Cream Tea
Zoe was on a mission this week to have Cream Tea. I have heard her talk about Cream Tea before and always thought it was tea with cream in it. Wrong. Technically, Cream Tea is tea served with scones and either clotted or whipped cream. There are several places on the island that have Cream Tea, but one of the best is in Godshill.
Sitting at the hill of a 9th century church, Godshill's main road is often filled with large tour busses of tourists taking in the shops, the pubs, and the Old Smithy Gardens Tea Room. These monstrous buses drop off groups of OAPs (Old Age Pensioners or what I call back home: Mom & Dad) who, like today, end their trip to Godshill with Cream Tea.
We opted on sharing a double pot of tea and two scones, with whipped cream. I actually like tea, but as with my coffee, prefer it black. I want to taste the tea without hiding it in layers of milk and sugar. Now the downside to black tea is its temperature. The English like to serve everything skin scalding hot. Tea, food, you name it...hot, hot, hot. Since I like the skin on the roof of my mouth, I typically have to wait before I can drink my tea. Since everyone else adds a little milk to bring the temperature down, I'm stuck holding my cup and waiting for it to enter the "safe temperature for Mike's mouth" zone.
The tea was nice, and the scone and cream was even nicer. The English love their sweets, and they love their tea even more. When you put them together in a Cream Tea, you can see why Old Smith is such a popular spot.
In order to balance out the English traditions, after walking through Godshill we ended up in the beer garden of The Griffin pub. The Griffin was another "non-local" pub which appeared to cater more to tourists than residents. The place was large, clean, and empty, as most of the shops in Godshill had closed and all of the tour busses had left. I had a pint of Old Speckled Hen pulled for me and went out back with everyone to enjoy the warm evening air.
So, what will it be, tea or beer? Well depending on the time of day, I'll take both.
Sitting at the hill of a 9th century church, Godshill's main road is often filled with large tour busses of tourists taking in the shops, the pubs, and the Old Smithy Gardens Tea Room. These monstrous buses drop off groups of OAPs (Old Age Pensioners or what I call back home: Mom & Dad) who, like today, end their trip to Godshill with Cream Tea.
We opted on sharing a double pot of tea and two scones, with whipped cream. I actually like tea, but as with my coffee, prefer it black. I want to taste the tea without hiding it in layers of milk and sugar. Now the downside to black tea is its temperature. The English like to serve everything skin scalding hot. Tea, food, you name it...hot, hot, hot. Since I like the skin on the roof of my mouth, I typically have to wait before I can drink my tea. Since everyone else adds a little milk to bring the temperature down, I'm stuck holding my cup and waiting for it to enter the "safe temperature for Mike's mouth" zone.
The tea was nice, and the scone and cream was even nicer. The English love their sweets, and they love their tea even more. When you put them together in a Cream Tea, you can see why Old Smith is such a popular spot.
In order to balance out the English traditions, after walking through Godshill we ended up in the beer garden of The Griffin pub. The Griffin was another "non-local" pub which appeared to cater more to tourists than residents. The place was large, clean, and empty, as most of the shops in Godshill had closed and all of the tour busses had left. I had a pint of Old Speckled Hen pulled for me and went out back with everyone to enjoy the warm evening air.
So, what will it be, tea or beer? Well depending on the time of day, I'll take both.
Mike Lang