Valerija Zujeva 03/07/2019 Valerija Zujeva 03/07/2019

ROSE TEA TASTING at ROSE FESTIVAL

I held Rose Tea Tasting at the Rose Festival in Surrey.

Last Saturday I was invited to hold Rose Tea Tasting for Malvern Luxury Buildings in collaboration with Squires Garden Centre in Surrey. The tasting was part of a larger Rose Festival event that was all about the queen of the garden herself - ROSE.

It was the hottest day of this year and the garden with all the roses there looked and felt amazingly beautiful. The smell was divine, and the garden buildings where the tea tasting took place were perfect for the occasion.

I chose three teas - simple rose buds from Pakistan, White Darjeeling Tea infused with Rose Petals and Rose and Cardamom Tea (with green rooibos, apples and a touch of Mint). They were all a huge success, and also all had a cooling effect on the body. Rose and white tea are cooling by nature, green rooibos, mint and apples too. The only ingredient that was a little bit warming was Cardamom - but it was a well received exceptions as most people attending the tasting loved its taste.

Even though in my work I focus mainly on Chadao Tea Ceremonies and Meditation - I really enjoyed holding this particular event. Spending morning in the sun surrounded by roses, but mostly by the people - curious minds who joined the tasting. Most of them didn’t know the event is happening, and stumbled across it while strolling through the rows of roses looking for the one they want to buy home. Joining the tasting spontaneously and discovering the whole new world of loose leaf teas and actually loving every single minute of it.

I am always amazed by how everyone responds to Tea and the beauty it brings into our life, sometimes unexpectedly. How a simple cup of tea with or without rose can change the course of our day and induces more brightness in our eyes, energy in our bodies and peace in our minds.

Malvern Gardens also wrote an amazing BLOG POST on how to make your own rose tea and how to cook with rose too!

lera zujeva 10/07/2016 lera zujeva 10/07/2016

Our first Silent Tea Ceremony at Sunrise in London

Was it difficult to wake up for today's sunrise tea ceremony? Yes, it was. So many excuses ran through my head about why not get up and why not do it. But I overcame resistance and it was so worth it! I woke up at 3.30am, and then my helper and friend came with his bike, so we could cycle together to the location. I was a little bit questioning myself, why on earth am I doing it, when I can stay in bed for a few extra hours.. But the first minutes on the bicycle dissolved these questions and grumpy thoughts completely. It was so refreshing and magical to cycle through the empty streets in the lighting of the sun yet to come! The ride was quick and easy. It seems like everything is so close in London, when you are cycling!

The energy of the time when nature wakes up together with the sun is truly special (it was at about 4.52am today). The birds wake up and sing their songs most intensely during that hour, there are no planes in the sky, and all you hear is birds and wind rustling through the tree leaves. And the sky. Such an enormous vast constantly changing sky! You cannot help but feel part of this beautiful incredible moving universe!

Now I feel so much in my body, so present, even though a little bit tired. So blessed to have this start of the day. There were two of us today, hopefully more can join us next Sunday! These sessions are going to be regular (I hope), with the break for a few weeks at the end of July, as I am going away. If you are interested, simply write to me, and I will let you know if they are happening or not that coming Sunday!

Or you could check our site here, or Facebook page for events.

Here are a couple of photos from that session.

lera zujeva 03/05/2015 lera zujeva 03/05/2015

Tea Events in London 4-10 May

Ten TEA events this week are taking place! Each day of the week something is happening, so if you are a true tea lover you will definitely find something to suit your taste and availability! Is it May that makes all these events to start happening? In any way, it's amazing to see tea culture thriving and having so many amazing and wonderful events on offer! 1. Monday, 4 May, at 8pm – Mad Hatter's Tea Party at Tea House Theatre in Vauxhall, £25

To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the publication of Lewis Caroll's iconic novel the Tea House Theatre invites grown-ups to join the Mad Hatter, the Red Queen, the White Rabbit and a host of other characters for a dinner riddled with games, gambles and recitations.

The menu has been taken straight from the book and we promise you an exciting, entertaining evening from which no one will leave empty handed. And I am sure there will be a lot of TEA flowing too!

2. Tuesday, 5 May, at 7pm – Tea and Food Pairing, Shaftesbury Avenue, £25 - SOLD OUT! Next one on 2 June, so book early to avoid disappointment!

Start the evening with a tea infused Mocktail in the intimate Mee bar before tea guru Kyle guides you through 5 exciting tea and food pairings. Pairing exciting dishes from the menue with Noodle House teas and specially selected teas from Whittington's Tea Emporium's vast range, you will discover how tea enhances the flavour of dishes. With each pairing Kyle shows images and video clips of where the teas come from and how they are made. Lean about the masters who hand make these teas and just why Jasmine Pearls are so special! Then finish off the evening with a unique Tea Cocktail (or Mocktail if you prefer).

3. Wednesday, 6 May, at 20.00 in Covent Garden – Tea Ceremony and Gong Bath. £18

My favourite tea fairy Kat Bambul is conducting yet another magical journey into tea and gongs. Not to be missed!

