Second round save - Depot de Pain review

Well dear readers, I realise it has been a while since my last post (again), but something about the sudden cold snap inspires me to leave my usual tea haunt in search of new delights.
I regret to say I have a number of reviews languishing on my desk, miserably waiting for a touch up and a type out to you, my dear readers, including a review of my most favourite tea locale at the moment, but I fear the brief summer we enjoyed consumed my normal tea writing time with other pursuits.
Nevertheless, I have returned with a new post, and no less than 4 hours old! Read on friends, read on.

Cafe review: Depot de Pain
Where: 693 Rathdowne St, Carlton North

My colleagues, Madame P, Miss B and I found ourselves wandering the streets of Carlton North this afternoon, having concluded a business meeting in the area. "It is time for tea!" we cried, not yet prepared to return home. Being on the western side of the street, we approached Depot de Pain, a luxurious looking French patisserie. I immediately dismissed any ideas of obtaining tea there, as I'd had a rather unpleasant experience there with Miss B several years before.

As we passed by, a side window by the coffee machine popped open and a rather charming young barista stuck his head out, inviting us in to tea. Now, I would not like to compare our group to a giggling gaggle of school girls, but such was the barista's charm that this is essentially what we were reduced to. This may be why we found ourselves sat within the bakery several minutes later.

The inside was reminiscent of the bakeries of France, with beautiful cakes (or what was left of them by 5pm) and breads on display. Several nookish rooms were hidden around a display of produce, and there was a very relaxed atmosphere.

We asked our waitress for a menu, and were presented with only a food menu. A disappointment to be sure, but there were several tasty snacks, and Madame P ordered some spinach "sausage" rolls to be brought with our tea. Alas, these were waylaid and never appeared!

The tea itself was a brand we were unfamiliar with, a Ceylon Tea Bush, which Miss B thought she might have seen in small country town stores before. Certainly not a brand of fame in Melbourne. Our teas came with a small printed note about the product, a nice touch I thought. Miss B and I both went for Passionberry, while Madame P sipped Ginger and Peach. We were disappointed to find the teas flavoured with oils as well as natural fruit pieces, but they were enjoyable none the less. The Passionberry took a few sips to get used to, and the first mouthful was very tart with plum undertones. The tartness stayed through the whole drink, but became more berry like in flavour.

Overall the experience was very enjoyable, buoyed by banter with the charming barista, and we accidentally ended up staying past their closing time. I do enjoy a place where you are not made to feel like a villain for staying too long. I think it just goes to show that some places are worth giving a second shot.

The Rating
Atmosphere: 3/5
Available food: 1/5 (really excellent range, but lose points for forgetting our order)
Tea range: 4/5
Tea had: 3/5
Overall: 11/20

Tea with a dash of sarcasm - Minimo review

For some reason, I am not at all sure why, going out for breakfast has become relegated to "special occasion" dining for my little swag of friends. Luckily it was Master M's birthday over the weekend - the perfect excuse to make the trek up Sydney Road to one of our favourite haunts, Minimo. I haven't been to Minimo in a good 6 months, and, having been a bit lax on the reviews of late, I was interested in rediscovering their tea selection.

Cafe review: Minimo
Where: 822 Sydney Rd, Brunswick

We were greeted by a very enthusiastic waiter, who I think I can safely say made my day. He informed us that they were trying a new blend of rudeness and sarcasm in their service, as that was the "new black" in cafes these days. This could have backfired horribly, but his service that day was just the right mix of hilarity and charm that he pulled it off.

As it was not the best of weather and we were sat outside, I decided I wanted something milky and asked if there was chai available. "Do we have chai," the waiter scoffed, then proceeded to outline in great detail the option of a chai latte, or traditional chai in a pot. The waiter's skill in describing was so great that he managed to convince Lady J to swap from a croissant to the daily special of rhubarb hotcakes. I opted for a pot of chai made on soy and a ham and cheese croissant. (I know there are chai purists who will scoff at me getting soy milk with my chai, but my reasoning is thus: in Australia most chais are blended to go with soy milk, and really one finds it hard to go past the bonsoy option when it's available).

