Tea for you and me

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

Tag Archives: tea


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Mindful tea drinking

 

 

 

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Sometimes life is very busy and time seems to rush past you. You prioritise the important things that must get done, leaving the enjoyable things to sit in a corner and wait for you to slow down.

When I visited some friends at Cleeve House I was offered a cup of tea before I left. Unsurprisingly, I accepted. MZ conjured up an impromptu cream tea for us and we sat in the sunshine and waited for the tea to brew.

Sometimes tea drinking can provide the break we need and the reminder that there is time to stop and relax, however busy other things may be. Making a cup of tea with a teabag allows you to rush around some more, but making a pot makes you stop and wait for the tea to brew. It creates a window of time we can use to be mindful – to be conscious and aware of what is happening.

I think every busy person needs to stop and make a pot of tea now and again. If possible, they should also drink it outside in the sunshine. And eat scones.

 


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Tea with Mrs Beeton

If it's got a teacup on it I'm generally attracted to it.

I’ve just finished reading ‘The Campaign for Domestic Happiness‘ by Mrs Isabella Beeton. I admit I was swayed in my book choice by the picture of a teacup on the front cover, but the book is mainly about how to manage your household followed by some recipes. I’ve learnt that I need to be an early riser to ensure my house is ‘orderly and well-managed’. If I ‘remain in bed till a late hour, then the domestics… will surely become sluggards’ (page 10 of the eBook edition). I always knew my inability to sleep late was going to be good for something.

The section on tea is intriguing, mostly because it comes under the heading of ‘Recipes for Beverages’ (page 83). How many cookbooks nowadays come with instructions on how to make tea? It’s just taken for granted that we can. Mrs Beeton thought there was ‘very little art in making good tea; if the water is boiling, and there is no sparing of the fragrant leaf, the beverage will almost invariably be good’ (page 84).

Interestingly, she recommends putting the tea into the teapot, adding a small amount of boiling water and brewing for five to ten minutes – then topping up the pot with water. She stands by the ‘old-fashioned plan of allowing a teaspoonful [of tea] to each person, and one over’ (page 84).

I’m not sure about the idea of brewing a small amount of tea first and topping it up with hot water, but I might try it the next time I make a pot of tea and see what it’s like.

There’s not as much about tea in here as I’d like, considering the cover image, but the section on managing a household had me entertained for a good while. Well worth a read and I’m looking forward to reading others in the ‘Great Food‘ series.


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Make tea for art

Ever wanted to be in an artwork? Ever wanted to make tea in an artwork? Yes? Then the forthcoming exhibition of Jeremy Deller’s work at the Hayward Gallery is for you.

There are three areas where they are looking for volunteers, one of which is a re-creation of a cafe in Manchester called ‘Valeries’. Volunteers will be in the cafe working in pairs serving tea. I wanted to volunteer but reading the small print I can see they want people to do a minimum of five shifts which I can’t do and still manage to get to work, so not for me. If anyone does decide to do it, let me know!

I’ll content myself with going to see it instead (did I mention the tea they serve is free?).


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The Hatchet Inn

12 Market Place, Newbury, Berkshire, RG14 5BD.   (View on map)

Leather armchair, tea and a log fire at The Hatchet Inn.

A Wetherspoon pub is not somewhere to go for a great cup of tea, but it will do a passable cup of tea and it will do it cheaply. Every Wetherspoon’s I’ve ever been in will serve a cup of tea in the same way: the teabag in the mug, a saucer on top of the mug and a milk jug on top of the saucer. This does allow you to carry it all with one hand (handy) but does mean that drinking the tea leaves you with a dilemma. Is the saucer for the teabag? For the mug? For the mug and the teabag? I tend to use the saucer for the teabag and milk jug and let the mug sit straight on the table as it’s quite a small saucer and things don’t balance properly if you try to put the teabag and the mug on the saucer.

Anyway, the tea at The Hatchet Inn was hot and strong and only cost 79p, but the best thing about this place is the log fire. The pub opens at 7am and though I’ve never made it there quite that early, I have made it in before 8am and the log fire is lit if it’s cold outside. A leather armchair, a book, a cup of tea and a log fire. Lovely.

Teapot? No.
Leaf tea? No, a Tetley drawstring teabag.
Milk jug? Yes, a tiny one.
Price? 79p for tea, though the menu says it’s £1.19 I have never been charged that much. Sometimes I am charged 99p though, must remember to ask why the price changes when that next happens. They also do a loyalty card with a free tea after five hot drinks are purchased. Bargin.
Cake? No, but muffins, biscuits, breakfasts (including hot drink and a breakfast item – such as a a bacon roll – for £1.89).
Go again? Yes, there’s a log fire!

