Tea for you and me

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Category Archives: Review


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Bruxelles Midi train station cafe

Two teas from a cafe in Bruxelles Midi train station

Two teas from a cafe in Bruxelles Midi train station

I have to admit I can’t remember the name of this cafe in Brussels train station. I do apologise. If you want to go, it’s the only cafe/bar beyond the passport check points if you are heading for the Eurostar train.

The tea here was much needed and there was no queue to get it, it was a standard cup of tea. I wouldn’t have bothered to blog about it if it hadn’t been for the way the barman arranged my tray. It’s symmetrical and precise and shows care and attention I appreciate when dealing with tea.

Teapot? No.
Leaf tea? A tea bag.
Milk jug? No, little pots of milk.
Price? 4 something euros for two teas.
Cake? No, but we did get a tiny biscuit.
Go again? If I was in Bruxelles Midi beyond passport control.


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Karstadt, Cologne

Poppy seed cake and tea in Karstadt, Cologne

Poppy seed cake and tea in Karstadt, Cologne

Karstadt, Breite Straße 103-135,
50667 Köln

The Karstadt department store in Cologne was great. The department store restaurant was big with fresh food and many chefs. There were 8 varieties of smoothie, 4 varities of soup, fresh meat that you picked and they cooked for you, 10 varieties of vegetable side dish, fresh veg they stir fried for you, 4 varieties of potato, fresh fruit and puddings (fill a bowl for 3 euros) and at least 12 varieties of cake all for under 3 euros a slice. The tea was loose leaf and in a mini chest of drawers. Each drawer had a different variety and you filled up your ‘tea egg’ with it and away you go. We came here twice and each time the cake was beautiful and the tea good too. This photo is from our visit on our last day in Cologne. The cake is poppy seed and it’s thick and filling and tasty and not as sweet as our cakes which makes it all the more satisfying.

Teapot? No.
Leaf tea? Yes, from a selection of 9. I had black tea with orange flowers and it was beautiful.
Milk jug? No, but fresh milk available from a dispenser.
Price? 1.80 euros.
Cake? Oh, the cake! So much delectable cake.
Go again? Yes.


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ICE train to Cologne

This has to be the most exciting tea blog entry yet – a cup of tea on board an ICE train somewhere between Brussels and Cologne. I hadn’t had a cup of tea all day, even though I’d got up at 4.30am. I was planning on getting one once we got through the passport control at St Pancras but no such luck. Even if the British can’t do trains that leave and arrive when they’re meant to, you would hope we could provide tea, but no. After passport control there was a sea of families and seating and only a WHSmith or a Cafe Nero. It took me ages to queue up for water (Cafe Nero being too long a queue) and I figured I’d just get tea on the Eurostar. Oh no. The queue for the buffet car on the Eurostar (according to the length of time our noisy neighbours took to get tea) was an hour. An hour!

On the ICE though we had a trolley come round to serve you at your seat. I heard tea offered and I was looking forward to it. If there was ever a cup of tea that was anticipated, it was this one.

It was okay. It wasn’t a cup of tea that would normally make it onto this blog as it was green tea, but I’m bending the rules and allowing it in because I so wanted it to be black tea with milk!

Teapot? No.
Leaf tea? A tea bag, but a large high quality tea bag with big leaves inside rather than the usual mulch. Green tea with lemon and mango.
Milk jug? No, no milk with green tea.
Price? 2.70 euros.
Cake? Nope.
Go again? No, it was a very expensive cup of tea.


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Dolce Vita

Whiteknights Campus, University of Reading, Reading, Berkshire, RG6 6UR

There’s a restaurant in central Reading with the same name, but this is not that, this is the mini cafe on the main campus of the University of Reading. It’s small and round and warm and friendly. Tea was okay, paper cups but two stamps on your loyalty card if you brought your own mug.

Teapot? No.
Leaf tea? No, but a choice of teabag, including Fairtrade.
Milk jug? No, but it was fresh milk poured for me.
Price? 94p, less if you’re a student but I had to pay the VAT.
Cake? Biscuits, muffins, traybake things.
Go again? Only if I’m on campus.


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Cross Country Trains buffet car, train to Reading

Tea and other free stuff from the Cross Country trains buffet car

Tea and other free stuff from the Cross Country Trains buffet car

On my way home from Sheffield I was travelling first class as all the cheaper advance fares had sold out and I was looking forward to my cup of free tea. On the weekends you need to go to the buffet car to get your complimentary beverage but apparently during the week it’s table service. First class travellers in Cross Country Trains also get more free stuff than just free tea and as it was a long journey the lady in the buffet car offered me one of everything and I accepted (purely for research purposes, you understand). I held on tight to my brown paper bag of goodies and made my way back through the train to my seat to see what I had.

The tea was much better than I had expected (that’ll be the fairtrade Clipper teabags again) and the complimentary biscuits were much appreciated. I was also given a packet of nuts, crisps and a bottle of water.

Teapot? No.
Leaf tea? No, but at least the teabags were Clipper.
Milk jug? No, it was those stupid little pots again.
Price? Complimentary.
Cake? No, but I did get biscuits.
Go again? Yes.