The drinks took a while to arrive, but the company was good enough that it was just on the tail end of acceptable. My only qualm was that the tea leaves in my chai clogged up the spout of the teapot when I first went to pour, and then rushed out in a great tea-y mess that covered my menu. The waiter gave me a dry look and a dig about making a mess, but quickly cleared it up. The chai itself was not the best I've had, but it was good overall, though I would have liked the option of honey instead of only sugar being available. It was sweet and spicy without being overly peppery, but it could have done with a bit more depth of flavour I feel, perhaps some more nutmeg or cinnamon.

Part of the unfortunate spillage

 The food lived up to the waiter's amazing descriptive powers. My croissant was buttery and delicious, and I will admit to stealing several bites of Master M's eggs with anchovy sauce, while Lady J's hot cakes were simply divine. While I was unable to decipher what brand of tea Minimo uses, I was assured there was a good, high quality range, and I have absolutely no problem with returning to sample more of their teas.

The Rating
Atmosphere: 4.5/5
Available food: 5/5
Tea range: 3.5/5
Tea had: 4/5 
Overall: 17/20

Oh Carolina, what have you done - cafe review

Carolina café has always been on the elusive side since it’s opened for me. My friend Miss B and I have been trawling up Nicholson St for months trying to find it. Oddly enough it was on an outing with Master M that I stumbled across this inconspicuous café – it is one of those “so cool” places that rely on word of mouth rather than signage to draw people in.

Well, now that it’s location had been discovered, fellow tea lover, Miss B and I organised to have a business meeting there Sunday morning. Naturally we were both keen to try the tea, and the coolish start to the day made it an ideal temperature to enjoy a pot.

We arrived around 10.30, and the lovely outside area was packed so we sat in the booth inside. A blackboard proclaimed the tea to be provided by Vee Tea, a brand Miss B and I were both unfamiliar with, but we do love trying new things. A white tea with jasmine and liquorice caught our eye. I will admit to being quite a fan of T2’s liquorice leg, so I was curious to see how this would translate to a white tea.

Now, I don’t like to complain about slow service in hospitality, having spent a good deal of years working in the industry myself. But Miss B and I waited half an hour for our tea. And we witnessed the barista using boiling water right out of the coffee machine onto our white tea. I am yet to figure out how pressing one button on a coffee machine equates to us waiting half an hour. It didn't add to our mood when Miss B ordered some raisin toast, only to be later told they had run out.

Sadly, things did not improve from there. Inspection of the tea revealed rose and jasmine petals, and a lovely golden liquor poured from the pot. The taste was…interesting. The liquorice overpowered everything, starting on a sweet note and then completely covering the mouth a few seconds after swallowing the tea. It was much stronger than I was accustomed to when mixed with a black tea, and I don’t think white tea has enough body to pull off such an overpowering flavour. Miss B was not a fan at all, and I ended up drinking most of the pot while she got a piccolo latte to clear away the taste.

Perhaps we made a poor decision on tea choice, but the whole experience was a bit of a let down. I have had decent tea there before, but that was one of Carolina’s own herbal tea blends. This may have to be one tea review I give a second chance further down the track.

The Rating
Atmosphere: 3/5
Available food: 2/5 (good available range, loss of points for running out of what we ordered)
Tea range: 3/5
Tea had: 2/5
 Overall: 9/20

Solo trip - John Gorilla review

Hello fellow tea-lovers! I would like to apologise in advance for the short review on John Gorilla. I normally write the reviews within a day of visiting a cafe, and due to an unusually busy this review has had to wait until today - so my memory is a bit sketchy. But I know good tea when I have it!

Cafe review: John Gorilla

Where: 49 Pearson St, West Brunswick

Being fortunate enough to be faced with a Friday afternoon off and lacking internet in the house (disastrous!) I once again made the trek over to West Brunswick for a second attempt at John Gorilla. It was a fairly miserable, grey afternoon, typical of Melbourne so I expected the café to be fairly busy.

