Monday, December 22, 2008
Posted by 醉茶生 at 08:20 PM | Comments (1) | Permalink
Categories: Tea Related

One of the best places to get tea in London is surprisingly, not a
teashop, but a coffeeshop: The Algerian Coffee Stores.  The name is
strangely misleading: There is only one store and not a chain of
stores.  Indeed, the store is arguably not even large enough for one
store.  The shop window is non-descript, cluttered, and it is
perfectly possible to walk past the shop even when you are looking for
it.  It is a cramped, narrow room, half of which is taken up by a bar
from which is served freshly-brewed coffee, and the other half is
itself intruded upon by shelves stacked high with tins of coffee and
coffee cups.  There is standing room only in the shop and most of the
business seems to be walk-in customers from the street side, but that
said there is a steady stream of customers.

The best stuff is not on the shelves, but behind the counter.  You
actually have to ask for it from one of the assistants.  It feels
almost like buying cigarettes: you have to be over 18 and know how to
ask for what you are buying (you can’t just ask for “cigarettes”).
While they have a few oolongs, their range of green teas is much more
impressive.  I have tried their jade ring tea and that is particularly
impressive.  It is a white tea (not really a green tea), shaped into
rings, and produces pale sweet liquor.  White tea does not keep, and
that means that to keep the quantity that they have in stock, they
must have customers!  I admit I have never ordered from them online,
but these are their details (caveat emptor).

Algerian Coffee Stores Ltd.
52 Old Compton Street
London W1D 4PB
http://www.algcoffee.co.uk/