That’s what she writes about the tea ceremony herself: “Gong Fu Tea Ceremony is a beautiful and meditative ritual of preparing and drinking tea, taking it’s roots from Dao and Zen Buddhist traditions where tea is considered as a spiritual drink. We drink loose leaf tea from the old, naturally growing trees in the wild, rich in substances affecting our consciousness and the body. High quality tea induces a deep meditative state, philosophical and creative mindset, a feeling of contentment, freedom and openness to the mystical. During the ceremony we appreciate the beauty of here & now, indulge all our senses and contemplate on tea, it’s setting, ourselves and our connection with nature. We connect with the spirit of the tea, and let ourselves flow in a timeless zone between heaven and earth.”

4. Friday, 8 May, at 14.00 and 15.00 at British Museum – Japanese Tea Ceremony demonstration by Urasenke Institute. FREE.

I wrote a blog post about my previous visit and impressions last time I went, which explains very well what this demonstration is about: http://t-lovers.com/2013/04/04/japanese-tea-ceremonies-at-british-museum/

5. Saturday, 9 May, at 10am – Black and Pu-erh– Teas from India, China and other areas, £20, ADAVNCED BOOKING is ESSENTIAL!

Every Saturday between 10-11am, they will host a relaxed one-hour tasting of teas from areas he has visited complete with illustrated tasting notes.

6. Sunday, 10 May, 11-5pm - A POP UP ORIGAMI POETRY CAFE with Tea, somewhere on the Regents Canal, £10.

This event brings together a passion for tea, poetry and beautiful origami all together as a beautiful package. It includes a personalised poem on an origami model by their professional poet together with a home baked cake and lovely afternoon tea will spoil your senses. Enjoy the landscape of hundreds of flying origami birds, floating boats and swans, and lovely flowers. Friendly and relaxed atmosphere with bird songs in the background. Add aroma to your origami with a scented paper…

£10 per person includes a poem on an origami model, a cake and a tea. Please check for location on their website: http://www.thefloatingshowroom.com/upcoming-events

7. Sunday, 10 May, at 12pm - Chinese Tea and Dim Sum Brunch Club with PaoCha in Streatham, London, £15 - NEARLY SOLD OUT!

Discover tea and dim sum in combination! With hundreds of aromas of Chinese tea to be exploring, Sam and Alex (Sinophiles/foodies/tea obsessives) would like to introduce the diversity of this delightful beverage by hosting their very own tea (not supper) club in the delights of our Streatham abode. Where London does brunch, Southern China does Dim Sum; a good selection of Chinese tea and small light dishes. PaoCha therefore, invites you their very own Chinese style brunch of copious amounts of tea ranging from TieGuanYin Oolong, to Pu’er, to Fuding’s best White tea, and a good filling of Chinese inspired food!

8. Sunday, 10 May, at 4pm – Chinese Tea Ceremony in Hyde Park, £15, in RUSSIAN

Tasting four great teas and learning lots about them in the beautiful surroundings of Kensington Gardens in Hyde Park. The following teas will be tasted: Silver Needle white tea, Baimudan white tea, Lao Tie Guan Yin oolong tea and Tie Luo Han oolong tea. Your guide into the world of tea here is the Daoist master with decades of practice and experience!!!!

Big hug!

lera zujeva 26/04/2015 lera zujeva 26/04/2015

Tea Events in London 27 April- 3 May

Not so many tea events this week, but I am sure you will be in LOVE with the ones that are happening! 1. Thursday, 30 April, at 1pm - Tea Meditation with T-Lovers, South East London (Zone 1/2), FREE

For this meditation, which is a Mindfulness Meditation, we will be brewing tea in the Chinese tradition, and usually I am using special teas with special energy. It will probably be Puerh tea from wild growing trees that are 1,200 years old. Or a special tea called Enlightenment. In any way these kind of teas will make it easier to connect to ourselves and feel our own energy connecting with the energy tea and creating a special experience for us. Small snacks will be provided. I am so looking forward to sharing teas with you!

2. Saturday, 2 May, at 10am – Introduction to Tea – Teas from India, Sri Lanka, Japan, and China, £20, ADAVNCED BOOKING is ESSENTIAL!

Every Saturday between 10-11am, they will host a relaxed one-hour tasting of teas from areas he has visited complete with illustrated tasting notes.

3. Sunday, 3 May, 11-5pm - A POP UP ORIGAMI POETRY CAFE with Tea, somewhere on the Regents Canal, £10.

£10 per person includes a poem on an origami model, a cake and a tea. Please check for location on their website: http://www.thefloatingshowroom.com/upcoming-events

Big hug!

lera zujeva 20/04/2015 lera zujeva 20/04/2015

Tea Events this week in London 20-26 April

This week, again, is rich with tea events. It seems that sunshine awakens all the senses and people just want to explore and delve into the word aromas and subtle or strong tastes. I am in LOVE with this fact! 1. Wednesday, 22 April, at 18.30 - The Power of Oolong at ChinaLife in Camden, FREE

During this tea appreciation evening, guests will have the opportunity to hear about the health benefits of drinking oolong tea from tea master Don Mei. Participants will get the chance to sample a variety of oolongs to train the palette, from soft and floral to creamy, rich and roasted, in discovering a new appreciation of the humble tea leaf.

