The Scrumptious Tearooms

I love tea, and, luckily, I grew up with a family who love tea, in a nation that…loves tea! I love having a cuppa and a natter especially with friends or with my Mum in the kitchen. On visits home I always get a cup of tea brought to me in the morning, loose leaf English Breakfast – yes I am spoilt! So when I stumbled across The Secret Tea Society there was no doubt in my mind that I had to become a member and gain access to their fabulous events. So when they asked me to pop in to the Scrumptious Tearooms, and blog about it, I was thrilled. Any excuse to try a new tea, visit a tearoom or tuck into cake is right up my street so it’s lucky this latest venture took me straight down that street into tearoom heaven.

Tucked in the centre of Great Dunmow, a historic village in Essex, you will find the Scrumptious Tearooms, winners of ‘The Best Tea Shop and Coffee Shop in Essex’ awarded by the Essex Life Fine Food and Drinks Awards 2013. The surrounding countryside is scenic, the roads wind around the fields and there are plenty of opportunities to pop into a farm shop to pick up eggs or you know, hay. If you find yourself exploring the area I’d also recommend popping into the pretty little village of Finchingfield, it has a surprisingly steep drive up to the church, a lovely antiques shop and a windmill.

Back in Great Dunmow The Scrumptious Tearooms sits on the corner of the main road through the town. Teapots are painted into the name on the shop front and the hanging teapot sign whispers promises of a nice cup of loose leaf tea; all clearly display their love of tea before you even step inside. On entering I found myself welcomed with a smile into a bustling tearoom, cakes on display and the perfect tearoom music playing, so far, so good!

The menu offered everything from full afternoon tea to homemade quiche and all kinds of cake but I already knew I wanted the Flitch Tea which is a scone, cream, jam and a drink. Now, you may be thinking…’but surely that is just a Cream Tea?’, and essentially you would be right but for two things. First the scone choice and tea choice is in no way ordinary but utterly enticing, ranging from the Golden Monkey tea to Precious Peach and gingerbread hot chocolate to the Breckland Orchard soft drinks. I chose the cranberry and white chocolate scone and English Rose tea. Secondly the name, Flitch Tea, actually hints at a local past time, the Flitch Trials, which are actually quite romantic and have nothing to do witches, thieves or highway men. The story goes that a local Lord and Lady went to the priory of Little Dunmow dressed as common folk and begged for a blessing over their marriage of one year and one day, to gain the blessing they had to prove their devotion. Fortunately they did and the Prior rewarded them with a ‘Flitch of Bacon’. When the Lord and Lady revealed who they really were they gave land to the Priory on the condition that other couples could also receive a flitch of bacon if they could prove their devotion similarly. It is believed the trials date as far back as 1104 and records show them happening in 1445! The trials continue to this day with the next booked in for 2016, but let’s pop the history lesson to one side and get back to the Flitch Tea.

Everything came out together, presented on vintage china which I believe makes every occasion feel special. The Forlife stump tea pot comes with a timer which lets you know when to remove the infuser so that your tea is perfectly brewed – I can’t really put into words how exciting this was for me but if you love tea too then I trust you understand. If you’ve never taken the time to brew a pot of loose leaf tea and properly enjoy it then I urge you to do so as soon as possible and the Scrumptious Tearooms is a fab place to start. The English Rose tea smelt divine and it really delivered on taste. A black tea with the gentle rose flavour that, if you close your eyes, could have you imagining yourself lazing in a rose garden or tucking into Turkish delight. The pink petals were a pretty addition too. I have only recently tried rose tea but I am quickly becoming a fan and this was an excellent example. They also recommend trying it iced with pomegranate and cranberry juice so I have no doubt I’ll be back in the summer to try that.

As soon as they mentioned the white chocolate and cranberry scone I honestly couldn’t resist it but managed to hold back just long enough to take some photos.  The white chocolate added a luxurious, creaminess to the scone and went perfectly with the cranberry. After a quick chat with Jane, the owner, I soon found out that they love being creative with their scones (a woman after my own heart) so you will always find exciting special scones available and usually including a gluten free option. The cream and jam came in handy shot glass sizes which was just right for me, I felt indulged but not sick which is usually the case since I have very little self control when it comes to good food. You know you’ve had a top notch eating experience when you devour every last morsel and drink every drop placed before you and wish it wouldn’t end.

I had a little wander around the tearoom before leaving which is elegantly decorated in a duck egg colour and there are lots of personal touches such as the teaspoon coat hanger and teacup lights. The toilets are signposted, the newsletter is on the wall and a full length mirror is available to check your tea dress before returning to your table. The parlour room in the back has a beautiful fire place and so does the room upstairs which can be booked for private parties. They are also working on a Library room which will be available to book too. Jane clearly has an infectious passion about the tearooms and I have no doubt that exciting events (keep an eye out for their Knit and Natters and their first Supper Club), fine tea and interesting bakes will continue to be at the heart of them.   You can visit them on Facebook or Twitter and get more information here and if you’re a member of the fabulous Secret Tea Society don’t forget you get a discount with your membership card!

I’ll leave you to admire their awesome answer to tea room lighting!