Tea for you and me

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

Tag Archives: cake


by Leave a comment

Espresso Cafe

Harvey Nichols, The Mailbox, 31/32 Wharfside Street, Birmingham, B1 1RE.   (View on map)

The wall of Harvey Nichols tea related items behind my chair. Note the cups and saucers with the photos on.

I wanted some good tea and we were heading to The Mailbox for lunch anyway, so trying the Espresso Cafe inside Harvey Nichols seemed like the best way of combining the two. It was much smaller than expected and quite busy but we managed to get a table for four and then added more chairs as more people arrived.

There was a range of tea on the menu – the usual suspects plus a Lemon Verbeena – and between us we sampled Earl Grey, Darjeeling and English Breakfast. It was teabag tea, but they were Harvey Nichols teabags so I feel that makes them more exciting. The cups had black and white photos of glamorous people on – the majority of cups had some scantily clad ladies in bikinis with surf boards.

A special view of the table before we poured the tea out just so I can show you how carefully the waiter arranged everything. Note the slightly lifted pot lids (I'm not sure why this was done, but I like that they were all the same - it implies a purpose).

The teapots were metal but they were placed in a precise manner with each lid slightly off.  I have been asked to note that the teapots did not drip, but that the milk jugs did. HR also complained that the handles of the cups were so small you burned your fingers.The cutlery was also very neatly presented and was a nice quality – Arthur Price (yes, I’m afraid I am the kind of person that checks the cutlery when I go out to drink tea).

Teapot? Yes.
Leaf tea? No, but a Harvey Nicholls teabag.
Milk jug? Yes, a tiny milk jug each.
Price? £2.60 – a bit steep for Birmingham but I was in Harvey Nicholls, so what do you expect.
Cake? I seem to remember some cake somewhere, but I couldn’t tell you what it was. There was a full menu and you could have a meal if you wanted one.
Go again? Yes, I’ve had trouble finding good tea in Birmingham and so this is now my default tea place if I go there again.

The table once the tea was poured.

 


by Leave a comment

Quaker Centre Cafe

Friends House, 173-177 Euston Road, London, NW1 2BJ   (View on map)

Tiffin and tea in the Quaker Centre Cafe

I was meeting a friend near Euston Station and got to Euston too early, so went off in search of tea. I spotted Friends House and a sign saying ‘All welcome’ so I went in. It was a warm friendly cafe with natural wood fittings and a bookshop next to it. It felt peaceful and relaxed.

There was a choice of teas and coffees and a variety of cakes, biscuits, traybakes, sandwiches etc. Also a soup meal deal I think. I had an excellent tea break after the hustle and bustle of the tube.

When I met SW and told her where I’d been she said that she goes there a lot, and that they have a restaurant as well as the cafe that does very good main meals. I’ll definitely try going to the cafe again next time I’m around this area of London.

Teapot? No.
Leaf tea? No, but it was all Clipper and mostly fairtrade.
Milk jug? Yes, big one you helped yourself to.
Price? The seriously bargin price of £1 for a mug of tea. £1! Tiffin was £1.30.
Cake? Yes and traybakes, muffins, biscuits, sandwiches, soup.
Go again? Yes.

 


by Leave a comment

tea

1 Paternoster Square, St Paul’s Churchyard, Paternoster Square, London, EC4M 7DX   (View on map)

View of St Paul's Cathedral from just outside tea.

This place has been on my wish list for a while, but before then it was torn out of a copy of the Metro and given to me by my friend HR. I’ve been carrying it around in my tatty map of London ever since. I mentioned this to A and we hatched a plan to go visit the next time we met up in London. So, on a brisk Saturday we headed along the Thames and found our way to tea.

On our way to find this place we’d been past a market stall full of lovely cakes, but had decided to put off the cake eating until we reached our destination. This may have affected how disappointed we were with the selection of cakes on offer at ‘tea’. There were the usual suspects, nothing out of the ordinary really. I have been asked by A to mention that she felt the cakes didn’t match the tea – that with such specialist and sometimes delicate tea there should have been specialist and delicate cakes. We had some chocolate shortbread with our tea, it was okay but not that exciting.

