The perfect afternoon tea

From Orange Pekoe- Tea Heaven in Sw13.

The perfect tea bag?

I think these teabag designs from Yanko design are genius. There are lots of comments about how the bag would float from kill joys below the pictures- I do see where they are coming from but for real tea surely you go leaves and strainer and for a making you smile every day these would be perfect? They just seem to be a prototype at the moment but hopefully they won't be forever.

Found via the tea appreciation society blog.

I heart tea

I really do.

T- shirt from Howies (I'm not affiliated I just love it!)

All kinds of everything

Mr Scruff makes tea... and the mint and chilli is amazing

I find that I generally hate planning departments and particularly hate whoever said Camden passage was not of particular importance, it is to me. It is much more important than another branch of a huge chain of shops.

A big shout for the Royal Court theatre, which as the Evening Standard pointed out yesterday was a training ground for oscar winner Danny Boyle and oscar nominee Stephen Daldry and I’m sure lots of other previous Oscars winners and nominees. (Also note to the planners please do not put a road where Sloane Square should be... it’s not clever and it won’t make the traffic any better... nothing ever makes London traffic any better)

Speaking of the Royal Court it features in the beautiful little gem of a film Venus which is being shown on Film Four at the moment. I hadn’t seen this since it came out.



It’s a strange film I suppose but the acting is wonderful, not just from Peter O'Toole(seriously if this man doesn’t deserve an Oscar on merit I really don’t know who does) but also Vanessa Redgrave, Leslie Philips- and all the cast. It’s funny, it shows a side of London with its grimy seen better days cafes and past their best apartment blocks which might not be glamorous but is real to me. You can almost taste the weak tea and see the damp growing in the bathroom.

It also shows the more familiar, the national gallery- somewhere wonderful to go for free even on a pension- and the beach down on the south bank which I love, a tiny oasis of the seaside smack in the middle of the city. I think it brings as much pleasure as a deserted beach in the Caribbean would bring on the right day.

The film has lovely humour running throughout it and doesn’t present old people as old people but as people, it reminds you of what I am only just starting to understand- that some of us are eternally 23 trapped in older bodies.

A cup of Christmas for you?

Out Christmas shopping last weekend my friend and I loved all the teas, coffees and cups at Ringtons. Whoever picks their quotes has a great sense of humour and picks out really fun quotes that aren't gimmicky.

I love the Dickens on the mug above. Dickens and I agree on a lot about Christmas.

we also both felt Billy Connelly was very wise when he said:



But our favourite stocking filler of all was this cup:

Miller Harris fragrant tea room

Today's Daily Candy London has the news that Miller Harris are opening a fragrant tea room in their main Bruton Street shop.

Some googling led me to this interesting 4 part interview with Lynn Harris of Miller Harris which contains more information about the teas.

I was interested and excited to read that she had made the teas in conjunction with Postcard Teas, a beautiful little shop on Dering Street in Mayfair which I have blogged about before. When I visited the shop Timothy D'Offay the owner did tell me that he had been working in conjunction with a perfumer on some teas but I was too bashful to ask which one or I could have had myself a scoop! As I said to him I think the collaboration makes absolute sense.

The interviewer for Beauty and the Dirt also asked Lynn Harris which perfumes she wears, to which she answers 'Amongst others, Terre de Bois from Miller Harris and Jicky by Guerlain'. I admire her for not just saying her own fragrance and Jicky= great taste.

Miller Harris tea picture courtesy of www.dailycandy.com

George Orwell's Diaries

I feel a strong affinity with everything George Orwell and we agree on the best way to make a cup of tea so I was thrilled when I read here that his diaries and more of his works were to be available online here.

There is a wealth of George's wisdom available. The more I read the more I like him and think that he will be relevant forever more. We all know how chillingly prophetic 1984 is because we see it everyday but I also love his observations about food and think they are equally wise; particularly his points (in On The Road To Wigan Pier) that the British waste too much food, need to eat more fresh ingredients and more needs to be done to make sure the poor can afford good quality meat and provisions are as relevant, if not more so, in today's Britain as they were in George's.

On a less serious note I think George has lovely floppy hair in the picture above (courtesy of the George Orwell prize website). This got me to think that if I did approve of cloning, which I definitely do not, but if I did, that George Orwell would have been a wonderful candidate (obviously he would have hated the idea). He is so wonderful and we could have had five wise George's working on improving the country or just making marvellously erudite observations and taking tea.

Postcard teas

Last night I finally visited Postcard teas on Dering Street. It is one of those shops that looks like it has been lost in time from the outside- in a good way- it looks very Dickensian and like a shop that has been there for years, but the paint work is pristine and it is beautifully kept. Peeping inside it looks much more modern but it still seems like a hidden treasure trove filled with mysterious and intoxicating goods from the East.

I ventured in...

Everyone in the shop, customers and staff alike was very charming. The shop is extremely calming and peaceful, partly because of the atmosphere and partly because of the wonderful smell of all the teas.

Goods on offer include many specially chosen rare teas, beautiful traditional tea pots and cups and copper tea caddies. You can also view their collection of tea postcards from over the years.

I came away with the coffee flower tea- a perfect little present for a caffeine loving friend.