Back To The Roots: The Classic Cream Tea

A day out in Windsor led to an afternoon classic cream tea in a crooked house on the shortest street in Britain.

A typically rainy September day in England was the setting for a day out sightseeing and shopping this weekend. Trudging through the idyllic, cobbled streets searching for somewhere to have lunch, with no idea of what we actually fancied, was probably not the best idea when hungry and slightly damp. Eventually we decided to go traditional by choosing a classic cream tea at a posh looking hotel near the train station. We were promptly turned away after not having a reservation, but ten minutes later found a 400 year old 'crooked' little tea parlour (called The Crooked House of Windsor) which also served what we wanted.

The tourist price mark up is quite simply ridiculous with a classic cream tea costing £8.25, going up to £15 and £20 (same price as the posh hotel) if you wanted fresh fruit and finger sandwiches tiered with your scones on a cake stand. However it is want of those typically British experiences; sipping tea and spreading jam on a fresh warm scone, while rain tapped at the windows outside.

But when spreading the condiments onto a scone, which do you spread first? The jam or the cream? It is said that a Devonshire cream tea must layer the cream first and then the jam, while a Cornish cream tea is the other way around. There have been heated arguments surrounding this for years (keep your eyes peeled for a exploratory blog post about the debate coming soon!) and discussions as to which region should claim the cream tea as their own and therefore receive a Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) like a Melton Mowbray Pork Pie from Melton Mowbray! To be completely honest I tried out both methods and did not notice a difference, so I really don't mind as long as tea parlours like The Crooked House of Windsor continue to make them as soft and melt-in-the-mouth as these were.