Jolimont Expresso

Last Sunday we ended up at Federation Square after a walk along the Yarra, and found this cafe, next to the NGV Shop, called Jolimont Expresso. I was very impressed with the terrific display of teapots and things that they had in one window.

Some were new, some quite obviously vintage. Loved the shape of the large white pear-ish-shaped teapot!

And the vintage Weet-Bix tin!

Their tea selection was entirely brought to you by T2, but since they had a much larger range than the usual run of the mill offerings, I was quite happy. There were quite a few teas you dont see at cafes very often including Girlie Grey, French Earl Grey (yum), rooiibos... I opted for a pot of Red Fancy Fruit, one of my favorite flavored rooibos blends.

The biscuit my husband had with his affogato was a bit mediocre and I didn't try any of the other food, so cant speak to that, but as a place to go and have a pot of tea, not a bad option for when I'm out and about in the city.

Tea for Two at The Snooty Fox

The other week I took a trip with Pippin, my brother (who has been having a well-deserved holiday from work) and Lucky Pinky Dots up the Mountain Highway to have morning tea at The Snooty Fox. It was a lovely cool and overcast day, my preferred weather for trips to the Dandenongs (perverse, I know).

Pippin was a bit cranky about the whole thing unfortunately, but Pinky Dots was right on the ball when it came to diving into the scones (which were really delicious) with cream and raspberry jam:

I was a bit disappointed to find that the tea was just Twinings tea bags (we shared a big pot of Earl Grey), especially when Tea Leaves is only about 10 minutes' drive away... but what the heck, it was a great chance to catch up with my brother and (if I didn't already mention it) the scones were exceptionally good...

Wishlist Wednesday - Fancy Pants Afternoon Tea in Melbourne

...afternoon tea was quite a feature of Bertram's. It was nothing less than splendid. ... There were large crested silver trays, and Georgian silver teapots. The china, if not actually Rockingham and Davenport, looked like it. The Blind Earl services were particular favourites. The tea was the best Indian, Ceylon, Darjeeling, Lapsand, etc. As for eatables, you could ask for anything you liked - and get it! -- Agatha Christie, At Bertram's Hotel

Sometimes there's just nothing you want more than a fancy-pants afternoon tea... Here are some I'd like to try out...

High Tea at The Tea Room at the National Gallery of Victoria International on St Kilda Road (they have Larsen and Thompson teas, yum!) giving you the opportunity to be artsy as well.

Afternoon Tea at The Windsor Hotel, Spring St.

Tiffin Afternoon Tea at The Langham, Southbank (the Chocolate Indulgence one sounds pretty good...)

Check out High Tea Society for more luscious locations!

Tea at the Library

I love the Journal cafe at the City Library in Flinders Lane. It's so funky. It's one of the few places I can get chai made with real tea, as opposed to some bizarre kind of powder or syrup with no actual tea content. I'm not 100% sure but I think the chai blend that they use at Journal is T2's - yum.

I stopped in at Journal with Pinky Dots (and Pippin of course) when I was in the city to have lunch with a friend. Pippin was snoozing, but Pinky Dots and I read a bit of Liquid Jade...


...and had some chai.


A bit of a tall order for a small stuffed cat, but your Tea Correspondent was equal to the task, I'm pleased to report.


Now we just need to decide on our next outing venue... Hopetoun Tea Rooms? Miss Marple's? Ten Ren? Stay tuned!

Cocoro Japanese Pottery & Cafe

Last Friday my sister and my husband and I were out on Smith St Fitzroy in search of dessert. It's been a long time since I was last on Smith St; not since before I went to Canberra, in fact, which makes it a good couple of years. So imagine my excitement* when I discovered Cocoro - a Japanese restaurant also serving Japanese tea, including matcha.

There were quite a few people in the cafe still having dinner at the small tables - but we were able to ensconce ourselves on a small couch at the front of the cafe area very comfortably. I opted for matcha and ordered some of the kukicha for my husband. Much to my surprise both teas arrived in kyusu pots, accompanied by small narrow cups; I wasn't aware that matcha could be prepared in a pot - and I confess to being slightly disappointed that I wasn't getting a nice frothy bowl of matcha, but as it turned out there was no need to be disappointed, because the steeped matcha was delicious, delicate and sweet. I also had a couple of sips of my husband's kukicha - and that was also just lovely - delicate pale yellow-green twigs that produced a subtle green flavour with no hints of bitterness or toastiness.


