There's hardly a city in the world where there aren't dozens, or even hundreds, of coffee stores.
We've come a long way in the last decade in satisfying and creating connoisseurs of coffee.
Tea drinkers have been left far, far behind. Coffee shops pride themselves on the training given to their barristas, the freshness of their coffee, the range on offer, the quality of their advanced machines, but when it comes to tea drinkers, we're offered the equivalent of Nescafe instant. No teapot in sight. Tea choices have actually got worse for most of us in the 'West'. We've regressed.
It's no wonder hardly anyone drinks it. And when they do, given how badly prepared it usually is, people would rather be drinking something else.
Yet a good cup of tea is something special. It's not hard to prepare, but one needs to understand the process (which varies from tea to tea) and be methodical. It's very little different from coffee.
-----
So the question is
where can you enjoy a properly made cup of tea?
LONDON
The only answers that spring to mind are in the Fortnum and Mason Salons, the Goring Hotel, and other prestigious Hotels in London. All of these are frightfully expensive places to enjoy a cup of tea. If you want to have it at the Ritz, you'll need to book weeks in advance.
There is also
http://www.teapalace.co.uk/, but I haven't been here yet.
EDIT TO ADD: I found what I hoped for
see post#9
TOKYO
Green Bird
http://homepage3.nifty.com/cafemania...greenbird.html
Yotsuya 2-14
MAP (Yotsuya San Chome station to the left)
Hua Tai Tea
http://www.chinatea.co.jp
Dogenzaka 1-18-6
MAP (Shibuya station to the right)
recs in English here:
http://metropolis.co.jp/tokyofooddri...ddrinksinc.htm
http://metropolis.co.jp/tokyofeature...storiesinc.htm
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpag...51C0A9649C8B63
(In fact there are probably too many to try and list - I can't even list most of my favourites as I don't know what they were called, I could only find the two I listed above)
---
Any other top tips for tip top tea around the world?