Tea for you and me

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

Tag Archives: reading


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Jamie’s Italian

Unit 1 Riverside Level, The Oracle Centre, Reading, RG1 2AG

Tea and a very good chocolate and raspberry brownie at Jamie's Italian.

Jamie’s Italian is a new thing in Reading and in the land of chain Italian restaurants I wasn’t too sure about another one popping up, but it is really good compared to the others around and I would definitely recommend it.

I usually don’t review the tea that restaurants serve as it’s often the same mediocre stuff and I just get bored. Jamie’s Italian was a pleasant surprise in that the tea had been thought about as much as the food. There wasn’t a great choice of black tea, just Earl Grey or Breakfast, but there were herbal and fruit teas as well. It was a teabag job, but at least it was a good teapig tea bag job. The tea pot was a heavy iron thing and was a sharp contrast to the glass cup and saucer. Good food and good tea, it doesn’t get much better than that.

Teapot? Yes.
Leaf tea? No, but teapigs tea bag.
Milk jug? Yes.
Price? £1.95.
Cake? Not really, good pud though.
Go again? Yes.


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The Spring Inn

Bath Road, Sulhamstead, Reading, RG7 5HP

Tea and coffee and J's apple crumble

The Spring Inn is a pub I have driven past many times but never visited until today. The food was very good, though quite a limited selection and the tea came on a tray with a crisp white cloth on it. There’s outside seating, a mix of picnic tables and proper tables with big parasols.

Teapot? Yes.
Leaf tea? No.
Milk jug? Yes.
Price? £2.
Cake? Apparently you can have cake or scones on weekdays, on Sunday when I went there was pudding. Though it did come with a heavenly shortbread.
Go again? It’s a nice pub, so I’d go again, but not worth a trip just for the tea.


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La Baguette

7 Blagrave Street, Reading, Berkshire, RG1 1PJ.

Tea and jacket potatoes at La Baguette

La Baguette is a nice little cafe that seems to do most of its trade from take away baguettes at lunch time. You can also eat in and that’s what L and I did. We had a jacket potato and a mug of tea each. The service was good and the range of fillings was also good. I’d recommend it for a cheap light  lunch when in Reading town centre.

I’ve just looked up the website and apparently it’s also a B and B. I did not know that.

Teapot? No.
Leaf tea? No
Milk jug? No.
Price? £2.75 for the jacket potato, £1.20 (?) for tea.
Cake? Some, mainly jackets or baguettes.
Go again? Yes, for the food not for the tea.


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Warings Bakery

32d Church Street, Caversham, Reading, Berkshire, RG4 8AU     0118 946 4749

Perfect mince pie and tea at Warings Bakery

Warings is a small chain of family bakeries based in Reading. They are also one of the few that still actually make the things they sell on the premises. A lot of other chains bake the products on the premises but they don’t make it there. It comes in from somewhere else and they just stick it in the oven. Warings does things properly and it smells good when you walk past, what more could you want?

I realised that it was almost halfway through December and I hadn’t yet had a mince pie. Warings seemed the place to get one so I went in. They had a choice of normal shortcrust pastry mince pies or Viennese style mince pies. I chose a Viennese style as it has crumbly pastry and they heated it up for me. It was my perfect first mince pie.

Teapot? Yes.
Leaf tea? No.
Milk jug? Yes.
Price? £2.50 for tea and mince pie, I think.
Cake? Yes and soup, jacket potatoes etc.
Go again? Yes.


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Daisy’s Coffee Shop

The Herb Farm, Peppard Road, Sonning Common, Reading, Berkshire, RG4 9NJ

Tea and chocolate brownie at Daisy's Coffee Shop

The Herb Farm is a friendly and welcoming garden centre specialising in herbs and gifts. When I went it had a very tasteful display of high quality Christmas decorations and if I’d had more money or space to put them up I would have bought lots of them.

Daisy’s Coffee Shop has a good number of seats, some of which are in the conservatory with views over the garden. The staff are friendly and the tea came in a pot. I tried a chocolate brownie but it was nowhere near as good as the ones in Delicious… but then they never are. It wasn’t a bad brownie though and there was a range of other cakes on offer. I would recommend a trip, especially if you need a gift or a plant or a birthday card.

Teapot? Yes.
Leaf tea? No.
Milk jug? Yes.
Price? £4 ish for tea and a brownie, I think.
Cake? Yes.
Go again? Yes.


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Lou La Belle

3-5 Reading Road, Pangbourne, Reading, RG8 7LR

Tea and panini at Lou La Belle

Tea and panini at Lou La Belle

I’ve been to the previous cafe here a few times, but this was the first time I’d been here since it changed hands and changed it’s name to Lou La Belle.

