And we’re back!
It’s the first tea room review of 2016, and we’re back in Edinburgh. This time we decided to visit PekoeTea, a local tea brand that in 2010 opened their first teashop/bar. It’s a cute, wee little tea bar just outside of the centre, so it’s not going to be crowded. Although there are only a couple of tables we didn’t book in advance and it was absolutely fine.

Where some of the other tea rooms we visited had a large display of cakes to tempt you, PekoeTea has another approach. The tea approach.
This shop is absolutely packed with stacks of beautiful teas. The look of the shop is kind of vintage and reminiscent of 20^th century shops, without being stuffed with decorations. The shopkeeper had an excellent understanding of her wares and was very knowledgeable about the products. The overall impression of the shop is cute, warm (that comforting look and feel you can only get in certain shops), and friendly.

Seeing how we were both a bit stressed and tired, we decided to go for mellow teas. Although I prefer black and rooibos teas, I’ve been in a green tea mood lately. My friend picked the Moonlight White, a white needle tea from Yunnan. It was so very soft and comforting – absolutely delicious!
I had the Pre Qing Ming Lung Ching, which they described as the “‘fine wine’ of green tea”. It’s a bit of an acquired taste, I’m afraid. Although the drink was very soft and gentle, the taste and flavour of this tea clashed a bit with that gentleness. It also didn’t go particularly well with our Raspberry Cheesecake Brownie, which was absolutely delicious.
The teacups were so classy and actually looked a bit like fancy wineglasses or the like, very exciting!

This is a wonderful shop. Because it is not full of decorations it’s quite easy on the eyes, and comforting in its complete focus on teas. It seems like a nice place to sit at the bar and work all afternoon, while sipping teas from their truly special collection and chatting about teas and chocolate with the staff.

If you want to have a nice cup of tea, but don’t feel like any of the fancies and frills that come with tea rooms (or the dangerous temptation that comes with a fully decked counter of sweets), go to PekoeTea. Edinburgh tip: escape the cold, rain and people and seek shelter in the warming arms of tea.

Since my tea selection was not my favourite, I will (unfortunately) have no other choice but to come back and try everything, oh woe is me!
PekoeTea, I’ll be back. And I can’t wait!