2. Saturday, 25 April, at 10am – The Blues – Oolong teas from Fujian, Guangdong, and Taiwan, £20, ADAVNCED BOOKING is ESSENTIAL!

Every Saturday between 10-11am, they will host a relaxed one-hour tasting of teas from areas he has visited complete with illustrated tasting notes.

3. Sunday, 26 April, 11-5pm - A POP UP ORIGAMI POETRY CAFE with Tea, somewhere on the Regents Canal, £10.

£10 per person includes a poem on an origami model, a cake and a tea. Please check for location on their website: http://www.thefloatingshowroom.com/upcoming-events

4. Sunday, 26 April, at 4pm – Chinese Tea Ceremony in Hyde Park, £15, in RUSSIAN

Tasting four great teas and learning lots about them in the beautiful surroundings of Kensington Gardens in Hyde Park. The following teas will be tasted: Taipng Houkui, GABA oolong tea, Lapsang Souchong and Shu Puer teas. Your guide into the world of tea here is the Daoist master with decades of practice and experience!!!!

Big hug!

lera zujeva 12/04/2015 lera zujeva 12/04/2015

Tea Events this week in London 13-19 April

This week is abundant with tea events!!!!!!!!!!! Lots of new people, companies and tea lovers are doing tea related events, and you know what? It makes me really happy! I take it as a sign that tea culture is finally picking up and becoming popular. That proper tea is seen as a great way to spend time and tea is becoming a drink that people tend to choose as an alternative to coffee. My heart is expanding with joy! So here is a list of tea events this week for you! I am sure these is a tea event to suit any taste and any availability!

1. Saturday, 18 April, at 10am – Postcard Teas School - 3rd Saturday – Shades of Green – Green teas from Japan, Korea, and China, £20, ADAVNCED BOOKING is ESSENTIAL!

Every Saturday between 10-11am, they will host a relaxed one-hour tasting of teas from areas he has visited complete with illustrated tasting notes.

2. Saturday, 18 April, at 4pm - Chinese Tea Ceremony in Hyde Park, £15, in RUSSIAN

Tasting four great teas and learning lots about them in the beautiful surroundings of Kensington Gardens in Hyde Park. The following teas will be tasted: Shou Mei white tea, GABA oolong tea, GABA red tea and Ginseng oolong tea. Your guide into the world of tea here is the Daoist master with decades of practice and experience!!!!

3. Sunday, 19 April, 11-5pm - A POP UP ORIGAMI POETRY CAFE with Tea, on Regents Canal not far from King's Cross, £10.

£10 per person includes a poem on an origami model, a cake and a tea. Just pop in to Kings Cross, Granary Square, along Regent's Canal N1C 4AA

4. Sunday, 19 April, 3-5pm - Chinese Tea Tasting Workshop in Waterloo, £20, in English

I have never been to one of these before, and it seems to be organised by the Chinese descendants from Hong Kong, who are passionate about maintaining and promoting chinese culture in the West. Looks lovely!

LOVE you all!!!!!!

lera zujeva 19/01/2015 lera zujeva 19/01/2015

Tea Events in London this week

There is only one tea event this week for you, but it's amazing and you should go! 1. This Wednesday, 21 Jan, at 8pm - Tea Ceremony and a Gong Bath afterwards in the heart of Covent Garden at Buddha on the Bicycle.

http://www.meetup.com/London-Gong-Chamber-Tea-Sanctuary/events/219695039/

Again, Kat Bambul is going to be an amazing host, guiding you into a meditative state with the amazing teas and then through a gong journey.

lera zujeva 21/05/2014 lera zujeva 21/05/2014

English Afternoon Tea - Browns HotelАнглийская Чайная Церемония - Browns Hotel

Now it's time to share my experience of English Afternoon Tea at Browns Hotel. It impressed me more than any place that I have been to before. Not with its tea though, but with the real english atmosphere, impeccable service and food. But lets start from the beginning. Browns Hotel is the place where lots of famous people stayed. Not only did they stay there but they also created and wrote some of their work under the influence of the hotel's atmosphere (and no doubt, tea that they had there). Ridyard Kipling was staying at Browns Hotel, and Agatha Christie was a frequent visitor. Some say that it is this hotel that was a prototype for Christie's Bertram Hotel, so much loved by Miss Marple. Who knows, may be the tea room's atmosphere, tea and scones helped her solve those really twisted murders? Queen Victoria used to be a guest in this hotel's tea room too. To sum it up, Browns Hotel is well-known, famous and so attracts a lot of visitors. Well, at least for my mum the biggest attraction was Miss Marple story. And I think she is not alone in this. So my mum decided to give herself a present and have an Afternoon Tea experience in Browns Hotel.