 


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Jam Factory

Hollybush Row, 27 Park End Street, Oxford, OX1 1HU.   (View on map)

My tea at the Jam Factory.

The Jam Factory is a restaurant and bar that has art classes and things as well. The art on the wall near the table where we sat was very familiar as I’d previously seen it at Jelly so the Jam Factory immediately felt like home (maybe the artists only exhibit in places named after food?). Plus they had a selection of indoor trees growing and I have always wanted to grow a tree inside my house.

The Jam Factory was specifically recommended as a place to go where you could get tea or beer, so some of us had tea and some had beer and some went even further and had coffee. I stuck to tea, but though there was a choice of loose leaf (including Rooibos and green tea) there was no Earl Grey. I went for Darjeeling and a slice of banana cake instead. The seven of us placed our orders and a combination of tea, coffee, beer, cake and caramel shortbread arrived at our table. There was banana cake, but not for me. In the end I went and asked for it and they gave me an extra large slice as an apology. The tea was nice, but there wasn’t enough of it (just a cup rather than a pot) but the cake was good.

Tea and my apology sized banana cake.

Teapot? No. The big jars of loose leaf tea behind bar looked promising, but then it went into a large teabag anyway.
Leaf tea? Yes.
Milk jug? Yes, a little one each.
Price? £2 for a cup of tea, £2.50 for a slice of banana cake.
Cake? Yes – and also flapjacks, museli bars and shortbread.
Go again? I’d quite like to try going here for a meal, but maybe not for the tea.


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The Tea Box

7 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey, London, TW9 1RX.   (View on map)

A green throne and grand furnishings at The Tea Box.

Before I go anywhere new I tend to do a quick search online to see if there are any particular cafes or tea rooms that seem like the kind of place I should investigate further. When I was doing my preliminary searching for Richmond only one place stood out and that was The Tea Box. Their website doesn’t give much away (apart from their strap line, ‘About to cause a stir…’) but it wasn’t too far from where I was meant to be going so I thought I’d give it a try.

It looked good from the outside and inside I was happily surprised by the furniture – all old style wood chairs and dark tables, an opulent tea drinking palace. I plumped for a gold table with green thrones, which was very comfortable. The people at the table next to me had a candelabra! Anyway, the tea menu (not pictured here, that’s the tea-you-can-buy-loose-and-take-away menu) had the largest selection of tea I’ve seen outside of Tea Smith.There was also an events listing on the table – adult storytelling, jazz evenings, knit nights…

I went for ‘Indian Tea’ as I wanted something to wake me up. There was also a wide ranging selection of cake, including half a dozen flavoured scones, and I went for the dark ginger cake.

Tea, cake and hourglasses at The Tea Box.

The tea came with three hourglasses so that I could time the strength of my tea perfectly, and advice on which one hourglass I should be watching. The tea strainer lifted out completely and had it’s own saucer so that the brew didn’t get any stronger. The cake was very rich and the tea very strong – just what I needed at this point in the day.

My only niggle was the note in the menu saying they that don’t do refills so please don’t ask – and the waiter underlined this by taking away my pot once it was empty, but before I’d finished my last cup. Considering that the tea here was done so well and there was such an emphasis on loose leaf, it seems odd that they wouldn’t honour the tradition of asking for some more hot water for the pot. Unless it’s not so common now? Is this something that people still do? Obviously, having fresh tea leaves in your pot means you should pay for a fresh pot, but just adding hot water on your old leaves tends to be free. Answers on a postcard, please.

Anyway, overall a very enjoyable trip and one that I will be making again sometime soon if I can.

Teapot? Yes.
Leaf tea? Yes, there’s only loose leaf in here!
Milk jug? Of course.
Price? About £3 for the tea and around £2.50 for the cake.
Cake? Cakes, flavoured scones, meals, sandwiches, hot tea, cold tea, hot fruit punch, lots and lots of choice. Also teapots, tea cups, tea strainers and tea ducks (such an astounding tea related item that I bought one for R for Christmas, it deserves a whole post).
Go again? Yes, yes and yes.


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Court Cafe West

The British Museum, Great Russell Street, London, WC1B 3DG.   (View on map)

The view from my table looking up - the stairs and glass roof of the Court.

