Tea for you and me

Join me on my epic quest to find the best tea ever

Category Archives: Review


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Cafe hamngatan

Göteborgs Stadtmuseum, Norra Hamngatan 12, 411 14 Göteborg, Sweden

Tea and a view of the river and a tram at Cafe hamngatan

Tea and a view of the river and a tram at Cafe hamngatan

I was heading to the art museum when I walked past the city museum and saw a guy drinking a coffee on the outside tables in the bright sunshine. It looked inviting. I went into the museum and went round it as it looked interesting, but only briefly. One of the best things about being an adult is looking round a gallery or museum and only looking at what you want to look at, without having to fill out any worksheets!

I paid for my tea and then helped myself to a mug and saucer and hot water. I think the mug and saucer were intended for coffee as next to the hot water were glasses, but I was feeling rebellious. Among the many pots of loose leaf tea I found one called ‘Dream lovers tea’ and popped that into my tea spoon egg thing. It was black tea with flowers and very refreshing.

The cafe was light and airy but I went outside to the tables on the pavement as the sunshine was so bright. It was a Sunday morning when I went here and very quiet in the cafe and on the road outside.

Teapot? No.
Leaf tea? Yes, in one of those egg things.
Milk jug? No milk with this tea.
Price? 22 krona.
Cake? Yes and pastries and things.
Go again? Yes.


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Åhléns City

Ahlens City, Nordstan Shopping Centre, Göteborg

Tea and pie and vanilla sauce at Ahlens City

Tea and pie and vanilla sauce at Åhléns City

I’d just arrived in Göteborg (Gothenburg) and was very tired from the day before, I needed some tea. The bus station led into a shopping centre and this is where I looked for tea. I tried the first place that looked like it might have a good selection: Åhléns City. This is a big department store that has many floors and a supermarket in the basement. The cafe looked like a bar more than a cafe and had a narrow selection of tea and cake, I think probably because it was almost lunchtime. I sat on the balcony as it was lighter and took a photo looking over the shopping centre but you can’t really see the scale of it.

I chose a pie tart thing with berries and they offered it hot with vanilla sauce which I accepted. Vanilla sauce is a strange thing, when I asked the people we were staying with they said it was custard, but it’s not custard. Not as we understand it anyway. It tasted like whipped melted ice cream and I loved it. It went perfectly with the tart flavour of the berries.

The tea was normal European tea, in a glass in a tea egg thing. I missed milk and strong black tea.

Teapot? No.
Leaf tea? Yes, in one of those egg things.
Milk jug? No milk with this tea.
Price? Tea and pie came to 45 krona.
Cake? Some.
Go again? No.


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Café Älvan & Kungen

Västra gatan 62, 44231 Kungälv, Sweden.

Tea and a hot cinnamon bun at Kafe

Tea and a hot cinnamon bun at Cafe Alvan & Kungen

I had never been to Sweden before and I knew I wanted to find places to blog about while I was there but I admit I was nervous. Going to Germany made me more aware of how differently the rest of Europe can treat tea compared to how we treat it. Anyway, I’m not ashamed to admit I packed some Clipper Fair Trade teabags in my luggage.

Heading out into Kungälv, the local town, I wanted to go to the local knitting shop and find some tea. I found the knitting shop and having spent far too much of my spending money in there I decided to go to the cafe next door as it had outside tables and was the busiest on the main street. The street this cafe was on had the highest proportion of cafes I’ve ever seen anywhere before. For every three shops, there was a cafe. They all congregated on the same side of the street so when walking down and looking to your left it was just a long line of cafes. Most coffee orientated but still, an impressive array that fitted in with the generalisations I’d heard about Swedes and their love of coffee.

The cafe owner spoke English and I asked what tea they had, he recommended one and I decided to try it. I asked to have one of the buns on display and he explained it was cinnamon and that it would taste better warm so he heated it up for me. I sat outside and he brought them out. All the cups in the cafe were big and beautiful. I tried to find some like it to buy and bring home but failed. The tea was black with fruit and flowers and came without milk but it was made with freshly boiled water and was loose leaf so I was happy.

Teapot? No.
Leaf tea? Yes, in one of those egg things.
Milk jug? No milk with this tea.
Price? 44 krona for tea and a bun.
Cake? Yes and lots of it.
Go again? Yes, but only if I happen to be in the area again.


