I'm still very proud that I came up with this series - is there anything more on-brand for me?? Other than maybe a roast dinner version... Now, that, could be an idea! Anyway, in our hungover state from the weekend, Toria and I headed to yet another tearoom for a cream tea and we were not disappointed. We had quite a hefty scroll of Google and eventually found Evelyn's Tea House in Southampton. 

In case you're new to this series, I'll just give you a quick rundown. Essentially, I am on a mission to find the best cream tea on the south coast. I've had a fair few scones in my lifetime - which you can see from this series alone - and so I like to consider myself a bit of a connoisseur by this point. I've come up with five judging criteria (that I think are very important) and am using them all to rate each tearoom I visit. Each cream tea then gets a post of its own - just like this one, meaning that if you're ever down here in the south, you can choose the best place to go for any scone cravings. 

The staff at Evelyn's Tea House in Southampton were all really friendly and so helpful. Our server explained how Evelyn's is a family run business with as many things as possible being home-made on site. They also stock over 100 different loose leaf teas, complete with their own menu, but I am embarrassed to say that I did just go for a breakfast tea... Oops. I also opted for a slice of lemon and blueberry cake, as well as my cream tea, and that was delicious!

Another tearoom with a good scone... It came out warm and dusted with icing sugar - it's the little things, huh? As like any good scone, it was crispy on the outside but really soft on the inside. Also, it was huuuuge, so that's a big thumbs up from me. 

Now, for such a big scone. it's fair to say that neither Toria or I thought there was nearly enough clotted cream! So much so, that we actually ended up ordering more, boooo. We hate a stingy cream portion! 

Of all of the cream teas in this series, this one is on the slightly dearer end of the spectrum at £6.50 (which, I know isn't a lot, but it's all relative!) With the cream tea, you can, however, have a whole variety of different drinks. Not only one of the 100 different teas, but also a few different coffees as well as milkshakes. 

All of the food is served on pretty, floral vintage china which I think is a bit of a necessity for a cream tea! I loved all of the jars of teas on the wall and the flower garlands draped around the room. 

Where should I visit next?

Hellooooo, long time no chat. As I'm sure most of you are aware, I'm currently in my last few weeks of university and it's fair to say things are just a little bit busy. Of late, pretty much all of my days have been spent diss writing and preparing for exams, fun fun fun. But anyway, I'm alive and well, I just don't have too much time to be creating content over here on my blog. I have, however, been posting daily on Instagram, so if you don't follow me over there - that's where you're most likely to hear about what I'm up to! 

Yesterday I headed down to So:Cake in Southampton, which recently opened in town, to try one of their cream teas in exchange for one of these posts. Whilst I was gifted the experience,  my thoughts very much are my own - this gal knows a good scone from a bad one. 

So, a little about So:Cake. It recently opened in Southampton city center, and, by recent, I mean a few weeks kind of recent. The decor is all really colourful and bright, with pink walls galore - perfect for that Instagram aesthetic. 

As some of you might already know, I'm currently trying to cut out dairy (clotted cream is one of the things I'm giving a free pass, FYI) but I was very pleased to spot that So:Cake in Southampton had Oatly Barista on offer - my current milk substitute of choice, so that's a big thumbs up from me. Anyway, enough rambling... What did I think of the cream tea? 

The scone was lovely - it was warm when it came out, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. Now, not to steal the scone's thunder but the raspberry jam that came with it was amazing - we all commented on just how good it was!

As always, this is the most important criteria for me and I wasn't disappointed. There was more than enough cream for the two halves of the scone so there are absolutely no complaints here. 

At £4.95, for a scone, a pot of tea, cream and jam - I think the price is very reasonable. So:Cake also offer an Afternoon Tea option which is £12.95 and includes the above as well as sandwiches and a slice of cake... Toria had one of these and it looked amazing, if only I liked sandwiches, huh?

So, aesthetic is definitely something that has been properly considered in this tea room. All of the scones come out on cute cake stands, the teacups are all floral bone china numbers, there's a pink and white stripey wall, a huge painting of Mary Berry and lots of other quirky details... Perfect for the gram, hey?