Fortnum and Mason Edit

Very lovely. I highly recommend checking F&M out if you’re ever in central London.

Their traditional blends aren’t anything too special. They’re what you’d expect of an English tea. They have my thumbs up. I am particularly fond of the Fortmason Tea.

I had several of their rare teas. For the quality the prices are downright outstanding. See something you like? Pick it up! If they still have it, I recommend their gyokuro and their Dong Ding. Not the best Dong Ding I’ve had but for the price I’ve never had a better one as of today.

Wonderful customer service and the salespeople were lovely to chat with.

I had the opportunity to have afternoon tea at the Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon today. The salon itself is beautiful from the moment you step in with a wood flood, piano, and elegant matching uniforms for the waitstaff. Even the walk or lift ride to the salon is quite grand. I was received by the hostess who took my jacket and directed me to sit on a couch before being led to my table. The tea-ware features the signature Fortnum and Mason teal and compliments the salon decorations itself. I was very impressed with the tea selection which includes a whole section dedicated to single-estate teas. I was able to choose from English and Scottish-grown teas which are incredibly rare. I went with the English-grown tea. The waitress was not as helpful as I would have liked in terms of describing the tea. She brought me some samples to smell before finalizing my choice, but she was not able to make any recommendations for me based on tasting notes. I was pretty disappointed with the way the tea was served. Tea leaves were thrown in a pot with no regard for water temperature or infusion time. I was not able to take the leaves out of the pot to prevent over-infusion. That being said, the tea I ordered seem to be okay even with the indefinite infusion so I was not subject to a bitter brew but it is still a nice touch to see some consistency with how teas are served to customers. Only one extra pot of hot water was provided at the table between my afternoon tea companion and I. Again, this is unfortunate as only one of us was able to drink a second infusion of our chosen tea and, with the water sitting on the table, it was too cool once it was ready to be used. The accompanying food was fairly standard- sandwiches were a bit dry and scones were too doughy and crumbly (I prefer them to be dense). The dessert treats were of higher quality and the extra nice thing was that you could get unlimited refills of any of the afternoon tea treats. At the end of the meal a sneaky ‘discretionary charge’ of about 12% was added to the bill- something that I hadn’t heard anything about beforehand. Maybe that’s standard for this area of London but I felt that, for what I got, everything was already quite expensive for me. Overall, I would say that this afternoon tea experience is more about the ‘show quality’ than anything else- it is the quintessential English afternoon tea experience. You’ll love it if you don’t really care about how your tea is served. I just always feel it is a great shame when beautiful single-estate teas are not served with the utmost care. One of the redeeming qualities of this location is the exquisite tea sales floor. Next time I might just splurge on my own loose-leaf and create my own afternoon tea experience at home!

I had the opportunity to have high tea at Fortnum & Mason while I was in London last month and it was phenomenal. Their service at high tea was lovely and they made sure we had plenty of scones, sandwiches, and tea to satisfy us. After finishing up our tea, we had some time to browse the ground level where they sell their teas as well as their teaware level. Generally, the prices are fairly high (I purchased 2 of the sample size sets – Flavored Blacks and Fortnum & Mason Famous Teas) but I have loved each and every one of the teas I purchased. Very very high quality and I will have to make a point to stop by if I ever find myself in London again!

If you are in London, do take the time to visit this store. It is much, much more than a tea store, but I will focus only on the tea section in the ground floor.
The tea section greats you as you enter from Piccadilly street, with a slew of beautiful caddies that hold Fortnum’s more popular blends or single estate teas. Sale items are located in baskets near the entrance door, and you might miss them if you don’t know where to look for them. There’s a central display for their more special blends and teas, and it is always worth looking at them and sniffing. The prices are high, but I haven’t bought something there that I’ve been disappointed with. I recommend focusing on their unique blends (Piccadilly Blend is my favourite, but Fountain Blend is also very nice), and on the special teas that aren’t prepackaged, but are sold by weight. I bought two very unique teas there over the years – a “Golden Monkey Tail” Ceylon (yes, it was a Ceylon and not a Chinese tea – I double checked), and a “Silver Dragon Beard” white tea that I haven’t seen anywhere else since, and where well worth their high price. It’s most definitely not a place to go for a bargain, but for a special tea, or a beautiful gift for a tea lover – it fits the bill.