Tea stores/tea purchases:
I think my first tea excitement was at Borough market. I had a cup of tea while I was enjoying some of the other food there and it was delicious! So, I went back and purchased a couple of bags. I got a discount because I had purchased a cup earlier. One has almonds/coconut in it and the other is herbal/fruity. Both delicious!
Next up was a trip to Twinings. The store is really cool w/ a small museum component. I didn't purchase anything here since I have had plenty of Twinings since I've been here, but one of my favorite things you can buy was a little box of mix/match tea bags from their entire collection. You can get a nice wooden box and then pick out 25 or so tea bags to put inside. It'd be a nice gift and the box would be nice to have to store tea bags in. Certainly a must visit, but not necessarily to buy tea...maybe as gifts.
I also visited three tea stores on Halloween because it was so nice outside!
Amanzi--This is a store near Regent's Park that both sells tea drinks and loose leaf tea/tea accessories. Their loose leaf tea is crazy expensive, but I had a lovely Taro blended bubble tea and would certainly go back to try a pot of tea. Just not sure I'd want to buy any of their tea to take home.
Postcard teas--super cute! Tea is again a bit pricey, but the containers they sell their tea in are beautiful. I took a pic of one wall of them. You can actually also mail tea to people as a postcard. Cute idea. I tried some tea while I was there. Strong, but good.
East India Tea Company--Also expensive and the packaging isn't as fun. A nice story to browse as they also have fun food items.
Afternoon Teas:
Just one this time: Modern Pantry in Clerkenwell. As stated before, the food was foodies food. And I had some really nice black tea from Nepal. Apparently the tea is made by a company called Lalani & Co. I wouldn't recommend this if this was the only afternoon tea you were going to do since it's not very traditional, but it is certainly a must do if you are going to do more than one tea. Here's the menu if you want to see all the yummy treats I had: http://www.themodernpantry.co.uk/pdf/afternoon-tea.pdf#view=fit
Tea shops (this is my new thing...get a pot of tea and maybe lunch...cheaper than afternoon tea, but still get to taste lots of teas):
Timberyard: Went here for lunch one day on my way home. They have a location in Covent Garden. Loved it! Had some tangerine/ginger tea from Waterloo teas which is apparently in Cardiff, so I'll have to check that out on my visit there in a week or so. Yummy tea. And, it came in a tea pot w/ a basket and a timer. This is the kind of tea pot I think I'm going to purchase thanks to Sandi's recommendation. Seems pretty easy to use and clean-up shouldn't be too bad. I also had a lovely quiche and some salad. Very nice place!!
Cafe at Urquhart Castle in Edinburgh: I had some strawberry/mango tea. Yummy! Not sure where it was from, but very nice!
Urban Tea Room: Took a sandwich and tea to go so I could sit outside and enjoy the amazing weather we had on Halloween. Got some orange/passionfruit tea. It was decent. This place is okay, but I'd recommend Timberyard over this place.
Random tea:
One of my students brought me some Pear Tea back from Hungary. It was delicious.
My, oh my, you are a tea connoisseur!! With all your tea knowledge, you might want to open a tea shop some day (just kidding). Do you put cream and sugar in your tea? I think it's a British thing to put cream in their tea, I like mine black. Do they trick or treat in London? Do they wear costumes? Don't know if Halloween is a USA event.
ReplyDeleteI think I need to go on a tea tour of London, and bring an empty suitcase so I can bring tons of teas back with me. The pear tea from Hungary sounds awesome too ... I didn't have any of that when I was in Hungary so I'll have to go back for it, lol.
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