Elevenses, Winnie-the-Pooh, Lord of the Rings — Dragonfly Delights Tea Room

I had no idea it was a real thing!

For those Tolkien, Lord of the Rings fans you know that hobbits have more meals in the day than the day has time for.

Breakfast - 7 a.m.

Second Breakfast - 9 a.m.

Elevenses - 11 a.m.

Luncheon - 1 p.m.

Afternoon Tea - 3 p.m.

Dinner - 6 p.m.

Supper - 9 p.m.

As I was searching for Afternoon tea information I came across some articles that included ELEVENSES !

What?! I thought that was just a movie invented term.

So, I had to do more searching, more reading. Here it is. Elevenses is a real British tea time. Please don’t laugh if you already knew this. I am still learning.

Now I should have suspected. Remember Winnie-the-Pooh?

I adore British author A. A. Milne’s stories. I never connected that story of Winnie the Pooh always “liked a little something at eleven o’clock in the morning.” The author writes that the clock on the wall of The House at Pooh Corner had conveniently “stopped at five minutes to eleven some weeks ago.” The frozen timepiece was Pooh’s perpetual prompt to stop for elevenses, his favorite meal of the day, usually consisting of honey on bread with condensed milk.

“When late morning rolls around, and you’re feeling a bit out of sorts, don’t worry; you’re probably just a little eleven o’clockish,” says Pooh.

How did I miss this? Then not connect it with the Lord of the Rings hobbit mealtime?

I have learned that the term “elevenses” came about during the height of the Industrial Revolution and was in use by 1887 as tearooms blossomed in every city and village across the country. Wooden signs bearing the words “Cream Tea” were tucked into café windows. Throughout the 20th century, tourists paused their travels for a half-hour tea and scones break at mid-morning, a ritual that continues in many rural areas of the UK today.

So, I ask, should Dragonfly Delights Tearoom have “elevenses” on the menu? A hot tea or coffee served with a muffin, scone or biscuit.

To confuse you even more, remember the mention earlier of those wooden signs bearing the words “Cream Tea” tucked into café windows? Well Cream tea is still different yet from Elevenses.

A Cream Tea is an afternoon tea consisting of tea, scones, clotted cream (or, less authentically, whipped cream), jam, and sometimes butter. It can also be known as Devon cream tea, Devonshire tea, or Cornish cream tea. I think you would call it one or the other depending on if you put the cream or the jam on first.

The difference between cream tea in Devonshire and Cornwall comes down to how it is served. Both versions serve the same items: tea, scones, jam, and clotted cream. In Devon, the scones are split in two and topped with cream followed by jam. In Cornwall, the split scones are topped with jam and then cream.

Could you have cream tea at 11am? Would you call it Cream Tea or Elevenses?

Either way, I think both are delicious and will certainly have these offered on the menu for the tearoom when it moves into its own permanent home.