Tea as a meal[edit]
Tea is often accompanied with a light snack, such as biscuits, and it was the emergence of afternoon tea that saw Britain regard biscuits as something "dunked" in tea; a British custom that was exported around the globe.[29] McVitie's biscuits are the most popular biscuits in the UK to "dunk" in tea, with McVitie's chocolate digestives, Rich tea and Hobnobs ranked the nation's top three favourite biscuits in 2009.[30]
There is a tradition of tea rooms in the UK which provide the traditional fare of cream and jam on scones, a combination commonly known as cream tea. While these establishments have declined in popularity since World War II, there are still many tea rooms to be found in the countryside. In Devon and Cornwall particularly, cream teas are a speciality. A.B.C. tea shops and Lyons Corner Houses were a successful chain of such establishments. In Yorkshire the company Bettys and Taylors of Harrogate, run their own Tearooms. Bettys Café Tearooms, established in 1919, is now classed as a British Institution.