A insisted my tea photography needs more excitement, so here is her answer - a tea pouring action shot.

The Darjeeling 2nd Flush I had was light and smooth and airy, and A enjoyed her Yellow Gold Oolong. For central London they were a very cheap purchase, definitely somewhere to stop if you’re round and about that way.

On the whole, ‘tea’ was like a Starbucks but with lots of tea choices instead of coffee choices. I think this is a good thing – trying to take the mystery out of drinking good tea has to be a bonus. It was just unfortunate that we were in the mood for something with a bit of mystery to it, something with ceremony and intriguing cakes.

Darjeeling 2nd Flush at the bottom, Yellow Gold Oolong at the top and chocolate shortbread to the left.

Teapot? Yes.
Leaf tea? Yes and a really wide choice of leaf tea with simple and clear explanations of what each was like.
Milk jug? Yes.
Price? An amazingly cheap £1.85 for Darjeeling 2nd Flush, £2.50 for Yellow Gold Oolong. They also do afternoon tea for £10. Not sure how much the cakes were but I remember thinking they were very reasonably priced.
Cake? Yes, but the usual muffins, chocolate shortbread, victoria sponge etc.
Go again? Yes, the tea itself was very good, but not when we’re looking for something a bit more special.


by Leave a comment

teacup on thomas street

55 Thomas Street, Manchester, M4 1NA   (View on map)

Four teapots, three egg timers, two cups and one saucer at teacup

I’m not entirely sure if teacup on thomas street is called ‘teacup on thomas street’ or ‘teacup’, as the website logo seems to think the former but the large sign in the window when I went just said ‘teacup’. Either way, it was a good idea of E’s and a good place to go. It’s not far from the equally lovely North Tea Power, so if you’re going to Manchester then you may as well check out both places.

It seems to be owned by Mr Scruff, who also owns the make us a brew! tea brand, and has an excellent range of tea. It’s also the only place I’ve ever been where your tea is served with an egg timer and an empty teapot. When the tea has reached the right strength (as indicated by the egg timer) then you pour it into the empty pot so it doesn’t get any stronger. When we went it was busy and cheerful and though there weren’t many spare tables we didn’t feel rushed or hurried. It was a very relaxed atmosphere.

Romantic rosebuds.

I had the Organic Pink Rose Buds, just because I’d not seen this on a menu before. I’ve had tea with rose petals in, but not one just made of rosebuds. E had the Earl Grey (her first choice was Darjeeling Second Flush but they had run out).

My tea was very light, very soothing and just what I felt like. E said her tea was good tea. I also enjoyed the strange transparent plastic pots and the confusing double cup which meant the area that could hold tea was smaller than the cup and I was in constant danger of pouring hot liquid all over myself. I don’t think this is a negative point of the cafe you understand, it just illustrates my state of mind that day.

The cup of confusion.

We also had some cake.

I have to own up now and confess I’m writing this review almost a month after it took place, work and other things have been so busy this is the first chance I’ve had. I also have to admit that I’d just been to a hen party weekend and was very tired and I did something I never normally do – I forgot to take notes! This means that I remember the cake and I remember it was good, but I don’t remember what it was called. I think mine was banana and walnut and E thinks hers was carrot and orange, but we can’t be sure. You’ll just have to go and try it for yourself!

Hearty cake and delicate tea.

Teapot? Yes, not just one each, but two each!
Leaf tea? Yup.
Milk jug? Yes.
Price? £3.55 for rosebuds, £3.65 for the Earl Grey, £3 something for each piece of cake.
Cake? Yes, surprisingly filling and solid compared to normal versions of the same cakes, but in a satisfying way.
Go again? Yes.


by 1 Comment

Chococo

Cocoa Central, Commercial Road, Swanage, Dorset, BH19 1DF   (View on map)

The bright colours of the bench I sat on, this was all along one wall and had many more colours on it.

