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Vintage Tea Leaf/ Victorian Tea Room in Long Beach, California

4/5

Lady 0f Spaydes rated this place

4/5

and said

My First Tearoom!

Definitely a hidden treasure! We drove past twice trying to find it, the store froont is very tiny and discreet. Upon entering we find ourselves in a small brightly lit gift shop. The storekeep and Teastress is very sweet and polite. We are allowed to pick our teacups from the lovely assortment on the wall and a hat to wear during our teatime before being escorted into the tea room.

Let me tell you: WOW this place is huge and so very very cozy. There is a very comfortable eccentric feel with the fine furniture and decorations in conjunction with comfy pillows and gaudy throws covering the chairs.

They have a full menu which consists of 2 types of scones (vary monthly), 2 choices of soup (varied monthly) an array of sandwiches and of course, teas. We tried the scones and a jasmine tea that was a blend of jasmine, black and green tea.

There is an $18 minimum per table during hight tea time, but their prices still are just right. The scones, soups and sandwiches are all hand prepared, the staff are friendly and well -informed. Its 6$ per pot of tea, $5 for two very very delicious scones with clotted cream and lemon curd and they have all sorts of packages including High Tea, afternoon tea and tea for two. There is also a menu full of bulk tea you can buy anywhere between $2/oz to 7.50/oz with a 2 oz minimum.

The gift shop was as amazing as the tearoom! There was an array of teaware of course, a selection of steampunk jewelry and accessories that I salivated over and my highlight was a series of murder mysteries with tea names (ie: english breakfast murder) that just make me giddy and kick myself for not buying anything.

My suggestions to you:
1. Don’t be afraid! Even if you don’t want to wear someoone else’s silly hat then definitely bring your own! And don’t be afraid to ask the servers questions; they’re fellow tea lovers as well. :)
2. Try the scones! They’re fresh out of the oven and so delicious!
3. Buy something from the gift shop! There’s something for everyone there in every price range.
4. Make a reservation! They’re only open 4 days a week, but they have all sorts of neat special occaision events for all ages.

Happy Tea Time!

Profile

Bio

A casual tea drinker since my childhood; I recently began to truly explore international tea culture in my search for the perfect tea ritual in my extremely hectic lifestyle. I am a young pantheist college student pursuing the science of medicine with a minor in bioethics (philosophy) and I firmly believe that having a ritual for relaxation and meditation is crucial to physical and emotional wellbeing. I recently hosted my first afternoon tea party and hope to assemble a routine arsenal of tea and literature enthusiasts to share my teatime. My tastes are international and I embrace styles and ideas of different cultures across the centuries. I look forward to tea and literary recommendations from you all!

So I know there is no proper way to truly gauge teas as the best or the worst, but like with education, a standardized rubric system is very important to communicate certain aspects of a quality before one has a chance to read in-depth reviews.

It is with this in mind that I strive to follow the proceeding guidelines and rubric:

1. I shall not provide a grade based upon an improperly brewed tea. This includes: experimental blending, scalded leaves, oversteeping/understeeping and insufficient amounts of leaves provided.

2. All rated teas must initially be steeped in accordance to the guidelines provided by the tea company. Addendum/reevaluation may occur if properly documented.

3. I shall try my very best to leave personal preference out of the scope of grading. However, I shall endeavor to be very clear of my opinion of the teas that I rate.

Grading Rubric
100 point scale:

- Clearly and concisely conveys the flavors of the artist’s intent with no supplemental explanation if the flavors are within the taster’s experience (20 points)
- Requires menial ingredient adjustment (i.e.: milk, sugar, stevia, etc.) to achieve the flavors intended by the artist. (15 points)
- Is completely consistent in flavor and quality from batch to batch. (15 points)
- Requires little to no adjustment to preparation (sans accounting for regional differences in altitude, airpressure, etc…) for a full flavored steeping (10 points)
- has a very high quality tea base that compliments the blend (note: does NOT require whole leaves)(10 points)
- Re-steeps at least two to three times strongly if able. (if bagged, re-steeps twice well) (10 points)
- Stores very well (No flavor diminishment when stored in a dark, cool and airtight space for short periods of time). If bagged, is packaged promoting optimal infusion, ease of use and freshness. (10 points)
- has a clear explanation of ingredients, allergens and preparation instructions. (5 points?)
- Is very well priced in relation to the quality of ingredients and quantity provided. (5 points)

Location

Los Angeles, CA, USA

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