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Tea report from New York

London Edition Part 5

This series may be titled "New York Tea Report" but London is after all, the mecca of tea. Please bear with me as I begin another report on tea in London.

This time, I visited one of the many tea shops that dot the city, Whittard. Founded in 1886, Whittard has over 100 locations in Britain and its traditional taste and aroma has many fans in Japan.

  You can sample the tea in the store
"English Rose" is said to be popular with Japanese people. This tea was created in memory of the late Princess Diana.You can sample the tea in the store

The store is lined with pastel and royal blue packaging. As if the bright colors attract people from under the gray London sky, the flow of customers walking in never stops.

Thirty or so different types of tea are available. The standard blends, English Breakfast and Earl Grey are available, as well as Chinese tea and Japanese Sencha. The profile of green tea has been helped by the trendy Kaiten sushi restaurants. The rise in Japanese tea's profile is also due to the increased interest in Japanese culture as Anime and Kanji characters have become stylish in London.

Flower shop on the streetAs the monicker suggests, "the Tube" travels inside a very round tunnell
Flower shop on the streetAs the monicker suggests, "the Tube" travels inside a very round tunnell

I was a bit suprised by the flavored green tea. "Green Mango" and "Green Peach" that mix fruits' sweetness and green tea's crisp flavor, and maybe perfect for anyone put off by green tea's bitterness. As I stood there impressed, the shop employee encouraged me to go to t-zone, a store started by Whittard to introduce tea's new appeal to the public. t-zone supposedly has over 100 different types of tea leaves and that's where my next report will be from.

'iReporter:Keiko Taniguchi'j