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Jam or cream first? The great scone debate ...
Terry Kirby06.11.09
It is the great question facing anyone with a serious interest in tea time: what goes on scones first - the cream or the jam?
Cream tea connoisseur Hollie Newton and the Ritz hotel claim they have the answer.
Ms Newton, 27, an advertising copywriter and art director from Covent Garden, said she had often debated the subject with friends. So she wrote to the Ritz, Fortnum & Mason and Claridges for their opinions, signing herself "Afternoon Tea Enthusiast".
She included a sketch to help them with "this contentious and important matter".
Only the Ritz replied. Executive general manager David Collas wrote: "I can confirm that we at The Ritz London would prefer to encourage the 'jam then cream' option as this is the traditional method of preparing scones."
He also reminded her that butter can be spread first, "although this is reserved for the more indulgent tea taker". Mr Collas said: "We don't get many requests like this but since I am French - where we have no tradition of this - I asked my English staff and it became quite a talking point."
Ms Newton, who attributes her love of cream teas to being born and brought up in Dorset and educated in Devon and Cornwall, said: "I decided to settle the matter once and for all. I was surprised and delighted to get a reply - which came down on my side." The letters led to a surge in internet hits after she attached them to her Facebook page.
But the debate is by no means over - particularly in the West Country. According to Gerald and Heather Knee, who run Broadway House, a guest house and tea room in Devon, the clotted cream comes first, followed by a dollop of strawberry jam.
But in Cornwall, they say, the tradition is for butter first, then a layer of jam, then cream. The Knees' website concedes that the Cornish method has a bonus - "your cream doesn't slide off".
Back in London, at the High Tea café in Highgate, owner Georgina Worthington said: ''Our cream supplier from Devon says jam first, but I think cream, simply because you can get more on that way. And it's butter OR cream, in my view. But I think it's a matter of personal preference."
Reader views (10)
Devon born and bred and I definitely say jam first, then cream. And lots of it.
- Stu, United Kingdom
Born and bread in Devon, thin layer of salted butter followed by thick layer of full fat clotted cream cream then small portion of home made jam on top. The quality of cream has a bearing in this argument, the thin processed cream in the photo would not be used on a scone in Devon.
- Millsy, Barnstaple UK
Having taken tea at the Athenaeum last weekend I am definitely a jam then cream girl!
- Blue Baby, London
Have them both ways. Divide scone and butter each half: one half jam then cream - other half cream then jam. And neither the cream nor the jam falls off whichever is on top. The only dilemma: which one to eat first?
- Keeper Of The Scones, Richmond, London
Cream then jam would be the royal vote, I have no doubt. the Ritz are crackers!
- Squidly, Live from Buckingham Palace
Shouldn't it really just come down to which you like more: jam or cream? Because whichever one you prefer will go on first, to get the maximum amount on the scone. Who really cares if there is a correct way or not? We might as well begin a tea enthusiast discussion as well - tea bag before or after the water?
- Anonymous, London
To put the cream on first is almost as bad as adding your milk AFTER the tea bag and hot water!
SCONE - (BUTTER) - CREAM - JAM
TEA BAG - MILK - HOT WATER - (SUGAR)
- Jc, London
Its only a matter of time before the government legislates on this point. Councils will then employ people to go round looking for people who are getting it wrong and landing them with on-the-spot fines.
- Andrew, London (but born in Devon)
Jam first with cream on top, obviously. T'other way round the jam will fall off. Simples.
- Squiz, Islington
According to the lovely floor manager in Fortnum's who maintains a watch on the first floor it should be jam then the cream (butter optional). But he did say it depends on whether you are speaking to someone from Devon or Cornwall as to which way round they say it should be.
- Lone Gunman, Anywhere but Here