This visit met with success however! I found a plethora of available tables and a very friendly, attentive team of staff.  It was just around lunch time so I ordered a toasted pumpkin dahl sandwich to go with my English breakfast tea and set up with my laptop to access the free wifi. I knew from sniffing around the tea scene that John Gorilla stocked Larson & Thompson tea, so I was fairly confident in a decent cup of tea.

I was not disappointed. What a cute set up for tea! I particularly liked the tiny milk bottles and the bright colours of the tea pot. The tea itself went superbly with the pumpkin dahl (which was delicious). It was a lovely, well rounded tea suited for milk and sugar, and just right for overcast weather. I have to say my only qualm was that the wifi kept dropping out, which is very frustrating when trying to do work. I also wasn’t really sold on the available sweet offerings, but it’s early days yet for John Gorilla and they seem to be doing a cracking job. Just be prepared to wait for a table if you visit on a weekend.

The Rating
Atmosphere: 3.5/5
Available food: 4/5
Tea range: 4/5
Tea had: 4/5

Overall: 17.5/20

Not quite John Gorilla - Factory Cafe Review

Yesterday, being a perfectly miserable day, a friend from West Brunswick and I decided it was high time to check out all the fuss about the newest café in the area, John Gorilla. Unfortunately we didn’t count on nearly everyone in the vicinity having the exact same idea as us. Faced with hungry stomachs and a wait over half an hour for a table, my friend suggested we venture around the corner to a lesser known café by the name of Factory.

Cooking with Tea

Now I will be the first to admit that I'm not altogether behind the idea of cooking with tea. Oh, I find it all fascinating and get very excited every time I stumble across a recipe, but I've really never had much success with it all. I would love to tea smoke a fish or tea poach a chicken, but the flavours never seem to come out properly.

Baking, on the other hand, is a hobby I spend far too much time indulging in. Tea and sweets seem made to go together. I've had varying degrees of success when trying to incorporate tea right into my baking, and I will share some of these with you at a later date. However, I thought today I would share with you a little something is a little easier, a lot more foolproof, and tastes enough like tea that you won't mind it's really tea free!

Chai Cupcakes

Ingredients
1 cup self-raising flour
2-3 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp all spice
1/2 tsp ground cardamon
125g butter (at room temperature)
2/3 cup brown sugar (firmly packed)
2 eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat your oven to 180. Prepare some muffin tins by lining with pattipans (or if you are very lucky, someone will have given you a delightful set of tea cupcake moulds).
Beat the butter and brown sugar until pale and creamy. Add in eggs, one at a time, while beating.
Add the spices and 1/2 a cup of flour. Mix this all together, then add 1/3 cup of buttermilk and mix again. Add the rest of the flour, mix, and then the rest of the buttermilk to finish the batter off.
Fill the muffin tins with the batter, about 3/4 full.
Bake in the pre-heated oven until a skewer comes out clean. This should take between 15-18 minutes, depending on your oven. Don't forget to rotate the tins half way through!

Eat them while still warm, or if you can resist the temptation, let them cool and dust with cinnamon. I like to ice them with a light honey buttercream, but they are especially decadent topped with a chocolate ganache.

Side note: For those simply desperate to incorporate tea into this recipe, may I suggest infusing the buttermilk with an Assam. I would say 3-4 teaspoons for this recipe, in about 3/4 a cup of buttermilk to yield the correct amount. Heat gently and infuse for around 5 minutes.

Faux Pas and A Nice Cup of Tea

Oh dear. Dear readers, just yesterday I made the most unforgivable of tea-related faux pas. Let me relate the tale...

My fellow tea lover and great friend, we shall call him Master M, called by my house yesterday. I have been a bit lax with my shopping this week, so all I could offer food wise was half a chai tea cupcake before we journeyed off to Prahran to support a friend's band.

