What is a Crème Tea?

hellomagazine.com- This caught my eye quickly because I have the same Johnson Brothers ironstone.

What is a cream tea?  It is not tea with cream in it.  It is a type of afternoon tea meal. A cream tea, Devonshire tea or Cornish cream tea is tea taken with a combination of scones, clotted cream and strawberry jam. In some instances whipped cream is used. In Devon, they split the scone, spread with clotted creme and top with jam. In Cornwall, they spread the jam first then top with clotted creme.

Now, we Americans ask: what is clotted cream?  Clotted cream is not made in the United States because we pasteurize our milk. It is made when unpasteurized milk is indirectly heated and cooled in shallow containers. Clots form as it cools and the cream rises. The fat content is at least 55% or higher. You can buy imported clotted cream in the U.S. The Devon Company from Corsham, England exports English Double Devon Cream. It has a yellowish color.

A friend brought me this clotted cream and I can't wait to try the real thing.
You also can make your own clotted cream. I found this recipe from the a Little Jaftig.com blog.

2 pints heavy cream preferably with a high fat content and not ultra pasteurized. (Like Cedar Summit Farms)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees
Pour cream into deep oven safe dish (at least 3 or more inches deep)
Cover and bake 8-12 hours or until the cream has formed a thick, yellow skin.
Cool at room temperature and then refrigerate for eight hours.
Skim the yellow clotted cream from the top and serve. You can use the cream that remains below for baking. Yields 1 cup clotted cream.

I tried this recipe with ultra pasterized whipping creme. Here is a pic. I was an interesting experiment. Think I will stick to the bought Devonshire cream even though it is expensive! I guess curiosity killed the cat applies to me in this case. I went to all the trouble of doing this and then was afraid to try it.

I pinned this picture from greatbritishchefs.com because you can see both the Devon tradition and the Cornwall version on a muffin.

Creme tea is an afternoon tradition in England that began in the eighteenth century when Duchess of Bedford would order tea to revive her flagging spirits.  You may read a very interesting history of afternoon tea here.

 My husband and I visited the Lake Country in England and enjoyed a quaint creme tea at this inn. I didn't know what to expect and the mystique and anticipation was a thrill for me.

 Our creme tea. It was delightful!

The other two ladies were with our tour on a day trip from London. During the train ride to and from the lake country, these ladies were so interesting and enjoyable. One was an American ex-pat living in London, and the other was from Omaha, and this was her fourth or fifth trip to London.

The grounds were beautiful, but I digress.

Another debate is: which comes first, the creme or the tea? According to www.afternoontoremember.com, milk goes in after tea. Sugar is placed in the cup first, then thinly sliced lemon, and never milk and lemon together.

You can enjoy elegant tea at The Ritz in London.

 Or you can join my friends and me at my home.

 Last week we had a delightful afternoon sipping tea, eating scones with lemon curd and jam and lots of cream as well as a southern favorite, pound cake.

Each guest brought their own teacup and shared their story.

The brown betty teapot was mentioned in my last post here.
The teacups pictured above will be brought to the table, and their story will be shared too. There wasn't room on the tray for all the teacups.

My dear mother-in-law gave me this beautiful cloth and napkins many years ago, and I loved using them.

I had a great time reading some of my books about serving tea and the history of tea. The teacher in me decided to make a display and share some of the things I had learned about tea customs.

Would you believe one of my guests was visiting  Kentucky and out shopping and attended a book signing. Look at the book she brought me. We all enjoyed looking at it and it is full of wonderful recipes.

I was thrilled with the autographed copy and it fit so well in the conversation.

As my table plans evolved, I remembered my tea caddies and decided to use them as part of the centerpiece. Adding a piece of lace, my great-grandmother crocheted made me realize these items are part of the past. The antique crochet hook is also English. It was a  hostess gift from my friend when her son married that shared the brown betty story with me.

One of the books I found intriguing was Antiques for the Table.
These are antique tea caddy spoons! They are so beautiful, and I would love to have just one. I looked them up on eBay, but they do not fit my budget!

We had a special younger guest that was adorable. She enjoyed her tea too!

My friend Nita made all the tea and served us. Her favorite tea is PG Tips, an English tea.

 I wish I had a recording to listen to each teacup's story again. I enjoyed the stories very much.

I realize everyone is not pictured, and also do apologize for the blurring. I was not concentrating very well on taking pictures because I was too busy enjoying the conversation and didn't want to do anything to distract. You know how people scatter when you get out a camera!

Maxine brought three teacups from her childhood all carefully glued back together.

One of my Sunday School lessons recently highlighted nourishing relationships. As I polished several tarnished silver items as I prepared for the crèam tea it made me think that for something to shine and glow, it takes time, work, and effort. Relationships are like that too. Our lives are so busy but do we take time to nourish and treasure our relationships?

I hope you might take this idea and plan a get-together with your friends. It can be simple or as elaborate as your time allows.

Tea was served from the beautiful white teapot that has a story too. Stay tuned.
Thank you for staying with me because I know this post has gotten rather long. I will share the food I served and recipes in my next post, and maybe a few stories.
I hope if you didn't know what crème tea was, you do now. To recap, it is not tea with cream in it. It is a type of afternoon meal having tea with scones, clotted cream, and jam.

Linking to :Wow Us Wednesday, Tablescape Thursday,
and Open House Party Thursday.