Note from Lainie: Below is a guest blog by my friend, Caroline Corfield, who recently visited Brewhaha, a tea room, in her hometown of Glasgow, Scotland.
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Inspired to investigate the specialist tea shop situation in my home city of Glasgow by a recent online blog, I attempted to merge the investigation into my normal shopping routine. Therein lay problem number one: Tchai Ovna, Otago Lane, is slightly off the beaten track, still deep in the heart of the trendy west end but, for a quick trip down Byres Road late afternoon on a Sunday, it was, I’m afraid, a side street too far. Next time. However the following day, refreshed from my journey to Glasgow, we went to ‘town’ as the Glasgwegians say, and so a visit to Brewhaha was going to be easy.
It was and it wasn’t.
It is on the lower ground floor of a relatively up-market galleria, Buchanan Galleries, most people do not go out past it and those coming in aren’t necessarily looking for tea quite yet. In fact we missed it on our way out, even though we were looking for it. This could have been because we have a few ideas about what it should have looked like and plastic chairs, pared back design and quite brightly lit were not amongst them. However, it is bright and breezy without any pretensions which feels like it ought to be a good way to entice experimental tea drinkers in: it is also bang next to a Costa Coffee, dark, inviting and comfortably lounge-looking.
But to the tea… my mother and my daughter (ten) not being big experimenters chose the everyday blend, which is described as an all day breakfast tea. It came in a pot for two, and was strong from the get go, increasing until you could stand a spoon in it, even too much for my mum. Then we realised what the wee bowls were for, but too late to save their tastebuds by taking out the tea leaf holder. I chose a white tea:- silver needle, mostly because I’d tried it before (we’re not very big on experimentation as you can tell). It was good, but then I suspect there’s a limit to what you can do to a white tea to make it bad. I think , but I’m no expert, it was possibly served a bit too hot, but it coped well.
Upon reflection, I don’t think Brewhaha will see us again, and that’s probably a pity, because a city centre tea shop ought to make it, but I personally think they’ve got the atmosphere wrong and the location wrong to make it work. They could have been more helpful if they’d had table service instead of a counter with nowhere to place a tray, and the staff didn’t look like they knew anything about tea, they might have but they weren’t volunteering the info. My mum thinks she’s been to Tchai Ovna, she described it as a bit hippy; sounds to me like they have a better idea of what to do and where to do it to get people interested in tea.
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I agree – sadly Brewhaha do a number of little things badly which does spoil the experience. There’s no indication of when teas began brewing and no timer to tell you when to remove the leaves which is a shame.
I loved the little menu though!
Thanks for linking to us on teatunes. If you get the chance, do visit Tea Tree Tea in Edinburgh – it was certainly my pick of the bunch.
Ben’s last blog post..gingertea afternoon (tea appreciation society)
Quite a shame. I’m there every week, and certain things, quite aside from the tea, make it tip-top:
1 – location. Centre of town = common ground = easy for everyone to get there!
2 – Service. the vast majority of the staff do know their teas (if they don’t, I’d suggest that they might be on the food side of things), and are very happy to discuss the matter of which tea to choose. They’re all friendly and approachable, and serve with banter and a smile. One chap indeed always tells us how to use the infusers… just the way he is!
3 – Joanne. The lady herself, whom I have met (purely because we’re regulars) comes in and makes a point of chatting to customers: she is an incredibly cheery and friendly member of society! When, for instance, we told her that we were tempted to open a rival shop, Teeheehee, she replied with a big smile and disappointed us with news that there is already such a place! I also don’t understand how you could say that the bench doesn’t have enough space for a tray! It has space for quite a few.
4 – Decor. Bright, cheery, but not garish. I myself was put off by the look of it from the outside, but fell in love when I first went in.
5 – cost. good value. in the morn, tea and toast for £2.45, for city centre? Can’t complain!
6 – the food. Oh my gawsh, the sandwiches (handmade in the morning by the staff) are absolutely gorgeous (and I’ve had my fair share), scones are exactly the right consistency and the cakes! THE CAKES! don’t get me started on them…
7 – the teapots. Why need a timer? Even for one who has no sense of smell, it’s pretty easy to work out. At home I have never ever time the tea to a tee – I just guestimate, and it works out well in my experience. Yellow for cheery, white for me!
8 – The tea. That’s the biggest reason I go (it goes without saying, really). Many of my friends didn’t know any tea other than Tetley before they met me. For such people, there’s a perfect amount of choice. Not too big (like Tchai Ovna’s) that it’s overwhelming, but not too small (like The Tea Rooms) that it’s disappointing. It has a good range, to suit most moods, and they brew them as they should.
.-= ewan´s last blog ..reasons to love Britain (?) =-.
Hi Ewan!
Thanks so much for stopping by and offering your opinion. It is interesting to read how different people can have different experiences and expectations of a place!
I wonder if, perhaps, these posts speak to a call for consistency in service: If the waiter who always tells folks how to use the infuser had been serving Caroline and her family during their visit, maybe their experience/review would have been very different.
In any case, thanks again for visiting and commenting! Very much appreciated.
I’m glad to know that the service at Brewhaha isn’t always as lacklustre as it was when I visited, but then I also know that regulars often get better service than obviously transient customers. Even though I’m from Glasgow, they may have thought we weren’t typical customers and were unlikely to visit again. I have no reason to suggest the service we received was the norm, it was merely what happened to us (myself, my mum and my two children) on a Monday at about 11 am, during a school holiday, when we popped in for some tea.
I heartily agree that the decor wasn’t garish, it just wasn’t what we expected, being seasoned cafe imbibers like many Glaswegians, I rather assumed it would lounge/cafe-like.
With respect to the counter top, it was high, it was full of food and there was nowhere to place my tray until I reached the till, it wasn’t immediately clear why the trays were at one end and the till on the other, since I had to ask for the food anyway, but it did mean I had to balance a bottle of Fanta for my non-tea-drinking daughter on the tray.
(was that my fatal faux pas? [ : ) ] )
I’m not entirely sure where else in the town charges £2.45 for tea and toast but if you aren’t especially interested in the kind of tea, I reckon there are probably quite a few places, outwith Buchanan Galleries and Princes Square and some of them will have waitresses.
I wish them all the best, and I’m sure they’ll entice a whole new generation of tea drinkers so maybe next time I’m up, I’ll give them another go, particularly after Ewan’s fabulous endorsement.
Hi Caroline
Sorry your experience was not a happy one, we do have a customer feedback card which we leave on the tables and to date we have had some wonderful comments, we are trying to make tea have a bigger presence on the high st, which can’t be a bad thing, yes we will get a few things wrong but we do learn from them, I have shown your blog to the members of staff, but please don’t let this stop you coming back in the next time you are in the city.
Hi Joanne, It’s lovely that you’ve taken the time to comment, and we will pop in another time, never fear. Best wishes, Caroline.