The Queen Elizabeth Coronation High Tea at the royally fabulous Tea Cosy Tea Room in Brighton.

Last week I became a Notting Hill Carnival refugee in Brighton. It was not my obvious choice – knowing that with good weather the whole world will flock to the coast – but I got a good deal on the hotel and train (do shop around as I only paid £10 return from London Victoria plus £1 admin fee) so Brighton it is that I escape from the carnival chaos.

I stayed at The Brighton House (52 Regency Square) owned by Christine, Lucho and Mr. Watt (the cat). Service was very prompt, friendly and generous and I have been made to feel very welcomed. Now the breakfast served by them is to die for! It is a perfect example for other B&Bs that it only takes a little loving attention to provide a very good breakfast. Nearly everything on the buffet is organic and sourced locally. I particularly like the soft boil eggs (which tasted so fresh and just like the eggs laid by my 2 hens) and the lashings of smoked salmon. The inclusion of organic goji berries as sprinkle at the cereal bar immediately won me over. I must have spent at least an hour and a half every day slowly devouring the delicious spread.

I may have watched too many episodes of the Hotel Inspector and have acquired the same beady eyes as Alex Polizzi but I have to say there are not many things I can fault with my stay at The Brighton House. The hotel is conveniently located from the shingle beach (2 minutes walk) and Preston Street (2 minutes) which I shall refer to as the “ethnic street” that house restaurants from various continents. At the end of this street near the coast is a very big friendly Chinese restaurant which produces mediocre dishes despite being the local’s favourite. If you are missing the standard high street offerings, there is always the Churchill Shopping Mall (5 minutes) but if you are like me, you will want to spend time browsing quirky shops in the Lanes and the North Laine (15 minutes).

The scrumptious breakfast spread put out by The Brighton House B&B. Not seen in this picture is an equally delicious cereal and yoghurt bar packed full with different kinds of fresh and dried fruits including goji berries.

Now this being a tea blog, I have to mention The Tea Cosy Tearoom owned by Jackie, her daughter (head baker) and son-in-law (techie working on their eshop). With a logo in the form of a crest of (the Unique, the Complex and the Extraordinary) Diana and Dodi and a shop window packed full of things from the good ole days, I simply had to pop my head into the shop and before I know it, I am in the tea room looking at all the crockery that had been attached to every single available spot on the walls and ceiling.

This royalty-obsessed teahouse harps back to the days of sugar tongs, china teacups, and lifting the pinkie when slurping your tea. The whole place is decked out magnificently with Charles and Diana memorabilia (including a sticker of Charles and Camilla on a loo seat), a pianola with a mind of its own, paintings of the royal family and a bizarre cabinet of knitted creatures. You could easily spend an afternoon here on your own, letting your gaze wander form the Cliff Richard plate clock to signed photos of Dot Cotton and semi-nude picture of Barbara Windsor in the style of Carry-On films. For a Singaporean, this tea room is fantasically over the top royal and English!

Expect a room packed full of memorabilia of the Royal family and all things quintessentially English at the Tea Cosy Tearoom on 3 George Street in Brighton.

I just fell in love with the whole experience of being in The Tea Cosy. When I first walked into the room, I was really worried that my clumsiness might lead to some disasters. However, as soon as I sat down, the background Swing and Big band songs (which will make David Jacobs of Radio 2 proud) and the beautiful crockery made me felt at ease with whatever Englishness that is in me! This is exactly how I would (and no doubt many foreigners in the Far East still do) romanticise about the tea drinking culture in UK before I came here.

As with many Afternoon tea offerings, the emphasis is not on the tea but on the food – although Jackie told me that she is looking into expanding her offerings to include teas from the Orient. There are 3 high tea options, I went for the Queen Elizabeth Coronation High Tea which at £11 per head is a bargain. On the three-tiered cake stand are sandwiches of the coronation chicken, egg mayonnaise and cucumber variety – all with their crusts cut off. I also get a generous slice of delicious pate with white Melba toasts and potato biscuits.

The beautiful Sancho Pepper bonsai that I bought from Eric of Bonsai Ko in Brighton.

For the sweets, there is a thick slice of Victoria sponge, chocolate brownie with a crunch, a mini fairy cake, a chocolate éclair and the obligatory scone with jam and whipped cream. According to Jackie, all the cakes are baked by her daughter and they have plans to sell them on their website. Most of the items are yummy except the éclair which is a bit soft for my taste and a very slight disappointment that the scone is not warm. Having said that, the spread and the ambience at that price is really good value for money and unpretentious.