Imagine my horror when Master M pointed out, as we were lining up for the gig, that I had failed to offer him tea! Without fail, when I have visited his house I have always had tea (granted this is mostly at my own insistence). I am a terrible host!

 To soothe my anquish, Lady J sent me through this piece this morning which I thought I would share with you all. It is from Mr George Orwell...

A Nice Cup of Tea

A Quest for Scones - Winchelsea Tea Rooms

I have a dear friend, let's call her Lady J, who is a knitter. A voracious knitter, you could say. You will rarely find her without a half-knitted something in her bag. I will admit I've taken advantage of this over the short time I've known her, having acquired a pair of socks, gloves and two hats (all very cosy).

As it would happen, Lady J's birthday is coming up and there was a particular wool shop she wanted to visit near Colac, so as a bit of a pre-birthday expedition we set off on the weekend on a quest for wool and scones. Because every good road trip should include scones and tea at some stages, no?

Return and Covet

Alright, I will be the first to admit - after the amazingly heavenly experience of Monk Bodhi Dharma, which I really didn't think I could top, I put the blog on hold. In the year I've been away I've moved, travelled to China and drunk a whole lot of tea.

The Melbourne tea scene surely seems to be heating up in my absence, with a new tea cafe in Fitzroy and plans for ones in Northcote and West Brunswick. It is to these ends that I am back, navigating the oft times disastrous path of the tea connieseur in the hopes of easing the way for those that follow.

So! Where will we start today?

The problem with so many cafes in Melbourne is that they go to the effort of sourcing a nice tea, and then pour scorching water from the espresso machine over it. I have to say, I'm guilty of a similar crime at work where the only hot water comes out of a dual boiling/chilled filter. So when I was reading a magazine and stumbled across this all I could think was "WANT". What am I coveting this week?

The TeaTotal

Ok, not actually finished development yet, and more for the cafe scene, but can you imagine how this little baby will change the tea drinking experience?

Cambridge Consultants, the brains behind this device, say: Users, in the form of cafe patrons, home consumers, or those at a vending machine, select the preferred loose-leaf tea variety, temperature, and strength level. Instead of walking away with a tea bag attached to a string dangling out of a to-go cup, the tea drinker becomes witness to the process itself: the tea is introduced to the water, where a stirring mechanism facilitates consistency and steeping efficiency. When ready, the finished tea is funneled into a waiting cup

What a completely brilliant idea. Never again would a tea drinker be served a burnt, over brewed tea bag. Fantastic!
Check out more on the TeaTotal here

Just died and went to tea heaven - Monk Bodhi Dharma

Cafe Review: Monk Bodhi Dharma
Where: 202 Carlisle St, Balaclava

Wow. Just...wow. I think I've actually found a really good tea house (slash cafe) in Melbourne. Seriously THE best cup of tea I've had in a long time.

It started with a 1 and a half hour drive to Balaclava (damn you Hoddle St, are you ever not crowded?) and then a good ten minutes of searching. Monk Bodhi Dharma. It's like a little converted two room house down an alley way off Carlisle St - I don't think you'd know it was there if you weren't looking for it.

The first thing I'd like to say about Monk Bodhi Dharma is: it rocks. I don't know about you, but there are some places I walk into and I think "wow I am SO not cool enough to be here" (mostly because it's full of hipsters) but this place isn't like that. It's got an eclectic clientele - we were sat between some hipsters and and two lovely old ladies. There is a great atmosphere, everyone seems really happy and there are fantastic solid wood tables and orchids everywhere.

Secondly, I recommend turning straight to the last page of the menu. Oh sure, they have your regular english breakfast, earl grey etc selection on the second page, but the last page is where the amazing teas are. I've been to tea houses that have 200+ teas, and I had more trouble choosing tea today than I've had anywhere else.

Each tea is accompanied by its estate of origin, an almost wine review of its flavour characteristics (think along the lines of "melon flavours with a crisp after taste") and an approximate brewing time. This turns out to be very helpful because there appears to be only one kettle boiling. My friend's tea comes out a good 5 minutes before mine. But you know, I don't mind because both pots have been brewed perfectly. Brewed to the right temperature for the right time. I am almost left speechless by the care taken with this.

