There are 156 days till 2009. Drinking tea is something that has been done for thousands of years in China, but in England people have only drunk tea for a few centuries. Their practice of afternoon tea started in the middle of the 17th century. In England it was the habit to eat only two meals a day. The first meal was breakfast. It was simple, usually just meat and bread. The second meal was dinner; it was big and served at the end of the day. Anna, the seventh Duchess of Bedford, found that she was often hungry at about four o’clock each afternoon. Since dinner was not served until eight o’clock, she started to have a tray with tea, bread, and cakes sent to her room every afternoon.