Good tea menus in London

July 4, 2016 7:34 AM

Where in London can I look over an interesting list of high-quality loose-leaf teas, have one prepared for me at the proper temperature and brewing time, and then sit down and enjoy it on the premises?

I'm equally happy if it's a restaurant with an extensive tea menu, or a cafe, or a tea shop that lets you sit down and sample the wares. However, I'm not really looking for the traditional afternoon tea experience, unless the tea is truly the focus (as opposed to an excuse for a fancy snack.)

posted by yankeefog to Food & Drink (8 answers total)

Best answer: Yum Chaa. As the name states, it's all about the tea. Specialist loose leaf tea shop. They have many branches in London. On the plus side, very affordable!
posted by moiraine at 8:06 AM on July 4, 2016 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Postcard Teas just off New Bond Street has a small selection of really good small-estate tea and they do tastings for a reasonable price. They also have Yixing clay teapots and beautiful Japanese caddies.
posted by holgate at 8:33 AM on July 4, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: The London Review Cake Shop has a good selection of teas (and excellent cake) but it can be difficult to find a seat, especially on a Saturday.
posted by corvine at 9:07 AM on July 4, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Of the ones others have suggested - postcards teas will give you by far the best experience closest to what you are looking for I think.
posted by Another Fine Product From The Nonsense Factory at 2:43 PM on July 4, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Hello, fellow tea fan!

Some personal faves: Tea and Tattle in Bloomsbury, High Tea of Highgate, Fortnum & Mason, who sell a wide variety of excellent tea at surprisingly reasonable prices, Drink, Shop and Do in Islington, which I recommend primarily because they served me a pot of tea so big I couldn't finish it. I haven't been to this one myself, but I'd like to: Good and Proper Tea.
posted by Hildegarde at 7:52 PM on July 4, 2016 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks, everybody!
posted by yankeefog at 8:09 AM on July 5, 2016

Best answer: Ooh - late to spot this question, but I can vouch for Good and Proper Tea on Leather Lane, which Hildegarde mentioned. It's not open at weekends, in case that's relevant; but the tea is varied and excellent, the sourdough crumpets you can order to accompany it are superb, and the staff are uniformly lovely people.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 1:08 PM on July 10, 2016

Response by poster: Just to update, I found another addition to the list: Timberyard. They don't have a huge tea list, but it's good quality, and they bring the tea to your table with a preset timer to make sure you don't over-steep it.

Also, Marriage Frere is opening a stand-alone shop in Covent Garden which will apparently serve tea on the premises, although I haven't been able to find any info about when it will open.
posted by yankeefog at 5:18 AM on July 11, 2016