Carrying on my tearoom theme, I want to draw attention to another tearoom that I had the pleasure of visiting in Adelaide.  Tbar is a wonderful tea salon which, according to their website serves loose leaf tea with reverse osmosis water.  As I walked into the salon, I was faced with a wonderful array of loose lea tea, with enough variety to satisfy all types of tea drinkers.  After looking through the impressive display, I decided to take a seat and look at the tea menu.  It’s a beautifully presented menu with no shortage of tea puns as the reader is faced with teas such as diversi-t, visibili-t, prosperi-t.  Tea puns never fail to make me smile 🙂 

At the bottom of each page is a famous tea quote with my favourite being “Love and scandal are the best sweeteners of tea”.  I finally opted for a tea I haven’t tried for several years: a dark oolong known as Shui Xian (Water Sprite).  The tea was presented in the largest teacup and saucer I had ever seen but the tea was fabulous as the distinctive roasted aroma filled my nostrils as I poured the tea.

Now amongst the seasoned tea drinkers amongst us, I know that tea balls are not everyone’s cup of tea as there is nothing more pleasurable than witnessing the agony of the leaves. However the tea ball is convenient to many cafés and restaurants and I was just pleased that good quality loose leaf tea is readily available and has been at Tbar since 1999.

Back to the tea and whilst I couldn’t discern the spicy notes that Tbar describes is in the cup, the sweet, flowery lingering aftertaste clinged onto the side of my tongue making the experience truly memorable.

I momentarily released the leaves from their mesh ball prison, took in the aroma of the leaves and smiled as I tried my best not to overhear the ladies gossiping over their afternoon cuppa.

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