By Esin Huseyin
For once I’m not visiting a coffee shop and offending people by ordering a tea, I am finally giving tea the space and time that is so solely deserves; okay I may be a bit biased on that one.
My little legs took me to the Soho branch of this brewtiful little place that specialises in tea.
It’s a pretty handy location as it’s literally just off Oxford Street, so it’s a nice place to avoid to buzz of the city – but my God does it get busy! Now, as a blogger, you shamelessly have to snap away and not think anything of it – but, this place was so busy, I most likely would have started some form of argument if I snapped the interior, so I’ll just have to save that until next time.
Really simple white exterior with black typefront, and as you walk in you’re greeted with exposed brick (love this!) and wood, ooooh the wood! The thing that I absolutely adored was the mish mash of furniture, it gives it a little quirky feel. Now when you walk in, you’re literally walking straight into the counter, and there are a few tables on the right, but when you walk downstairs you’re greeted by an array of tables and chairs – so don’t worry, it’s bigger than it looks!
Just be warned: downstairs gets ridiculously hot, even with the little electric fans they’ve dotted about all over the place, it well and truly doesn’t make a difference.
This spot is absolutely perfect if you’re after some solo-working time, a litttle peace and quiet from the main street, or if you’re catching up with a friend. As I have said before, it does get busy, so maybe bring a set of headphones if you really want to get in to the working zone. I personally rocked up with a backpack full of goodies, which kept me going for a good few hours – I was the envy of a few people as I had a table and plug socket – you snooze you lose my friends.
So, I genuinely haven’t seen so many teas, and it was a little intimidating; before I reached the lady behind the counter, I had already decided on one flavour, but then completely changed my mind at the last minute – “Ooooooh, eeerrr……I’LL HAVE EARL GREY BLUE STAR”. Now I’ll let you in on a cheeky secret, I drink Earl Grey on a regular basis, so I just wanted to see what was different with this variety. This tea contains: Natural Bergamot oils, Blue Mallow flowers, Cornflowers and a Keemun black tea base. With the blue flower undertones, it’s meant to make this tea smoother.
Not only does Yumchaa’s building have character, their tea descriptions also captured me. When I was reading the description for Earl Grey Blue Star, it had this sentence in it; “If this tea was a person, it’s flavour and charm would quietly disarm you, think James Bond meets Capitan Jean Luc Picard.” Now, I’m sorry but who wouldn’t go for a tea after reading that? But, it made the choice less intimidating, and I guess less pompous – there’s a fine line between being accessible to everybody, and portraying yourself to one kind of person, which unfortunately a lot of coffee houses do nowadays.
I also ordered a posh cheddar sandwich and lemon drizzle cake to go alongside my tea. The tea turned up in a cute one person set, and I have to say that I genuinely didn’t taste much of a difference, it maybe just tasted a little stronger – but I’m going to say that’s because it was a loose tea. Next time I’ll be having some fun with the flavours - Caramel Sweetheart. come at me.
The posh cheddar sandwich was huge; sundried tomatoes, cheese, onion, pickle, and I’m pretty sure they had a tangy tomato relish in there – which, unfortunately did make it a little sickly after a while. The lemon drizzle cake was a decent portion size, and tasted particularly fresh; in fact it was still moist. The lemon flavour’s weren’t too overpowering either, so this is one I’d definitely order again.
All in all, it was great, but I’ll be a little more adventurous next time.
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