My friend orders the long well, while I get the jin xuan. Oh. My. God. This tea comes with subtelties. It takes me a few minutes, but finally identify plum flavours under the earthiness of my tea. My friend's comes with a sort of rosemary, almost roast lamb, scent and refreshing floral flavour. I am in absolute heaven.

We also notice that Monk Bodhi Dharma has an amazing breakfast menu, and a coffee list to rival their tea selection. I highly recommend checking out this little hide out. I'm only sorry I didn't get any photos, but hey, that's just a reason to go back again.

The Rating
Atmosphere: 5/5
Available food: 4/5
Tea range: 5/5
Tea had: 5/5
Overall: 19/20

Questing over the river - Le Bon

Cafe Review: Le Bon Continental Cake ShopWhere: 93 Acland St, St Kilda

Living on the north side of Melbourne, I don't tend to venture "over the river" very often. Well, ok, to the National Gallery and casino and southbank, but that's about as far as I go. But in honour of my mum coming all the way down from Canberra for a visit, we did a special quest down to St Kilda in search of fabled cake shops.

After a very, very long tram ride and a very confusing wander around the streets (tip of the day: no matter how confidently she says she does assuming your mother knows where the cake shops in a city she's only been to once is folly) we found Acland Street. There's a strip with about 4 or 5 european style cake shops with the most amazing window displays. It is seriously drool worthy.

I will admit we chose the cake shop entirely based on what we wanted to eat, not the tea available. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the one we chose, Le Bon, served a brand of tea I've been reading about lately called "Stash Tea". It all looked very promising, with about 12 different types of tea ranging from green or earl grey to raspberry or orange spice. We ordered a vanilla slice, a macadamia tart, and two pots of orange spice and it was all going quite well.

Ah, alas. Tea bags. I wasn't actually expecting loose leaf tea at this place so I wasn't too disappointed. Until I opened opened it. I think I've been spoiled with those lovely silk tea bags with the high quality tea (when I dare to drink them) - what we had here was the old fashioned paper filter filled with fannings. To make matters worse, while they did put bits of orange peel in to flavour the tea, they used clove flavouring instead of actual cloves. I seriously do not understand this. Stash looks like a pretty upmarket tea company, why are they using flavouring instead of actual cloves? The tea itself was weak and not very tasty, despite the delicious aroma wafting off it.

So the tea was a disappointment, especially at $4 per pot. Luckily the cakes saved the day (though the vanilla slice wasn't amazing, the macadamia tart made up for it). I suppose I was expecting more because I'd built Stash up in my head as a really good tea brand. I am prepared to give them another go because hey, maybe I just chose a dud tea?

I guess in the end this has been me judging Stash Tea and not Le Bon for providing the tea, and I think it's great they were branching out from the usual T2. But in my opinion, cakes are just supposed to with tea. I think it just makes sense, when the cakes are so beautiful, to make sure you have a tea that compliments them.

The Rating

Atmosphere: 2/5

Available food: 4/5

Tea range: 3/5

Tea had: 1/5

Overall: 10/20

Bad Tea makes KD Sad :( - Brunetti

Cafe Review: Brunetti

Where: 194-204 Faraday St, Carlton

Maybe I'm being to harsh but what a terrible tea experience. Yes, I'm well aware that Brunetti is known for its tasty tasty cakes and biscuits, but seriously. I'm of the opinion that a decent (even semi-decent) cup of tea is not that hard to make.

It starts when I order. Brunetti only stocks about 6 types of tea - this isn't a problem, I don't expect a big range in cafes (though honestly, are they're any cafes in Melbourne that don't T2? I almost feel like changing the blog name to 'T2 Review'). I order the China Jasmine. Yes, I definitely, clearly said China Jasmine. The serving girl gives me a quizzical look and puts it through.

