What’s brewing in the back streets of Preston?

Come with me down through town and beyond to sample some of the finest tea you have ever tasted! Tucked away at the bottom of Cannon Street is the Mystery Tea House, a sweet little cafe and tea shop serving every type of tea imaginable. As well as serving their delicious tasting brews the Mystery Tea House also serves food and caters for coffee lovers too…

The Mystery Tea House was opened four months ago by Maciej and his business partner Natalia. Together with their partners Gosia and Tomek they have created a unique place to relax and recouperate in the centre of Preston. We had to find out more from Maciej (Mac to his friends!)

What inspired you to open the Mystery Tea House? Myself and Natalia share a passion for tea. The story started at work, we worked together in an IT Department and each day we exchanged tea samples. And then the idea came…to share our passion for tea with others. We couldn’t watch our colleagues at work drink black tea with milk every day. The world of tea is so big and it does not end with black tea in a mug. We wanted to introduce something new, fresh and healthy. We don’t want to compete with coffee shops. We want to give people a choice.

How many different varieties of tea do you stock? At the moment we have more than 80 different teas on offer: black, green, white, jasmine, blooming , oolong, pu-erh and yerba mate. Our main goal is to have more than 200! We serve our teas in lovely Chinese tea pots, so you can feel the mysterious atmosphere while drinking tea at Mystery Tea House. We also sell tea pots and other tea accessories. Most importantly you can buy any of our 80 teas to take home!

Do you do coffee too? Yes, we do coffee as well. Every coffee drinker should find something they like.

I saw on Twitter that Beverley Knight popped in for a cuppa, what did she have? Oh, yes Beverly Knight. I must say a very cheerful and lovely person. What did she have at Mystery Tea House? As far as I can remember it was blooming tea called Black & Gold.

Tempt me with some food! Well at the moment you can create your own toasted sandwich  choosing from the following ingredients: cheese, ham, fried mushrooms, tomatoes, onion and basil…Or you can try our speciality which is called ‘Toscani Baguette’.

And finally what is the secret to the perfect cup of tea? I believe that everyone has their own secret recipe to prepare the perfect cup of tea! It is up to the individual and their own taste.

Mystery Tea House, 23 Cannon Street, Preston, PR1 T: 01772 200408

Image credit: Mystery Tea House

5th February, 2010 1 Lisa McManus