eteaket

Eteaket owner and founder, Erica Moore, is passionate about tea. From central Edinburgh, her boutique and café supplies more than forty different types of tea from around the world. Just when you thought there were only three!

Breakfast teas, both English and Scottish, are amongst the most popular, but the shop has a fast-growing following of regular customers discovering new teas from the extensive menu.

A must try is the yummy signature tea latté; unlike their milky, often bland coffee counterparts, these are eighty percent tea but just as frothy, making them a filling but lean alternative. All teas are brewed to strict times and temperatures, beautifully preserved and presented, and served with optional milk and sugar. All are available to take away as leaves in small and large caddies.

The tea list goes some way to demystifying the art of tea. In essence, there are only three types: black, green and white. These are of varying caffeine and flavour strength. Herbal teas, like chamomile and peppermint, are not teas at all, but herbal infusions. I sampled a range of teas and amongst my favourites were Organic Silver Needle, a very delicate, young white tea, and Rooibos Crème Caramel, part of the trendy redbush tea family, which is becoming increasingly popular due to its lack of caffeine.

And it doesn’t stop there. Coffees are not outlawed – there is a full list as well as free babychinos to accompany an expanding children’s menu. This is a family-friendly venue, somewhere you can treat your mum to cream tea, and equally be at home with friends or young family.

With an outside seating area arriving in time for summer and events like tea tasting ceremonies which take the mundane to the sublime, eteaket is worth seeking out. [Yasmin Ali]