However, the "Foods of England" website has discovered an earlier newspaper cutting, The Cornishman of Thursday, 3 September 1931 (p. 8), which uses the phrase in what appears to be its modern sense: "For an alleged Cornish cream tea consisting of three slices of bread and butter, a splashing of cream and jam and two anemic rolls, I was charged 1s.

Traditionally it is important that the scones be warm (ideally, freshly baked), and that clotted (rather than whipped) cream and strawberry jam, rather than any other variety, be used.

Butter is generally not included, and some sources advise that the tea should not be served with milk.

[6] In Cornwall an alternative was traditionally a "split", a type of slightly sweet white bread roll, rather than a scone.

[7] It is now rare to find this available commercially, even in Cornwall, but splits are still used by many Cornish families in their own homes.