Tea, In Three Courses (Course 2)

In Course 1, we talked about the origin of tea, the history of afternoon tea, and a brief discussion of some of the varieties of tea. For course 2, we will get into afternoon tea, an event that is a meal and an experience, all in one.

Cream tea. Scones, jam, clotted cream. Copyright 2022, England for All Reasons.

In the afternoon, one can have a simple Cream Tea, which is generally a cup of tea and something with Clotted cream, or whipped cream. It could be just a scone or two, or what we in the US would call a dessert, like an éclair, or a slice of cake. Basically, it is a sweet snack to tide you over until dinner.

However, “Afternoon Tea” is a more substantial offering, consisting of finger sandwiches, scones, sweets (petit fours), and tea, sometimes accompanied by champagne or prosecco.  Afternoon tea with champagne is often referred to as “Royal Afternoon Tea,” although that is not a universal term.

Finger sandwiches, l to r, cucumber and cream cheese, egg salad, smoked salmon, coronation chicken, roast beef. Copyright 2022, England for All Reasons.

The finger sandwiches are long and thin, often made with different varieties of bread. We have enjoyed sandwiches of smoked salmon with cream cheese, egg salad, roast beef with mayonnaise, ham, cheese with a bit of pickle, and sometimes Coronation Chicken. That last is a recipe for chicken salad that was created and published in 1953 on the occasion of the coronation of the late Queen Elizabeth II. The idea was for it to be something that anyone could make and serve as part of the celebration of the coronation. Even the late Queen shared in Coronation Chicken on that day!

Well-made finger sandwiches are uniform in size with no crust on them. Generally, four are served, roughly the equivalent of one full sandwich, but with four options!  Marsha does not like smoked salmon so we generally swap. Invariably, she selects the chicken sandwich from my plate when I get the salmon from hers. I don’t think I’ve had Coronation Chicken in the last ten years!

Also, generally, there will be two scones, one plain and one with fruit, usually sultana raisins, along with a small bowl of jam, typically strawberry, and bowl of what is called clotted cream. Despite the strange name, imagine a delightfully rich, thick, almost soft-butter consistency of pure cream. To eat the scone, you carefully pull it apart, apply the jam to the scone, then top it with a spoonful of the clotted cream and then eat it open-faced, never closed together like a sandwich.  Mmmmm, good!

The sweets, petit fours. Varies by shop. Photo copyright 2022, England for All Reasons

The sweets vary, falling into the petit fours category of food, small, individual portions of pastry concoctions. Examples would be Battenburg or other type of cake, an éclair, or a small fruit tartlet, or even a biscuit (what we Americans call a cookie)—usually a small selection of these sweets, between two and five, depending on the tearoom.

In addition, you will have options for the variety of tea you would like.  Most of the time there will be options from all varieties:  Black, Green, Oolong and White tea varieties, along with a few non-tea infusions or tisanes for those who prefer decaf.  These options are composed of a blend of fruits, flowers or herbs. We’ll cover more about the options in Course 3. Typically, each person will get an individual pot of tea that holds two to three cups of tea. Some tearooms may even offer a different selection of tea with each course, so you can change tea variety to suit the food being served, if you wish.

Typical triple tier presentation of tea. Copyright 2022, England for All Reasons.

And that brings up service. The most common approach to serving afternoon tea is on a “triple-tiered” server or a stack of three plates arranged from the largest on the bottom to the smallest on top, held together by a central rod. This “triple” will have the finger sandwiches on the bottom, scones in the middle with the jam and cream, and sweets on top. One starts from bottom to top. Sometimes each person gets an individual triple, but generally, for tea-for-two, there will be one triple, with a total of eight finger sandwiches, four scones, and six to ten sweets. Yes, that is a lot of food, so be sure to go hungry!

Some tearooms will offer additional sandwiches if you want them. Generally, we don’t get more as we know that by the time we have had scones and sweets we are full but, if you are a hearty eater, it’s not incorrect to accept the offer of additional sandwiches. Also, it’s perfectly reasonable to accept more tea if it is offered.

The only etiquette tips I have are that finger sandwiches are just that, finger sandwiches, so it’s perfectly acceptable to pick them up to eat. Same for the scones and for the sweets, but sometimes the sweets can be a bit sticky, in which case use the provided dessert fork to both cut it into smaller pieces to eat.

There are two methods for brewing the tea, using loose tea or tea bags. For tea brewed with loose tea that is left in the pot, you will be given a strainer to place over the cup, pour the tea through the strainer and then remove the strainer and put it in the provided holder, or saucer. Repeat each time you refill the cup or you will get tea leaves in your cup. If you do get tea leaves in the cup, just leave them there and drink carefully until the leaves are left at the bottom of the cup. The other brewing method is with teabags and, if they are in the pot, just leave them in place and pour your tea into the cup.

When the tea is poured, if you add milk or sugar, use the small teaspoon provided to stir. Do so gently, in a back-and-forth motion, to allow the sugar cube to dissolve in the tea. Try to avoid banging the spoon against the cup. When done perfectly, it is a silent process.

Finally, that bothersome pinky finger. Originally cups were very small, made of delicate bone china, which were difficult for ladies to keep balanced. The pinky finger was raised to help balance this lightweight cup while drinking. However, today the cups are much sturdier and better balanced, usually with well-shaped handles on them. So, an extended pinky today is considered an affectation, not to be done at the tea table.