# Mighty Is Rich: Is there such a thing as a teashop (restaurant) in England? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 25, 2010, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mighty-is-rich-is-there-such-a-thing-as-a-teashop-restaurant-in-england/530367 "2010-02-25T05:46:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mighty-is-rich-is-there-such-a-thing-as-a-teashop-restaurant-in-england/530367/21 "2010-02-25T13:53:02Z")
Capt. Ridley’s Shooting Party, the interesting thing is that I grew up on a farm (in northwest Ohio) and learned to say “breakfast - dinner - supper” for the three meals. From college on, though, I heard other people saying “breakfast - lunch - dinner” for the three meals and eventually changed over to saying that. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mighty-is-rich-is-there-such-a-thing-as-a-teashop-restaurant-in-england/530367/22 "2010-02-25T13:59:01Z")
Tea Rooms used to be everywhere and were the equivalent of a modern day coffee shop (like Starbucks). There used to be a famous chain of tea rooms in London called ‘[Lyons Corner Houses](http://www.kzwp.com/lyons/cornerhouses.htm)’. You can often see them in old films or period dramas as a place for genteel women to rest their feet during a shopping trip (see Brief Encounter for an example). There’s a famous English tea rooms by the Spanish Steps in Rome called [Babbingtons](http://www.babingtons.net/) which was started by a pair of English women in the nineteenth century to cater to English tourists desperate for a taste of home. It’s still going strong and is very popular with Roman politicians and intelligentsia. It’s a weird place, liking stepping through a timewarp into Victorian England right in the heart of Rome. Tea Rooms have fallen out of fashion with the growing coffee shop industry and the cultural shift which means women can now go to pubs instead without attracting abuse. As others have said, they’re still popular in tourist spots (with both foreigners and British alike). Sometimes a sit down with a nice pot of tea (NEVER a limp bag in a luke warm mug of water ::shudder:🙂 and a cake is just the ticket after a hard day’s sightseeing. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mighty-is-rich-is-there-such-a-thing-as-a-teashop-restaurant-in-england/530367/23 "2010-02-25T14:12:35Z")
I’ve read the book and I’m sure the “My Tea Is Rich” name was explained as a pun on “My Tailor Is Rich”, which is said to be a stock phrase in English textbooks at French schools. Like “le singe est dans l’arbre” in French textbooks in England (see Eddie Izzard). So, similar to what **Nava** said, but the phrase seems subtly different. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mighty-is-rich-is-there-such-a-thing-as-a-teashop-restaurant-in-england/530367/24 "2010-02-25T14:18:33Z")
Too late for the edit, but [this Amazon review](http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R344I63JA0T5IQ/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm) backs up what I said about the name: > [@](#): > > For those other reviewers who don’t understand “My Tea Is Rich”, it comes from an old English language course where a phrase remembered by almost all French persons over a certain age is “My tailor is rich” (very useful, n’est-ce pas?). > I lived in Paris for 4 years, and unfortunately for me over there my name is Mike Taylor, so inevitably I got “Mike Taylor is rich” almost every other day … if only I were. ---
**Author:** ![runcible\_spoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9fc29f/32.png) [@runcible\_spoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/runcible_spoon)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mighty-is-rich-is-there-such-a-thing-as-a-teashop-restaurant-in-england/530367/25 "2010-02-25T16:16:17Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Capt. Ridley’s Shooting Party, the interesting thing is that I grew up on a farm (in northwest Ohio) and learned to say “breakfast - dinner - supper” for the three meals. From college on, though, I heard other people saying “breakfast - lunch - dinner” for the three meals and eventually changed over to saying that. As an aside, my work schedule has caused me to start eating four meals a day, which I call breakfast, lunch, supper (around 4:30) and dinner (8:00 or 9:00). I’m American, though, so the only tea I have is with breakfast. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mighty-is-rich-is-there-such-a-thing-as-a-teashop-restaurant-in-england/530367/26 "2010-02-25T17:54:14Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > The term “high tea” refers to something completely different. A high tea is a full meal. It’s roughly an early supper. I presume that the reason that Americans tend to confuse these two meals is the use of the term “high.” They assume that a high tea must be something high-minded and elegant. It’s actually just the opposite. A high tea is more of a working-class thing, while an afternoon tea is more of an upper-class thing. Correct, I don’t think many people here are aware of this distinction. When you say “afternoon tea”, you mean just tea, possibly with toast or biscuits, right? And “full tea” is tea with with the above but also various small kinds of sandwiches, eggs, and so on?" If so, most Americans probably think the reverse is true. I’m pretty sure there’s a scene in _Brideshead Revisited_ where an elaborate full tea is served to the guests, buffet style, when they return from the hunt. There’s also a Wodehouse story where Bertie serves a full tea to the local Marxist revolutionary cell, although IIRC Bingo Little dictated the menu, possibly in an effort to reach their working class hearts. