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Cream teas

Cream tea: Tea served with a scone that’s topped with butter, jam, and clotted cream. I make scones at home from time to time, but as clotted cream is pretty much impossible to get in the States, I was excited to have cream tea in the UK whenever an occasion arose.
Cream Tea #1: Patisserie Valerie in Stratford-Upon-Avon (right across from Shakespeare’s birthplace)

Cream Tea #2: Patisserie Valerie in London
(I was sick, hence the lemon in the tea)

Cream Tea #3: Tea Shop in the Tower of London

Cream Tea #4: Taken to-go at Heathrow Airport (my camera had died by this point)

I discovered that I prefer the combination of a warm scone (pronounced “scuhne” not “scohne”), raspberry jam, and fresh cream over a not-warmed scone, strawberry jam, and packaged cream. However, that’s really just little details. I loved that you always got the jam or marmalade in little glass jars. I loved the little personal tea kettle you sometimes get. I loved the decadence of the butter and jam and cream together, and the fact that it’s common knowledge that a scone must be dressed up in this way, and always paired with tea.

I miss cream tea.