Bars & Pubs

By Guy Dimond

You've got to wonder how long a place like this will survive - a hobby tearoom in the heart of Mayfair, with only a trickle of customers paying a pittance for a cup of prime-quality tea. Owner Timothy d'Offay likes spending time chatting to his customers. He is the son of art gallery proprietor Anthony d'Offay, whose company owns the premises which Timothy leases.

Timothy has lived and travelled in the Far East, and his enthusiasm for tea led him to start a business in 2000 with Alex Fraser, called East Teas, which is still doing well at Borough Market. But Postcard Teas is Timothy's own project, and it sells a score of brews, both from the website and from this shop and tea room.

If you're sampling tea, there is one shared table and ten stools. The teas cost a mere £1.50 per pot, which is cheap for varieties of this excellence (think what you might pay at Yauatcha). There are, of course, black teas (the oxidised or 'fermented' leaves we tend to drink in the West), green teas, and oolongs (semi-'fermented' teas), of many different styles. What they all share is that d'Offay has some kind of personal connection with all of them; he's visited many of the growers.

The aromas tend to be delicate and perfumed; you'll not need milk. The Darjeeling I tried (one of several on sale) had an exceptionally perfumed bouquet; so did the pu-erh from Yunnan, though it reminded me of damp hay bales.

There are well-matched nibbles too, such as chocolate cake (£2.50 a slice), medjool dates (35p each) and slightly salted almonds served in their shells (£1 a saucer). The tea-making accessories on sale are exquisite: tiny bamboo strainers, Japanese and Korean pottery, red lacquer trays, pottery chai cups and tea glasses from India. This is the place to take someone special for a treat, or buy them a gorgeous gift.

Time Out London Issue 1857: March 22-29 2006