So imagine my surprise then when I end up with a chamomile tea. And to make matters worse - it's a tea bag. I've got nothing against tea bags when there are no other options, but Brunetti is trying to pass itself off as refined and taking food seriously (am I wrong?) so why do they have tea bags?

The next lovely surprise comes when I try to pour the hot water from a very pretty metal tea pot into my cup. Disaster. It's a dripper. I end up with a small lake on my table, and my companion has to pilfer napkins from the next table to stop it flowing onto our chairs. 

Add to this a dirty teaspoon, and Brunetti has lost some major points with me. I'm so disappointed I'm not even going to put up a photo of the experience. Go for the tea and cakes, but don't stay for the drinks.

The Rating

Atmosphere: 2/5

Available food: 4/5 (Brunetti's only saving grace)

Tea range: 1/5

Tea had: 1/5

Overall: 8/20

Cookie time

Ok, I've been looking a lot at cooking with tea recently (combining my two passions, food and tea omg). I listened to a really excellent podcast the other day interviewing Robert Wemischner (the author of Cooking with tea) and he really inspired me.

So here we go, a little cooking experiment.

I made two batches of cookies. One with earl grey tea, and the other with a toffee tea I just bought (which smells DIVINE - can't wait to drink it). Still working on the recipe, but bear with me, they taste pretty good.

First off, you want to infuse the butter with tea. A lot of recipes for tea cookies suggest you crush tea and put it in to the cookies - but seriously, who wants to eat bits of tea leaf?

Infusing butter with tea

1. You will need two grams of tea per tablespoon of butter.
2. Melt the butter in a small saucepan until just melted
3. Add the tea leaves and simmer for about 5 minutes
4. Turn the heat off and leave the tea to steap. The longer the better I think
5. Now you have delicious smelling, tasty butter. I'm not sure if you can put it in the fridge and reuse it. I think it is best to use straight away.

Note that is it is best to use a really strong tea for this. Delicate flavours get lost in the butter.

Ok, now you have amazing butter infused with whatever flavour you want. You'll need about 250 g for the following recipe, so I'd say you'd need about 20g of tea.

Earl Grey Cookies with Orange, Toffee Tea Cookies

The basic cookie recipe is thus. You can use whatever flavour of tea you want, just remember they won't come out super strong.

Ingredients
150g icing sugar
250g tea infused butter
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1 egg, lightly whisked
375g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder


Method

1. Cream icing sugar and tea infused butter in a bowl until light and creamy
2. add vanilla essence (if making earl grey cookies, add the zest of an orange here) and keep beating
3. add the egg and mix until everything is combined and glossy
4. sift flour and baking powder into the bowl, and gently combine with wet ingredients
5. turn dough onto a lightly floured surface, and roll in to a tube. Cover with cling wrap and set in the fridge for about an hour
6. cut into rounds about 2cm thick and place on a baking tray. Sprinkle with raw sugar if desired (it adds a nice crunch)
7. Bake at 180 degrees celcius for 10 minutes, or until golden brown.

Alright, there we go! I slightly overcooked mine so they were on the crunchy side, but still damn tasty (especially the toffee tea ones).

Theine

Dear Theine,

I do not accept you as a real word. 

Your close cousin, Theanine, I have no problem with. He actually appears to have a place in the world of tea.

Please stop appearing in otherwise well-written and interesting books on tea, trying to pass yourself off as your cousin. It's embarrassing for us all.

KD

For anyone who might not know, Theanine is an amino acid especially found in green tea that gives it that kind of sweet taste (check it out ), while Theine is a "tea specific" word for caffeine (What am I a talking about, of course you all know this).

Let's go for a ride - Ici

Cafe Review: Ici

Where: 359 Napier St, Fitzroy

My housemate and I decided to go on an epic bike ride for the recent public holiday - all the way from Coburg to Lake Albert and back again (alright, maybe not that epic to seasoned riders, but pretty huge for us).

