A project I have set for myself is to rate local cafe’s on the quality of their cream tea. I will give each one a rating out of 5 Buzzard’s eggs based on quality of scone, jam (out of 0.5), cream(out of 0.5), tea, price and experience. I’m going to be a harsh critic here as this is a subject of great importance.
My ideal cream tea:
1 - Quality of scone: Must be big, points for homemade. Must hold together when cut or broken (ideally with split when twisted) in half. Sweet taste but slightly moist. I like fruit in it but will not penalise for all butter. Bonus if served warm.
2 - Quality of jam: Good texture, with bits in it. Points for
3 - Quality of cream: Clotted and enough to dollop all over.
4 - Quality of tea: Nice crockery and enough for 2 cups.
5 - Quality of price: The cheaper the better. Anything over £5 is too much. £3 is the dream.
6 - Quality of experience: Classic tea rooms is the best. Want to have other people there and friendly staff. I do not want to wait long. I’m likely to be tired at this point and I know it’s hardly a difficult thing to serve so shouldn’t take too long, points easily lost for this.
My ideal cream tea:
1 - Quality of scone: Must be big, points for homemade. Must hold together when cut or broken (ideally with split when twisted) in half. Sweet taste but slightly moist. I like fruit in it but will not penalise for all butter. Bonus if served warm.
2 - Quality of jam: Good texture, with bits in it. Points for
3 - Quality of cream: Clotted and enough to dollop all over.
4 - Quality of tea: Nice crockery and enough for 2 cups.
5 - Quality of price: The cheaper the better. Anything over £5 is too much. £3 is the dream.
6 - Quality of experience: Classic tea rooms is the best. Want to have other people there and friendly staff. I do not want to wait long. I’m likely to be tired at this point and I know it’s hardly a difficult thing to serve so shouldn’t take too long, points easily lost for this.
The Best
Hurstwood Tea RoomsScone: all butter. ice shortbread texture. Home made. Medium size. Slightly crumbled when cut in half but overall good consistency. 0.8 Jam: raspberry Very sweet. Good amount. 0.4 Cream: tasty clotted cream. Nice but not exceptional 0.3 Tea: good amount. Nice tea set. Hot water given. Good amount of milk. 0.8 Price. Free! It was part of a church tea rooms (I did give a donation) 1.0.
Experience 0.9 Very friendly and good fun. Only point lost was for setting. 4.2 |
Bashall BarnScone: Cold, rough consistency almost biscuit like. Good flavour, shortbread vibes. A bit too crumbly and small in size. 0.7
Jam: Small pot, very runny. Strawberry with nice flavour. 0.3 not enough and too runny Cream: Small pot, clotted with good consistency 0.4 lost point for not enough Tea: enough for 2 cups. Came with a biscuit and a standard set. 0.7 Price £4.45 reasonable. 0.6 Experience: Very nice cafe/restaurant, friendly staff, above average but not the holy grail. 0.4 3.5 |
Bridge House Farm
Scone: not warmed but large. Tough to break. Too flat so couldn't turn in two. Crumby. Tasty but tough to eat 0.7
Jam: loads of it. Blackcurrant. Strong flavour. 0.4 Cream: loads of it. Light, I prefer a bit denser. 0.3 Tea: Nice standard pot with nice volume 0.6 Price: £4.55. 0.6 Experience: Atmosphere nice setting. Classic tea room's 0.7 3.3 |
The Average
Dent Heritage Centre
Scone: Struggled to break in 2. Slightly dry. Not sugary enough. Too dry for my liking. Too big for how dry it was 0.2
Jam: Strawberry. Quite runny but sweet and nice volume 0.4 Cream: lots of it. Nice pot not clotted 0.3 Tea: quality cup nice mug and set 0.8 Price: £4.50 0.6 Experience: absolutely wild place. just totally West, full of mannequins and artifacts. Friendly staff but dead quiet. Might have been the weather but I did not want to leave 0.8 3.1 |
Curlew Crafts
Scone: Warm scone, very soft but held its shape when cut. Good amount of sugar. Topped with icing sugar and had sultanas in. Big enough to cut into thirds. Good effort. 0.7
Jam: Raspberry. Very tasty in a little jar making it hard to scrape out. 0.4 Cream: Good amount and clotted. 0.4 Tea: Not the nicest crockery but a big pot which is a bonus. 0.6 Price: Moderate. 0.4 Experience: Only 1 other table, fairly friendly but not the best environment 0.3 2.8 |
The Cafe at Stydd
Scone: warm and smells great. Fruity, easy to cut and doesn't break apart. Burnt currents on outside. 0.8
Jam: strawberry and very sweet, enough for both halves. 0.4 Cream: smooth but not enough, quite upsetting. 0.2 Tea: Standard and enough for 2 cups. 0.5 Experience: Nice place in a greenhouse but felt out of place, not really a proper tea rooms. Took ages to come out. Not ideal for a cream tea. 0.6 Cost: £5.80. Not cheap. 0.3 2.8 |
The Worst
Llyn Trawsfynydd Lakeside Cafe
Scone: Decent size. Broke easily but with average taste. Cold and a bit dry. 0.6 Jam: Strawberry, pre made and tasteless. Nowhere near enough, made for a very poor cream to jam ratio. 0.1 Cream: Prepacked but was already open oddly. Clotted and adequate amount 0.4 Tea: Poor. Bad set with bad taste. But a lot of it. 0.3
Cost: £4.55 Don't like spending an extra £1 for cream. 0.6 Experience: Very average. School canteen vibe 0.4 2.4 |
To come
To come
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To come
To come
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