"Cream or jam first is more divisive than Brexit, I swear that's true."
Jane Malyon, a cream tea expert and author of Scone or Scon(e) – the essential guide to British Afternoon Tea, remembered a time when she had fallen foul of the debate about how to eat your scone.
"A newspaper printed an article once that said a cream tea expert – me – says 'it should be cream first'.
"I didn't actually say that, what I said was what I tend to do is cream first, but the majority of people don't.
"I got 32,200 complaints saying 'what is she talking about?'."
Scones and whether to apply jam or cream first have drawn battle lines for years, especially between Cornwall (jam first) and Devon (cream first).
The debate was reignited earlier this year when Costa Coffee brought out their "50/50 scone" which tried to settle the matter by using a piping bag to put cream and jam on at the same time.
Tom Woodley, founder and managing director of The Cornish Company, said a blind taste test his firm did in 2025 showed 69% of participants preferred jam first.
"For me, the reason makes sense when you taste them side by side," he added.
"Putting the jam on first allows that sweetness to soak slightly into the scone, while the thick Cornish clotted cream sits on top.
"You get more of the sweetness of the jam followed by the richness and texture of the cream."
On the other side of the River Tamar in Devon, Ellie Emberson – director of Kingsteignton-based bakery Truly Treats – said, for her, the best option was always cream first.
Emberson said: "The cream is the equivalent of butter on bread, so it makes sense for that to go on first with the jam on top.
"You wouldn't put jam on your toast before the butter, and a scone's no different."
Whether it is friendly banter between neighbours or a stubborn sense of identity and pride, how to apply cream and jam remains as hotly debated as how to pronounce the word scone.
'Jam first' has become a popular refrain in Cornwall, adorning car bumper stickers and other merchandise, while the words 'cream first' printed across a giant Devon flag caused something of a stir a Glastonbury Festival last year, external.
Despite being the subject of perennial culinary discussion, food historian Dr Neil Buttery said cream teas might not be as old as some may think.
"The earliest mention I can find in a newspaper or anything in print to do with a cream tea is 1932 in the Cornishman newspaper," Buttery, who runs the British Food: A History blog, said.
"I can't go any further back than that, but the article presumes everybody reading it knows what a cream tea is, so maybe it's already 20 or 30 years old.
"So I put it down to a nice, round 1900 that we can go back to when it comes to cream teas."
Scone Debate Rages On Over Jam or Cream First