When I first visited London and the UK a year or two before starting Traveling Tea, the only tea I could find was teabag tea and mostly it was Nothing to “write home about”, and that is all I am saying on the subject. I never visited an actual “tea room” back then, and I was not really looking for tea shops at the time.
Sixteen years later, I found tea service in restaurants and hotels*P still pretty much the same, sadly. However, …. Two of the looseleaf tea shops I visited opened up roughly around the time I started TT (isn’t That Interesting!?). French tea house Mariage Frère (a Paris institution since 1854) also opened a location near Covent Garden in 2018.
This is all strong evidence that proper tea enjoyment is definitely on the rise, Thank the Tea Spirits!
*P A partial exception was found at my holiday splurge at The Petersham Hotel in Richmond (not far from Kew Gardens). The tea was no better, but the presentation was lovely. Pot of tea (with teabag inside) a pitcher of milk and a dish of several sugar/sweetener offerings (I’m sure I could have had lemon slices if I wanted). They served coffee the exact same way! Why cannot our quality restaurants figure this out? [caveat: by the time I added milk to my tea it was not very hot – but neither was the coffee I tried the following morning].
If you enjoy a bit of light hiking, The Petersham is a lovely hotel with several areas of public walking paths, including right along the River Thames. There is a bus stop right at the bottom of the hill in front of the hotel – so you don’t have to rent a car.
I did visit an actual tea room this time, also near Kew Gardens – Maids of Honor (established in 1850). They offered a proper tea service and a wide variety of teas. The décor was a bit run-down, but the service was good and I had a very tasty slice of quiche.
Next installment [presented in chronological order] – Tea Stop #1, and Jessica