The Brits love their tea
As I mentioned in my previous post, a lot of what I am going to share with you are the places and things you might not necessarily come across or know about London.
The next time you are at the beginning of New Bond Street (near Oxford Street), doing a bit of shopping, take a left onto Dering Street.
At number 9, you will find a charming shop called Postcard Teas.
These people take their tea very seriously.
In 2008 the tea world changed forever and for the better when Postcard Teas pioneered proper tea provenance by putting the maker or estate’s name and place of production on every tin of tea it sold. Imagine a fine wine world where companies sold bottles of wine labelled only with the wine’s country or region of origin but not the estate or maker’s name!
In tea, provenance also helps protect Asia’s oldest tea cultures because with the right information people can choose between a truly traditionally made tea and a factory made speciality tea. If any tea described as rare, luxury, handmade or premium does not come with a maker’s name, place, and information about the production or the age of the trees in photographic form, it is almost certainly a fancy factory farm tea. The world’s most sought after teas like genuine Wuyi and Phoenix Oolongs, and Xihu Long Jing and Uji Gyokuro are all handmade in quantities as low as 1-2 kg a day which is why your chances of buying the real thing are very very low!
Every Saturday between 10-11am, a tea specialist will host a relaxed one-hour tasting of teas from areas he has visited complete with illustrated tasting notes.
Places must be booked and paid in advance by phone or online as there is a limited number of seats at their tasting table.
1st Saturday – Introduction to Tea – Teas from India, Sri Lanka, Japan, and China
2nd Saturday – Black, White and Pu-erh– Teas from Darjeeling, Assam, Sri Lanka, and China
3rd Saturday – Shades of Green – Green teas from Japan, Korea, and China
4th Saturday – The Blues – Oolong teas from Fujian, Guangdong, and Taiwan
The art of drinking tea will become a whole new experience.
“All tea is good. The only bad tea in the world is badly made in the factory or the kitchen”
Professor Tea, Michael Ng
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