Tea for you and me

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Tag Archives: teapot


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Strange but true

Three of us went out for a curry the other week, it was lovely food and good fun but then we finished our main courses and L fancied some coffee (she drinks tea too, don’t worry).

The waiter presented us with a teapot and we protested that L had ordered coffee, but the waiter assured us that he knew that – this indeed was the coffee.

A specially set up 'action' shot that unfortunately does nothing to illustrate how weird having coffee come out of a teapot was.

Maybe the waiter had heard KD and I discussing the mess-with-your-mind tea latte at North Tea Power and decided to mess with our minds some more? I found it most confusing to see the teapot but smell coffee. More importantly, if you ordered tea and the teapot had previously had coffee in it, what would it taste like? Is this why some tea tastes so unusual?

 


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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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The Chocolate Teapot

4 Station Road, Esher, Surrey, KT10 8DY   (View on map)   020 8398 8866

The view from our table at The Chocolate Teapot (the window tables were taken when we arrived or we would naturally have nabbed one of those).

The Chocolate Teapot was recommended by a reader of the blog in September and it’s taken me a while to go visit but I have managed it.

The cafe is tucked away next to Esher train station and if you’re driving there you’ll need to park in one of the roads coming off Station Road. We headed over there on a Sunday for an early lunch and when we got there they were still serving breakfast (lunch doesn’t start until 1pm) which suited us fine.

The tables and chairs are nice and solid, with pretty tablecloths and flowers in vases. The china is patterned and a mix of different styles and colours and we all enjoyed seeing which teapot we got given. There were shelves high up on the wall with many different teapots on and while we were eating a couple brought in an unusual teapot for the owners to add to the collection on display in the tearoom.

A feast of tea and breakfast at The Chocolate Teapot.

There were a range of different teas available and a range of different breakfasts. Dad and S went for the full English and Mum and I went for the smoked salmon and scrambled eggs. I haven’t made a note of which tea we chose but I seem to remember S and I had Lady Grey with Mum going for Darjeeling and Dad for English Breakfast. Apologies if I’m wrong.

The food was good and the tea was hot and kept on coming. We polished off all the breakfasts and then considered the cake. The Chocolate Teapot has one of my favourite things to see in any cafe or tearooms: a cake filled sideboard. It’s always a good sign as it gives you a range of cake and implies they are busy enough to get through all the cake on display without any trouble. There was a huge selection but we went for bakewell tart, chocolate fudge cake and apple cake (I think, obviously I was too excited by the eating and drinking at this cafe as I haven’t got my normal level of notes to refer to). All the cake was excellent, we were very happy.

Cake and tea at The Chocolate Teapot.

Teapot? Yes, lots of different pretty patterned ones.
Leaf tea? No, but good quality teabags.
Milk jug? Yes.
Price? £1.40 for speciality tea, £4.50 for smoked salmon and scrambled eggs, £5.95 for full English.
Cake? Yes, on the magical cake sideboard.
Go again? Yes, especially as they offer a basic afternoon tea for £5.95 and a larger version for £7.50.