All the items on the menu are named after members of the Royal family which still make me chuckle. There is the William & Harry’s Tea consisting of a selection of homemade biscuits and a pot of tea (£3.50) and the Charles & Camilla Elevenses of toasted teacake served with homemade jam and tea (£4.95). There is also the Queen Mother’s Cream Tea with 2 fruit scones, cream and homemade jam served with a pot of tea (£5.95) and Queen Victoria Tea with smoked salmon and cucumber, ham and mustard and cheese and chutney sandwiches, a slice of Victoria Sponge with a pot of tea for one (£6.95).

In addition to the Queen Elizabeth High Tea which I had, the Tea Cosy also serves Princess Diana’s Memorial High Tea with a selection of cakes and sandwiches comprising of smoked salmon, cheese and chutney and cucumber, served with biscuits and cream tea with unlimited refills of the tea (£10) and with at least 48 hours notice, Jackie can also serve you their Fergie’s alternative High Tea that is Gluten/wheat/dairy free selection of cakes and sandwiches comprising of cucumber, smoked salmon and tomato with basil sandwiches, bite-sized meringues, fruit scones with jam and tea (£12).

The very interesting Bert’s Homestore – Brighton’s very own Cath Kidston of sweet little old ladies styled items.

At the Brighton House B&B, I found a tourist guide to Brighton which detailed the tea etiquette (also found on their website) expected at The Tea Cosy tea room. Although meant to be tongue in cheek, I would very much like to believe that etiquette such as the one involving the volume of conversations not being louder than two tones above the clink of a teacup is still being “enforced”.

During the heavy downpour on the bank holiday Sunday afternoon, a friendly local at the café where I was seeking shelter said as a matter of fact that “it is to be expected so mustn’t grumble!” Despite the rain, Brighton is no doubt a happy place for me. I thoroughly enjoyed visiting the quirky shops in the lanes and friendly banter with the shop owners.

Not all the shops are my cup of tea but I did fell in love with the ethnic grocer Taj – a mecca for cooks like me (95 Western Road and 13 Old Steine), Bert’s Homestore – packed full of country style little old ladies houseware, Real Pâtisserie for their delicious pain aux raisin and cinnamon swirls and their attractive smiles and Aloka Aura-Soma for their delicious raw foods and swanky shop front.

The one shop most worthy of mention is the humble bonsai expert Eric Danot who was introduced to me by Mike (twitter: @Di9it8). Eric owns the beautiful bonsai shop Bonsai Ko for 20 years. I was bowed over by all the beautifully cultivated bonsais in his shop and I am now a proud owner of an edible Sancho Pepper bonsai.

So the next time you are feeling a sense of ennui with the same old shops and streets in London, remember that Brighton is only a short train ride away.

Warmly, Pei ~~ Serene and fragrant TEA entices with promise of rapture in STORE ~~ tea open house . medTEAtation . @teanamu . FB page

Big Snow Mountain (Da Xue Shan 大雪山) stands near Mengku in the Shuangjiang area of Yunnan province in southwestern China. Shuangjiang means ‘double rivers’ and refers to the Rivers Lancangjiang and Xiaoheijiang which criss-cross each other down in the valley.

The mountain has long been known as the home of some very old tea plants, but it was only in 1997 that scientists, investigating the effect of that year’s drought on the region’s plant life, climbed the mountain and discovered one of the true wonders of the world: 2,000 acres of the most ancient, wild forest of tea trees, a perfectly preserved, dense concentration of trees averaging 2,500 years of age. Living fossils, witnesses to history, and most probably the very origins of the tea plant itself!

In April I had the thrilling experience of climbing the mountain myself. As you can imagine, the Chinese government, keen to safeguard this oasis of biodiversity, almost never allows people on to the mountain (other than the nature wardens employed to guard it) but, through a private arrangement with our Pu Erh tea supplier I managed to join a small, intrepid group of amateur climbers.

I started at 2,500 metres above sea level, where a temple has been built to honour Shennong the god of agriculture. Like the mountain, the temple, stunning to look at, is rarely open to visitors, and unfortunately it wasn’t on the day I was there.

As I began the 4 hour ascent to the summit, I was soon surrounded by old tea trees, initially around 100-200 years old, and then gradually getting older and older. These are wild trees, growing where seeds have simply fallen to the ground and germinated without any human organization or intervention.

Big Snow Mountain (Da Xue Shan) in Yunnan.

Now, as a city boy from Singapore, this is not my natural habitat! But the experience did recall my army days – sadly, I did not bring my army boots, but was actually extremely poorly equipped, taking with some light casual shoes, a little water and some insect repellent. I also had a trusty walking stick, fashioned by the nature warden who guided me and my little group (he had kindly removed all the thorns, so I wouldn’t hurt myself).

