Saturday 5 September 2009

Bou Tea

Another One Bites the Dust



The best quality tea must have creases like the leather boot of Tartar horsemen, curl like the dewlap of a mighty bullock, unfold like a mist rising out of a ravine, gleam like a lake touched by a zephyr, and be wet and soft like a fine earth newly swept by rain.


Lu Yu (AD 733-804)

An express posting of a place I stumbled upon today.

Bou Tea is a new tea bar located in the heart of London’s Theatreland or on their blurb, London's Opera Quarter. I shall be penning about it in more detail when I get back from holidays in October.

This Covent Garden place is barely a month old and I think it’s absolutely brilliant.

Apart from the tremendous array of teas served, Monmouth coffee made with a La Marzocco sounds promising and I suppose the best news of all is they’re open till 11.00 PM from Tuesdays to Saturdays.

The attention to detail that goes to preparing your pot of tea is staggering. Even the cups are warmed up for you prior to serving.

We had Formosa Oolong and Moonswirl Silver Tip

Cloud Nine and beyond...

Don’t wait for my tedious follow-up, go and check it out for yourself. I’ll be gobsmacked if you find it disappointing. Highly recommended.


Message tweeted by Bou Tea on 06/09/09:

We had a customer today who thought the shop was called 'Hello'. Just to clear up any confusion, we are called Bou Tea. Goodbye.

That clueless customer was me!



22 Wellington Street
London WC2E 7DD

www.boutealondon.com


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'd like to hear more about that Formosa Oolong. It's one British favorite throughout history that has won accolades also today with specialty tea. And it's a favorite of mine. What did you think of it? --Spirituality of Tea

bellaphon said...

Jason- An honour to have you stopping by, thanks.
When I have a Dim Sum lunch I drink puerh tea, it helps with digesting the fat, salt, msg, etc.
For a regular Chinese meal, one can’t beat Tie Guan Yin; for the same reason as the above but milder so as not to get in the way of the complexities of the dishes. A good Oolong has to be drunk on its own with just a good book; it alleviates any piteous state one might harbour. The Formosa I had was very good, the sweetish aftertaste is enough to force a shine on my otherwise lacklustre face.

theundergroundrestaurant said...

Have a lovely holiday dear Les.
I've been to Teasmith a couple of times recently. The world of tea is more complex than I could have dreamed.
Fascinating.