This is how the hotel looks on the outside:

The atmosphere inside was beautiful - live piano music, amazing service, quite a few people at the tables chatting away in a relaxed way. Even heavy rain outside was complementing English Afternoon tea scene!

By the way, there were quite a few Japanese and Chinese in the tea room. From my experience visitors of the English Tea Ceremonies are usually from countries that appreciate tea quite a lot. And these are mainly England, Japan, China and Russia. There are occasionally people from other countries too, but they are quite rare, in my opinion.

This time we ordered black tea only (or red, if we use Chinese classification of tea). Frankly, I was so impressed with the atmosphere at Browns that I wanted to keep this impression and not spoil it with green or white teas brewed for an indefinite amount of time in boiling water. Afterwards my friend, who is an owner of the Chinese Tea shop told me that once she ordered white tea there. And while the tea itself was of exceptional quality, the way it was brewed in boiling water was not. Moreover, it was served in a silver teapot, in which previously black teas were brewed, so this affected the taste and colour of white tea. It looked more brownish than white. But we avoided this dilemma by ordering different varieties of black tea only. I rarely drink black tea. Almost never. Hence, it's quite difficult for me to judge whether black tea I am drinking is good or not.Probably, if it's utterly awful, I will recognise this fact. But honestly, to understand the difference between an ok and a good black tea, and may be even a very good one would be a difficult task for me (unless the tea is Chinese).

Therefore, I can say with clear conscience, that all tea was good at Browns Hotel. Well, except Lapsang Souchong again - I always order this tea, out of curiosity, to see if it's flavoured or not. And as always, in these kind of places, it was flavoured. But I made a decision to ignore this fact. Because as far as my understanding goes, English Afternoon Tea is not really about tea. It is about a setting, an atmosphere, and food. It's definitely not about green or white teas. May be it is about black teas, as it is where the heart and soul of british people is. But again, black teas from anywhere but China. Because Lapsang Souchong is always below the standard quality at these ceremonies.

So what kind of teas did we have there? For a start we ordered Nilgiri and Assam teas (from India). For afterwards - Lapsang Souchong and another tea, grown in England. Yes! Did you know? There is a tea plantation called Tregothnan in Cornwall, where tea is grown, processed and blended. They claim they are relatives of Earl Grey, who got from one chinese man a present in the form of a recipe for the very famous tea called in the same way - Earl Grey. The tea was not bad at all, but as I previously said already, all black teas for me are "not bad". :)

Tea was served in these silver teapots, which is better than metal. But it would still be much nicer if it was served in porcelain, at least for me. And as you can see they have a white table cloth on the table, which immediately puts you into a special, festive mood.

And a silver strainer matching the teapots:

Food can be discussed endlessly. But what I wanted to share is that in Browns Hotel they had a choice - traditional tea ceremony, and a healthy version (without wheat and sugar). I chose a healthy version, while my mum stuck to the traditional one. What I also wanted to point out, because I personally didn't know that - at most English Afternoon Teas you can replenish your tray of finger sandwiches, or scones or little cakes at no extra cost however many times you like. So it's basically eat as much as you can - if you can actually take in that much of this delicious food. :)

Here are some photos of the food there. There is no need for comments as the photos say it all, but I will make a note of what is what.

Our table:

Healthy option - Tabulae:

Fruit kebab:

Mini wheat and sugar free cakes:

Scones and jam from the "classic" menu:

Strawberry jam and clotted cream (so tender and smooth …. mmmmmm)

Mini cakes in the traditional option:

To draw a conclusion: this place in my top favourites at this moment. Not only the food was great and tea not bad, but we had what people call "the experience". It was almost like I went back 100 years, got soaked in the atmosphere of London in those days and got transferred back. A journey beyond time and space. In the previous place, although it was very nice too, I had a feeling of simply having an expensive gluttonous meal. Here, it felt differently. So, I highly recommend to all, who would like to have an English Afternoon Tea experience.Ну вот пришла пора рассказать и об Английской Чайной Церемонии в Browns Hotel. Сразу скажу, что впечатлил он гораздо больше всех предыдущих мест. Но не чаем, а своей атмосферой, сервисом, едой, а также своей историей.

Но начну с самого начала. Browns Hotel известен тем, что там останавливалось много известных людей. И они там не просто останавливались, но под влиянием атмосферы отеля (и как мне хочется думать, его чайной комнаты) творили и писали в номерах, и произвели на свет много прекрасных произведений. Например, там часто останавливался Редьярд Киплинг. И Агата Кристи. Считается, что именно чайная комната этого отеля прослужила прототипом Bertram Hotel, в котором все время жила Мисс Марпл. И под действием чая и пирожных разгадывала самые запутанные убийства. Говорят, что Королева Виктория тоже частенько захаживала туда выпить чай. Вообщем, Browns Hotel известен, знаменит и поэтому манит многих посетить его. Во всяком случае, для моей мамы огромным привлекающим фактором было то, что Мисс Марпл там пила чай. И я думаю, что это является большим плюсом не только для моей мамы. И мама решила сделать себе подарок и сходить туда на чай.