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Cafe five

5 King Street, Maidenhead, Berkshire, SL6 1DZ.  01628 622286

Cream tea at Cafe five, note the toasted scones

Cream tea at Cafe five, note the toasted scones

Cafe five is a small cafe and was the first independent cafe I came across when walking back down the main street. They had tea and fried stuff but had run out of danish pastries. The waiter noticed my crestfallen expression and offered me a cream tea instead. I accepted happily.

The cream tea was well presented and tasted very good. The scones came toasted and my first thought was that they were stale and they had been toasted to hide this, but they tasted fine. I actually quite enjoyed the hot scone with the cream and jam. The staff were friendly and I was also offered hot water to refresh my tea after I had drunk the pot.

Teapot? Yes.
Leaf tea? No.
Milk jug? Yes.
Price? £5 ish I think.
Cake? No, but cream tea.
Go again? Yes, but perhaps not if I fancy something sweet to eat.


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The Mill Tea Rooms

Heckington Windmill, Heckington, Lincolnshire

Heckington Windmill

Heckington Windmill

The Mill Tea Rooms are a new addition to Heckington Windmill. They opened recently as part of the new plan to introduce a visitor centre.

The windmill is bigger than Wilton Windmill and worth paying to climb up and have a look around. There’s also a video showing what the mill is like when it’s working.

Anyway, back to the important bit: the tea. The tea was good. And the cake, oh, the cake! The cake was called ‘Zimpt-Schokolade-Baiser Torte’ or Cinnamon-Chocolate-Meringue cake. I’ve never tasted anything like it. It was light with specks of dark chocolate in it which wasn’t very sweet. The topping was soft brown meringue, not the bring white horror that you sometimes get. After ordering the waiter came back and asked if I was sure I didn’t want it with vanilla ice cream as it tasted very good. I wasn’t sure, so I asked for that too.  The cake was divine and I made so much of a fuss about it the guy serving got the chef out to explain how she did it. It’s her own invention so go to the windmill and try it! Go!

Amazing cake and ice cream and tea at the Mill Tea Rooms

Amazing cake and ice cream and tea at the Mill Tea Rooms

Teapot? Yes.
Leaf tea? Yes.
Milk jug? Yes.
Price? £9 ish for two teas, bacon bap and cake.
Cake? Amazing German style cake and strudel.
Go again? Yes! And so should you.


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Bordeaux Quay

V-Shed Canons Way, Bristol, BS1 5UH.

Tea at Bordeaux Quay

Tea at Bordeaux Quay

Bordeaux Quay was a pub we picked at random because it looked nice. We were after tea and cake and it was a bit late on a Sunday to go to a cafe. The outside of the pub said it had a restaurant, brasserie, bar, deli, bakery and a cookery school so we figured it would have cake.

They had run out of all the interesting cake so we just had tea. They also had a good range of non-hot non-alcoholic drinks too, which is often hard to find in a pub. Sounds silly but once you’ve gone through all the combinations of lemonade and cola you sometimes get bored. They had a range of presse drinks and even non-alcoholic Erdinger.

They also gave us free bread as it had been a slow day and they hadn’t sold it. I had it with bread and honey for my dinner when we got home and it was dreamy.

Teapot? Yes.
Leaf tea? Teabag.
Milk jug? Yes but one between three and it wasn’t enough.
Price? £1.85.
Cake? Nothing left but biscuits or dry brownies.
Go again? No.


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Mada Deli

The Old Bank, 11-13 Bridge Road, Hampton Court, Surrey, KT8 9EU.

Tea at Mada Deli (with a tomato plant in the background)

Tea at Mada Deli (with a tomato plant in the background)

This road is a typical posh pretend village road, with lots of little shops but nowhere actually to do a food shop. This deli tries but it’s so expensive (£3.95 for a packet of 8 biscuits) that I don’t know how anyone could afford to shop there. Mind you, if people can afford to live here then I guess they can afford to shop here. Anywhere, to get back to my point, this deli looked like the most likely place to do interesting tea.

There were nice big solid tables and tomato plants growing up the walls. The tea they had on offer wasn’t that interesting, there was a selection of boxes but some of them were duplicates (e.g. two different brands of Earl Grey) but I picked one anyway (Earl Grey). It came in a nice pot and tasted good.

