Tea Smith

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 to pay by card anymore, obliging sorry customers like us to wait endlessly at the cash machine nearby(and the caring staff trying their best to make them adjust with it). This also means that I can't buy teas over the phone too given that the outdated website is not useful for it. What a pity that such a lovely place (and lovely staff) is let down by incomprehensible business choices, unreliability and, as it seems, inconsistent attention to what building solid relationships with customers that care really means.