What is the correct order to eat afternoon tea?
Picture the scene, you have booked yourself in for a posh afternoon tea at a London hotel. You arrive, dressed in your best tea dress, and sit down eagerly to enjoy your afternoon treat. A tiered tray laden with scones, sandwiches, and other treats is expertly placed on your table by a gloved waiter alongside your teacup. Your immediate thought is ‘Which tier should I start with?’
Outlined below are some tips to help you navigate your way around the afternoon tea table.
The Tiered Stand
Tiered stands are really a space-saving way of presenting the full afternoon tea on the smaller afternoon tea tables. As the popularity of afternoon tea and high tea has soared, the tiered stands almost represent a competition amongst many of London’s top pastry chefs to produce the most impressive creations.
From a dining perspective, here is the order to start:
1. Always start at the bottom. The bottom tier is reserved for the sandwich course which is sometimes called the savory course.
2. Second you should move on to the scones. Please note that the scones are not always featured on the stand and their position can change between the middle or top tier. Some chefs prefer to send the scones to the table separately when the sandwich course has been finished so that they are served warming meaning the clotted cream gently melts into the gorgeous fluffy scone.
3. Finally, the last thing that you should eat is the pastry course. In hotels, this is usually a small assortment of cakes, like Victoria sponge, carrot cake, Battenberg or other favourites.
Afternoon Tea Expert tips
1. Absolutely under any circumstances should you skip ahead to a later course if your fellow guests are still eating one.
2. While it is tempting to fill up on the many refills that some of the larger hotels offer, remember it is quite a lot of food and it always tastes better in the hotel than it does at home! Plus some of the little cakes will not travel very well so they would be enjoyed much better from the delicate pastry plate in the hotel with an expertly brewed cup of tea!
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