Despite the somewhat alarming information that wild, black bears inhabit the mountain, given that it was broad daylight we were not guided all the way up but mostly made our own way. The pathway, such as it was, was dry and sandy, often very steep and narrow, and full of loose rocks. There wasn’t any signposting, of course, and much of the time there wasn’t really a clear path upward at all. Inevitably, this meant that we got lost for nearly an hour – it was where a dried up, ancient tea tree trunk had fallen across our path – and we tried not to imagine that we would end up like the Korean travellers who apparently got stuck up on the mountain all night long some time last year.

I was crawling on hands and knees quite a bit of the time and, though often tempted to lean my weight on some apparently sturdy, old tea branch or huge boulder, I soon learned that these were not as fixed as they appeared!

It’s hard to describe the elation when we reached the 2,800 year old tree which was our destination. Some kind strangers with us shared their bread, which tasted the best ever!

The nature wardens amused me. Some smoked cigarettes in absolute contravention of the mountain bye laws and, it seems to me, endangering their nation’s most precious heritage – such is the typical Chinese addiction to nicotine – and justified doing so by saying it kept the mosquitoes at bay.

There was also a sweet dog that kept running up and down the mountain helping and cajoling us climbers to keep on with our efforts. And I shall never forget the septuagenarian couple who, though exhausted, were absolutely determined to get to the top – which certainly inspired me, half their age, not to even think of quitting!

This province of Yunnan is where that wonderful, large-leaf, post-fermented tea known as Pu Erh comes from, and we have brought back some Big Snow Mountain tea which will very shortly be available in our tea store (currently available for tasting at our tea open house events). I didn’t pick it myself – I’d have loved to pick some tea leaves up on the mountain but that would have been to defile a truly wondrous place – but it’s the very next best thing, freshly picked and processed tea from the glorious Big Snow Mountain!

Warmly, Pei ~~ Serene and fragrant TEA entices with promise of rapture in STORE ~~ tea open house . medTEAtation . @teanamu . FB page

Two of the fresh green teas that I have brought back with me from China; Pre-Qing Ming harvested Dragonwell (L) and Taiping Houkui (R). They look and taste great despite the bad weather.

After being stuck in Beijing for several days because of volcanic ash, I finally made my way back to London 2 days ago! Tired as I am, I am extremely excited to have found many really fresh teas. As I look back on my journey, I realise I was a little bonkers in taking some of the extreme measures I took to protect these precious teas, so anxious was I that they should not overheat or get squashed or damaged!

While there was a lot of drama surrounding my flight delays and those of so many other people, I am a lot more affected and touched by the plight of the earthquake victims in Yushu, Qinghai province and the efforts and single-mindedness of ordinary Chinese people in helping the victims of the earthquake. My condolences to them.

During this trip I was very honoured to have climbed Da Xue (Big Snow) Mountain in MengKu (Yunnan) to see the 2,800 year old tea tree near the summit (3,300 meters above sea level) – which the ordinary public are not allowed anywhere near (for environmental protection reasons). Pictures of me grinning beside this ‘living antique’ tea tree to follow!

I was also very privileged to work with local tea cooperatives to bring back 2010 Spring Harvest Raw Pu Erh tea cakes made from these ancient trees, which are naturally organic, and in fact the cooperative are very keen, I discovered, to work towards earning internationally recognised, official ‘organic’ status.

I have also bought back many other Pu Erh tea cakes all harvested from tea trees several hundred years old, and yet so so fresh because the leaves were only picked a few days ago!

Raw or ‘Sheng’ Pu Erh teas are typically allowed to vintage and ripen over time to allow their flavours to develop. Pu Erh can also be made to vintage quicker under controlled conditions and is then called Ripened or ‘Shou’ Pu Erh (commonly mistranslated as Cooked Pu Erh). This time I have only managed to find one single 145g Ripened Royal Pu Erh tea cake of 2002 vintage. Both types of Pu Erhs are highly prized and I met many tea connoisseurs on this trip who have made a bomb out of collecting and dealing in! More about this extraordinary trade in later blogs I expect!

In addition to these lovely Pu Erhs, I have also managed to bring back with me albeit in very small quantities extremely fresh Dragonwell green tea and Maofeng green tea (two of the top ten teas in China). The ’slim pickings’ are directly related to the severe cold snap in China earlier this year, which has disrupted supplies and thrown the market into turmoil. I am also very excited about my personal favourite, Taiping Houkui green tea, as it is ‘one of a kind’ in terms of its shape and taste.

I cannot wait to showcase these teas with you at our Spring Tea Open House this Saturday (1 May) from 12-4pm! Hope to see you there!

Warmly,

Pei
~~ Serene and fragrant TEA entices with promise of rapture in STORE ~~
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