Having â€˜Cream Teaâ€™ at the Bath Bun Tea Shoppe in Bath, England

Shall we have â€˜Afternoon Teaâ€™ or â€˜Cream Teaâ€™? Which is which?

Firstly though, we need to identify the difference between an Afternoon Tea and a Cream Tea. For non-English folks, or shall I say, non-UKâ€™ers who are perhaps more familiar with Afternoon Tea, one might wonder just what a Cream Tea is.

An â€˜Afternoon Teaâ€™ is the whole shebang of social tea gatherings where you get all sorts of tarts, sweet pastries and cupcakes presented on a 3-tiered silver tray. Additionally, you get helpings of cold sandwiches and a basket of fresh from the oven English scones paired with jam and clotted cream. On top of that you get chocolates. All these to go with your humble pot of tea. This, I can assure you can be very filling, and if you are like me who has a huge appetite but with a small stomach, do prepare to not have lunch or dinner, whichever suits you fine I guess. You will definitely need to make some room for those heavy, sweet, indulgent and creamy stuff!

In some countries like the Netherlands and United Arab Emirates, they offer their afternoon teas with some hot small dishes. See my afternoon tea visits to the Amstel Hotel, the Grand Cafe Mathilde in Krasnapolsky Hotel and the Museum of Bags and Purses in Amsterdam, as well as my sky afternoon tea at the Burj al Arab in Dubai.

A â€˜Cream Teaâ€™ though is just the simple and straightforward versionâ€”scones with jam and clotted cream and a pot of black tea. Now this is my real cup of tea. I can handle and enjoy this immensely, without having to go through the stress of gobbling every sandwich, scone and sweet pastry in an Afternoon Tea setting. So in Bath, I decided to go for a Cream Tea than a lavish Afternoon Tea.

I chose the Bath Bun Tea Shoppe because it looked so lovely from the outside. Small, traditional and very English. It is also situated right smack in the centre, actually just next to my Abbey studio on Abbey Green, making it very convenient for me.

Of course everyone has different tastes so I have here a list of Afternoon Tea and Cream Tea places in Bath that you can choose from: List 1 and List 2

Another very English and pleasant Cream Tea experience I had was several years ago in York at Bettys Cafe Tea Rooms.

I was seated by the window which is just fine.

The waitresses wear the traditional black maid’s uniform with lace-rimmed aprons.

Cream Tea at the Bath Bun Tea Shoppe. Some tea rooms offer 2 pieces of scones for Cream Tea. I am fine with just 1 really.

The English drink their tea with milk. I don’t, and I like to keep it this way =). And oh, no sugar please as well.

This is just so heavenly. A week later from this trip, I asked the Dutchman to bring some freshly baked scones when he was in Guernsey, Channel Islands and I managed to drop by at Marks & Spencers in Kalverstraat, Amsterdam for some real Cornish clotted cream as well.