I think I have been one of their first customers back in 2007, belonging to a group of friends living in the area and passionate about oriental teas. A dream made true, amazing teas, a beautiful architectural display and great customer service, really a magic place, maybe a bit expensive but worth every single penny. Then I left the country for few years but I kept in touch with my friends, receiving more and more upsetting reviews from them. Many of them felt progressively let down by the uber-smart owner John that kept promising teas ("coming in few weeks time") which never arrived (in three years!) teaware that never arrived, the 'always coming' newsletter that no one ever received and so on. As a consequence of it many of my friends now buy teas directly from MingCha in Hong Kong or from Postcard Teas in London, skipping the owner's pretentious chit-chat. But I wanted to see for myself, so as soon I as touched down (last week), I made my way back to Teasmith with my wife. We found a charming and knowledgeable italian girl, that carefully guided us through several infusions of phoenix sung special, oriental beauty and dong ding oolong. I immediately felt at home, exploring the teas while time was passing by without any effort, listening with real pleasure to her talking with other customers and articulating her genuine passion for teas. The place still looks great, although is true that there are no teapots (well, apparently the only one left was in display), no strainers and items that one would expect to find in a teashop. I found instead expensive big cups and bowls, some japanese toys(?) and practical (albeit ugly) glass infuser pots. There are still exceptional teas as it is claimed (which are still enchanting my tasting buds), although is noticeable that the teas selection is wider now but less interesting, lots of green oolongs from taiwan and very little on the chinese and darker side. Clearly the credit crunch hit hard the place, it is no even possible t

My journey into tea started in 2005 when travelling around rural China. Since returning to the UK I have been on a quest to find somewhere that not only served, but truly understood the art of tea. This search ended as soon as I stepped through the doors to Teasmith.

I was pleasantly surprised to be greeted not only with a smile, but also with an excellent cup of Oolong tea. Upon looking around I was immediately impressed by the range of teas available, particularly certain Oolongs which are difficult to find elsewhere in the UK.

I very much enjoyed drinking tea at Teasmiths. It has a lovely atmosphere, great teas and really nice staff. The guy I chatted to is very knowledgeable and its a pleasure to sit and learn more about tea.

Teasmith gets my 5/5 vote.

C

I love my tea and so does my mum, so I took her to Teasmith so we could get some advice on different teas to try. The selection and the help on hand is amazing - we learned a lot and found some delicious new teas that we bought. They also do some amazing teacakes that are flavoured with Earl Grey - these alone are worth a trip to Teasmith. Rarely have I been so impressed by somewhere!