Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Found: A Good Cup of Tea!

I do like coffee, and an Americano with cream and sugar can certainly hit the spot. However, nothing compares to a good cup of tea. But in this town of endless cafes, a good cup of tea seems next to impossible to find! Tea in coffee shops is usually weak and flavorless, one tiny tea bag to 12 ounces of hot water. Or sometimes you may get a really expensive pot of tea that is no better, and the pot is usually served with a tiny, wide-mouthed mug that causes the tea to become tepid moments after you have doctored it with cream and sugar. Years ago I travelled through Ireland, Wales, and England with my choir, and one of my best memories of that trip was the amazing tea that you got with every breakfast. It was strong and hot and could hold its cream and sugar!



The other day I was wandering through Pike Place Market, and came upon the Crumpet Shop. I've seen this place a million times in the million years that I have lived in Seattle, and it never occured to me to go in before. But today I was having a bit of a sweet tooth and decided to give it a try. Hurray! Not only was the tea as good as the stuff I had in England, but there are free refills, the mugs were the proper shape and size, AND I got to drink it with one of my new favorite foods - a crumpet!

The crumpet was steamy on the inside, and crispy-chewy on the outside. The dough was almost salty which went well with ricotta cheese and blackberry preserves. And my Earl Grey tea.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

As an English person I couldn't read this and not comment. Tea in the rest of the world is just terrible, enough to put you off going on holiday :-) But a place that serves decent tea deserves high praise indeed and plenty of repeat visits!

Mallow said...

Thanks for commenting, Sophie - I'm glad to hear I'm not alone on this! You can be sure that the Crumpet Shop will be getting many repeat visits from me this winter!

Dee Light said...

What a cute little shop!!! And yummy crumpets and tea too... You lucky girl!!!

Helene said...

What a great find! I stumbled upon a great tea shop here and got all giddy!

Sandi @the WhistleStop Cafe said...

A good cup-a tea will warm your crumpets for sure =D

Brittany said...

Hi! I'm new to the food blogging community and I also live in Seattle- on Queen Anne. I'm so happy I stumbled upon your blog! That little crumpet shop is a gem in our area...one of my favorite spots to stop while at the market for a few zenful moments : )

Anonymous said...

Lisa C and I just enjoyed two cups of Earl Grey (and a crumpet with tomato, pesto, and parmesan for me) last weekend, before she went to work down the block! This was one of the first place my parents and I came when we moved to Seattle. But it had been years since i was there. Now I'm planning to back to try the breakfast groats and their thick sandwich bread...see you there? RB