I thought I’d do a London alphabet. I was going to start it with B for Beer…. but since I’m having a cup of TEA at the moment, and a number of people were intrigued by my where to have tea posting, what better place to start?

(I’ll get round to B later on, I’m sure!)

TEA - a great British Tradition.

TWININGS on the Strand, the original tea shop of what’s now become a global brand.

THE TEA HOUSE in Covent Garden, with the most stunning selection of teapots in its Japanese style window.

THE TEA ROOMS, now sadly departed, a proper old style caff where tea was made in proper big teapots and served with enough sugar to stand your spoon up.

TOASTED TEACAKES, which personally I think are better than scones. Make sure they are dripping with butter (and not margarine).

TUNNOCKS TEACAKES, not to be confused with the above. These things have marshmallow in and you don’t want them anywhere near a decent cuppa in my opinion. (Unlike Tunnocks Caramel which is a delight.)

TOWER OF LONDON, which – would you believe it – is also available as a teapot!

Photo credit – Pete Jeliffe on Flickr

Post from: The London Traveler

You can join them at the Ritz Hotel’s Palm Court, if you like. This is a marvellous, rather camp atmosphere, with Louis XIV furniture, chandeliers, bone china tea service. I can imagine Hercule Poirot or perhaps Lord Peter Wimsey taking tea here. And you’ll need to follow the rather formal dress code of the period – no trainers, no jeans, and gents, wear a jacket and tie.

A variety of sandwiches, scones, pastries, and of course your tea, will set you back £37. And you’ll need to book a month in advance for this venerable British institution.

But the hotel that won the Tea Guild’s top prize last year wasn’t the Ritz, but the Dorchester, where tea is served in The Promenade. Here too you’re in plush surroundings, but perhaps more intimate and less flashy than the Ritz. You can have a champagne afternoon tea – this seems to be a new idea, as champagne certainly wasn’t a mid afternoon drink in the great days of the English tea tradition – or a regular tea with finger sandwiches, scones, and a selection of cakes, for £31.50. The tea list is impressive, including a rare and valuable ‘white tea’ (completely unfermented, it’s even sweeter than green tea) and caffeine free teas for those who just don’t need the buzz.

You can buy gift certificates too. (I wish someone would buy me one, but my significant other obviously doesn’t read my blog, because he never gets any of my hints!)

A third very strong contender is Brown’s Hotel, where tea is served in the lounge while the piano player tinkles away. It’s the quintessential English teatime haunt, even though the hotel has been given a refurb with contemporary hints to the style – Queen Victoria is said to have taken tea here and it’s redolent with this long tradition. Tea here is served from 3-6 Monday to Friday, and 1-6 at weekends, and costs £35. You can taste Tregothnan tea, grown in a tiny microclimate in Cornwall – surely one of the greatest rarities you can find in London!

I must admit that these hotels aren’t particularly my style. They can be a bit overdone – tea at one is a wonderful treat, but certainly not for every day. So I might head out west to the Orangery at Kensington Palace.
This superb baroque building was designed by Vanbrugh, and has carvings by Grinling Gibbons carvings. It’s truly splendid architecture and unlike Hampton Court or St Paul’s Cathedral, other showpieces of the English baroque, you can admire it at your leisure while taking tea. You can sit on the terrace if the weather is fine.

This is also where I’d head if I had children in tow – the Orangery welcomes kids and even has a special version of tea for them.

The Orangery tea, including a cream cheese and cucumber sandwich, scone, and tea (or coffee) is £11.95, while a champagne tea includes Belgian chocolate cake (wickedly untraditional!) as well as champagne.

Finally, you can find a much more contemporary approach to tea at Teasmith, in Spitalfields. It’s very much a ‘new wave’ tea bar, in cool modern style, and the focus is very much on the tea. The owner is a real expert, and even offers masterclasses in tea tasting. There is a huge variety of teas.

But the real draw for me is the teacakes. Something you won’t get in most of the posh establishments – but probably my favourite tea accompaniment. Never mind scones and cream, this is the real thing!

Photo credits: Teasmith, Bradley Allen; Ritz Hotel, Jon Curnow

Post from: The London Traveler

But “tea” mean several things in English and it’s important to distinguish them. There are many hidden meanings in English tea culture – class connotations, ‘in’ and ‘out’ teas, and words that don’t mean what they seem to mean (‘high tea’ is a meal, not a beverage).

First of all, what I’d call “builder’s tea” but to many people would just be a “nice cuppa”. It’s the way my father takes it. (No, he’s not a builder; he’s a journalist.) Strong tea, often stewed in the teapot for half an hour before it’s poured, with a good dash of milk, and lots of sugar – three or four teaspoonsful. That’s why the tea needs to be strong – if it isn’t, all you’ll taste is the milk and sugar!