All in all I can't wait to go back. The pottery is gorgeous, and I would like to try their food as well - the meals we saw being served looked and smelt terrific - and also to investigate the other teas that they have on offer, including their matcha lattes... And the teas are available to purchase as well... may have to invest at some point in the near future, when I have a little more space in the pantry for tea (yes I AM capable of restraint where tea is concerned).


(Pictures courtesy of my husband's iPhone! Thank you Mr T!)

*For those of you having trouble imagining this excitement, it largely involved squeaking noises, bouncing up and down, and a little skip every now and then as we headed a little further on in our dessert quest, following assurances by my husband and sister that we would come back to Cocoro for tea afterwards.

Zensational!

On to happier tales.

Last weekend, I caught the bus to Sydney in order to attend a tea-tasting workshop thingy (dragging my Sydney-resident friend M along with me) at Zensation tea house (656 Bourke Street, Redfern, 02 9319 2788). This happens to be literally almost around the corner from M’s apartment, but neither of us had any idea it was there until she came across a mention of Zensation in the Sydney Morning Herald. Such is life. Naturally she notified me immediately, and I booked myself bus tickets almost straight away.

I will admit to having a slight pang over abandoning my husband for nearly a whole weekend, primarily to attend a two-and-a-half hour tea tasting with a friend, but I did buy him half a dozen cupcakes from Sparkle (and a few other things that he received on Valentines Day) to help make up for it.

But oh. My. God. It was SO worth it. There are not many reasons why I would consider moving to Sydney but Zensation is one of them.

There were five teas on the tasting menu that we sampled. We started out with iced and slightly sweetened hibiscus herbal tea – beautifully ruby-red and exceptionally refreshing (fortunately it wasn’t too hot on Saturday, but my friend and I

 had spent 3 hours or so wandering round markets and things, and it was good to sit down and sip a cool drink).

Then things kicked off in earnest. Basically we worked our way from lighter to darker, milder to stronger teas. The first was White Peony, a new-style white tea from China, accompanied by the most divine little almond cookies – crumbly, slightly salty and a little bit sweet. This was followed by a green tea – Zensation Jade – with a strong yellow liquor and cleansing, astringent taste. The food accompaniment to this tea was edamame (fresh soy beans boiled in salty water and eaten from the pods); I had never sampled these before but they were delicious and I intend to try and source some to prepare at home.

As each of the teas was being brewed, the tea house’s owner, Mr Raymond Leung, spoke about 

the history of tea, its production and its appreciation, even writing the Chinese characters 

for ‘tea’ and ‘the way of tea’ in beautiful calligraphy on translucent paper for people to take home (naturally, I scored one of those). And once we got to the third tea – a Taiwanese ‘milky oolong’ – we were treated to a demonstration of gong fu brewing by the resident tea master.

The milky oolong was my favourite. What am I saying? It was sublime, a revelation of exquisiteness. Incredibly floral and peachy flavoured, with a buttery taste coming through in the second and third infusions that made me and M think of Danish pastries and apple or apricot pie. Not that we needed any of those; we got custard tarts instead. This was one of the most beautiful teas I have ever tasted; I bought some to take home.

Next on the list was a cooked puerh. I can’t remember how long this one had been aged for. It was a deep coppery colour with a strong earthy taste, almost a little coffee-like in flavour, not astringent at all. I haven’t had proper pu-erh before so I was curious to see how I would like this one. 

I think at present I currently still prefer oolong, green and regular black teas, but I will be intrigued to try more pu-erh in future. This one was served with steamed dim sims – my friend is vegetarian, so we passed on those, and instead sampled some taro-flavoured cream wafers (interesting!).

The finale was a bouquet tea ball brewed in a glass teapot over a small candle warmer; a waving mass of green leaves sewn together with globe amaranth, lily and jasmine flowers floating above them. The sticky rice flour dumpling filled with sweet red bean paste was delicious and paired beautifully.

The whole tea house is gorgeously set up – the walls are filled with tea canisters, pu-erh beengs, Yixing teapots in fanciful shapes and varying sizes, gorgeous gong fu cups, incense and other Chinese wares. I came away with a Yixing pot shaped like a pumpkin, a set of gong fu cups decorated with goldfish, and the milky oolong… but I’ll be back for more whenever I can manage it.