Trying Tea Houses: Tsp

I came across Tsp today whilst walking into Hanley town centre, my attention was quickly drawn in by the cartoons printed across the window panes of the cafe, they were quirky and gave the little corner coffee shop/ tea room a lovely artistic feel making me want a closer look inside. As a customer was being served at that moment it gave me plenty of time to have a look through their wall menu, choose my food and leer over the delicious looking home made cakes. 

I felt the menu wasn't over loaded with options but gave a lovely small selection which is great for breakfast, lunch and afternoon snacking. Offering a range of toast, paninis, salads and stuffed buns, their speciality is definitely their cakes which are on full display at the counter when you enter. I wish I had a got a photo of them, the eton mess cupcake looked amazing. If you have a look at their twitter or facebook you can see photos of their wonderful cake selection, be careful not to cover your keyboard in drool though. Another thing I really liked about their menu was there were a couple of vegetarian and vegan options as well, so theres something for everyone. With my food decided I then had to choose my drink, Tsp have a great selection of teas from Teapigs and the Cheshire Tea Company. This time I tried Teapigs apple and cinnamon, I noticed it's now stocked in Tesco and thought this was a great opportunity to try it before committing to a full box. 

Before sitting down I was offered a loyalty card, much like other coffee shops which with each visit when you buy a drink you get a stamp. The twist with Tsp, was I got to roll a dice to determine my first set of stamps, you would think with all the dice rolling from playing board games I would of aced that! but sadly I rolled a three, haha where are my dice gods now. It was all good fun, the tsp  member of staff who served me was nice and friendly and I sat down to my tea whilst waiting for my hot food. 

When it came down to cake I chose a brownie in the end, caught between all the different choices of cake I went for the safe option. But don't under estimate their chocolate brownies that might look like simple squares with neatly dusted powder sugar but they are the best! Hella tasty with a firm outer edge and soft core...so..tasty, and best of all from reading on their facebook they are also gluten free!

Safe to say I loved my cup of tea, I went to Tesco and brought a box after so I'll write about teapigs apple and cinnamon fully in another post.  The food, drink and service at Tsp was a treat, with reasonable prices it really is a lovely place to hang out with friends and a place I plan to go back to. If you are in stoke on trent, you should head to Hanley and check them out. 

On a final note I wanted to share a lovely thing I saw on their twitter, Tsp run a pay it forward scheme with suspended coffee. So you either buy two drinks and one will be saved for some one in need or if you are some who cannot afford to purchase a beverage or maybe you forgot your wallet go speak with them the suspended coffee cards are on their fridge.

Find more information and photos from Tsp at the links below.

https://twitter.com/tspcoffee

https://www.facebook.com/tspcoffee
https://instagram.com/tspcoffee/

Good Old Green

As I sit enjoying the quickly evaporating second week of Easter holidays it dawned on me, be it whilst i'm working or general day to day life, you can pretty much guarantee there will be a cup of tea close by and it's all thanks to green tea.

Ah, good old reliable green tea, before you there was only warm Ribena and the occasional hot chocolate. Up until my college years a cup of teas core purpose was for biscuit dunking and that was it. I enjoyed making a brew when family and friends required it, and was quiet proud to be told I was good at it, the practice was definitely helpful for my periods of working as a runner. When making tea the smell was lovely but sadly when trying offered sips the taste to me was either too sweet or too milky. 

But that changed when I was introduced to green tea in a little Japanese restaurant nestled into the back streets of China Town. I finally got to try it when my friend had ordered her self an unlimited green tea to go with her meal and I was so enamored with the traditional tea set it arrived in, it persuaded me to want to try it my self. I ordered my own set and was ready to take the plunge!  I remember to this day my first reaction was my nose wrinkling at the bitter taste, the reassurance from my friend 'that you'll get used to it' and the interesting grassy under taste kept me drinking and it's now a staple in my tea collection to this day. 

I love trying different teas and frequently snap photos and share on my twitter. I'm going to expand my 140 letter limit and start sharing my findings here and just maybe some comics and art from between my tea drinking escapades as well.