| Type | Tea Room |
| Style | Asian |
| Serves | Chai, Loose-leaf |
| Food | Snacks |
| Features | Free wi-fi, Tea ceremony, Tastings |
| Good For | Dates, Meetings |
| Hours | |
|---|---|
| Mon – Sun | 11:00 AM – 6:00 PM |
I love TeaSmith. Finding properly prepared tea in London can be a bit of a challenge, especially when it comes to the finer points of non-black varieties. They have a wonderfully edited selection, so that the menu offers plenty of choice without being overwhelming. The staff are also friendly and efficient, I often come here to journal write and enjoy an expertly prepared oolong by myself. It is also a lovely place to bring a date or a friend if you’d like a quiet catch up, and aren’t a ‘pub scene’ person.
While the seating is limited due to space, don’t let that prevent you from visiting. Just keep in mind that the shop is located in a busy(tourist filled) market, and that it can get crowded at times.
I visited last Saturday and Sunday, and I’ll be going back whenever I get to London again. The shop offers truely exceptional service and teas.
The tea bar offers a range of Japanese and Chinese teas, all prepared with skill in a range of gaiwans, yi xing teapots, infusers etc and presented appropriately for that tea.
The bar is quite small, and was very busy on the Sunday (apparently due to Spitalfields market), but was a wonderfully relaxing environment and an ideal location for appreciating great tea.
I spent about 4 months living in London in early 2009.
It was a pure stroke of luck that one day in late January, I came upon TeaSmith in the Old Spittalfields market. I had a look around at the teas on display and knew that I had found a match for my particular tea interests of the time. In addition to being a tea shop, they have what they call a “tea bar” which is almost exactly what it sounds like. You can come in, have a sit on a tall seat and one of the extremely kind and knowledgeable staff members will expertly prepare a wide variety of fine Chinese, Japanese, and Korean teas right there. So not only do you get to drink professionally prepped tea, you learn a lot just by watching.
For example, they have such a wide variety of teas ranging from pu-erh cakes, to high mountain Taiwanese oolongs, to Korean Nokcha, to Japanese Sencha, Hojicha, Karigane, Genmaicha, a marvelous Gyokuro, and even matcha. (They also have some pretty basic Assam and Ceylon loose leaf for the occasional customer who explicitly requests “Only regular tea!”) The beauty is that they have a ton of teaware and accessories that they use depending on what tea you order. No cut corners here! Yixing pots for some of the oolongs and pu-erhs, gaiwans for others, small porcelain pots for most of the Japanese teas, and lots and lots of teany cups!
Needless to say… I fell in love with this place and made it a permanent part of my weekly schedule (I went 2 and 3 times a week as my time in London drew to a close!). Thanks to TeaSmith, I was able to try more varieties of tea than ever before, and thanks to the staff answering all my questions, learning quite a bit! Sometimes I would stay for a few hours, try a few green teas, chat, and head home. Other days I would devote to drawing out infusion after infusion of an aged oolong or pu-erh and enjoying the invigorating evolution of flavor.
Long story short, before I left, I picked out a bunch of my favorites that I had tried to have shipped back so I wouldn’t have reverse TeaSmith culture shock when I returned to the U.S.
If you visit London, be sure to head to the east side and stop by TeaSmith!
Love this place, found it by chance.
Its very small and intimate, you sit at one side of a tea bar and the amazingly knowledgeable and friendly staff prepare your tea. It is simply mesmeric to watch the preparation that goes into each steep. Lots of rinsing and pouring, you know this is how it should be done.
It’s all about the tea in this place, lots of high quality tea from all over the world. Some very expensive pu-erh’s (some over 300 years old!) and lots of other amazing teas I have never seen before.
A customer came in whilst I was there and asked for a cup of English breakfast and was pointed to another shop. A bit mental, but shows how much of a tea specialist this place is, no milk on the premises I bet?
If you are ever in London check this place out. It’s on the end of Spitalfield’s Market so a Sunday visit is a good idea.
