Whittard of Chelsea were founded in 1886, making them one of the older specialty tea/coffee retailers still going strong in the UK today. No longer under the control of the family (assuming Walter Whittard had descendants) – they were purchased by an Icelandic private equity firm in 2005, before being sold on to a British one in 2008.
Tasting Britain went down to check out their tea bar in St. James, on lovely lower Regent Street. As the name may suggest, it’s basically a bar that serves up more tea varieties THAN YOUR BODY HAS ROOM FOR. I think there are other Whittard tea bars dispersed around the UK but am not entirely sure. They also do food – mainly tea infused sweet treats (and other such delicacies) – though they offer a small number of savoury things too. I had a smoked fish dish with sourdough bread that was legit.
I offered said fishes to my friend, currently following the paleo diet, but failed to convince him that smoked fish is actually ‘paleo approved’. l3l
We actually used to have a Whittard in Croydon but I gotta say that it didn’t last all that long (sad face). As with any specialty tea store, they have a fkn mind-blowing selection of teas, coffee and tisanes, including a few combinations I hadn’t seen before. Their hot white chocolate is somehow ridiculous and delicious (and I hate white chocolate). 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.