Вот так отель выглядит снаружи:

Обстановка внутри была прекрасна! Музыкальное сопровождение на фортепиано, оживленная атмосфера, прекрасный сервис. И даже дождь за окном соответствовал традиционному английскому чаепитию.

Кстати, было много японцев, китайцев. Я вообще заметила, что на чайные церемонии ходят в основном ценители чая - из стран, в которых чай пьют и любят. А это Англия, Япония, Китай, Россия. Изредка можно встретить представителей других стран, но они действительно встречаются довольно редко.

Чай в этот раз мы заказали исключительно черный (или красный, по китайской классификации). Если честно, мне настолько понравилась атмосфера в Браунз, что портить впечатление зеленым или белым чаем, заваренным кипятком, совершенно не хотелось! Потом уже мне подруга, владелица магазина китайских чаев рассказала, что она там как-то заказала белый чай. Несмотря на то, что сам чай был прекрасного качества, заварили его кипятком, в серебряном чайнике, в котором до этого заваривали черный. И конечно, это повлияло и на вкус, и на цвет чая. Он совершенно не был белым, скорее каким-то коричневатым на вкус. Но мы этой дилеммы избежали, так как с самого начала решили заказать черный чай. Я очень редко пью черный чай. Практически никогда. Поэтому мне сложно судить хороший он или нет. Наверное если полная гадость - я пойму и начну плеваться. Но честно, различить ок черный чай от хорошего или от очень хорошего мне будет сложно.

Поэтому сразу скажу - весь чай, который мы пили был хороший. Ну кроме Лапсанг Сушонга - этот экземпляр я всегда заказываю из любопытства - чтобы узнать, с ароматизаторами он или нет. И как всегда, оказалось, что да, с ароматизаторами. Но я решила закрыть на это глаза. Так как когда его принесли, я поняла еще раз - английская чайная церемония не про чай, а про атмосферу и еду. По крайней мере, не про зеленый или белый чай, скорее про любой черный чай, который не из Китая. Так как в случае с Лапсангом, это тоже полный пролет.

Так какие же мы пили там чаи? Для начала заказали Нилгири (на фото вверху) и Ассам, оба из Индии. А потом Лапсанг Сушонг и чай, выращенный в Англии. Да! Вы не знали? В Cornwall есть чайная плантация с труднопроизносимым названием Tregothnan, где выращивают чай. Они говорят, что являются потомками того самого Графа Грея, которому один китаец много лет назад подарил секрет знаменитого сегодня чая Earl Grey. Чай действительно был совсем не плох, но как я уже говорила выше, для меня все черные чаи "совсем неплохие" :)

Чай подавали в таких серебряных чайниках, что конечно не плохо, но лучше бы в керамических. Плюс, как вы видите, есть скатерть, а это сразу придает торжественность моменту.

Ну и ситечко под стать:

О еде можно говорить очень много. Она была прекрасна, не придраться. Но что мне больше всего понравилось, так это выбор. Можно было выбрать здоровое меню, а можно было традиционное. Мама выбрала традиционное, а я здоровый вариант. И оба были прекрасны, но мне больше понравился мой, здоровый вариант, без муки и сахара. Момент, о котором хотелось бы упомянуть - на английских чайных церемониях можно заказывать все по второму, третьему… десятому кругу бесплатно. Если вам захотелось съесть больше сендвичей, или сконов, или пирожных - все это вам принесут, сколько бы вы ни заказывали. Если у вас конечно будет место для всех этих яств. :)

Вот несколько фотографий с едой. Комментировать излишне, но напишу что есть что.

Наш стол:

Здоровый вариант - Табуле

Фрукты на палочке вместо сконов:

Маленькие пирожные без муки и сахара:

Сконы с джемом из обычного меню:

Клубничный джем и клоттед крим (такой нежный и кремовый….. ням ням)

И маленькие пирожные в традиционном меню:

Вообщем, если подвести итоги, это место - мой фаворит на данный момент. У меня действительно было такое чувство, что я окунулась в Англию 100 лет назад. Атмосфера полностью соответствовала. Мы получили опыт. Если сравнивать с прошлым местом, у меня было чувство - дорого объелись. И все. А здесь осталось ощущение, что я побывала в другом измерении, временном пространстве, и окунулась в традиционную английскую атмосферу. Советую!

lera zujeva 28/04/2014 lera zujeva 28/04/2014

Afternoon Tea - Athenaeum HotelАнглийская Чайная Церемония - Athenaeum Hotel

As was mentioned in my previous post, we chose Athenaeum Hotel, because it was the winner of the best Afternoon Tea place nomination in 2012, and received Excellence Award for its high standard of service in 2013. So I was very curious - is its Afternoon Tea really of this high level of excellence? Or not? And that's what we set out to check. First, in order to give the whole story a positive feeling, I will mention this - the food in Athenaeum was amazing. Finger sandwiches, tender scones, miniature sweets and a chocolate cake were fresh, delicate, delicious and melted in the mouth. Not too rich, not too sweet - just the right balance. But not the tea. We were a little bit disappointed with tea in this place. Delicate tea leaves, brewed with boiling water and left in metal teapots for an indefinite period of time - it is not something I expected from the hotel of this level. And tea itself was not the highest quality too. But let's start from the beginning.

