The founding of Waterloo Gardens Teahouse came about after a series of fortunate events. When the local butcher decided to close his doors it was a loss to the community. We then thought that it would be nice to create a place that could act as a hub for the area.
The main objective was to have a venue of outstanding quality which was welcoming to people from all backgrounds. No airs, graces or pretence – just a relaxed atmosphere with something different to offer from the norm.
What it looks like when you walk in...
A coffee shop seemed like the obvious thing to open up, but it just seemed a little boring – nothing that we could really get our teeth into. It always surprised me that whenever we used to go out, and ask for tea, we would invariably be served something that was close to undrinkable.
The rules stated that ‘Drink tea at home and coffee when you go out’.
So a Teahouse it would be…
We have tracked down the best teas that you can get your hands on – after years of research, meetings, travel and tastings – which are still ongoing. Our list of over 50 teas we think, offer something for everyone. Every single tea selected to go on our list has been carefully tasted and compared against other similar teas, to ensure that we stock only the best that is available. No other teahouse in the UK stocks many of our teas, and we are confident that nowhere else can you get the comprehensive quality across the board, as you can be guaranteed of with our tea offering. If you aren’t able to pop in to see us then you can buy the tea online and we will post it out to you.
In the café, we didn’t expect everybody to suddenly drop coffee in favour of tea, so we have ensured that the coffees we served were as good as you could get. The beans we use are always used between one and three weeks of roasting. We change the coffee that we serve regularly, to allow our regulars to appreciate the nuances between coffee of different origin, and also to take full advantage of seasonal variations in coffee quality. In keeping with our ethos of being equal for all, we offer soya milk at no extra charge. If you normally drink coffee in one of the large coffee chains, then we’d like to welcome you, to how coffee should taste…
Along with a cup of tea or coffee, we liked the idea of having delicious cakes. Not the cakes we are so used to seeing in all the chains – frozen, bland, pre-packaged, generic. Whilst standing outside the teahouse one day (or butchers as it still was then), a lady approached me and asked what our intentions were. After hearing the low down, she started raving about her neighbour, Jackie, who had just started baking gluten free cakes. Jackie lives around the corner from the teahouse, and she now drops off wonderful combinations such as Chocolate/Orange and Chilli cake, and Ginger and Pear cake. A couple of her cakes are also dairy free, as well as the Chocolate and Beetroot cake which is vegan. When you try them, you will see what all the fuss is about!
We also serve light breakfasts, Lunch and Afternoon Tea. We take bookings for afternoon tea, so when you arrive you can be sure that there will be a table for you.
Our theme colour was chosen to be orange. Why Orange? Well, in the olden days, tea was exported from the East to the West, via Holland. If a tea was deemed good enough, it would go to the Dutch Royal Family, hence being graded as ‘orange’. It is from this that the term ‘orange pekoe’ is derived, which is a grading of tea.
There must be a million artists living a stones throw away from the Teahouse, so we thought it be a good idea to have a place where they could exhibit their work. Along with established and internationally renowned artists, we want to provide the opportunity to artists who had never had a chance to be exhibited before. The Global Fund, for HIV/AIDS, Malaria and TB is a cause that is very close to our hearts, so it was decided that commissions earned from the gallery were to be donated to the fund. The Global Fund deals with the critical issue of the lack of funding into tropical diseases by international organizations, especially the pharmaceutical industry. Drug companies generally won’t research into these diseases as most of the people they affect would be unable to pay for the cost of novel drugs/treatment. We don’t think this is anybody’s fault, just the way the world works at the moment. A good solution is The Global Fund.
In in the Spring of 2011 we thought it would be nice to dip our toe into the world of wholesale tea. Waterloo Tea can now be found in Dublin, Edinburgh, Liverpool, London, Berlin and Dubai. With all the tea we disclose full information, including name of farm, date of harvest and processing methods employed. Having gained knowledge on the ‘front line’ we feel we are well placed to offer advice on areas such as tea menus, equipment and service.