What Does Afternoon Tea Mean To You?

Sometimes, there’s nothing you need more than a traditional afternoon tea. If I had my way, I’d have afternoon tea every day of my life. But, believe it or not, I’m married to a man who doesn’t really feel the love for cakes. I know! How did that even happen? Chalk and cheese, the two of us.

In Mother Murphy’s Tearoom, you could order an afternoon tea for breakfast. I wasn’t fussy. I loved the idea that somebody wanted something more than just a brew and a toasted currant teacake. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, of course. I love a currant teacake. Actually, I like a plain teacake too, but up in Scotland, the word teacake is associated with Tunnock’s Teacakes. Which are equally delicious, but a totally different kettle of fish.

My amazing Grandma Lammie was my favourite person in the entire world. Grandmas are like that. Minnie tells me that. I like to believe that my lovely grandma lived all her life on tea, jam sandwiches, and cakes. It’s probably my memories of this that made me dream of serving afternoon teas, and only afternoon teas, all day and every day in the tearoom.

I’d like to think that I created afternoon tea, but sadly, that’s not really true. It’s believed that afternoon tea was first introduced by Anna, the seventh Duchess of Bedford, way back in 1840, when evening meals in the Duchess’s household were served at eight o’clock at night. The Duchess was always hungry around four o’clock in the afternoon and started requesting a little something between meals. This extra meal wasn’t intended to be so grand as to replace the evening meal, but enough to fill the long gap between lunch and dinner. The Duchess would invite a few friends to join her in this ‘Afternoon Tea’, and before long, these friends were holding their own afternoon teas at home. Not surprisingly, this became a bit of a fashionable trend and could soon be found in many hotels and coffee shops around the country.

Now, when I moved up to Scotland, I made the mistake of thinking that a high tea was the same as an afternoon tea. During a work trip to Inverurie, I saw this on a restaurant menu and was beyond excited. Tired, away from home, and the menu was offering me my favourite delight. I soon discovered that the high tea was actually a small portion of fish and chips, served with white bread and butter, tea, and a cake. I have never been so disappointed in my life.

So what really makes a great afternoon tea? It should make you giddy at the sight of it. It should be an event. The person serving it to you should do so in a way that makes you, for that moment in time, feel like the most important person in the room. For me, it’s also down to the location. It has to be a cosy, relaxed setting, with little or no background music, and tables far enough apart that I can talk to my companion without shouting or being distracted by conversations at the next table. 

Next, how should your afternoon tea be presented? It must, without exception, be on a three-tier stand, preferably with a stand for each person. I don’t know about you, but I hate having to discuss around the table who has had which sandwiches, which scone is yours, or how many cakes you’ve had.

When we were opening the tearoom and gathering all our crockery, I had a bit of a ‘discussion’ about this with Mr M, as I’d seen silver three-tier stands that held small plates, so each stand would be just for one person’s afternoon tea. Mr M said he thought they looked silly and that people wouldn’t like them. I’m pleased to say I stuck to my guns with this and ordered enough of these stands to ensure that even when the tearoom was jam-packed with people having afternoon tea, each person would get their own three-tier stand. 

Let’s move on to the order of the tiers. Sandwiches on the bottom, scones in the middle, and cakes on the top. Sandwiches must not be able to drop onto the sweet offerings of scones and cakes.

I like simple sandwich fillings. Egg mayo, tuna mayo, cheese or ham. But proper home-cooked ham, and definitely no mustard! Being a Yorkshire lass, I grew up believing the crusts are the best bit of the loaf, so I’d like the crusts left on, please. Cut them into fingers or triangles, but please don’t serve me massive doorstep sandwiches for my afternoon tea.

Now, let’s take the scones. Scones should never, ever be gigantic, dry, heavy lumps of dough. For an afternoon tea, each person should get two small ones. I don’t need anything fancy in my scone, nothing exotic. Even though I have an incredibly sweet tooth, please don’t put chocolate in my scones, or cheese and mustard!

A good scone needs homemade jam. In so many places I’ve been presented with lovely scones, only to have them spoiled by a plastic sachet of commercial jam – and a cheap version at that. By the way, if you serve my scone with homemade lemon curd, then I’m in heaven.

Cream then jam, or jam then cream? You can spread your jam and cream on your scone in whatever order you please. It’s your scone; you get to choose.

