TeaSmith

Sit up at the tea bar at this Spitalfields Market teashop and enjoy a lovely cuppa, brewed as its meant to be. Tea is studied like a science at TeaSmith with water boiled to the correct temperature and leaves brewed to a precise time. It's a process that husband and wife owners John Kennedy and Tomoko Kawase have perfected through years of research. At the small but perfectly formed shop - beautifully designed by Jonathan Clark Architects - you can sit at the tea bar and enjoy a cup on the premises or buy fresh tea including scented, oolong and white teas as well as a wide variety of leaves from Assams to Earl Greys. All come perfectly packaged in the sleek, streamlined silver tins with signature turquoise and white labels. No afternoon tea should be served without cake and they've teamed up with Suzue and William Curley who supply TeaSmith with delicacies like chocolate yuzu cake from their patisserie in Richmond. Cordon Bleu trained chef Suzue has worked at Claridge's and The Savoy where she was in charge of afternoon teas. TeaSmith regularly run tastings which introduce some very unusual brews with the likes of ex-El Bulli chef Nuno Mendes doing the teaching. Alternatively you can enroll on a tea master class run on Thursdays at 7pm and learn the art of tea making for yourself in a two and a half hour lesson at a cost of ?35 per person.