As Americans we think of coffee as a necessary evil in our lives. We use it to wake up, to stay awake and as a social and cultural experience. We makes dates or meetings at coffee shops. We work in coffee shops, studying or doing business, all the while taking in more and more caffeine. Don’t get me wrong, I love our coffee culture; most of my younger life was spent meeting my friends at our local Starbucks, but the British tea culture is something that is altogether different.

Coffee is something that is quick and simple. While you may sit and talk over a cup of coffee, generally, you just grab it and go. Tea in England is anything but quick...but in a good way. Having afternoon tea in London was an experience that I personally thought was quite wonderful. Instead of only getting a cup of tea per person or just a pot to share, we were each provided with our own individual pot of tea, equipped with lumps of sugar and cream. This alone gave us the opportunity to take our time and experiment with our tea; with cream, without cream, with sugar, without sugar or even completely plain.

The British make afternoon tea not just a quick refreshment, it is a chance to relax and catch up with the day and the people in our lives. Not only do you have tea but afternoon tea can come with a myriad of finger sandwiches, which while dainty are very filling. Then they move on to the scones with clotted cream (almost butter, but not salty) and jam. The scones were delicious and light, and served as sort of a pre-dessert dessert because the actual dessert came next. Small bite sized cheesecakes and chocolate cakes sat at the top of our pyramid of tea service.

While coffee shops and meeting for coffee is sort of the ultimate American, college student activity, afternoon tea is the ultimate British activity. Taking two hours out of the day to relax with a good cup of tea and conversation is exactly what is needed in the fast paced environment of London or even Oxford. I highly recommend it for anyone, in England or not.