Secondly, though, “breakfast tea“. This definitely has a class connotation – if ‘builder’s tea’ is working class, ‘breakfast tea’ is leisured gentry. In fact, though, the mix of tea leaves is probably exactly the same as for ‘builder’s tea’… a black tea blend, with Assam, Kenyan and Ceylon teas often used.

In France, ‘English breakfast tea’ is popular, and nothing I can do will persuade my French friends that I really do drink coffee at breakfast.

Then of course there are the leaf types to consider. This is where you can tell the foodie or ‘nouveau tea drinker’ from the traditional type. Lapsang Souchong, with its dark smoky leaves, or Earl Grey with its distinctive bergamot flavour and aroma, are traditional teas for the more discerning drinker, often drunk without the addition of milk or sugar. So if ‘builder’s tea’ is for the rough and ready working man, Lapsang and Earl Grey are for the respectable lady and gentleman.

Pu Erh, on the other hand, is very much not for them! And green tea is just so un-English. But they are very ‘in’ at the moment and there are even fashionable new tea bars devoted to trendy teas. If you see these teas being drunk it will probably be by youthful persons employed in the media sector… or by Victoria Beckham, who come to think of it is still a relatively youthful person employed in the media industry.

Meanwhile herbal teas and fruit teas have their following too, but again, they’re rather untraditional.

I’ve already indicated that like so many other areas of life, tea has been made into a class-conscious minefield by the English. And while the English don’t have a tea ceremony, there are certain aspects of tea culture which need to be understood to avoid embarassment. For instance, mugs or cups and saucers?

The mug is certainly right for tea ‘on the job’. Take a five minute break from your labours to drink a cup of tea (in this context, a cuppa), and a mug would be right. But if you go to someone’s house or office specifically to drink tea with them, more formality is indicated – a cup and saucer is required.

Oh yes. Teabags. They have become more acceptable these days, but some people still frown on them. (A recent survey on teachat showed 52% of respondents believed teabags were inferior to loose tea.)

If you are not using teabags, English tea should be made in a teapot. (This surprises Russians and Turks who are used to tea made in a samovar.) A common mnemonic for how much tea to use used to be ‘One for you, one for me, one for the pot’ – so you can see English tea is typically made quite strong. The pot should also last for more than one serving of tea, ’stewing’ or ‘mashing’ as it rests, so you use a tea cosy to keep the pot nicely warm. Although you’ll not see a tea cosy in a posh hotel or tea shop serving afternoon tea; they are, as far as I’m aware, strictly a domestic item.

Now let’s take a look at another use of the word ‘tea’, meaning an afternoon meal. Some people will actually say ‘time for my tea’ meaning their main evening meal, but strictly, ‘tea’ is a meal for mid-afternoon, either staving off the hunger pangs between lunch and dinner, or – particularly when you’re on holiday – occupying an afternoon when you have nothing better to do (particularly in Devon, when it’s raining, which it always is when I visit).

“Afternoon tea,” “High Tea” and “Cream Tea” are all used for this afternoon meal. They are often used interchangeably, though High Tea originally referred to a later and rather more substantial meal, with cold meats as well as sandwiches and tea.

What you’ll get depends on where you’re eating. A typical ‘Olde Tea Shoppe’ will serve scones, jam and cream with a pot of tea. In one of the better London hotels, you’ll probably get sandwiches too, perhaps also crumpets (but not muffins – those are for breakfast!) or fairy cakes. Sandwiches are generally simple, thin affairs – nothing like the kind of sandwich you’d get for lunch from Pret a Manger. Cucumber sandwiches are traditional (and are supposed to have the crusts cut off), while salmon, fishpaste, ham or egg and cress are also frequent visitors to the tea table. Club sandwiches are definitely not welcome here.

Cakes are also traditional. Some people serve fairy cakes, but the Battenberg and Victoria sandwich (sponge cake with jam and ‘cream’ filling) are the most traditional cakes. You’re pushing the envelope if you go for carrot cake or flapjack!

In fact like many English traditions, afternon tea is of relatively recent standing. Shakespeare would have known nothing about it and it would have surprised Sir Christopher Wren, too. It was probably invented around 1800, and its high days were in the first half of the 20th century, when Lyons Corner Houses became a British institution. (The last one closed in the 1970s.)

Now, afternoon tea is kept for high days and holidays. Every village with half timbered cottages and thatched houses needs an Olde Tea Shoppe, serving cream teas. Of course, in Devon and Cornwall, where clotted cream is a speciality, there are a particularly large number of these Tea Shoppes, dedicated to increasing the cholesterol content of the British population. Next post – the best places to have afternoon tea in London.

Post from: The London Traveler