Teapot? Yes.
Leaf tea? Teabag.
Milk jug? Yes, teeny one.
Price? £1.50.
Cake? Yes, good looking cake but I was being economical so didn’t get any.
Go again? Yes.


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Wilton Windmill

Wilton, near Marlborough, Wiltshire

R and tea and the glorious Wilton Windmill

R and tea and the glorious Wilton Windmill

I was very excited to get to Wilton Windmill. We’d driven past the brown sign advertising it on the way to visit other tea places in Marlborough and attempted to get to it but taken a wrong turning and given up. It’s a good thing that we didn’t find it when we tried as the mill is only open for visitors on Sundays 2-5pm.

We went back on this Sunday just to go to the windmill. You can wander round the outside and the lower floor for free or pay for a guided tour up inside. We paid and it was well worth it. It still works and you can buy flour that has been ground in the mill.

When we arrived I walked round trying to work out where the best place would be to take a photo of tea with the mill in the background. The picnic tables were my first choice but the sails were on the other side of the tower to the picnic tables so I couldn’t get it all in one shot. Oh well, I thought, I’ll take two photos.

Inside the mill we learnt that the cap (the white bit on top) is on rollers and turns round automatically to face the wind. We were assured that it wouldn’t move as it wasn’t windy enough, but when we were up there things started rumbling and slowly cogs and beams moved round as we were listening to the guide, visitors ducking when one came to near to them, sails swooping past windows. When we emerged from the darkness of the mill it was glorious sunshine and the sails had moved to align themselves so I could take the perfect photo. Sails and tea all in one shot.

Teapot? No.
Leaf tea? Teabag in a mug, with a spoon to fish it out when you want.
Milk jug? Yes, big one.
Price? An amazing 80p per mug.
Cake? Some wrapped biscuits but you can also buy flour, bookmarks, posters, tea towels, aprons and postcards of the windmill.
Go again? Yes.


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Ginger Two

28 St Thomas Street, Winchester, Hampshire, SO23 9HJ

Cream tea at Ginger Two

Cream tea at Ginger Two

An excellent name for a shop, it appeals to me no end but I have no idea why. It was advertised on a bicycle propped up in the street next to it and I steered us there without hesitation. Ginger Two is a cafe with a stylish home furnishing shop attached. The cafe was light and airy and had lots of cake on display, but on closer inspection it was made by another company which made me a bit sad. We had cream tea (shown here in this bizarrely soft focus photo, not sure how I did that, apologies) and it was a good end to a lovely day.

The only slightly jarring thing was that they had a lovely big teapot and little milk jugs and even a saucer thing for the teabag, but they had a teabag! I like teapigs teabags but I appreciate them when somewhere hasn’t got teapots so a teapig is the next best thing. Why do places have posh teabags and teapots? They obviously care enough to have good tea, but not enough to let it be loose leaf. Weird.

Teapot? Yes, nice big china one.
Leaf tea? No, but posh teabag. See rant above.
Milk jug? Yes, two mini ones.
Price? £1.75 each I think.
Cake? Yes and scones and ice cream and coffee.
Go again? No, want to explore some of the other places in Winchester first.


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Winchester Cathedral Refectory

1 The Close, Winchester, Hampshire, SO23 9LS

Winchester Cathedral

Winchester Cathedral

We went to Winchester to see what it was like, neither of us having been before, and having heard good things about the tea and cake provision there. The day was sunny and we headed to the focal point of Winchester: the cathedral.

A man on a bicycle in a straw boater was selling ice cream next to an entrance that looked like it might lead to somewhere where we could get tea.

It was, it lead through a stone archway to a hidden refectory. The refectory building is pretty impressive in it’s own right with big glass walls and pointed roof. We were good and only had some tea though there were some scones on offer as well. A tranquil setting out of the breeze. Lovely.

On the way out of the cafe we walked past the ice cream man again and a clergyman in long robes and purple things was sitting on the wall next to him, tucking into a cornet.

Tea outside the Winchester Cathedral Refectory

Tea outside the Winchester Cathedral Refectory

Teapot? Yes, metal one.
Leaf tea? No, but it was listed as ‘Cathedral blend’.
Milk jug? Yes.
Price? £1.50ish.
Cake? Yes and scones and main meals and sandwiches and ice cream and coffee.
Go again? No, it was nothing special and there are better places to go in Winchester.