Scrumptious Sconnoisseur Cream Tea…..By Post!

I’ve become a bit of a fan of afternoon tea in my old age. Rather like the Scandinavian Fika tradition, taking time out of the day to pause and eat something delicious is a very good idea non? Full on afternoon tea feasting can be a bit much which is where the classic cream tea with scones comes in to its own.

You don’t always want to head out to a fancy hotel so imagine how great it would be to receive a cream tea in the post to enjoy in the comfort of your own home. Well imagine no more, I recently learnt about Sconnoisseur who do exactly just that!

One concern I had was how the scones would survive the mail’s parcel tossing. To my surprise, they arrived in perfect condition in a gift box – even the ‘S’ on top of the scones. The Sconnoisseur scone sets include scones, jam, clotted cream and tea – all of which you can choose from various options including savoury options, spelt scones and fruit teas.

A traditional cream tea is a plain or fruit scone served with strawberry jam and clotted cream. I’m not one for rigidly following tradition so even better to see that Sconnoisseur offer a variety of mouthwatering sweet and savoury flavours.

Sconnoisseur was launched in late 2013 and I asked the founder, Sergei, what inspired him to focus on scones:

“Typically, you can find a range of different flavours for cakes. Say, if you go for an afternoon tea, then you can be served absolutely any type of cake, any flavour, French / British cuisine inspired and so on. Whereas scones usually just come in two flavours: traditional fruit or plain, which seemed a bit boring to me. The idea came to my mind to experiment with different flavours for scones and see what happens. I also loved the idea that you can mix scones with different types of jams. For example, for a dark chocolate and orange scones we recommend serving orange / apricot type of jam. So this is an attempt to go beyond a plain scone with some strawberry jam and make our life a bit more exciting.”

I tried a couple of flavours. The scones tasted home-made, light but with a firm non-crumbly texture. A look at the ingredients list showed no weird additives and they’re suitable for vegetarians but not vegans. I heated them up in the oven before serving for maximum scone flavour.

Sconnoisseur White Chocolate and Raspberry Scone

I’m not a fan of white chocolate so was expecting to find these too sweet. Oh my goodness – delicious. There is just enough chocolate to perfectly balance any tartness from the raspberry. Really scrumptious.

Sconnoisseur Rosewater Scone

I adore roses as you know. However in food, it can sometimes be cloying. Here the delicate sweetness and fragrance of rosewater are present but it’s not overpowering or too perfume-y.

The eternal debate rages on between Devon and Cornwall about whether cream or jam goes first. Clearly I’m Team Devon – cream first!

Sconnoisseur also offer Scone Club, a monthly delivery of surprise flavour scones. These are a lovely treat, whether for self-indulgence (sorry not sharing) or as a gift.

Sconnoisseur Scone Box including four scones start from £19.99 www.sconnoisseur.co.uk