An incredible tea-tasting at Piacha, London

“We should meet for coffee!” “New coffee shop opens!” “Look at all these exciting types of coffee!”

*raises eyebrow*

Coffee does not excite me. I do not drink coffee. Blergh.

Tea, on the other hand. Now we’re talking.

So when London tea bar and shop Piacha invited me in to sample some of their delicious brews, I was unsurprisingly keen.

I’d presumed it’d be a case of “choose a cuppa, take a snap, drink up and ta-rah.” But no. I was treated to a full-on tea-tasting with Piacha’s founder, Pia, which was a delight.

I’m not sure I’ve ever drunk so much tea in the space of two hours (and I do drink a hell of a lot of tea.)

You guys, I loved it.

Never in my life have I seen let alone tried such a diverse range of teas and such interesting flavours! Just you wait.

On a pretty street in Islington (I walked past both a gluten-free bakery and a sugar-free one on said road, you get the idea), Piacha was the perfect spot for some post-shopping recuperation as the sun went down - it was only 4pm, but this is January. Ya feel me.

One of the things I most loved about Piacha is the fact that they’re open till 9pm. It always bugs me when cafes close at like 4pm, because let’s be real here: tea and cake time is any time of day, am I right?

The tea bar has a trendy relaxed vibe - think exposed brick walls, orange armchairs and jazz playing in the background. No one is rushed to finish their tea or leave, but left to relax and take their time whilst sipping delicious mugs of freshly-brewed tea. It's not the cosiest of places, but I liked the ambiance.

Pia told me that before starting Piacha a year or so ago she was actually a technology lawyer! I love that she's had such a career turnaround.

I was welcomed into Piacha before being introduced to the many many teas on offer - I’m so grateful I was allowed to try a range as there’s no way I could’ve picked just one! I sniffed the different tea leaf blends and chatted to Pia about my tastes in tea and we eventually decided on a selection to try.

And it's not just tea on offer - there are of course other drinks (though why you'd choose one of them I do not know), sandwiches (complete with tea herbs!) and baked goods from a nearby bakery.

First up in my tasting was the milky oolong tea and apple green tea.

I loved both of these. The milky oolong was delicate, lightly sweet and scored a solid 9/10 with me.

The apple green tea was delicious and you could really taste the cinnamon - I scored it a fat 9.5/10! And I have to add that it went down a treat with an apple muffin, bursting with chunky pieces of fruit. Yum.

Next up: camomile citrus tea with a herbs and houmous sandwich.

The lavender really came through in this brew but I have to be honest it wasn't really my cup of tea. Literally. (6/10). The sandwich was nice enough but nothing to write home about to be honest.

Coming up next was the tea I'd been most looking forward to: rooibos rhubarb fudge, and chocolate cinnamon rooibos (yes, really.)

And do you know what? I think I actually preferred the chocolate cinnamon to the rhubarb fudge! The former smelled incredible and actually tasted more chocolatey than I'd expected upon taking a whiff - it's up there with the apple green tea on 9.5/10.

The rhubarb was still lovely and very rhubarby, scoring a highly respectable 8/10, so still yummy despite perhaps not quite living up to my hopes. Can we get a round of applause for rhubarb fudge? Good work.

We finished my tea journey with black teas: vanilla early grey and black cherry, with a little chocolate brownie bite:

The black cherry was reeeaaally yummy and particularly great with milk (9/10) and the vanilla earl grey was lovely - the citrus and bergamot of normal early grey was less strong, which I liked (7/10).

And despite feeling pretty gosh darn full by this point, Pia insisted I try one of their ice tea smoothies, and I chose earl grey peach.

I thought the peach and early grey flavours complemented each other perfectly - you could really taste both and it wasn't too sweet. The smoothie was delightfully refreshing and unlike anything I've ever had before.

All my teas at home seem super boring now.

And of course, mes amis, these are just my opinions. Tea's a personal thing, ya know? And there are so many more flavours to try at Piacha! I thoroughly recommend a visit. Which flavours take your fancy?

Thanks to Piacha for inviting me in for a tea-tasting but as always these are my honest opinions.