If you're visiting London, I really recommend that you experience one of my favorite British traditions: Afternoon tea! Afternoon tea came about back in 1840 when the Seventh duchess of Bedford would find herself getting hungry around 4:00 p.m., in between her lunch and her dinner. So she started ordering to her room tea, bread, and butter to have to hold her over until dinnertime. Eventually she started inviting friends to experience this with her, and here we are today. It's a full blown tradition, although we don't do it every day like she did, because we would all be fat and broke, so it's a good thing.
These days, afternoon tea is offered in most hotels and in many restaurants, and it's typically served between about noon and 4:00 o'clock, but that varies completely by the venue. A traditional afternoon tea usually happens like this: First, you'll be given a list of the teas that are available at the place that you're having tea, and you can choose whatever tea you like, which is then brought out to you in its own little teapot. Then you'll be brought a selection of savory finger sandwiches, scones, and sweet treats. This is usually brought to you on a tiered serving plate, and you're meant to start from the bottom where the savory sandwiches are and work your way up.
However, I love when the scones come out nice and hot, and sometimes I sneak in a scone before I start at the bottom.
When you eat the scones, you should cut them in half, kind of like a burger bun, and then you can put clotted cream and jam on each piece and eat it separately. There are arguments around the UK about whether you should put the clotted cream or the jam first, as different areas around the country usually have their own way of doing it, but I say it's completely up to you what you want to do. Some afternoon teas are themed, which means that they're similar to traditional afternoon tea, but then they'll have a bit of a twist to them. An example of this is at the Sanderson Hotel.
They have a Mad Hatter's tea. The price of afternoon tea varies greatly. It starts in London around about £20 per person and can go up to anywhere around £80 per person.
It just depends on what type of venue that you end up going to. If you're really on a budget, or maybe even just short on time, you can go for a cream tea, which is kind of like a reduced afternoon tea. You'll get the scones and the tea, and that's it.
I've given you a couple of recommendations for where to get afternoon tea in this video, but if you want more, then you should sign up for my free course about the things that you must do when you come to London. Otherwise, you haven't really done London properly. Afternoon tea is one of the things that I talk about in the course, but there are quite a few other things that I think you should do while you're here.
So you can sign up for that free course by clicking the card popping up in the corner right here. I also have a video about another British tradition, which is Sunday roast. If you've never heard of that before or you don't know exactly how it works, then you should definitely watch my guide to getting Sunday roast in London by clicking over here.