To tea, or not to tea

As regular readers will know I have been constantly deprecatory of the ability of our American cousins to make a good cup of tea.

Well, if every force has an equal and opposite reaction then Samovar is the opposite to the warm cup of water and Lipton’s ‘tea’ bag that constitutes most American attempts at a good brew up.

Samovar is a place that not only takes its tea seriously, but takes it way too seriously. How can one take tea too seriously the connoisseurs among you may question? Well charging $65 for a one person pot is one example – no tea is that good I’m afraid. Things can only be so good and charging more for something doesn’t automatically make it better (California’s wine merchants please take note).

But what really cracked me and my tea drinking partner up was the descriptions of the tea itself. Now these were necessary, since I’d not heard of some of the more obscure Oolongs and herbal mixes, some of which are unique to the tea house itself. But describing Earl Grey as ‘zesty’ and ‘vibrantly exciting’ is to stretch the truth like Jade Goody’s hipsters.

Earl Grey is not an exciting tea. As my drinking partner pointed out it tastes like a cross between your granny’s perfume sachet and potpourri. It’s the tea equivalent of Madonna; occasionally likeable but by in large over-hyped and underperforming.

That said the teas we chose were excellent. My oolong was perfectly prepared and premoistened with honey to add sweetness to a strong black brew, while my partner’s cuppa was equally well prepared. Add in a delicious warm salmon quiche and cheeky birds hopping closer for nibbles and it was a very enjoyable afternoon.