Afternoon tea in Athenaeum takes place in their Garden Room - a rather cosy and warm space with large windows, that let lots of sunshine in and through which you can see a tall wall covered with green plants, trees and flowers. Indeed this gives you a feeling that you are somewhere in a botanical garden and not in the middle of the busy city centre. A great idea, pleasing and refreshing for the eye.

And a window with wild green plants satisfying the eyes of the tired citizen of metropolis:

I have read quite a lot of information about English Tea Ceremonies, and have also been to a couple of them. What struck me immediately is the absence of the table cloth and flowers on the table. From what I know, according to the etiquette, there should be a cloth on the table, preferably matching the colour of tea ware. And also a simple-shaped vase with fresh flowers. Both of them were missing. Well, I thought to myself, may be green plants outside the window are the replacement for the flowers? Everything is possible…

Tea…. Tea… Tea menu was simple and interesting, with the choice of 10-12 teas. It had black, green and flower tea. Any of them could be ordered. In fact you could even order all of them if you wanted! And drink them one after another. If you felt like tasting them all.

We ordered Japanese Sencha and Dardjeeling to start with. And Lapsang Souchong and Assam teas for afterwards. And waited eagerly for our teas to arrive. Before I start talking about teas, I would like to say a little bit more about English Tea Ceremony. Ideally, all tea ware should come from the same set. And I mean ALL. Including teapots. Especially TEAPOTS! For they contain precious TEA! For it is around tea that all food, traditions, rituals etc are taking place. If a teapot is for one person only, it should be small. To fill one or two cups. A jug with hot water must also be present on the table in order to refill the teapot as soon as the tea is poured into cups. So when the cups are empty, a new infusion is ready to be used. Black tea is left to brew for 5-7 minutes, while green and flower teas have their own individual timing.

So. Our tea was brought to us in BIG METAL teapots with HOT BOILING water. Their size was bigger than necessary. And METAL?? There was also no sight of the jug with hot water. Just imagine the tender loose-leaf tea in those metal teapots floating in this boiling water. Poor tea leaves were probably completely shocked with the treatment they were receiving! Especially, my tender delicate sencha. Regardless of the fact that it was not the highest quality sencha, I felt almost physical pain when observing it brewed in such a terrible manner with boiling water in a tea pot for half an hour at the very least. On a side note, sencha is a VERY delicate tea, which should be brewed at 75C temperature. And should be brewed only for one minute. One minute!! Are you hearing me? Not 15 minutes, or 10. Not even five or three. Just one minute! And if you want your tea stronger, you should add more tea leaves, but still brew it for 1 MINUTE only! So can you imagine the horrow that went down my spine when I saw these big metal teapots with boiling water?

Moreover, Sencha is always green. Right after the harvest it is steamed to lock the green colour of the tea leaves and the freshness of spring. Therefore, when Sencha is fresh, high quality, when it is brewed at the right temperature - the infusion is always green. Green! Not yellow! Here is a photo of my Sencha in a cup, and as you can see - it is yellow. By the way, the tea ware and cups were really nice. Made from very fine and white porcelain, they appealed to my taste.

The infusion also did not taste like Sencha. At least not Sencha that I know and love. My mum's darjeeling was also average.

In the middle of the ceremony I ordered Lapsang Souchong and my mum - Assam tea.

Lapsang Souchong (or Xiao Zhong in chinese) - is a red tea from China, which after numerous mechanical manipulations, is smoked over smouldering pine wood and branches. This gives it amazing smoky pine forest aroma and taste, which is unique to this particular tea. I had Lapsang Souchong many times in numerous places in China. I love it with my whole heart, soul and body. And what I love about it is a subtle aroma and taste of those pine needles and wood. The key word here is SUBTLE. When you brew this tea, you can almost feel this ever present thin layer of aroma. It is there, you know it and feel it. But it never hits you. When my Lapsang Souchong was brought to our table, I had a feeling that I was hit on my nose with Lapsang Souchong boxer glove. Really. I cannot find better words to describe this effect the smell of tea had on me. Strong aroma got out of the teapot, made itself comfortable in every corner of the room and mainly in my nose receptors. It was impossible to get away from it. And even my mum sitting 2 meters away from me with her Assam teapot could feel it. It was a very strong smell. Far too strong. What it means for me - it had flavourings in it. This kind of strong unbeatable aroma can only be present in flavoured teas. If the tea was naturally smoked over burning pine wood, it would have a different kind of smell. That's for sure. This aroma was following me for some time after our tea ceremony was over. It accompanied me on the streets of London, sat next to me on my bus journey home, and only a couple of hours later finally said Good-Bye. I was very happy to hear it actually. Or smell it - would be a more appropriate word. I am not going to comment my perception of this tea any further, you should have got it from my comments above.

