Last weekend Etiquetteer had the great pleasure of being taken for tea to King’s Carriage House in New York. And it was a lovely tea; Etiquetteer is already contemplating a return. But sharp-eyed social media followers quickly questioned the presentation of tea goodies on the stand. Here the tea sandwiches are on the top, the scones in the center, and the sweets on the bottom. “But aren’t the sandwiches supposed to be on the bottom?” one Facebook follower asked. “Aren’t savories on the bottom?” asked another on Instagram. Just what is Perfectly Proper?
First off, what is that three-level cookie carrier called anyway? Believe it or not, Emily Post referred to it as a “curate” in the first edition of Etiquette: The Blue Book of Social Usage: “Then on the tea-table, back of the tray, or on the shelves of a separate ‘curate,’ a stand made of three small shelves, each just big enough for one good-sized plate, are always two, usually three, varieties of cake and hot breads.”* Lila Haxworth Wallace calls it a cake stand in The New American Etiquette. Etiquetteer has always referred to it as an étagère.
Emily goes on to specify that the dish on the top level should be for hot breads “of some sort,” and therefore covered. “Of some sort” these days means scones for Serious Devotees of Afternoon Tea. She then says that the center level is for sandwiches and the bottom one for cake. Hmm. Most 20th-century etiquette writers don’t go into detail about how to position tea refreshments. To Etiquetteer this indicates that Tea Fetishists may have made up some rules to add to the fun in the last few decades.
Nicholas Fairford, in this video, demonstrates the 21st-century standard: sandwiches (or savouries) on the bottom, scones in the center, and “cakes and pastries” on top. Etiquetteer would add “sweets” to the last category. William Hanson, however, in this video, has his scones on the bottom tier. Hmm**. But he specifies in the accompanying Daily Mail article that the top layer is for cakes, while acknowledging that in Emily Post’s day there would have been a domed plate.
So now we know: sandwiches/savouries on the bottom, scones in the center, cakes, pastries, and sweets on top. But what do you do if you’re served your tea refreshments in the wrong order? Etiquetteer, as so often before, can only advise you as Igor did in Young Frankenstein: “Say nothing. Act casual.” Or, more bluntly, “Shut up and eat!”
Etiquetteer wishes you a Perfectly Proper afternoon tea with all your favorite people.
*Page 172.
**UPDATE: Etiquetteer has been informed that at certain hotels the scones will be brought out after the sandwiches have been finished and the sandwich plate removed. This would explain why we see the scones on the bottom tier in Mr. Hanson’s video.