============================================= THE BRAMAH MUSEUM OF TEA & COFFEE - LONDON (top of page)
============================================= Getting off at the London Bridge tube station, the Bramah Museum of Tea & Coffee is located only minutes away, at 40 Southwark St., Bankside, London. It was 4:30 pm., just in time for a pot of tea! The tea room and gift shop is adjacent to the museum and but it had to wait. I wanted to see the museum, and it may not seem like your typical museum at all. You can actually touch and smell the baskets of tea leaves and coffee beans too. This museum happens to be the world's first museum that is dedicated entirely to the history of tea and coffee.  The museum was founded by Mr. Edward Bramah himself, an experienced tea taster with over fifty years of experience in all aspects of tea and coffee. The Museum of Tea and Coffee opened its doors in 1992. Appropriately located by the river Thames, because this is near the City of London, where tea and coffee had been imported into Britain for centuries.
The museum holds materials that Bramah himself collected over the years working in the tea and coffee business. It is divided into two sections, one for tea and the other for coffee. Also on display in both sections are the unique collection of china, all sorts of shapes and sizes of teapots and teacups etc., which I was definitely fascinated by! Each section shows the social history of tea and coffee, illustrated and explained with the aid of pictures, maps etc. Since I was, however, more interested in the passage of tea than the coffee section, once I completed the tour of the tea section, needless to say I simply just zoomed by the history of coffee and headed for my much needed afternoon tea. As mentioned earlier, adjacent to the museum is the Bramah tea room and gift shop. No frills, just your basic tea room, serving Bramah's leaf tea and coffee, warm scones and selection of yummy cakes. I opted to sample their cream tea which came with a pot of Bramah's Darjeeling (I took up their suggestion), a warm scone with clotted cream and jam and a slice of almond toffee cake. Since it was hot and humid that day, we decided to take our tea indoors. Otherwise there was outdoor seating available. It was a very relaxing and unwinding experience. The Bramah gift shop not only sells their very own brand of loose teas and coffees, but also the usual range of tea and coffee related accessories and souvenirs and books on the subject. Leaving the museum with my china mugs and various other souvenirs and samples of tea, I felt that my afternoon was went spent here. The entrance fee for the museum is £4.00 (approximately $6.00 - $7.00) for adults. The tea room was reasonably priced and they are open seven days a week from 10 am to 6 pm, except Christmas and the day after Christmas. You can visit their website at http://www.bramahmuseum.co.uk/ ================= SALLY LUNN'S - BATH (top of page)
=================  Sally Lunn House is at 4 North Parade Passage, located in the city of Bath, approximately 120 miles west of London. Our tour guide actually told us about this place on the trip over. We were here to see the Roman Baths that sit in the centre of the city. Years ago when I lived in this area, I had heard about it but never had a chance to try out Sally Lunn's buns! So, this time around we decided to try it out.
Who is Sally Lunn, you ask? Well, according to the English, she was a young French refugee who arrived in Bath over 300 years ago. She began to bake a type of bread that was round in shape and tasted rich yet light. It is now known as the Sally Lunn Bun. It became popular to this very day, and you can have it with either sweet or savory toppings. Since Sally Lunn's is housed in the oldest house in Bath, it is also a very small shop, tucked in a row of shops on a side street that we almost missed, but for a sign hanging outside. Remarkably, there is also a museum in the basement, where you can see the old Roman foundations of the house and also the original kitchen that was used by Sally Lunn herself to bake her famous bun! They are open seven days a week as well. They do recommend that you make reservations for larger groups, but walk-ins are also welcome. Since it was only a day trip, we decided to take our chances and headed there for our afternoon tea. Fortunately, they had one available table left for two. Despite the crowded and tight room, it had a homely feeling to it. Conversations flowed noisily around us but who really cared. Once the tea and buns arrived, which didn't take too long, all you can think about was the taste of it. I had decided to pass on their cream tea and instead went for the Sally Lunn bun with their very own homemade lemon curd topping with a pot of tea. They have other selections of sweet toppings, for example, cinnamon butter, brandy butter, ginger butter, apple and almond raspberry fruit topping, to name a few and all were reasonably priced. Mine was absolutely rich and delicious! Heavenly! Forget about the waistline! Isn't that what vacations are all about? Again, it was simply another delightful experience which I won't easily forget. You can check out their website at http://www.sallylunns.co.uk/ | 
Best wishes,