We drove to Swanage via the chain link ferry from Poole and there was a striking brightly coloured advert for a chocolate shop and cafe on the ferry that caught my eye. I thought I would need to check it out. When we got to Swanage the first sign I saw was the sign directing us to the cafe and we made our way there before going anywhere else, but as it doesn’t do meals as such (and R was on his quest for a prawn mayo baguette) we ended up in Earthlights instead. So, after Earthlights and a wander round looking at the sea, I suggested we go back to Chococo.

The shop and cafe appealed to me for a number of reasons and you may be surprised to find that the chocolate wasn’t the main reason it appealed so much. It was the colour that made me want to go in. The road which Chococo is in had bright bunting in the shop colours, and inside was seating painted in stripes in the shop colours and so on. I liked the joyful brightness of the place. The second reason was of course the chocolate.

A close up of R's Deluxe hot chocolate.

There may not be any main meals on the menu and in fact I don’t remember anything savoury being on the menu at all, but there was still a lot to choose from. I asked for advice from the waitress, who said that it was all very good but did recommend a couple of things. I went for one of her suggestions: a cranberry and white chocolate brownie. R went for the Deluxe hot chocolate. My tea of choice was an Earl Grey.

When it arrived, R’s hot chocolate was very impressive. It had whipped Dorset cream, mini marshmallows and mini chocolate malt balls and came in a cereal bowl. All the crockery we got served was Emma Bridgewater, another reason I liked this cafe. My tea came on it’s own little tray (with a chocolate) and my chocolate brownie was very good and very strong. The chocolate that came with my tea was amazing. I definitely recommend their chocolate. They even have their own recipe book with all the good things in (including the brownie that I tried).

Tea, brownie and Deluxe hot chocolate at Chococo. Note the dotty crockery and that R has already demolished quite a bit of his hot chocolate despite it only being on our table for half a minute (good thing I took the close up photo as soon as it arrived).

I tried to get R to go back again the next day, but he’s just not that into chocolate. I’d happily go back now.

Teapot? Yes.
Leaf tea? No, but all the teas were Clipper teabags.
Milk jug? Yes.
Price? £1.50 for the tea, £3.55 for the Deluxe hot chocolate, not sure how much the brownie was – perhaps £2 something?
Cake? Muffins, brownies, cookies, cake biscuits, chocolates, ice cream, fondue (with the widest range of things to dip in it I’ve ever seen on a menu – they even had trifle fingers listed), hot chocolate that came with bits of orange covered in chocolate, milkshakes and chocolate chip scones (if I had spotted them before I ordered my brownie I would have tried one of those).
Go again? Yes, yes, yes.

 


by 3 Comments

Earthlights Tearoom

36 High Street, Swanage, Dorset, BH19 2NU   (View on map)

Our first view of Swanage bay. Gorgeous.

When we arrived in Swanage we wanted some tea and also some lunch for R and some cake for me. Specifically, R wanted a prawn mayo baguette (he can be particular about his sandwiches sometimes) and Earthlights was the first place we came to that offered the baguette in question and had some cake for me.

The building this cafe is in was an interesting one, it had dark blue ceilings with timbers and big windows with leaded panes in at the top. Small but with a range of different sized tables and chairs and lots of photographs and paintings of the sea on the walls (some for sale).

They say on their website that they have the largest selection of tea in Swanage and we certainly didn’t find anywhere that offered more choice than them, there must have been at least 20 different teas and infusions to choose from. I had a Darjeeling and R had a peppermint.

Darjeeling and peppermint tea, along with prawn mayo baguette and the famous Dorset Apple Cake at Earthlights Tearoom.

Swanage is in Dorset and we realised quickly that the rules of cake are different there. Instead of the Victoria sponge cake ruling supreme it was the Dorset Apple Cake. It was offered everywhere we went, including fish and chip shops, but we only saw one Victoria sponge in our whole trip. I chose the Dorset Apple Cake, not yet knowing that it was the ubiquitous cake of Swanage, but thinking that when in Dorset I should try some of their cake. It was good, with slightly spiced sponge and apples in, crunchy on top. R said his baguette was very good too.

