Afternoon Tea

Now tea. A hot beverage very welcome during cold afternoons when the sun sets. However, if you're having a drink outside, that first cup of tea will be comforting and decent. Then it's downhill all the way. The problem with the way English tea is, they allow the tea to steep for ages, ensuring the tannins and astringency to be at maximum level, in which you might be better off adding milk and sugar to balance the bitterness and the burnt flavors.

Of course, the charm in having a set of English afternoon tea is in its ambience, pastries and sweets. Unfortunately, I'm totally not keen on the sweets or pastries. The Berkeley's Prêt-à-Portea is nauseating. Why the hell do I want my pastries to be modelled after A/W 2012 designer collections? So grating lor. Should have done my homework before saying yes to this venue with a bunch of friends. So after I went to tea and then found Tanya Gold's article, I couldn't stop laughing. Spot on! Sitting down to tea at The Dorchester, The Ritz, The Savoy and Fortnum & Mason, it was good to have company because they would finish the food and desserts, and I concentrated on trying out their teas. Good quality, but the brewing left much to be desired. I'm one of those who think that Ladurée Café serves horrid teas and overly-sweet cakes and all. More hype than substance. Their food hasn't improved. That rolled-up omelette is still dry and tasteless. Not into their macarons either. EEEEKS.

Many restaurants and self-touted specialty tea cafes are offering a wider range of teas from both India and China. Finally, something more exciting than an Earl Grey or a low-grade Darjeeling. A good thing. But they don't always time to brew it nicely or don't possess a utensil to perch the wet tea leaves on to leave them for a second brew. Refilling a teapot with hot water isn't going to cut it as a good brew of tea. Many little tearooms are opening up, greater knowledge of types of tea and brewing methods are being spread and the scene is so much more lively than Singapore's. I was wondering how and why. Are Londoners more willing to take risks? Rents for prime commercial spaces can't be that low.

Checked out many cafes and tea masterclasses. Popped into the iconic Postcard Teas. You might have heard of Jane Pettigrew or flipped through one of her pretty books about tea. Her full-day masterclasses (with Tim Clifton) provide a great overview and introduction to tea, lunch included. Heh. Teanamu Chaya Teahouse was such a zen experience. All in all, worth every pound paid as they provide a yardstick and gauge to what I've learnt about tea this year, and where the gaps are. It's absolute crack to be able to glean a comparison of how English tea schools impart that knowledge as compared to the Chinese tea schools or what Singapore currently has.

I'm not looking for pretty places that use the cutest or most adorable crockery or most elegant teaware. I'm paying attention to the kinds of tea on the menu and how they serve it, and among them so far, I like Tea Smith, To A Tea, and Yumchaa. Contemporary happy shiny tearooms that aren't run like the crappy oily smelly (and unhygienic) eateries in Chinatown, or what they call 'teahouses', which are, in reality, in Cantonese, cha chaan teng (茶餐廳), serving Hong Kong style food and milk tea. Those three tearooms abovementioned serve loose leaf tea, take the trouble to time the brew, won't allow it to steep that long, and are accommodating to (my) peculiar demands. I only have a very simple request- pour the remaining tea into either a separate tiny jug or serve tea leaves in a pot holding a removable holder/strainer, and give me a saucer to put that in when the tea leaves are wet after the first steep.

Done with the masterclasses. Many more tearooms to check out. Excited.