The Cream Tea · The Tea Caddy

Scones, clotted cream, strawberry jam and a pot of tea. On the order of the middle two, the West Country has never agreed.

Split the scone with your fingers, never a knife; it should come apart in two even halves.
Spread the clotted cream thickly, as one butters bread.
Spoon the jam over the top, and do not mention this in Cornwall.

The question

Two scone halves spread with strawberry jam and topped with clotted cream — Jam first, then cream: the Cornish way. Andy Li, CC0

In Devon the clotted cream goes on first, spread like butter, and the jam on top. In Cornwall the jam goes first and the cream is spooned on to crown it. Each county will tell you the other has it backwards, and both claim the cream tea as their own: Tavistock, in Devon, points to monks feeding the men who rebuilt its abbey on bread, cream and preserves a thousand years ago.

The scone

A whole fruit scone on a plate with a knife, small dishes of jam and clotted cream beside it — A fruit scone, its cream and jam waiting. Andy Li, CC0

Plain or fruited, baked that day and still a little warm. It should rise straight and split cleanly round its waist. In Cornwall it was once a split, a soft white roll, and some tea rooms still serve one.

The cream and the jam

Close view of a bowl of clotted cream, its yellow crust broken by a spoon — Clotted cream, its golden crust broken. Kai Hendry, CC BY 2.0

Clotted cream is cream heated slowly in shallow pans until a thick golden crust forms, then cooled. Cornish clotted cream has a protected name. Nothing else will do: not whipped cream, and certainly not from a can. The jam is strawberry, as a rule; raspberry is forgiven.

The tea

Whichever way you take it, the tea is a strong black one: an Assam or a breakfast blend, with milk.