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mighty-is-rich-is-there-such-a-thing-as-a-teashop-restaurant-in-england/530367/27 "2010-02-25T17:57:10Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Capt. Ridley’s Shooting Party, the interesting thing is that I grew up on a farm (in northwest Ohio) and learned to say “breakfast - dinner - supper” for the three meals. From college on, though, I heard other people saying “breakfast - lunch .- dinner” for the three meals and eventually changed over to saying that. I think this is common in farm areas here. Was “dinner” the biggest meal of the day? ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mighty-is-rich-is-there-such-a-thing-as-a-teashop-restaurant-in-england/530367/28 "2010-02-25T17:57:46Z")
A sit-down with a nice pot of tea and a cake after a hard day sounds heavenly. Doing so in a quaint old-lady tea room sounds doubly heavenly. That would be my dream job in my retirement, running a nice tea room , cranking out the lemon-berry mini-muffins, the cinnamon scones… Booze, Prozac, pot, coke, ecstasy, and speed are probably more hip. Let us oldsters have our nice sit-down with tea and cake! (actually, the last time I was at a tea room, it was a Starbucks, and I had chai tea and poppyseed cake, and it was a very nice experience). ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mighty-is-rich-is-there-such-a-thing-as-a-teashop-restaurant-in-england/530367/29 "2010-02-25T18:02:34Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > A sit-down with a nice pot of tea and a cake after a hard day sounds heavenly. Doing so in a quaint old-lady tea room sounds doubly heavenly. That would be my dream job in my retirement, running a nice tea room , cranking out the lemon-berry mini-muffins, the cinnamon scones… Booze, Prozac, pot, coke, ecstasy, and speed are probably more hip. Let us oldsters have our nice sit-down with tea and cake! Then you’re going to love [this](http://www.nicecupofteaandasitdown.com/mission.php3) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mighty-is-rich-is-there-such-a-thing-as-a-teashop-restaurant-in-england/530367/30 "2010-02-25T18:06:57Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > They are most often called ‘Tea Rooms’, at least everywhere I have seen them (typically villages popular with tourists) We have Tea Rooms in America, in Britain I understand they are called “Cottages” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mighty-is-rich-is-there-such-a-thing-as-a-teashop-restaurant-in-england/530367/31 "2010-02-25T18:08:56Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > Correct, I don’t think many people here are aware of this distinction. When you say “afternoon tea”, you mean just tea, possibly with toast or biscuits, right? And “full tea” is tea with with the above but also various small kinds of sandwiches, eggs, and so on?" If so, most Americans probably think the reverse is true. I’m pretty sure there’s a scene in _Brideshead Revisited_ where an elaborate full tea is served to the guests, buffet style, when they return from the hunt. There’s also a Wodehouse story where Bertie serves a full tea to the local Marxist revolutionary cell, although IIRC Bingo Little dictated the menu, possibly in an effort to reach their working class hearts. You’re getting a bit confused. There’s no such thing as ‘full tea’. There’s: **Afternoon tea:** this is the full-on posh meal you’ve seen in Brideshead: cucumber sandwiches, cakes, variety of teas, served around 4pm, invented by some Duchess I believe, who thought there was too big a gap between lunch at 1pm and dinner at 8pm. Historically associated with the upper classes (who else could stop for a meal at 4pm?), now the preserve of big hotels. **High tea:** Usually just going by the name of ‘tea’, served around 6pm as an early dinner, commonly (historically) associated with the working classes. Might not even include an actual cup of tea. Neither of these terms should be confused with a cup of tea, which is just a cup of tea. I’m parched, put the kettle on luv. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mighty-is-rich-is-there-such-a-thing-as-a-teashop-restaurant-in-england/530367/32 "2010-02-25T18:13:05Z")
I seem to be the first to mention **Cream Tea** which is tea with scones that come with devonshire/clotted cream, and jam. It isn’t as involved or expensive as Afternoon Tea. Is this a regionalism? I’ve only ever been to tea shops in Yorkshire. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mighty-is-rich-is-there-such-a-thing-as-a-teashop-restaurant-in-england/530367/33 "2010-02-25T18:19:14Z")