Finally, let’s examine the top tier. The cakes and bakes. This is what an afternoon tea is all about, but sadly this tier is often a huge disappointment. The cakes and bakes for me should be dainty, but not so small as to need a magnifying glass to see them. On the other hand, I don’t want to be served giant pieces of cake for my afternoon tea. Slightly more than bite-sized is just perfect for me.

These delights should be small enough to pick up with your fingers and not need a fork. At the tearoom, we served three small cakes or bakes for the top tier – maybe an individual Victoria sponge, a small empire biscuit, and a mini lemon drizzle loaf.

What about the drinks? For me, it has to be leaf tea served in a teapot with a tea strainer, along with china cups and saucers, teaspoons, and sugar lumps. Please don’t spoil my lovely afternoon tea by giving me a cup of hot water and a tea bag on the plate for me to make my own!

Oh, and never bring me my teacup with the milk jug inside it! Also, serve my milk in a pretty milk jug, not a small milk bottle!

I do realise that not everyone is partial to tea, and we were very happy to serve a drink of your choice for your afternoon tea. If you preferred one of our lovely coffees, or even a cold drink, then that was your choice. It’s your afternoon tea delight for you to enjoy as you please. I’ll stick to a steaming teapot of breakfast tea for mine, though. 

One of the most outstanding afternoon tea events at the tearoom was our Britain at War Afternoon Tea, which we held in May 2019. Everyone dressed appropriately for the event, and we had a couple of Land Girls, an Officer, a Gentleman, Amy Johnson, and an Army Medic. We sang wartime-themed songs, including The Music Man, Where Have All the Flowers Gone, Hang Out Your Washing on the Siegfried Line, and I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing. There was a quiz with a prize, with everyone making their own evacuation tags for the deciding question.

I always say that opening was a dream come true. And that day was perfect. My very own tearoom, jam-packed with people having afternoon tea, chatting, laughing, singing (even crying). We eventually managed to get everyone to leave the tearoom in the early evening, even though the event officially finished at 4 pm!

While I’m talking about afternoon teas, let’s just take a minute to think about a gluten-free and dairy-free option. There is absolutely no excuse for dry, tasteless sandwiches; scones must not be replaced with fruit; there should be no bought-in Bakewell tart; and absolutely no chocolate brownies! At the tearoom, it was difficult to tell whether an afternoon tea was gluten-free and dairy-free or not. I took great pride in ensuring that.

The pandemic of 2020 forced the closure of the tearoom. Does that mean that I don’t get to serve afternoon tea? Honestly, not very often. Remember, Mr M doesn’t like cakes. But whenever I can, I will order afternoon tea when I go out.

Then there are times when I get to serve afternoon tea. I still have the silver stands and the crockery from the tearoom, and I get to tackle the spiders in the hut now and again to dig them out from their sturdy boxes.

This month, I am doing exactly that. A writing group that formed as a Scottish section of Write That Book meets twice a year. We originally met in a famous fish and chip restaurant in Edinburgh, which was great, but very noisy, and we couldn’t really talk to each other. Although I did get to sample, for the first time in my life, the renowned deep-fried Mars Bar. I was totally underwhelmed by this, and it’s not something I’ll be rushing to order again.

Then the fabulous Dr Rhona Morrison offered her house as the venue. I thought it only right that if Rhona was providing the premises, I should offer to make afternoon tea for everyone. And that’s what we do: we meet, we chat, we sit around a table and eat our afternoon tea. Rhona prepares the savouries, and I provide the scones and the sweet delights, all served on silver three-tier stands.

But it’s not just about the cake; it’s the opportunity to spend time with people who are living in the same world as you, who know that writing a book is not the end of the journey. Ideas about marketing, promotion, selling, new stories, the experiences, the good, the bad, and things only another author can fully understand, fly around the table as we eat and chat.

And for me. I get to be creative with my cakes and bakes rather than just with my writing. What will I bake this time? What would be your choice of cakes for an afternoon tea?

If you’d like to read more stories from the tearoom, why not get yourself a signed copy of The Magical Tearoom on the Hill? These are the exact goodies that we served in the tearoom. Most of the recipes are gluten-free and dairy-free, but nobody knew. 

Click the image below to order your signed copy:

I hope you've enjoyed this week's blog, and don't forget to leave a comment or a suggestion for your favourite afternoon tea cakes.

Debra x