Wednesday 5 December 2012

Review: Kim's Tea & Coffee House


Deciding to hit the sales for last minute Xmas gifts and see if any January sale items might take our fancy, myself and the mister hit Saffron Walden with our need to shop until we dropped. We hadn’t anticipated the heavy rain fall, with it being so late in the day, we literally took a rain check not even an hour into our excursion and took refuge in a lesser known tea room in this historic and beautiful market town. 

Kim’s Tea & Coffee House is a haven for any tea or coffee lover, with an entire wall of choices to be made from their dresser displaying jars upon jars of loose leaf tea and fine coffee, it took us a very long time to settle on our tipple of fancy.


The mister chose a Cappuccino with a shot of Belgian Chocolate sauce at £2.20 which looked amazing and made me almost regret my tea choice for a few minutes, but my regret was short lived after my Rose Grey tea arrived in it’s own white teapot and matching cup & saucer. Its scent was as beautiful as it looked, a delicate blend, a take on the more traditional Earl Grey blend, but with a rose infusion. It made me glad not to go for a safe Darjeeling or English Breakfast choice today, it was a generous serving and cost just £1.50 for a large pot.
There is quite the selection of teas to choose from including black & blended teas, green teas, white teas and herbal infusions.



The cakes and treats are also made on site where possible and I could see a cake plate full of homemade tea cakes from here, which were very tempting considering just how cold and wet through we were from getting caught out in the rain. 
 However, as we were browsing the menu, homemade Crumpets with butter sounded amazing, so simple, yet the first thing we both ordered at the same time as the lovely man serving asked what we fancied with our drinks. We did chuckle and we were far from disappointed, they were big and fluffy and you can tell a homemade crumpet from a mile off. With butter melting into the holes in these goodies, it was the best autumn warmer ever! All we needed now was the roaring fire and warm slippers to step into ; )


Whilst we were here, as it was nearly closing time and getting gloomier by the minute, there were one or two of us taking refuge with a pot of tea before tackling the streets again, so it was peaceful and no battle to the tables. They can seat a good 30+ people in this pretty little tearoom, which overlooks the Jubilee Gardens and Bandstand, which is a spot I want to come back to and enjoy a rare tea in the summer.


The beauty of Kim’s Tea & Coffee House is that you can buy a packet of the tea or coffee you enjoy to take away with you. They know their stuff, so if you tell them what teas you do or don’t like, they are in their element in telling you what they have to offer, I love them!
 If you are unsure what tea or coffee to go for, you don’t need to be an expert to know or decide and more importantly, you are not made to feel like an idiot if you aren’t quite sure. There is an extensive tea & coffee menu on each table, with a little explanation of each offering and the flavour you would experience, it’s a great start to delve in and get experimenting.




Besides the espresso-based coffee drinks (including decaffeinated) they have on offer, they also have more than a dozen cafetière coffees including pure Jamaican Blue Mountain and Kopi Luwak, as well as various guest coffees, which change every month or two. 

For the dog lover in me, they even allow well behaved pooches here, should you be on a mission with the dog in tow. There are many coffee shops in Saffron Walden to choose from, but if you find yourself in this great little town on any day of the week and need a quick re-fuel, get yourself to Kim's to find your new favorite tea or coffee!

Miss Sue Flay 
 


Please Note - I'm not paid or bribed to say these things, I visit of my own accord, because I'm simply THAT geeky about tea and cake and all things in between. I pay for my own food and drink, I don't tell the establishment what I'm doing, unless I enjoy it so much that I want to blog about it. I then simply ask their permission to do so and I chat to them about my experience to make them aware that I (and others) have enjoyed it : )


If you would like to discuss an independent review or blog write up on any of the subjects on my blog, please do email Miss Sue Flay: cake@secludedteaparty.com for a chat.


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