> [@Hello\_Again](#): > > I seem to be the first to mention **Cream Tea** which is tea with scones that come with devonshire/clotted cream, and jam. It isn’t as involved or expensive as Afternoon Tea. Is this a regionalism? I’ve only ever been to tea shops in Yorkshire. No, it’s universal. Particularly great in Devon or Cornwall, obviously. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mighty-is-rich-is-there-such-a-thing-as-a-teashop-restaurant-in-england/530367/34 "2010-02-25T18:34:14Z")
> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#): > > . . . But I’m beginning to wonder if that, in itself, isn’t the big underlying joke of the novel. In the UK, isn’t tea something you have wherever you happen to be? Paul makes the point that it’s a very basic component of English culture, saying at one point that nothing would get built if the builders didn’t have tea, soldiers won’t fight if they don’t get it, and so on. It seems so basic that the idea of going to a special place to have it isn’t something that wouldn’t occur to you. As ridiculous an idea as Starbucks here in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mighty-is-rich-is-there-such-a-thing-as-a-teashop-restaurant-in-england/530367/35 "2010-02-25T20:18:09Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > _Mon thé est riche_ does indeed make sense in French. Plug the words into an online translator if you want to be spoiled. I tried that and it didn’t make any more sense. I know what the words mean, but it doesn’t make sense (to me) to call tea “rich”. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mighty-is-rich-is-there-such-a-thing-as-a-teashop-restaurant-in-england/530367/36 "2010-02-25T20:33:24Z")
Quoth **Wallenstein** : > [@](#): > > Builders and labourers etc would more likely have their tea break in a more rough-n-ready cafe, perhaps with a bacon sandwich or fried all-day breakfast (hence the name “greasy spoon” for this type of establishment). Greasy spoons aren’t unique to England. We have much the same sort of establishments here in the US, and call them by the same name. Except, of course, blue-collar workers would get a cup of coffee in ours, not tea. Seems kind of odd to have a food-related term that actually means the same thing on both sides of the pond, doesn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mighty-is-rich-is-there-such-a-thing-as-a-teashop-restaurant-in-england/530367/37 "2010-02-25T20:48:26Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Then you’re going to love [this](http://www.nicecupofteaandasitdown.com/mission.php3) EEEE! The preciousness! I have some PG Tips Tea in my pantry!.. OK, I’m throwing a tea party for me and the cat while we’re snowed in here!.. Do have another potted pilchard on a scone, Fluffy! ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2010, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mighty-is-rich-is-there-such-a-thing-as-a-teashop-restaurant-in-england/530367/38 "2010-02-25T23:56:12Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Quoth **Wallenstein** :Greasy spoons aren’t unique to England. We have much the same sort of establishments here in the US, and call them by the same name. Except, of course, blue-collar workers would get a cup of coffee in ours, not tea. You can order tea just about anywhere in the U.S., but what you’ll get is a cup, full of hot water and a teabag on the side. Most people here don’t understand the importance of pouring the boiling water directly on the leaves and letting them steep before it goes into the cup. Moreover, the cup you are given is very apt to be paper, unless you are at a sit-down restaurant, and IMO the subtle flavors of good tea don’t stand up well to that. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mighty-is-rich-is-there-such-a-thing-as-a-teashop-restaurant-in-england/530367/39 "2010-02-26T01:30:33Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > We have Tea Rooms in America, in Britain I understand they are called “Cottages” 🙂 Dunno if you’re whooshing me here, but I know of only two common usages of the term ‘cottage’: [ul] [li]A small house, often with a thatched roof[/li][li]A public toilet frequented by homosexuals[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2010, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mighty-is-rich-is-there-such-a-thing-as-a-teashop-restaurant-in-england/530367/40 "2010-02-26T01:49:09Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Dunno if you’re whooshing me here, but I know of only two common usages of the term ‘cottage’: > [ul] > [li]A small house, often with a thatched roof[/li][li]A public toilet frequented by homosexuals[/li][/ul] Didn’t mean to [intentionally whoosh](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tearoom_(disambiguation)), although the thought did enter the back of my mind that some might be whooshed. ETA: thus the smiley :o [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mighty-is-rich-is-there-such-a-thing-as-a-teashop-restaurant-in-england/530367.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/mighty-is-rich-is-there-such-a-thing-as-a-teashop-restaurant-in-england/530367.md?page=3)