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Leopold Hotel

Afternoon tea at the Leopold Hotel

Afternoon tea at the Leopold Hotel

2 Leopold Street, Leopold Square, Sheffield, S1 2GZ

We didn’t just have tea at the Leopold Hotel, we had afternoon tea, which is an altogether different thing. Afternoon tea should include tea, sandwiches, scones and cake. It should be eaten in the afternoon and should fill you up so that you don’t even want to think about food until much later in the evening, if at all.

At the Leopold Hotel afternoon tea is served in the bar and I have to say I was at first unimpressed with this plan. The tables were bare and I couldn’t quite align bare tables with a traditional afternoon tea. I am pleased to say that as soon as we ordered afternoon tea tablecloths were produced. We all ordered Darjeeling tea and it was loose leaf and lovely. The teapots were big heavy metal ones that had been recently polished. Hot water and extra milk appeared as soon as we asked for it. The one slight problem with the afternoon tea was that it didn’t include cake, and we didn’t feel it could be properly billed as a traditional afternoon tea. The atmosphere in the hotel meant the visit felt relaxed and enjoyable.

Teapot? Yes.
Leaf tea? Yes and a choice of varieties.
Milk jug? Yes.
Price? £15.50 for 2 people.
Cake? Not included.
Go again? Yes.


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Cafe Moco

Tea and toast in Cafe Moco

Tea and toast in Cafe Moco

202, West St, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S1 4EU

Cafe Moco once had the dubious honour of being the cafe I frequented most; and I miss it. So the first stop when we made it into Sheffield was to go and have a nostalgic cup of tea in Cafe Moco. I didn’t want a full lunch so indulged my inner Paddington Bear and had a ’round’ of toast and marmalade. We discussed how much toast would constitute a ’round’ and decided it should be enough toast to fill a small toast rack. If anyone has another take on the definition of a ’round of toast’, please let me know.

The tea was hot and good and the toast was granary and good, with marmalade fit for a bear.

Teapot? No.
Leaf tea? No, Twinings teabag.
Milk jug? Yes, one tiny jug each.
Price? £1.20 for tea, £1.50 for toast.
Cake? Traybakes and danish pastries.
Go again? Any time I’m in Sheffield.


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AMT Coffee, Reading Station

My cup of AMT Coffee tea

My cup of AMT Coffee tea

Station Approach, Reading, RG1 1LZ

Saturday 15th November was a good day for tea. There was lots of it, in many different places, and it was all very nice drinkable tea.

The first cup of tea (not the literally the first, just the first I paid for) was at 6.50am at Reading station. AMT Coffee have a number of little booth thingys around Reading Station and I headed to the one in the main concourse as it was the only one open that early in the morning. There are other places to buy tea in the station, but believe me when I tell you that AMT Coffee sell the best tea. It’s teabags, but they are Fairtrade Clipper teabags which also happen to be my teabag of choice.

Teapot? No.
Leaf tea? No.
Milk jug? No, but it is fresh milk.
Price? £1.30.
Cake? Muffins, danish pastries and pretzels.
Go again? Any time I need tea in a train station.


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Krispy Kreme, Guildford

18 North Street, Guildford, GU1 4AF

Now don’t get all judgemental on me, I take my tea where I can find it. And Krispy Kreme isn’t all that bad. It has sofas and big mugs of tea for £1.30. The doughnuts are good and the free paper hats provide me with hours of fun. I normally go to the one in Reading which has the added advantage of being open much later than the other tea-selling places around. In this case we were faced with the lesser of three evils choice between Starbucks, Pret a Manger and Krispy Kreme and my desire to get another hole cut in my loyalty card led me to the doughnut palace. It has balloons too!

Teapot? No.
Leaf tea? No.
Milk jug? Yes, not an individual one but a thermos style one by the spoons.
Price? £1.30.
Cake? Any kind as long as it’s doughnut.
Go again? Yes.


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Cafe Zest, High Wycombe

Cafe Zest is the name of a chain of cafes situated inside House of Fraser stores. Reading House of Fraser used to have one but then they decided to turn it into a Yo! Sushi bar instead. Not that I dislike sushi, I just liked the Cafe Zest tea and cake more. And the novelty value of food on conveyor belts still hasn’t worn off yet. But this is all beside the point.

So, anyway, we’re in High Wycombe in the brand shiny new Eden shopping centre (they’re raising expectations quite high there, naming a shopping centre after paradise) looking for somewhere that might offer a proper cup of tea. House of Fraser seemed the most likely option and we headed inside accordingly. Cafe Zest is on the top floor, with the most amazing view of the hills surrounding High Wycombe, even on a grey rainy day like this one.

The cakes on display looked good, and I didn’t even mind they were advertising Christmas food this early as the Christmas food was grilled panatone and mince pies. We chose a piece of chocolate covered orange cake to share and I ordered a pot of tea. The pot was metal but with a spout that is actually designed for pouring and the milk came in a jug. Not only that, but next to the teaspoons was a beautiful mound of freshly cut lemon segments. I don’t even like lemon in my tea and even I wanted one.

The cake was lovely but very rich and left an alarmingly luminous glow on the plate after we’d eaten it. It looked like we’d coloured in our crockery with highlighters, really very peculiar. I have to say, it did taste good, whatever they put in it.

Teapot? Metal, but able to be poured without spills.
Leaf tea? No.
Milk jug? Yes, small but perfectly formed.
Price? £1.50 ish.
Cake? Yes, lots of it.
Go again? Yes, just for the view.