Great spot for a cuppa

Jun 29 2007 By The Journal

It's a grey, wet and clammy June afternoon.

Three silver-coloured round tables and a collection of plastic chairs of the type made famous by Christine Keeler in her 1960s nude photo shoot, are gathering water on the pavement.

Newcastle's attempts to introduce outdoor cafe culture to the city are looking like a damp squib.

The atmosphere is sunnier inside Sencha, however, and not just thanks to the generous Big Brother -style orange armchairs placed in the picture windows of this new bolt hole for city centre workers, jaded shoppers and go-ahead students.

There's a smell of summer too; fragrant and fruity.

It's the combined aroma of 35 different types of loose leaf tea, from the classic English Breakfast to more exotic varieties like Blushing Blueberry, Rose Petal Earl Grey, Orange Spice, chocolate mint Rooibos and strawberry and vanilla with real fruit pieces.

Sencha on Newcastle's Nelson Street is a tea shop. But not of the fine bone china, white tablecloths and scones with cream and strawberry jam variety.

While the sweet toothed are catered for with a selection of cakes and pastries that is as near to the classic English tea shop as Sencha comes.

"I prefer to describe Sencha as a tea lounge, a modern version of a tea shop but with a retro feel," explains owner Melanie Ieronymides[OK]. "While we serve coffee and sandwiches, we are essentially a place to come and drink tea."

Here customers can indulge their passion for loose leaf and flowering white, green, black and fruit teas while they watch the world go by. It's all very civilised. And a welcome break from the plethora of trendy high street coffee shops that are turning Britain's urban areas into `clone towns.'

Which is how Melanie hopes those seeking a refreshment stop will see it. As she says: "There are so many coffee shops around now all offering the same thing, and I think Newcastle can do with something different."

She is hoping to tap into a renewed interest in the 5,000-year-old brew. "In 2005 the number of 20 to 34-year-olds drinking tea increased for the first time in 30 years, with nearly two-thirds now drinking tea on a regular basis. It's strange to think that almost 5,000 years after its creation people are still catching on to how wonderful a good cuppa can be."

Modern specialist tea lounges have become big business in America in the last decade, and in the last 18 months several such establishments have opened this side of the Atlantic in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Leeds.

Why does the 43-year-old think tea is enjoying a renaissance? "I truly believe people are bored with coffee, especially the chain shop variety. They are looking for something new and individual; something they can savour.

"Tea is like wine," Melanie continues as she reclines in one of her orange armchairs, a cup of her favourite strawberry and vanilla tea to hand. "Each tea has its own aroma, taste and colour. With tea there are so many alternatives. And drinking it is a soothing ritual. It provides the perfect break."

Tea boasts 3,000 varietals, all with a distinctly different look and taste that can be drunk hot or cold, with or without milk. From black to white, green to oolong, red to puerh, tea can be light-coloured and delicate or full-bodied and complex depending on where it is grown and how it is processed.

Sencha - which means `everyday tea' in Japanese - offers the 35 varieties to drink in-house or take-away so you can savour the pleasure at home or work.

A flurry of discoveries about tea's health benefits, plus renewed appreciation of its ancient heritage, has also helped push the drink to the fore, maintains Melanie.

Its antioxidants appear to lower cholesterol levels, improve cardiovascular health and help guard against some cancers. And some experts believe its flavonoids may help inhibit the growth of plaque on teeth.

Its medicinal qualities are also said to include easing the effects of alcohol, acting as a stimulant, curing blotchiness, quenching thirst, eliminating indigestion, preventing fatigue and improving urinary and brain function.

Melanie talks with the passion of a recent convert to tea. She admits to being a diehard coffee addict until 18 months ago when she decided it was time to renew her acquaintance with the catering trade after a 14-year break to raise her two children, Alexander, 13, and Tabitha, 10.

She started her own cake round when she was just 19 and then went on to establish and run the successful Melanie's coffee shop in Gosforth, Newcastle, which still bears her name to this day.

It had originally been her intention to open another coffee shop, but she says: "I started going to catering shows to see what was around and it was obvious that tea was coming up. I was given samples of tea and from there I started to get interested in it myself.

"It is so different drinking loose leaf tea; you can't compare that to a teabag.

"The flavour is so intense. With green tea, for example, you put your leaves into the pot and you can just keep topping the water up time after time. A few leaves will last forever.

"It's the same with fruit teas. People think fruit tea and go `ugh!' The strawberry and vanilla has real pieces of strawberry in it, however, and looks more like pot pourri than tea. It is so different to what you get in a teabag. You can drink it iced as well."

Melanie, who lives in Benton, North Tyneside with husband Lee, 42, who works in recruitment, and her children, says people questioned her business sense in opening a tea lounge.

"But I am finding that people are open to trying something new, and we are already getting repeat trade. I have also found that learning and talking about tea is an ice breaker.

"It's a good alternative to meeting at a bar, and people immediately have something to talk about - what tea to try, how it tastes, and so on."

It doesn't hurt that Sencha looks good. It looks more like a Zen oasis than a stuffy tea room.

But what do customers think?

Liz Harper is enjoying a cup of fragrant Xue Ya "First Flush". The 28-year-old from Alnwick, Northumberland, now works as a beautician in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, and is on a week long visit home to see family and friends. Her mother, Brenda, 58, spotted Sencha as they walked along Nelson Street laden down with bags from a mornings shopping. Brenda prefers tea to coffee and is looking relaxed as she sips on her classic Earl Grey.

It is Liz's first time in a tea lounge - and she is enjoying the experience. "I really like the First Flush," she says. "I picked it for its name, but it's very refreshing. It's like drinking perfume, but with a better taste of course!

"I was tired after walking around all morning, but I do genuinely feel much better now. I feel relaxed and I love the atmosphere of this place. It's very tranquil and I don't feel rushed like you do in some places."

Her mother agrees. "Sitting in a comfy chair watching the world go by while my cup, teapot and hot water is brought to me is a much nicer way to spend my money than having a paper cup shoved in my face."