Tea Time Glossary

Full Tea: a complete, four-course afternoon tea with sandwiches, scones, sweets and a dessert finale.

High Tea: most often served as a full tea with larger portions. It is enjoyed at approximately six o'clock and is a light supper or a before-theater meal. An entrée, such as chicken à la king or meat pie, may be served with breads, biscuits, salad, cheese, fruit and sweets. Everyone sits down at the table.

Light Tea: a lighter version of afternoon tea, with a scone and a sweet.

Royal Tea: adds a glass of champagne or sherry to the full tea.

Farmer's Tea: is a combination of a ploughman's lunch including heavy grained bread, sharp cheese, fruit and sausages or meat pie, popular in British pubs, served with a sweet.

Scones: light, tender biscuits served hot from the oven with jam and butter or clotted cream.

Crumpets: like griddle cakes that develop surface holes as they cook. Americans often substitute English muffins.

Cream Tea: is an afternoon tea that features scones and clotted cream (for the scones).

Clotted cream: also called Devonshire cream, is made in Devonshire, England, by separating the cream from the unhomogenized milk and scalding it until it is extra thick.

Lemon curd: is a thick sauce, the consistency of pudding, used like jam, on crumpets and scones and also as a filling for tarts.