Back in 2023, I had just started getting into tea as I graduated from middle school. I began brewing my father’s green tea every day and enjoying it with breakfast or lunch. Most of the tea I drank was still in tea bags, but I knew that the best teas were loose-leaf.
That summer, my mother planned a trip to London to visit friends and show us some of the most important sites in the city. We went all over London: meeting with curators at the British Museum and learning about some of the controversies surrounding it, riding the London Eye, and witnessing the changing of the guard.
I wanted to try a proper tea for the first time instead of the cheap tea I drank at home, so I convinced my mom to take me to Harrods, the famous department store known for its luxurious atmosphere and tea rooms. It was one of the most beautiful tea rooms I had ever seen, with a uniquely Victorian and pristine aesthetic. We even had to dress up and wear nice dress shirts, which really sold me on the fanciness of the experience.
For about two hours, we were brought trays of cakes, appetizers, and snacks alongside high-quality teas. I drank Silver Needle, which was more expensive than any tea I have had since. My brother got a hot chocolate, which remains, to this day, the best hot chocolate I have ever had.
When we finished eating and drinking, we went downstairs to the tea room, which was crowded and filled with expensive teas. Out of all of them—and to my future dismay—I chose rooibos and Assam, two of the cheapest teas they had.
The tea room itself was beautiful. It had a dark atmosphere but still felt inviting and alluring. Looking back, I find it funny that my first real experience exploring high-quality tea ended with me choosing two of the least expensive teas in the room. Still, that experience was one of the first moments that made tea feel like something worth exploring—not just something to drink, but a world of flavor, tradition, and experience that I had barely begun to discover.