You can also find more expensive teas at places like Fortnum & Mason in London.  Personally we were not able to tell any difference between F&M teas compared to the ones listed above.

Fortnum & Mason Department Store

London, England

A note on Fortnum & Mason.  This is a high end department store in central London.  They have a special small section in the store where you are able to find American products such as peanut butter, grape jelly and Kraft macaroni & cheese.  We do have to point out that these items are considerably more expensive than what you would pay at home.  For example, you may pay .50 cents for a box of Kraft Mac & Cheese in the States where the same box will cost you 5 GPB at F&M.  So if you are finding yourself craving something from home, this may be an option to help you get by.

Breakfast	English breakfast tea is a traditional blend of teas originating from Assam, Ceylon, and Kenya. It is one of the most popular blended teas, common in British tea culture.  These teas are usually described as full-bodied, robust, rich and blended to go well with milk and sugar, in a style traditionally associated with a hearty English breakfast.  A blended breakfast tea will generally give a strong brew with lots of caffeine that helps wake you up.  Teas with a lot of tannin, like breakfast blends, are great with milk. Tannin is a bitter tasting organic substance.
Traditional Black	The black teas included in the blend vary, with Assam, Ceylon and Kenyan teas predominating.  You may find Keemun sometimes included in more expensive blends. Because it's a blend, the final result can be much more predictable than if you rely on a single tea. For example, if the blend is 10% each of 10 different teas, and one of those teas tastes a little different this year, the final result will still taste the way you have learned to expect. Or if one tea suddenly becomes more expensive, the blender can substitute something else and the final result will not change noticeably. Doing some research you may find that mass market teas like Tetley will source 25 or more teas in the blend, so that variations in flavor (or availability) can be adjusted back down to the desired mean.
Earl Grey	Earl Grey is one of the most recognized flavored teas in the world. This quintessentially British tea is typically a black tea base flavored with oil from the rind of bergamot orange, a citrus fruit with the appearance and flavor somewhere between an orange and a lemon with a little grapefruit and lime thrown in. We describe this tea as being 'spicy' compared to a traditional black tea.
Darjeeling	Darjeeling tea is from the Darjeeling district in West Bengal, India. This tea is available in black, green, white and oolong (a dark-colored China tea made by fermenting the withered leaves to about half the degree usual for black teas). When properly brewed, it yields a thin-bodied, lightly colored infusion with a floral aroma.

Tools for tea

Tea Bag Squeezer

A Tea Bag Squeezer is a 'nice to have' and we highly recommend it.  You can find them for a few dollars at Amazon or perhaps a local store selling kitchen utensils.

When to drink tea

Tea is a popular drink in the morning, hence the 'Breakfast Tea' variety.  You may have tea anytime throughout the day, but you may have heard of Afternoon Tea or High Tea.

Afternoon Tea

Afternoon tea is a British food tradition of sitting down for an afternoon treat of tea, sandwiches, scones and cake.

Afternoon tea is served around 4 p.m. When afternoon tea became fashionable in the early 19th century thanks to the Anna, the Duchess of Bedford, it was never intended to replace dinner but rather to fill in the long gap between lunch and dinner at a time when dinner was served as late as 8 p.m. Lifestyles have changed since those times and afternoon tea is now a treat, rather than a stop-gap.

The working lives of many do not allow the time to sit down to enjoy scones and cakes in the late afternoon, so for many, the ritual is now saved for holiday and special treat. The tradition is still quintessentially British, and many Brits still make time to sit and enjoy the propriety and civility of this the quaintest of English dining customs, just not on a daily basis. One renowned place to find a true afternoon tea is the Ritz in London. Their afternoon tea service is in such high demand that bookings generally must be made months in advance.

What Is a High Tea

The origins of afternoon tea show clearly it was the preserve of the rich in the 19th century. For workers in the newly industrialized Britain, tea time had to wait until after work.
 
By that hour, tea was generally served with heartier dishes which were substantially more than just tea and cakes. Workers needed sustenance after a day of hard labor, so the after-work meal was more often hot and filling and accompanied by a pot of good, strong tea to revive flagging spirits.

Today, the evening meal in working class households is still often called "tea" but as working patterns have changed yet again, many households now refer to the evening meal as supper.

The addition of the word "high" to the phrase "high tea" is believed to differentiate between the afternoon tea that is traditionally served on low, comfortable, parlor chairs or relaxing in the garden and the worker’s after-work high tea that is served at the table and seated on high back dining chairs.

High Tea in Scotland

In Scotland, high tea takes on a further differentiation. A Scottish high tea is not unlike an afternoon tea but will include some hot food, such as a cheese on toast or other savory goodies.

What to have with your tea

We highly recommend having Scones with Clotted Cream and Jam with you tea.  You will find most tea rooms will offer this combination along with their tea.

Clotted cream (sometimes called scalded, clouted, Devonshire or Cornish cream) is a thick cream made by indirectly heating full-cream cow's milk using steam or a water bath and then leaving it in shallow pans to cool slowly. During this time, the cream content rises to the surface and forms 'clots' or 'clouts'.  In the States, we have found small jars of clotted cream at World Market.

Tips and procedures for brewing a proper cup of tea

Team Rooms

You will find tea rooms located throughout the country.  Below we listed two of our favorites; one in London and the other in Windsor.  Also in Windsor, the Marks & Spencer store has a small cafe located on the second floor that serves tea and one of the best cups of hot chocolate we could find.

Sample Tea Rooms
	The Crooked Team Room This tea room is located in the town of Windsor England close to Windsor Castle.
Crypt Tea Room This tea room is located in London in the crypt of St. Martin-in-the-Fields and is in the northeastern corner of Trafalgar Square. There has been a church on this sight since the 13th century; the present building was completed in 1726. Its magnificent Corinthian portico has been much copied in the US where it became a model for the Colonial style of church building.  St. Martin-in-the-Fields is the official parish church for Buckingham Palace.	.