During the 1880s upper-class and society women would change into long gowns, gloves and hats for their afternoon tea which was usually served in the drawing room between four and five o'clock.
To explore the world of fashion and tea, have a read of our article 'Dressing for Tea'.
The afternoon tea tradition was born inside the houses of the rich and fortunate but once summer came around they wanted to take this fabulous time of day outside into their beautiful gardens.
When the ladies took the afternoon tea ritual outside it encouraged the lords and men of the house to take part in this fabulous activity.
Fortune tellers began to notice patterns and shapes left in their cups after drinking tea and interpreted them as prophecies and messages of the past, present and future. This spread and developed during the seventeenth century when Dutch merchants introduced tea to Europe. As a cheap method of fortune-telling, it only required a cup of tea so became increasingly popular as both a means to tell the future and a method of entertainment.
