Tea in England

As for bookshops in London, you definitely want to have a look at Foyles on Charing Cross Road. It’s humongous, so if you go there with someone it might be a good idea to decide on a meet-up-again time or something. Closest tube stop is Tottenham Court Rd, and there is a Whittards of Chelsea on Tottenham Court Rd quite close to the tube station as well for your tea related interests.

There is also Tea Palace, which has two shops in London, one on King’s Road and one in Covent Garden. I’ve never been in their shops but I’ve been very happy with the things I’ve bought from them online.

Hatchard’s (books) plus Fortnum & Mason (tea), near Piccadilly Circus, is another good pairing. F&M’s teas aren’t hugely popular on here, I don’t think, but I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve tried from them—they have a decent range, but it’s probably best if you like traditional English sorts of teas.

Hi.

My suggestion is Tea House which is near Covent Garden tube station – beautiful selection of teas and not bad prices.

If you have the time a trip to the Twinings shop on The Strand is worth doing as at the back of the shop they have a tea bar allowing you to sample different teas and I have always found the staff pleasant and helpful on my past visits.

Whittards is a little generic for me and I was not impressed by Tea Palace though if you do venture down to Covent Garden then they have a branch not far from Tea House.

Near Covent Garden there is also Drury Tea & Coffee and I know people speak highly of a shop called Postcard Teas.

Fortnum & Mason and Harrods are worth a look but you could spend loads of time in there.

Bookshops? Wander down Charing Cross Road – you will find loads of cool bookshops where you can lose yourself for hours should you wish to do so.

Postcard Teas would be my first stop and probably only stop for buying tea in London. If I fancied a break and somewhere to sit and drink tea, I’d pop in to Tea Smith

You can buy Harrods tea at Heathrow, quite honestly, along with all sorts of tea ware.

Considering the stereotype, I feel like we don’t have a particularly wide selection of teas available in England :/ Whittard is quite a good chain, but chains are all I can suggest as I’m pretty far away from London and don’t know any of the ‘local’ shops. If you get anywhere near Bristol Bluebird’s shop is amazing (:

I agree, I would visit tea shops more for the brilliant pastry in England. My English friends soak a Tetley bag in 4 oz of water for 15 seconds and then fill the cup with whole milk or evaporated milk. But they spend far more time and money seeking out excellent bakery, biscuits and chocolate. Even the corner shops had better ingredients in fast baked goods than the US equivalent.

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone. Unfortunately, I ended up being really busy with family stuff and didn’t get to visit any tea shops. My parents did buy some loose tea from Harrods – English Breakfast and green tea, nothing too exciting.

Now, after reading your more recent comments, I wish I had at least had the opportunity to try the pastries.

I guess we do have a lot of pastries, I’ve never really thought about it before. I probably take it for granted!

Yes, you do! Even the prepackaged pastries have real butter as opposed to shelf oils like we have in the US.