Scrumptious Tea at Scrumptious Tearooms

September comes and brings with it cold, grey weather. Of course, the best remedy for not allowing miserable weather to bring you down is tea. Today, I thought I'd take a step away from the norm; instead of reviewing my monthly London Tea Club or my inevitable Imperial Teas purchases, I thought I'd discuss a couple of teas my boyfriend and I tried at a delightful little tearoom in Essex, while visiting family.

The tearoom is Scrumptious in Great Dunmow; we needed to get lunch before meeting with family and this place was recommended to us (although, in truth, we had both been there once before some years ago). It's not a particularly large place, but the atmosphere is relaxed and pleasant, with a vintage feel. My boyfriend and I chose a seat in the back room and perused the menu; it's always a good sign when a place has more than one A4 page listing their teas. Yum. Honestly, there must have been a dozen black teas, with everything from English Breakfast, to Darjeeling to fancy flavours, as well as a couple of white teas, half a dozen green, a few rooibos and herbals, plus an oolong. So much choice!

(So much choice, in fact, that neither of us even glanced at the coffee selection, despite that being my boyfriend's drink of choice, which means that until now when I was referring back to the online menu, I was unaware of the slightly disappointing mistake of the repeated use of the word 'expresso'. I may be a tea drinker, but I still like my coffee spelt correctly.)

After much deliberation, my boyfriend settled on Chocolate Orange and I went for First Love White Tea to drink alongside our sandwiches and cake. When the tea came out, we both got modern looking teapots with dainty, mismatched teacups. Atop the teapots were circular timers on plates, ticking away, letting us know how much time we had left for the tea to brew, while inside were little baskets holding the tea leaves. In short, this meant, much like at home, we could remove the leaves when the tea had finished brewing, so we didn't end up with that all too common problem of a perfectly brewed first cup, a slightly bitter second and a horribly over steeped third.

My boyfriend chose Chocolate Orange (£2.50 per pot) after enjoying the Chocolate Mint that came in in last months London Tea Club box. This tea is a Chinese black (that's black by UK terminology!) base blended with cocoa kernels and pieces of orange. The brew was dark with amber undertones and the aroma was distinctively citrus. Although I tried a few sips of this tea, I did take notes on my boyfriend's opinion of the tea too, given that it was his drink. We both agreed that it was pleasant ('tasty' was my boyfriend's exact word of choice) although less sweet that you might expect (not sweet enough for my boyfriend's tastes). The chocolate flavour was prominent, obvious and delicious. However, the orange flavour was surprisingly subtle; it was less like a Terry's Chocolate Orange than the Chocolate Mint was like an After Eight. My boyfriend felt that it may have needed brewing a little longer to get the orange pieces to infuse a stronger flavour into the liquor. It smelt amazing and, while the kick of the citrus flavours was a little disappointing, it was still a delectable treat. This is a good all round, flavoured tea that I would recommend to most people, even those who are not over fond of chocolate.

The First Love White Tea (£3.00 per pot) was much more delicate that the Chocolate Orange. As the name suggests, it was a white tea, although it was also blended with green tea, jasmine, rose petals and viola. The liquor was pale, but far from the faintest tea I've sampled, with a bright, golden colour. The aroma when brewed is strong and floral, without being too akin to perfume. The tea itself was delicate, as to be expected from a white tea, yet the floral flavours were bold, in particular that of the violas. The tea tastes a lot like liquid Parma Violets, which unexpected but by no means disagreeable (they are some of my favourite sweets). The rose petals came in as an after tastes, while the lingering flavour was that of the green tea. It is a light, clean and refreshing tea and I was in love; I suppose the name should have warned me. It it wonderful, although not a tea I would necessarily recommend to everyone as I know that some people are adverse to floral flavours. However, if you're a fan of Parma Violets and white tea, it is definitely one worth trying out.

As it happens, I liked this tea so much I ended up buying some (yes, the sell the tea leaves! Always a good sign of tea quality), £8 for 100g. No regrets! Although, as they were out of proper packaging (so it has been put in a brown paper bag), my entire living room now smells like Parma Violets. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but certainly unanticipated.

Overall, I was very impressed with my visit to Scrumptious and would recommend the place to anyone passing through Essex who fancies a wonderfully brewed cup of tea. The range is fantastic and the teas I tried were wonderful. It makes a refreshing change to go somewhere that sells specialist teas rather than your Assam, Earl Grey and 'assorted herbals' tacked on to the hot drinks menu at many a coffee serving cafe.