My mum's Assam tea was not too bad. And not too good either. But at least it had quite a pleasant taste.

And now let's talk about the positive side. The food! From what I experienced, I have a feeling that it is food, not tea, that is the main part of the English Tea Ceremony. And this is where Athenaeum Hotel was at its best. Tasty finger sandwiches, scones with apricots simply melting in your mouth, fragrant and delicious tiny desserts that are so tender you need to be quick to get them to your mouth.

Scones with lemon curd my mum liked so much:

Tender and soft Devonshire Clotted Cream and real (!!) strawberry preserve stole my heart away!

Basically, their food is amazing, and top level. Even though I was not fond of their teas, we still drank two litres of tea each with my mum - which is a very russian thing to do. In old times Russians used to drink tea until the second scarf - which meant they would drink tea until the second layer of scarf became wet from sweat - from drinking so much hot tea. So we were real russians drinking tea the russian way at the english tea ceremony. :)))

When the cakes were offered to us, I couldn't even look at more sweets or food, or tea. We were told that we could try ALL of the cakes on the tray. ALL?? I didn't want even one of them… But then we decided to share a chocolate cake, which was as delicious as all the other things we tried. And it was not too rich either.

We left this place rolling out like balloons, but after one hour we were our normal selves again. I guess two litres of tea drunk in a russian way took most of the space in our bodies.

My verdict for this Afternoon Tea place from 1-5 is 5 for Food, and 3 for Tea.

More will be coming soon, so watch this space!

If you like Tea and London may be you would like to join me on one of my tea walks soon? More information can be found HERE

And if you enjoyed this post, may be you would like to get e-mail updates (it’s free).Как я уже писала в предыдущем посте, мы выбрали именно Athenaeum Hotel, так как он был признан лучшим в чайной церемонии в 2012 году, и получил приз за высокое качество в 2013. Мне было безумно любопытно, действительно ли он стоит своих наград, или нет?

Сразу оговорюсь, что еда там была отменная - и сэндвичи, и сконы, и маленькие миниатюрные пирожные, и шоколадный пирог. Всё было очень вкусное, свежее, и таяло во рту. Не слишком жирно, не слишком сладко - всё, как надо. А вот с чаем нас ждало разочарование. Заваренные кипятком в металлических чайниках листики чая, оставленные там на неопределенное количество время - это не то, что я ожидала от отеля такого уровня. Да и чай, скажем прямо, был не лучшего качества. Но обо всём по порядку.

Чайная церемония в Athenaeum происходит в их Garden Room, довольно симпатичном пространстве с большими окнами, и видом на ограду засаженную зелёными растениями, цветами и деревцами. Что действительно создает ощущение, что ты находишься в ботаническом саду. Хотя находишься ты в самом центре города, очень оживленном и шумном. Интересная идея, и освежает глаз.

И окно с буйной зеленью радующей уставший глаз городского жителя:

Я много читала про английские чайные церемонии, на каких-то присутствовала собственной персоной. И что мне сразу же бросилось в глаза - это отсутствие скатерти на столе, и живых цветов в вазе. По правилам этикета, на столе должна быть (желательно однотонная) скатерть в тон посуде и строгая ваза с живыми цветами. Ни того, ни другого там не было. Ну ладно, подумала, я, может вазу с цветами заменяет зелень за окном? Всё может быть, конечно.

Чай… Чай…. Меню было интересное, с хорошим выбором из 10-12 чаев - там присутствовал и черный чай, и зеленый, и цветочный. Можно было выбрать какой угодно. На самом деле можно было выбрать хоть все, и пить их один за другим. Это если есть желание попробовать всё, что есть на выбор.

Наверное, так и надо было сделать, но я на тот момент ещё не поняла, как это работает. Поэтому мы с мамой заказали два чая для начала. И потом ещё два чая в середине, к сладкому.

Я заказала японскую сеньчу. Мама - дарджилинг. И стали ждать в предвкушении. Как отступление, опять немного расскажу про английскую чайную церемонию. В идеале, вся посуда, и я действительно имею ввиду ВСЯ - должна быть из одного чайного набора. Это понятие включает в себя и чайники. Тем более - чайники! Ведь в них находится Чай! Чай, вокруг которого создается всё чайное действо с едой, традициями, ритуалами, и тд. Если чайник с чаем - на одного человека, то он должен быть маленьким. На одну-две чашки. На столе должен присутствовать кувшин с кипятком - потому что когда чай разливают по чашкам, заварку снова заливают кипятком, чтобы новый настой был готов к тому времени, как первая чашка опустошится. Черный чай заваривают 5-7 минут, и потом разливают по чашкам. С зелёным и цветочными обращаются индивидуально в зависимости от чая.

