Tea

So, after a comment from Sandi about tea and realizing that is in the title of this blog, I thought I'd start giving a monthly tea report on the 1st of each month so those excited about all things tea can know what I've been up to in the world of tea.

So, my first week here I found this site:

http://golondon.about.com/od/londonteasuppliers/tp/London-Tea-Suppliers.htm

I circled all the locations of these stores on my handy map of London I carry with me and I've been checking them off one by one. Here are some reviews:

Tea Palace: This place is in the Covent Garden market area, which I love. They have many samples to try. But, it's pricey, so maybe not my favorite. But, I did purchase a blood orange loose leaf herbal tea that I'm loving.

Tea Smith: According to Yelp! this pace is closed. I plan on checking out the Spitalfields Market in a few weeks, so I'll look for myself, but that's a shame.

The Tea House: Probably my favorite so far. Also in the Covent Garden area, but not in the market. Great selection of teapots and tea infusers for good prices and many teas reasonably priced. I bought a Strawberries and Cream black tea (as this is what my colleague requested, so I knew it had to be good) and a Pina Colada green tea. Yum.

Whittards: This place was great and I've been to a few locations now. Great for gifts. Also, I got this amazing instant tea there which has been great in the heat of "summer." It was buy 2 get 1 free, so I have an apple flavor, peach, and berries. I'm almost done w/ the apple flavor.

Here's a pic of all my tea treasures thus far:

 In other tea news:

• The first tea I actually purchased here was a Twinings Cranberry and Raspberry from the grocery store. It's good, but not amazing. I do plan on going to the big Twinings store eventually. 
•  I've had afternoon tea 4 times now--2 cream teas and 2 high teas. I'm not a huge fan of the sandwiches, but I do like all the sweet treats and when they serve champagne and when they have a good tea selection. I've reviewed most of those places in other blogs. Quick recap: Cellarium Cafe--great atmosphere overlooking Westminster Abbey and nice tea selection.Wallace Collection--yummy mint tea and tasty sweets in a great atmosphere. Thistle Trafalgar Square--boring Twinings tea and good sweets but terrible sandwiches. To a Tea--yummy tea selection, standard scones.
• I've also been having bubble tea. Dangerous! There are a ton of places in Chinatown and I have plans of visiting a lot of them. I've had a honey peach one at a random place in Chinatown that was very yummy and the other day I had a taro one at the Bubbleology in TopShop on Oxford Street. That was not as delicious.