I was early for an appointment and The British Museum was the nearest place I could see that had tea, so that’s where I headed. The central area of the Museum is called the ‘Court’ and the first place that did tea I found was one of the ‘Court Cafes’– according to the receipt it was ‘Court Cafe West’.

The cups were the mandatory cultural cardboard (every cultural institution seems to have these nowadays, e.g. Royal Festival Hall and Kenwood House) and once again I spilt it as I was looking for a table. Yes, I know I had a plastic cover but I didn’t bother to put it on the cup. And so I spilt some.

It was the ‘Drury Lane’ teabags again and I’m not a big fan of the taste of these, they always seem to taste slightly metallic. The Earl Grey I had was okay, it did the job.

Teapot? No.
Leaf tea? No, ‘Drury Lane’ teabag, I had Earl Grey.
Milk jug? A big one that you helped yourself to.
Price? £2 – whatever you type of tea you had.
Cake? Cakes, brownies, pastries, sandwiches, biscuits, cold drinks and jelly beans.
Go again? I will probably end up here again the next time I visit the British Museum, but I will try to seek out a different cafe inside the Museum in the hope that they have teapots.

Cultural cardboard at The British Museum.


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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.

 


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Central Bar

Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, Belvedere Road, London, SE1 8XX   (View on map)

My tea and a bit of the ballroom at the Central Bar in Royal Festival Hall. My apologies for the unappealing dribble of tea down the side of the cup - I split some whilst wandering about looking for a table.

Once again I was early and waiting to meet someone at a train station, this time Waterloo was the station of choice. It was cold and dark and raining so I didn’t want to go too far away, but all the places in the station were packed so I braved the weather in order to head to the Southbank. Royal Festival Hall was the first place I came to and I knew they had tea and lots of space, so I went in.

The tea was hot and was Clipper, but it was teabags and came in a paper cup, but I wasn’t expecting much else as I had ordered tea from a bar after all. Though they have a large number of tables and sofas all over the place, there were surprisingly few that were empty. After wandering about a bit I eventually found one in a corner overlooking the ballroom and settled down to pass the time.

Teapot? No.
Leaf tea? No, Clipper teabag.
Milk jug? A big one you helped yourself to.
Price? £1.65.
Cake? Not in the bar, but I think there are other venues inside the hall that might do.
Go again? Yes, a good place to go to get some work done as there are tables and free wifi.


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Cotswold Garden Tearooms

Digbeth Street, Stow-on-the-Wold, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, GL54 1BN   01451 870994   (View on map)

The really big fireplace behind our table

Stow-on-the-Wold has an abundance of tearooms and cafes, but this was the one that fulfilled the important criteria of selling cream teas for A and I and sausage sandwiches for CP. It wasn’t that cold and so the large fireplace didn’t have a fire in it, but it still made it feel very cosy.

There was a wide range of food – breakfast, lunch, afternoon cakes and scones – and a good choice of tea as well. We’d had breakfast very late that day and so even though this was the afternoon we couldn’t quite get our heads round what meal this should be, but we were all hungry and in need of tea, so we just ordered whatever we felt like. This resulted in an intriguing mix of sandwiches, scones, fizzy drinks, tea and toasted crumpets with melted cheese on top. The crumpets sounded so enticing that I went to the counter to add some to my order after the waitress had left (all in the interests of research, naturally).

Our impressive spread of confused food

I can’t remember the exact name of the blend of tea I had – winter berry or winter spice or winter fruits? – but it was warming and fitted the festive feeling of the day. My cream tea was tasty, but the crumpets were so amazing that we ended up trying to re-create them for our breakfast the next day.

Having just looked at the photo of the table covered in food and drink I would like to point out that there were six adults eating and so we weren’t being as greedy as it first appears (though I suppose I was being quite greedy as I had a cream tea and crumpets, but those crumpets were definitely worth it!).

Teapot? Yes.
Leaf tea? Yes, though a confusing tea strainer that I couldn’t quite get the hang of. I think those who had ordered ‘normal’ tea got teabags.
Milk jug? Yes.
Price? Normal tea £1.65, speciality tea £1.99, Cotswold Garden cream tea (one scone) £4.25, sausage sandwich £3.75 (with the most sausages in one sandwich I have ever seen), toasted crumpets with melted cheese on top £2.50, cold drinks £1.40.
Cake? Yes and sandwiches, flapjacks, scones, crumpets, breakfasts.
Go again? Yes.

My cream tea and crumpets