Rating
Appeals To
Tea drinkers and aspiring tea drinkers. By aspiring I mean the kind of person who wants to ‘get into’ green/white/yellow/ tea but isn’t too sure where to begin. Whittard want to help you.
Secondarily – there’s some appeal to those with more than just a passing interest in ‘other’ traditional alcoholic beverages, such as hot chocolate and coffee. Their selection of coffee is nothing to turn your nose up at.
The kind of people who like the atmosphere of find a coffee shop to be ‘too energetic’ or the atmosphere of a tea house to be ‘too mellow’ – Whittard seems to fall somewhere right in the middle.
In A Word
‘Civilised’
Tasting Britain Goes Full Whittard
If you’ve ever taken an interest in the immense and enchanting world of tea and/or coffee, you’ll probably have come across Whittard at some point. These guys are one of the originals in the ‘tea scene’ – with over 125 years of existence and counting. Plus a global footprint. You can find them all over the place.
There are apparently 76 other Whittard stores in the UK and a whole load all over the rest of the world, including places such as Kuwait, the USA and Chile. This one is in lovely Regent Street St. James. Hell, there even used to be a Whittard in my hometown Croydon, but it didn’t last very long 🙁
The store itself is somewhat hidden away in lower regent street, adjacent to a Costa, I think.
It is, on the main part, staffed by comely young ladies, is open 7 days a week, and offers what feels like a pretty mellow atmosphere. Think Sade at low volume and the faint smell of coffee in the air. It’s a bit like a coffee shop with the edges taken off.
It doesn’t feel like a cafe as such, and doesn’t have the pace of a coffee bar.
Other comely things include an entirely unnecessary (but very pretty) array of gifts for tea and coffee lovers. including beautiful china tea sets – accessories for teas, tea blends – coffee stuff – Aeropresses, esoteric Japanese inventions I hadn’t even heard of
Basically you enter through the gift shop. The bar area is at the back. And yeah, It’s like any other bar but you can’t get drunk – you can instead perhaps achieve transcendence solely through a strategically dosed combination of rare teas.
The Drink
There is, of course, the predictable redonkulous selection of teas, and tisanes
Last time I checked it was 53 loose left teas, plus more that come pre-packed, in large left tea bag or regular tea bag. Infusion, 38, in either loose, large tea bag or regular tea bag. Coffees – 5 ‘artisan’ and 17 ‘core’ varieties. Like any good retailer you can choose to buy them ground or in bean form.
Everything sold for consumption on the premises can also be purchased for taking home (even the equipment, I think!)
Kate Woolard – Whittard’s ‘Brand Experience Manager’ (which seems to translate to tea expert and evangelist) possesses a semi kiwi but turns out she’s from Kent and perhaps ‘watched too much neighbours’ – l3l. She makes clear distinction between tisanes and teas – ‘basically, do you want caffeine or not? if you don’t want any caffeine whatsoever, then get a tisane, not a tea’
Kate regularly holds tea masterclasses, and also she’ll also do you an informal tea tasting session if you drop in and ask nicely.
(I’ve added a little more info further below for those interested in attending/booking a masterclass.)
From her I find out a bit about the difference between first and second flush teas – which confirms my suspicion that I seem to know much more about far eastern teas than Indian teas
Olivia, the unofficial coffee expert here, is a gigging actress with a passion for coffee.
I ask for mad and unusual shit to tell my beloved readers about…
An example of what I get in response includes:
Green tea with mango – which reminded me of some rare form of drinkable potpourri
Oolong milk tea (oolong tea, flavoured with milk. Drink it without milk for FULL SURREALISM.)
White hot chocolate – 98% hedonism, 2% wtf. – it s somehow ridiculous and delicious (and I hate white chocolate).
The Food
Yes, there is food – and this Whittard, apparently, is the only store to offer it!
(NB at the time of writing they mentioned that they’re planning to introduce food into their other outlets)
On the main part it is the sweet, bready faire that you might expect to end up with in a coffee shop. Oddities include tea infused cakes and pastries, plus a small number food offerings that are not sweet – I tried a smoked fish dish with sourdough bread that was legit.
There’s not a huge amount of space for food in here, so they do recommend that you book in advance.
Also they didn’t have a menu online at the time of publication, so I can’t tell you what they offer, or at what prices.
The Tea Classes
Introductory Classes
Kate offers introductory classes every Thursday from 4pm-8pm on the hour. They’re about 20-30 minutes in length.
They don’t go into any great depth but help you understand more what you might be looking for and/or buying.
These include:
- A short history of Whittard.
- What is tea and what’s an infusion? Which touches briefly upon the difference between tea and herbal infusions.
- What are white, Green and Black teas? You try a variety of each.
To book: Call the store on 0207 930 8013 OR email: kate.woollard@whittard.co.uk OR just walk in and request to take part.
Masterclasses
- Full masterclasses cost £35 P/P and can be booked at any time (though only via email).
- They can either be done on site or via group booking at an outside site.
- They last around 1.5-2 hours.
They include
- All six teas – White, Green, Yellow (Whittard currently do not stock yellow tea) Oolong, Black and Pu-erh.
- The history of tea
- Tasting each of the varieties
The Verdict
Hybrid teahouse/coffeeshop atmosphere with plenty of beverage choices either to ‘drink in’ or takeaway. If you have a tea fetish, you want to go. if you have a coffee fetish, you should consider going.
Yes, you pay a premium for what they sell, but what did you expect? It is high quality stuff, on the main part.
Would be good if they listed the additives in the flavoured blends. If you’re selling tea, you’re gonna attract a lot of ‘health’ people – and we like to know these things.
Food could be more substantial and varied, but i terms of ‘bready’ stuff they’re more interesting than your ‘average’ coffee or tea shop.
Kate is great (and I’m a poet) – her free masterclasses are definitely worth going to see.
More info
Regent Street St James’s
13 Regent Street St James’s
London
SW1Y 4LR
http://www.whittard.co.uk/locations/regent_street_st_jamess_tea_bar