摘要

英国下午茶文化是英国重要文化之一。在160多年前的英国维多利亚时代，公元1840年，一位名叫安娜的公爵夫人，她独自在窗前迷茫，不想度过寂寞的午后时光。于是，她邀来闺中密友，一边品尝着幽香的茶与精致的点心，一边闲聊起彼此的心事，没想到一时之间，在当时贵族社交圈内蔚为风尚，名媛仕女趋之若鹜。一直到今天，这种现象已俨然形成一种优雅自在的下午茶文化，也成为正统的英国红茶文化，这就是所谓的“维多利亚下午茶”的由来。那种正规的维多利亚氛围的英国下午茶，是有各种各样的礼仪要求与习惯的，是一定要有上等的茶品、精致的小点、精美的餐具和悠扬的古典音乐的。最重要的，还要有轻松自在的好心情。
英国下午茶被视为社交的入门活动，是上流社会中每日必不可少的社交环节之一，也是英国人招待朋友、举办沙龙的最佳形式之一。同时，下午茶也成为了国际上非正式的社交方式，人们在轻松休闲的环境下拉近彼此的感情、商谈事务，达到共赢的局面。如：2008年英国首相布朗请郑智、董方卓喝下午茶。
随着全球化的发展，英国下午茶文化进入不同的国家，也进入了不同的领域，无论是文学、学术精神、商业等等，都有着不同程度上英国下午茶的影响及魅力。这让英国下午茶文化更具有学习和运用的价值。
本论文主要分别从英国下午茶的起源、发展，英国下午茶的礼仪与瓷器要求，和英国下午茶对不同领域的影响等方面的论述，通过多维视角的研究来满足呈现英国下午茶文化的独特条件以及下午茶的无国界魅力。让大家更加了解英国下午茶文化。

关键词：英国，下午茶，文化，影响 

Abstract

British afternoon tea culture is one of the most important culture of Britain. Afternoon tea was introduced to England by Anna, the seventh Duchess of Bedford, in the year 1840. The Duchess would become hungry around four o'clock in the afternoon. The evening meal in her household was served fashionably late at eight o'clock, thus leaving a long period of time between lunch and dinner. The Duchess asked that a tray of tea, bread and butter and cake to be brought to her room during the late afternoon. This became a habit of hers and she began inviting friends to join her. Afternoon tea became a fashionable social event. Until now, it has developed into the elegant comfortable afternoon tea and drinking black tea has become the orthodox British culture, which is the origin of "Victorian Tea". There are various requirements and customs about the British afternoon tea – tea of high quality, exquisite deserts fine tableware and melodious classical music. What’s more important, people should keep a good mood.
British afternoon tea is considered as the entry-social activties and is essential for high society in the social aspects of their daily life. It is also one of the best ways for British to entertain friends and hold Sharons. At the same time, afternoon tea has become the international informal social way, by which people are brought closer to each other, so that they will, discuss matters together and reach a win-win situation in a relaxed casual environment. For instance, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown invited two Chinese sports celebrities (e.g. Zhen Zhi and Dong Fangzhuo) to enjoy the afternoon tea in 2008.
With the development of globalization, the British afternoon tea culture has not only spreaded into different countries, but also into different areas. British afternoon tea has big impact on various aspects, such as literature, academic spirit, business etc.
This research paper aims at discussing the origin of the British afternoon tea, the development of it, the related etiquettes and requirements, and the impact of it in different areas, through multi-dimensional perspective of to meet the unique culture of the British afternoon tea and afternoon tea and its borderless charm..

Key words: British, afternoon tea, culture, impact