It’s a large cafe that was busy when I went, with only a few tables left. My favourite panini is sundried tomato and mozarella which wasn’t on the menu but when I asked for it they were happy to oblige. Order at the large counter with a myriad of sandwich fillings and cakes, pay, and then they will bring it to your table.

Teapot? Yes.
Leaf tea? No.
Milk jug? Yes.
Price? £1.50 ish for tea.
Cake? Yes, lots and lots of it.
Go again? Yes.


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The Griffin

10-12 Church Road, Caversham, Reading, Berkshire, RG4 7AD.

Tea-total tea at the Griffin

Tea-total tea at the Griffin

We had been wandering along the river Thames and thought a trip to the pub would be very good. So we headed over the bridge and went to The Griffin. The Griffin is an old fashioned looking pub with beams and nooks, comfy seats and hops pinned to the ceiling. It’s also got an outside seating area but the weather was so good we couldn’t get a seat. Inside I decided what I really fancied was a pot of tea. I’m fine with ordering tea in pubs and bars, most places that serve food will serve you tea and the worst that can happen is that they say no.

Years ago, before every pub was open in the morning and had a coffee machine next to the spirits, a friend and I were at a gig in a pub in Kingston. We really wanted some tea, so we thought we’d take a chance and ask at the bar. They didn’t serve it, but we must have looked disappointed as the barman went upstairs to his flat, made us some tea in two of his mugs, and charged us 50p each. Standing at the back of the crowd watching the gig with a mug of tea is one of my fondest gig memories. Ah.

Anyway, R took some persuading that asking for tea at the bar wasn’t going to be frowned upon, but he did and I was very pleased with the result. The best bit, in my opinion, was that the teapot had a picture of a tea pot on the side and ‘ttotal’ underneath. Excellent.

Teapot? Yes.
Leaf tea? No.
Milk jug? Yes.
Price? Not sure, but less than £2.
Cake? No, but pudding and food etc.
Go again? Yes.


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West Cornwall Pasty Co., Reading Train Station

Unit 1, Reading Station, Reading, Berkshire, RG1 1LZ.

Tea at West Cornwall Pasty Co., Reading Station

Tea at West Cornwall Pasty Co., Reading Station

I wasn’t planning on having tea at the train station, my brother just wanted some food before getting his train home. He got a pasty and while he was queuing I noticed that a lady sitting down had a tea pot. A tea pot in a train station! I was impressed.

The West Cornwall Pasty Co. has a black logo and so it’s teapot, cup and saucer was a fashionable black. Rock on.

Teapot? Yes.
Leaf tea? Teabag.
Milk jug? Yes.
Price? £1.50, I think.
Cake? No.
Go again? If I have to wait for a train, though if going to get on a train I’d stick to AMT Coffee as they have bigger takeaway cups and better teabags.


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Alto Lounge

32-32a Church Street, Caversham, Reading, RG4 8AU

Another blurry picture of tea, this time at the Alto Lounge.

Another blurry picture of tea, this time at the Alto Lounge.

Caversham seems to be sprouting places to drink tea at an alarming rate. I say go for it, and hope the crunch doesn’t bite. Alto Lounge is part of a chain of ‘Loungers’ and was a friendly place to be on a Sunday lunchtime. It had board games and newspapers and lots of helpful staff who cooked us some lovely food. We’ll be going again.

Teapot? Yes, generously sized metal one.
Leaf tea? Teabag.
Milk jug? A mini one just for me.
Price? £1.50
Cake? A big glass cabinet of home made looking brownies and muffins and biscuits.
Go again? Yes.


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Munchees

2-3 Butter Market, Reading, RG1 2DP     0118 957 3708

Tea at Munchees

Tea at Munchees

We ran out of milk and bread the night before so breakfast was looking bleak. Hey, we thought, it’s Sunday, let’s go into town and have brunch. Little did we know it was the Reading Half Marathon and that having brunch would be easier said than done. We got to town and were faced with a wall of people watching a steady flow of running people. I have the greatest respect for people who participate in events like this, but it was Sunday, the clocks had changed, we hadn’t had any tea and I was hungry. We looked and we walked along the runners’ route and there was no gap to be seen. R tried to persuade me that we should run across the road and I refused, it was too intrusive and was rude. Half an hour later when we still hadn’t managed to cross the road I felt differently and we joined a group of people standing wistfully at a pedestrian crossing and took our chance. We made it across and headed to Munchees.

We hadn’t been to Munchees before but felt that they would be the place to go for a traditional fry up. It was. R had the Munchees breakfast and I had the brunch breakfast. Both were good.

Teapot? Yes, a big metal one.
Leaf tea? Usual unidentified teabag.
Milk jug? Yes.
Price? A bargin 95p each for the tea, £4.50 for brunch breakfast, £5.55 for the Munchees breakfast.
Cake? No, but plenty of deserts.
Go again? Only when I need a fry up.