Described as ‘a soft, flat cake of barley meal, oatmeal or flour’, the first mention of a ‘scone’ is in 1549. Its origins appear to be Germanic, from ‘schoonbrot’, meaning ‘fine bread’. It was a Glasgow tea merchant, however, who provided the meeting place for tea and scones.
Stuart Cranston had already been selling ‘sampling’ cups of tea to his customers at 44 St Enoch Square when he decided to open a proper tearoom in 1875. It was the beginning of a flourishing tearoom era in the city. Though he created the first, it was his sister, Kate Cranston, aided by the architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh, who is credited with inventing the tearoom. Mackintosh’s avant garde interiors, and Cranston’s stylish teas – both ‘afternoon’ and ‘high’ – achieved sight-of-the-city status with art-lovers from all over Europe making a pilgrimage to the city for a Cranston tea in a Mackintosh setting. The Scottish scone, including its many variants, taking its place on elegant, tiered cake stands.
