Tea, scone, jam, and clotted cream.
Make Your Tea and Scone-ing Plan
Kissing the Blarney Stone
Irish Tea and Scones
Tea in Ireland is a treat. Unlike in America, where you’re handed a cup of hot water and a tea bag to unwrap, tea in Ireland feels special – it’s an experience. After a chilly day of Blarney Stone-kissing, tea is a warming opportunity to reinvigorate before continuing your journey.
Tea is served in a pot. It’s offered with cream or milk, sugar, and perhaps lemon and honey. Scones aren’t a must, but definitely worthwhile. Sampling scones is a fun game for the family to compare and contrast offerings from place-to-place. Served warm with butter or clotted cream, with raisins, without raisins, with jam or without jam – it’s all great fun and tasty testing!
A cup of Bewley’s in a Dublin department store.
Big City Tea
A warm cuppa at Costa in Merchants Quay, Cork, Ireland
The Tea Room
Tea and scones lakeside at Lough Key Forest Park, Boyle, Ireland
A Scenic View
Tea with a view of Knocknarea at Mammy Johnston’s in Strandhill, County Sligo
The Insider Tip
There’s nothing more satisfying than eschewing the on-site tea room for a special location referred to you by a local. We found such a place after touring the Titanic Experience in Cobh (pronounced Cove). A Cobh resident directed us down the street to the Coffee Cove for tea and enormous scones, which in my humble opinion were the best of our trip.
Be brave, ask for a referral or venture out on your own. Your daring may result in a delicious pay-off.
Leave the Crowd Behind
The Stone Cutter’s Kitchen, Doolin, County Clare, Ireland
You’ll Be Hooked
The key to proper ‘tea and scone-ing’ is not to go overboard. The whole idea is to order just enough to hold you over until dinner time. If you’re inclined to order more than a scone, you may as well eat lunch. It’s also easy to switch up the order; have a big lunch and replace your evening meal with tea and scones.
After several days of Irish tea and scones, you’ll become an aficionado. You may even want to continue tea-drinking upon your return home. Ireland is the perfect place to find all things tea-related and trust me, teapot cozies make a perfect souvenir and fit easily into luggage. Should you find after days of tasting, sipping, and comparing tea and scones throughout Ireland you’re looking for variety or something a wee bit stronger, remember, Ireland is famous for other things as well.
Slàinte!
The Towers Bar & Restaurant at the foot of Croagh Patrick, Westport, County Mayo, Ireland
