James W.
Yelp
One of the better places I've had tea in the States. But the thing is, tea in the States is almost universally a poor experience, and I'm not reviewing based on "what could I get elsewhere in reasonable driving distance?" I'm reviewing based on questions of whether this is a quality cream tea and whether or not the price, at $16 per person, is worth it.
Let's address the first question: Is this a quality cream tea? Well, the clotted cream is good, I'll give them that. I've had a go at making my own before, and theirs is a good effort. Unfortunately, the dairy products we have access to in the US make clotted cream a bit of a challenge, as we can't get cream with a high enough fat percentage, generally speaking, and in many parts of the country it's impossible to (legally) buy unpasteurized milk, which is important to making good clotted cream. So, positive marks here -- glad to have proper clotted cream. On the other hand, we were advised that cream tea was "fancy," which doesn't line up to the reality in England, where you can find a cream tea in small, casual cafes and tea rooms tucked into nearly every corner. And the quality of the tea was... fine. It was fine. It's perhaps a bit worse than you'll find at decent tea rooms in England, but certainly better than what you'll find at non-specialty retailers in the States. But at sixteen bucks a pop, I'd like better tea. Most Americans won't know the difference, though, and this will likely be better tea than they're used to. And the scones were tasty, but small.
A half-decent cream tea, then, but in England it would fall somewhere between a museum cafe and a village tea room.
And is it worth it? Well, again, the tea was good-not-great and the scones were small. $16pp is too much for what they ask.
One other niggle: The waitress delivered our scones, cream, and jam, and as my girlfriend went to put cream on scone, advised us that the proper order was scone-jam-cream. And, look -- I agree with her. I'm a jam-first man, not least because the cream will go soft and melty when in contact with a freshly-baked scone. But if you visit Claridge's in London and ask them whether you should do cream first or jam first, they'll tell you it's a matter of taste, and there's no one correct way. To her credit, when my girlfriend interrupted and said, "I'm a cream-first person," she joked back, "Ah, a Cornwaller!" Generally speaking, Cornwall is cream-first country, whilst in Devon it's jam-first. Still, it felt a bit patronizing.
In the end, too-small-but-yummy scones and good clotted cream, with a pot of passable tea does the job better than most places in the States, so if you've really got a craving for a cream tea, Pippa's will, if it doesn't wholly satisfy your urge, at least buy you some time until you can fit a trip to England into the budget. It's just too expensive for what it is -- but scarcity lets you charge these prices.
