Afternoon tea at the famous Mount Nelson

Brian Berkman says there’s not much to beat afternoon drinks and snacks served in the gardens at the newly refurbished Mount Nelson.

- Brian Berkman

Anna Russell, the Duchess of Bedford, was the first to formalise what so many people now around the world enjoy as Afternoon Tea. She needed a pick-me-up between lunch and dinner and Afternoon Tea was it.

Although nowadays the terms Afternoon Tea and High Tea are used interchangeably to mean a lavish afternoon spread of scones, finger sandwiches and cakes accompanied by tea to drink, this wasn’t always the case.

High Tea, or simply Tea, was something quite different and more akin to an early supper at the end of a hard day’s labour and taken at a high table while sitting on high chairs, in other words, at a dining or kitchen table.

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

There is another nomenclature, which speakers of American English use. For example, there is a significant difference between an American biscuit and an English one. The English consider scones, and round ones at that, what the Americans call a biscuit, which they often serve cut into triangles. What the Americans call a cookie the English might term a biscuit.

Even within England, enjoying a Cream Tea (tea, scones, clotted cream and jam) can be different. While the ingredients are the same, the order in which they are placed is different. The Cornish prefer the cream placed on the halved scone first and then topped with jam. In nearby Devon, they put the jam on the halved scone first and only then the cream.

Clotted cream may also cause some confusion: while it looks like soft butter in colour and texture, it is cream that has 55% fat, which is more than butter or regular cream. Clotted cream is made by boiling or baking the cream first to evaporate the water content.

Adding raisins, currants or sultanas (all dried grapes but from different varieties) to the scone dough before baking is entirely a matter of personal preference.