Teapot? Yes.
Leaf tea? No.
Milk jug? Yes.
Price? £1.45 for any type of tea.
Cake? Dorset Apple Cake and various other varieties, along with cookies, ice cream, pancakes, sandwiches, jacket potatoes and evening meals.
Go again? Yes, in fact we went back the next day and had lunch there again.


by Leave a comment

Tate Modern Members’ Room

Tate Modern, Bankside, London, SE1 9TG   (View on map)

My tea at the Tate Modern Members' Room

Thanks to JEM’s magic Tate membership (one plus guest and this time guest was me, hurrah) we could go and get a pot of tea from the tranquil Tate Modern Members’ Room. We’d gone to see the Miro exhibition and the cafes were very busy but thanks to the membership we could slip into the Members’ Room instead. The room is high up in Tate Modern with big windows and squishy sofas on one side and big windows and tables and chairs on the other side. There was also a terrace but it was too hot to sit outside when we went. It was peaceful and we stayed there for hours, much longer than we’d been in the exhibition for.

Cake so good we'd started eating it before I took a photo at the Tate Modern Members' Room

There was a wide range of tea on the menu and huge stack of teapots behind the counter, in a variety of colours. I was looking forward to the tea. I wasn’t let down with my Darjeeling and JEM said her English Breakfast was tasty as well. We shared a carrot cake and it had succulent raisins in it with just the right amount of spice. Yum.

Teapot? Yes.
Leaf tea? Yes, loose leaf Jing tea.
Milk jug? Yes, a selection of different sized empty milk jugs with a carafe of milk so you could take as much as you wanted.

View of the bar/counter at the Tate Modern Members' Room (note the demolished cake bottom left)

Price? £1.95 for English Breakfast, Earl Grey or Darjeeling (£2 plus if wanted something more interesting, you could choose from green teas, oolong and more though, impressive). £2.95 for carrot cake. Also a big jug of water with glasses and slices of lemon and a bowl of ice that you could help yourself to, a bonus on such a warm day.
Cake? Yes, tarts and pastries and cakes.
Go again? Yes.

 


by Leave a comment

Cupcake rage?

Cupcakes are all the rage at the moment but what would you do if your favourite flavour had all been sold? A shop in Cardiff recently experienced an incident of ‘cake-rage’.

Any cupcake that can generate that much passion needs to be tasted. ‘Sugarswirlz’ is going on the list.

This is a cupcake from Sweet Tooth Cupcakery in Chorlton, Manchester and so has nothing to do with the 'cake-rage' story, other than the fact it is a photo of a cupcake. But hey, that's enough of a connection for me.


by 3 Comments

North Tea Power

36 Tib Street, Manchester, M4 1LA   (View on map)

The inside of North Tea Power, look at all the different types of tea on the wall.

LB suggested this place as somewhere to meet up as she’d heard about it and thought it would go well on the blog. She was right. North Tea Power is tucked away in the Northern Quarter but has a very good selection of loose leaf tea and – and this is the bit that makes it so great – have adapted their coffee machine to take tea. This sounds mad, but I am telling you now that black tea latte is the future.

We started with loose tea though, as the coffee-styled tea was a bit too much for us at 11am on a Sunday morning. I had Earl Grey Blue and LB had White Hairy Monkey, which is a white tea. LB had not tried white tea before but declared it was good. Both were fragrant and tasted of the tea rather than the pot – perhaps this is because they were served in glass cafetieres?A croissant was the food of choice for LB, but I went for a slice of the ‘Lumberjack’ cake. This was a date and apple cake topped with coconut that I would certainly have again. Filling and moreish.

Croissant, white tea, Earl Grey Blue and the mighty Lumberjack cake at North Tea Power.

After the tea and food we went back to the counter and ordered a black tea latte each. We could have had a tea mocha, a tea cappucino or a tea americano. I just wasn’t brave enough to try the tea mocha. It seemed very wrong at the time, but now I wonder if it would have had the combined comfort of a chocolate biscuit and a cup of tea.

