During the second half of the nineteenth century, afternoon tea became a national passion, inseparable from the Victorian lifestyle.

It was an aspect of Victorian life in which women were firmly in charge. Victorian ladies rarely needed an excuse for a tea party because the etiquette of afternoon tea could be grafted onto almost any social occasion.

The Victorian smart set's thirst for tea was matched only by its hunger for tea-drinking accessories. A successful tea party required the full kit - cups, saucers, pots, jugs, spoons, tongs, strainers, and napkins - in the season's styles and colours. Silversmiths, potters, and linen manufacturers were quick to respond.

By 1900, British tea consumption exceeded a hundred million kilograms a year. The best hotels attempted to match their customers' thirst for tea with a generous helping of food. Opinions divide on whether the three-course afternoon tea was the best or the worst of the English tea ceremony.

The choice between a light or a heavy meal soon became formalised. Afternoon tea was the lighter meal; high tea was the heavier. Both meals were known as 'tea' but, like most things English, the word was loaded with class distinctions.

The irresistible and enduring mix of afternoon tea with dancing began in the 1910s. The tea dance or thé dansant (it sounded more exotic when Frenchified by the smarter hotels) arrived just as the tango craze swept across Europe.

Contemporary Britain is awash with tea rooms and tea shops. It's a pervasive and apparently timeless part of Britain's cultural fabric, yet the tea room didn't exist before 1864. Credit for the concept goes to the imaginative manageress of the London Bridge branch of the Aerated Bread Company. This pioneer of the hospitality industry laid out a few tables and chairs in a back room of the bakery, and began pouring tea to thirsty customers.