Today the typical afternoon tea includes a pot of tea accompanied by several small sweet and savory bites. These can include tea sandwiches, cakes and petit fours, biscuits (cookies to Americans), and various other baked goods, almost always including scones.
Many Americans mistakenly refer to afternoon tea (which is usually taken between 3:00 and 5:00 PM) as high tea, but high tea is something different. It is taken later in the day (usually after 5:00) and includes meat and fish dishes as well as the compulsory pot of tea, sweet cakes, and scones. In spite of its lofty name (the "high" might refer to the fact that it was often eaten at the high table in the kitchen or pantry rather than the lower table in the dining room), the high tea is really a light dinner and traditionally was enjoyed by the middle and working classes rather than the aristocracy.
In the area surrounding Devon in the southwestern part of England, the Devon cream tea (or just cream tea) has taken on the status of an unofficial "national dish" of the region. In its simplest form it consists of a pot of tea and scones topped with clotted cream and strawberry jam, but it is not unusual to find tea sandwiches and small sweets served at a cream tea as well.
(*Some people think the tradition might date back a lot further than 1830.) Return to Aftrenoon Tea