The 5 best places for a cup of tea in London

One of the best places to buy tea in town. They stock more than 70 varieties, beautifully packaged and fairly traded from single estate farms from across Asia. Real expertise has gone into creating and importing the selection available. They also sell postcards, filled with loose tea, which you can send anywhere in the world.

Cake Hole is a cheery cafe nestled at the back of a Columbia Road vintage shop that specialises in kitchen and tableware. Once past the array of retro crockery, glass and teacups, choose from a range of breakfast teas, black teas, herbal teas and ‘oddi-teas’ to accompany the plentiful home-baked cakes on offer.

This elegant three-floor showcase for authentic Japanese arts, design, crafts and gastronomy is a fine place to try speciality Japanese teas. Their Stand bar on the ground floor has takeaway genmaicha, sencha, matcha and hōjicha teas, kissaten coffee and wagashi (Japanese sweets). In the formal Akira restaurant upstairs, Japanese afternoon tea is served with seasonal platters of sushi, wagashi and desserts.

Katsute 100 serves a wide range of loose-leaf teas, all sourced from artisan producers in Japan and chosen for their deep and subtle flavours. They also offer aromatic infusions, such as Oolong Black Ginger, as well as matcha drinks, sake, rice wine and homemade cakes. The cafe is cosy and contemplative, its warm wooden interior features antique Japanese furniture creating an ambiance likely to induce a Zen-like calm in the tea drinker.

Brixton Prison has an excellent restaurant run by The Clink Charity which helps prisoners rebuild their lives by providing them with training towards earning catering qualifications. Visitors eat in the old governor’s house where The Clink’s traditional afternoon tea comprises of sandwiches, for example smoked trout and chive crème fraiche; fruit scones with rhubarb and strawberry jam; and patisserie such as mango and passion fruit macarons; all washed down with the finest teas. A truly rewarding and unique experience.