My first mouthful of tea latte was strange and confusing. My brain said ‘coffee’ and my mouth said ‘tea’ and it took a few sips to reconcile my senses to the shock of a smooth frothy drink that didn’t have the bitter kick of coffee, but instead had the reassuring soothing quality of a cup of tea when it’s most needed. LB announced that she had found her new perfect drink.

LB's 'new perfect drink' - tea latte at North Tea Power.

I will be going here again the next time I’m in Manchester and this time I will try the tea mocha. If you want to have a strong cup of tea but need the frothy milk that goes with a good coffee, North Tea Power is the place to go. A brilliant retreat on a rainy Sunday morning.

Teapot? Yes, but one of those glass cafetieres rather than a traditional teapot.
Leaf tea? Yes, with the choice of having it made into a drink or buying a bag full to take home.
Milk jug? Big retro style milk bottle.
Price? £2 for the Earl Grey Blue, £2.20 for the White Hairy Monkey, £2.60 for the Lumberjack cake, £1.20 (I think) for croissant and jam. £2.20 for the tea latte.
Cake? Yes, and biscuits, sandwiches, tray bakes etc.
Go again? Yes.



by Leave a comment

The Lowry Hotel

50 Dearmans Place, Chapel Wharf, Manchester, M3 5LH   (View on map)


This slideshow requires JavaScript.

This was a special afternoon tea tasting trip with the usual suspects of H, E and N. H and E had organised this visit and N and I had chosen not to be told where we were going, but instead it was going to be a surprise. This suited me fine (once I’d checked the dress code and the price) as I like surprises. Perhaps because I didn’t know beforehand, or just because it’s a very stylish hotel, I got a bit snap happy and took lots of photos.

Before heading to The Lowry Hotel we had looked round the craft and design gallery of the Manchester Art Gallery. This had dozens of beautiful teapots as well as other beautiful yet useful things. I appreciated the design care The Lowry Hotel had put into their afternoon tea surroundings and food all the more after seeing the gallery.

Stylish as it was, the lack of carpet and liking for chrome meant the room was very noisy and this meant we couldn’t hear each other properly at times, but never mind. The Ritz‘s love of plush upholstery and thick carpet is justified. And they had sugar cubes – The Lowry only had sugar packets.

The menu was already on the table when we sat down and our first thought was ‘this is not enough tea’. The menu gave of a choice of about seven types of tea and only three of those were black tea. The choices were Earl Grey, Breakfast blend and an Afternoon blend (described as 50% Assam, 50% Darjeeling). H prefers a lighter tea and would usually have a Darjeeling. She ordered the Afternoon blend and found it too strong.

We sometimes have trouble with an equal amount of sandwiches as H and N are vegetarians, E will eat fish but not meat and I eat everything. The Lowry coped without any trouble and presented us with ham, salmon, cream cheese and cucumber, Lancashire cheese and tomato and egg – all to the correct people. I think H and N also had a hummus sandwich.

Scones were small and lovely with enough jam and cream to go round. The cake course had a raspberry and white chocolate cake, a passion fruit tart and a pistachio and chocolate mousse. They were all delicious, my only grumble was that the spoon we were given to eat the mousse with was too big to get all of the mousse out of the glass it was served in. A variety of methods were employed to try and get this last bit of extremely good mousse out and the favoured technique was turning the spoon upside down and using the handle. It’s not good table manners, but when there’s chocolate at stake…

All in all a reasonably good afternoon tea and the restaurant was decorated in my favourite colours so I was happy.

Teapot? Yes, but the three of us drinking the afternoon blend had to share a teapot that looked like a coffee pot. And we had to ask for hot water.
Leaf tea? Yes.
Milk jug? Yes, but only one between four so we had to ask for a refill.
Price? £19.95 each, but with service charge automatically added so it brought it to just under £22 each.
Cake? Yes.
Go again? Yes.