I spent this afternoon in a particularly fine example of a dying breed: the traditional tea room. I had proper tea (Lapsang Souchong), served in a proper teapot, and a proper freshly baked scone with jam and cream. The company wasn't bad either :-)
I love places like that. When I was a student in a certain northern cathedral city, I spent a good proportion of my time in Vennels, which doesn't appear to have a website but sells excellent tea, even better hot chocolate and the biggest slices of homemade cake you have ever seen. And then there was the place, the name of which I've forgotten, that did Maltesers cake. Mmmm...
So, given that the English are supposedly still a nation of tea drinkers, how come all you can find in most towns these days are the various chains of coffee shops? Coffee shops can't make tea (some of them can't make coffee either, but that's by the by). They insist on using hot water from the coffee machine, when, as everyone knows, tea has to be made with boiling water - and this isn't just pickiness; it doesn't brew properly if the water isn't hot enough. And then they usually serve it to you with both the milk and the tea bag in the mug, which is just wronger than a wrong thing that's mistaken.
Mind you, it'll be even worse when I move to Brussels. There, you get served with a glass of not particularly hot water, with a bag of Lipton Yellow Label (a substance almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea) on the side. Hmm, it looks like I have two choices: coffee, or beer. I know which one I'll be going for...
ETA: On the plus side, I've recently discovered that there are no Starbucks in Belgium (well, technically there's one, but it's in Brussels airport so can safely be ignored).
I love places like that. When I was a student in a certain northern cathedral city, I spent a good proportion of my time in Vennels, which doesn't appear to have a website but sells excellent tea, even better hot chocolate and the biggest slices of homemade cake you have ever seen. And then there was the place, the name of which I've forgotten, that did Maltesers cake. Mmmm...
So, given that the English are supposedly still a nation of tea drinkers, how come all you can find in most towns these days are the various chains of coffee shops? Coffee shops can't make tea (some of them can't make coffee either, but that's by the by). They insist on using hot water from the coffee machine, when, as everyone knows, tea has to be made with boiling water - and this isn't just pickiness; it doesn't brew properly if the water isn't hot enough. And then they usually serve it to you with both the milk and the tea bag in the mug, which is just wronger than a wrong thing that's mistaken.
Mind you, it'll be even worse when I move to Brussels. There, you get served with a glass of not particularly hot water, with a bag of Lipton Yellow Label (a substance almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea) on the side. Hmm, it looks like I have two choices: coffee, or beer. I know which one I'll be going for...
ETA: On the plus side, I've recently discovered that there are no Starbucks in Belgium (well, technically there's one, but it's in Brussels airport so can safely be ignored).
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