Teas for Afternoon Tea and High Tea: What to Pour With Sandwiches, Scones and a Bacon Sarnie

Light and fragrant

Strong and malty

The rule of thumb is to match the weight of the tea to the weight of the food. A cucumber sandwich or a slice of sponge has very little flavor of its own, so a heavy, malty cup would drown it, while a fragrant Darjeeling lifts it. A pie, a slab of cheese or a bacon sarnie needs a tea with enough body to stand up to fat and salt, and enough strength to take milk.

Our 2015 story keeps the choice simple: “A Classic English Breakfast Tea, Earl Grey or any black tea of your liking. Be sure to only use loose-leaf tea.” Its writer was drinking a 4 o’clock Jungpana Oolong while writing it.

Two or three pots cover most tables. One fine Darjeeling, one Earl Grey and one strong breakfast tea let every guest find a cup they like, and they cover both meals: the light tea for the sandwiches and cakes, the strong one for anyone who wants milk.

• Darjeeling second flush: fruity and full enough to hold its own, light enough not to swamp a cucumber sandwich. For a contemporary tea, Peter Keen suggested a second flush from Margaret’s Hope, such as our Darjeeling Margaret’s Hope Summer Chinary Black, from a Chinary garden in the Kurseong valley. For a grand occasion, the Darjeeling Castleton Summer Muscatel Black comes from the garden where the muscatel name began. More in Second flush tea and muscatel.
• Darjeeling first flush or a white tea: for guests who drink their tea plain and like it delicate. Keen’s other pick was a Castleton Moonlight, which we sell as Darjeeling Castleton Summer Moonlight White. See What is first flush tea?
• Earl Grey: bright and citrusy, and a long-standing afternoon favorite. Our Classic Earl Grey Citrus Black is Assam black tea with pure bergamot extract: “sweet, malty and caramel-like” with a citrus lift, so it also takes a splash of milk. See Earl Grey tea.

Pairing tea with the sandwiches

Our 2016 story on English food and tea, Cucumber Sandwiches and Bacon Sarnies: English Food and Tea Cultures, suggests that sandwiches go best with “a tea to savor, one that isn’t too light or at all heavy”: an aromatic oolong, or “a lighter Darjeeling … preferably aroma-rich and a little tippy.” Its oolong pick was a Taiwanese Dongding, from the island that is “setting the pace for superb slightly fuller and smoky ones.” From our own range, the nearest match is a Darjeeling oolong such as Darjeeling Glenburn Spring Moonshine Oolong.

Green teas are “more iffy,” because cheese, pickle or smoked salmon can overpower them. White teas are the hardest of all to match, the story says, because their light notes are easily soured or turned bitter by strong food. They are at their best with “a light biscuit, just one.”

Spring Darjeelings work well too. When we listed an Upper Namring spring black from the Kurseong valley in 2021, we described it as blooming with fresh floral aromas and pairing well with a garden salad or light sandwiches, and refreshing enough to drink cold.

• English Breakfast: our English Breakfast Black is rich and robust, with notes of honey and malt and a hint of tobacco. See What is English Breakfast tea?
• Assam: for meat pies, cheese and a bacon sarnie, our story calls for “a really good Assam,” naming Halmari. Try Assam Halmari Summer Black, known for golden tips and a rich, malty cup, or the everyday Classic Assam Black, with malt, yellow raisins and date palm. More in Assam tea.

The full line from our 2016 story reads: “A really good Assam (Halmari, Harmutty) or a full-bodied highland Ceylon is ideal (Kenilworth never disappoints).” The sarnie, it explains, is for when “you’re hungry,” so the tea has to be “worthy of the challenge.”

Light teas do not belong here. The same story calls a bacon sarnie with a Thurbo Moonlight White a little dubious: “rather like Texas chili and a white wine spritzer.”

The working tea of Britain and Ireland was strong by habit. In Peter Keen’s youth it was a dark, heavy, full-leaf brew, often a Ceylon blend, that left no particular aftertaste. The Irish take it stronger still: the old line, as one of our stories records, is that “you should be able to let a spoon stand upright in it.” For a cup that strong, an Assam brewed the full five minutes is the right base; see Assam tea for milk tea.

Milk or no milk is mostly a matter of upbringing. As our story Should you add milk to tea? explains, milk was already easy to get in the English countryside, and Chinese black tea was drunk with milk there even before Indian tea first reached Britain, in 1839. The opening of a model dairy in London in 1855 made tea with milk easy to drink in the city, and the habit spread.

Sugar came with the habit. As our story Would you like some sugar in your tea? Or a little tea in your sugar? records, British sugar consumption grew from 4 pounds a head in 1700 to 18 pounds in 1800 and 90 pounds in 1900, much of it stirred into tea. That is why the working pot was strong and sweet, and why a malty Assam, which keeps its taste under milk and sugar, became the everyday cup.

A fine Darjeeling is different. Its fruity, floral notes are the point of drinking it, and milk and sugar cover them. Offer it plain first; a guest who wants a splash of milk in a second flush can add it.