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We get many questions at Char about our Winchester Afternoon Tea, and how an Afternoon Tea differs from a Breakfast Tea. In order to fully answer this, we are outlining the origins of the practise of Afternoon Tea, traditional decorum for participating in an Afternoon Tea, and how to hold your own Afternoon Tea party. The History of Afternoon Tea Tea has been consumed at all times of day and night since the 3rd millennium BC in China. In England, tea only became popular in 1660 under the influence of Queen Catherine of Braganza, the Portuguese wife of King Charles...

In this article, we'll show you how to make a mouth-watering Earl Grey cake, infusing the classic tea's aromatic charm into a delectable dessert. It is the time of year again for garden parties – a wonderful way to be with friends and family, enjoying the sunshine on a summer afternoon. As always, we at Char are delighted to hear how you are enjoying our delicious teas, and a short while ago a customer came into the shop to restock on our most popular Earl Grey tea, and told us they were going to make a cake with it. Naturally, we...

Whether you are trying to keep cool on the hottest days, or just want to feel a little more refreshed, Char have an excellent range of teas for you to try as cold brews. There are a few ways to enjoy tea cold, and we will outline these for you. Try a few, you may be surprised by what you enjoy best!   Just Ice, Please This is the quickest and simplest option, for those of you who just want one refreshing cool cup of tea. Prepare your tea as you would normally based on the infusion instructions, with half...

Matcha is the delicious, grassy, umami result of nearly a thousand years of intimate tea understanding. This finely ground tea powder is put directly into your cup or bowl, and then whisked in a small amount of hot (but not boiling) water until it becomes frothy. This is the traditional way to drink matcha, however in the west we have discovered the delight of adding milk to this drink to create a matcha latte. This drink is perfect served cold with ice on a summer’s day, or warm in the heights of winter.   The process of creating matcha   Before matcha...

When you think “Chinese Teas”, what initially springs to mind?   According to one legend, the Chinese emperor Shen Nung was sitting beneath a tree in 2737BC and boiling water to purify it when some leaves fell into the water. Upon drinking this new concoction, he declared it delicious. And we couldn’t agree more.   Since then, tea has developed in many ways including gaining specific cultural brewing and drinking practises, and different methods of production resulting in very different beverages. Chinese teas may be seen by western eyes to be synonymous with green teas and, while there are a plethora of beautiful Chinese...