Так вот. Нам принесли чай, заваренный кипятком,в металлических чайниках большого размера. Этот размер был явно больше, чем надо. Никакого кувшина с кипятком для последущего заваривания чая тоже не было. То есть представьте чай, который был в этих металлических чайниках. Бедные чаинки были в ужасе от происходящего. Тем более тонкая нежная сеньча. Хотя она и не была лучшего качества, мне всё равно было физически больно её видеть там, в кипятке, в железном чайнике, оставленную на пол часа как минимум. Что с ней там происходило, мне даже не хотелось представлять. К слову сказать, сеньчу нужно заваривать при температуре 75 градусов. И заваривать ровно одну минуту. Одну Минуту!!!! Вы меня услышали? Ни 30 минут, ни 15, ни пять, и даже не три. Одну! И если вы хотите сделать чай крепче - то золотое правило гласит: положите больше заварки, но держите чай ОДНУ минуту! Поэтому увидев железные чайники огромного размера и кипяток, по моей спине прошел холодок.

Ещё сеньча всегда зелёная. Сразу после сбора урожая сеньчу пропаривают, и она сохраняет всю зелень чайных листьев и свежесть весны. Поэтому когда она свежая, хорошего качества и когда её завариваешь при правильной температуре - настой всегда зелёный. Зелёный, а не желтый. Вот вам фотография моей сеньчи в чашке. Как вы видите, он - желтый… Кстати, чашки были из прекрасного белого тонкого фарфора. Чашки и блюдца мне очень понравились.

На вкус это тоже была не совсем сеньча. Во всяком случае не сеньча, которую я знаю и люблю. Дарджилинг моей мамы также был посредственным.

Потом к сладкому я заказала Лапсанг Сушонг, а мама - Ассамский чай.

Лапсанг Сушонг (или Сяочжун по-китайски) - это китайский красный чай, который после многочисленных с ним манипуляций томят (или коптят) над дымом от сосновых дров и веток. Поэтому у него такой свойственный только ему аромат и вкус соснового леса, копчености. Именно елово-сосновой копчености. Я пила этот чай в Китае в разных местах, и люблю его всей душой и телом. Что мне в нем нравится, так это еле уловимый аромат и вкус сосновых веток. Ключевое слово здесь - еле уловимый. Он присутствует явным, но тонким слоем. И уж точно не бьет вас в нос своей копченостью при заварке. Так вот чай с названием Лапсанг Сушонг, который нам принесли к десерту, ударил нам по носу тяжелой боксерской перчаткой. Других сравнений, как описать этот эффект, мне просто не приходит в голову. Сильный запах разнесся по всему залу, заполнил каждый уголок, и прочно поселился на наших рецепторах обоняния. Перебить его чем либо было невозможно. Это был очень сильный, очень резкий аромат. И для меня это означает одно - это был чай с ароматизаторами. Такой настойчивый, неперебиваемый запах бывает только у них - ароматизированных чаев. Этот запах преследовал меня еще долго после того, как закончилась церемония. Он шел со мной по улицам города, сидел со мной в автобусе, и только примерно через час решил со мной распрощаться. Чему я была очень рада. Вообщем, я не буду комментировать свое отношение к этому чаю. Из моих комментариев выше вы уже сами всё поняли.

Ассамский чай был не самый плохой. Но и не самый лучший. В всяком случае, он был довольно приятный на вкус.

Ну а теперь хватит о грустном. Давайте, перейдем к еде. У меня складывается такое ощущение, что в Английской чайной церемонии именно еда, а не чай является главным. И здесь они в этом преуспели. Нежные сэндвичи с вкусной начинкой, растворяющиеся во рту сконы с кусочками абрикосов, ароматные и безумно вкусные пирожные, которые надо еще суметь донести до рта целыми - настолько они тонкие и рассыпчатые.

Сконы с лимонным творожком:

А девонширский клоттед крим (похожий на масло из топленых сливок) и клубничное (настоящее!!!) варенье покорили мое сердце навсегда!

Вообщем, с едой там всё прекрасно. И несмотря на качество и метод заварки, мы выпили каждая по два литра чая и попробовали всё, что было на выбор. Поэтому когда привезли пироги на выбор на тележке, и сказали, что мы можем попробовать ВСЕ из них, я уже не была способна ничего пробовать. Но мы с мамой решили поделить кусочек шоколадного пирога, который оказался отменным на вкус.

Выкатились мы оттуда как колобки. Но уже через час чувствовали себя также легко, как и до чайной церемонии. Всё-таки два литра чая - это по нашему, по-русски. :)

Мой вердикт этому месту по 5 бальной системе - 5 за еду и десерты, 3 с натяжкой за чай.

Ждите следующих рассказов!

Если вы любите чай и Лондон, то может быть вы хотите присоединиться к одной из моих чайных прогулок? Следующие прогулки будут в пятницу 2 Мая и в пятницу 9 Мая. Прочитать о них можно ЗДЕСЬ и ЗДЕСЬ.

И если вам понравился этот пост, может быть вам захочется подписаться на новостную рассылку (это совершенно бесплатно!).