There are many people who regret the loss of the ceremony of afternoon tea.  This used to be a time when you stopped whatever it was you were doing and literally took a break, had a cup of tea and perhaps a slice of cake before getting back to work.  The benefits of the tea break were clear; less stress, less rushing around, more effective working generally.  Nowadays you tend to fit a cup of tea in on the way to a meeting and instead of enjoying the ritual of the tea making process you slosh a tea bag around a cup of boiling water, add milk and gulp it down.

Having said that, one aspect of the tea making ceremony that is beginning to thrive is the ceremony of tea for one.  This may not be at the same time as afternoon tea used to occur; it does tend to fit around our working lifestyle but the tea for one ceremony, involving a tea for one set has all of the characteristics of the ceremony and therefore achieves lots of its benefits.  So if you are looking for a way to enjoy a little downtime each day why not enjoy tea for one!