruit juices. Barristers also serve a variety of coffees - ranging from hot, cold, thick, strong, bitter, sweet etc - but when it comes to strength and quality, Coffee Stop tops the list!