Along the back alleys and sidestreets of Melbourne we came across a little corner cafe with people literally spilling on to the street. Well, that was enough to make us want to see what the fuss was about, and in we went.

Ici in Fitzroy is a popular place, and there were no free tables. After chatting to a very helpful (though very busy) waitress, we were allowed to pull up a couple of stools on the pathway outside. Getting a seat though turned out to be the easy part.

Ici stocks T2 teas, a range of about a 20 - my mind was not equipped to handle such an unexpected range of choices, and the poor waitress had to stand there for about 5 minutes while I pondered my decision. I eventually settled on a French Earl Grey (though I was tempted by a Turkish Apple based iced tea).

Service was quick and the tea was delicious - I had mine without milk (naturally). I will complain that they use Zero Japan teapots (this is a personal gripe because I think they always drip everywhere, but don't let that put you off if you have a fondness of these teapots). The first cup was a rich, clear brown like translucent chocolate, the taste just lightly tanine-y with a hint of bergamont and roses. The second cup (poured about 15 minutes later, I know waaaay too long) was too overbrewed for me, but my housemate happily drank it.

I have since been told that Ici has an excellent breakfast range to go with your morning cup of tea. I thought it was a really good little cafe, with a great vibe (though maybe this was more due to unexpectedly getting a decent cup of tea?)

The Rating

Atmosphere: 4/5

Available food: 3/5

Tea range: 4/5

Tea had: 4/5

Overall: 15/20

NB: Just in case someone gripes about me rating food I didn't have, let me just say the food LOOKED really good and I've heard good things about it. If we hadn't just had breakfast I would have happily tucked in to any one of the plates coming out.

My Water Tastes Like Cucumber- A Minor Place

Cafe review: A Minor Place

Where: 103 Albion St, Brunswick

I've been meaning to go to A Minor Place for a while, and finally got there the other day after picking my housemate up from the airport at crazy o'clock.

Alright, first things first, the positives. I love the atmosphere there. It's like a converted terrace house, very relaxed and friendly. The breakfast menu is pretty extensive and full of interesting dishes (my housemate had a bagel with avocado and dahl).

The tea range is big for a place that is better known for coffee - there are your standards like English Breakfast and Earl Grey, and a few more interesting ones like peppermint, liquorice and ginger, and a red rooibos.

I go for the gen mai cha and a piece of organic fruit toast. We also get some water which, sorry I'm going to get hung up on this, has cucumber in it. I can get behind lemon or whatever in my water, but cucumber? I don't want my water tasting like cucumber.

The drinks come out. Bonus - they use tea leaves. Hoorah! And the tea pot is very cute in a bubble kind of way. But the tea pot is dirty with tanine staining all up the spout. Mmm, nice.

The tea is a lovely pale honey colour when I pour it and has that good roasted rice smell. Alright, all going well. Then I drink it. You know when you cook rice on the stove and it goes crusty and brown around the edges? Yeah, that's what it tastes like. Over cooked, crusty rice.

At least the fruit toast was nice. But overall, not the best tea experience, and I just couldn't get over my weird tasting water. I'd recommend going for coffee and breakfast, but stick to the plain teas and lemon water.

The Rating

Atmosphere: 4/5

Available food: 3/5

Tea range: 3/5

Tea had: 2/5

Overall: 12/20

First post!

Hello, and welcome to the New Year, and a new start for The Tea Diaries. I moved to Melbourne a few months ago and was astounded to discover that despite an incredibly coffee culture, it is really difficult to get a decent cup of tea here. So! I have decided to start this blog/review to document all things tea in Melbourne.

If you've stumbled across this site then I can only hope you are a fellow lover of tea, or at least enjoy the odd cup, and I hope you will find it a helpful and interesting insight into Melbourne's tea world.

There will be a couple of different reviews on this blog.

• Cafe review - a review of one of Melbourne's many fine establishments, taking in tea range and quality, and types of food available.
• Tea review - a review of a bought tea prepared at home.
• Tea accessories review
• Tea recipes