Tea time

On another day of Stygian gloom I'm determined to be cheerful. So rather than tell you that the ferries are off again, or that the valley gutter between the nave and the chapel at the back of the church is dripping water onto the floor again, or that we were too fearful of the wet slippy wooden stairs to put the Magi back in their bubble-wrap-filled chest, or any of the other doom-laden snippets that make for your average January-in-the-west-of-Scotland blog post, I'm going to tell you all about the new tea room we discovered on our pleasant day out in Glasgow last week.

Brewhaha has opened in the lowest floor of Buchanan Galleries - tucked in at right angles to Costa Coffee at the foot of the escalators. There we had a pot of the wonderful Formosa Fine Oolong tea, described in their "teacher" menu as "light, smooth, and with a wonderful flowery fragrance ... a tea for moments of quiet contemplation and calm." And there we sat, on candy-striped seats surrounded by the pale pinks and greens which so contrasted with the dusk of blue-lit Buchanan Street, and contemplated calmly before tackling the evening rush hour.

As my nearest and dearest know, I am a complete tea snob. To find a tearoom which caters, it seems, for moi at my most demanding is a joy as unexpected as it is cheering. And to discover that this is a Scottish company, and that they also make delicious sandwiches, is even better. As for the tea? They sell 13 black teas, 3 varieties of Oolong, 4 green teas, 3 white teas, 7 "infusions" - peppermint et al - and 8 so-called "Super Teas", one of which is described as Anti-aging tea. It seems to consist largely of sea buckthorn berries, which to my certain knowledge smell horrid and are avoided by birds.

But maybe I should try some...

On a cheerier note...

After my rant of t'other day I feel a cheerful post coming on. A recommendation, in fact. Because one of the highlights of our drive north last weekend was stopping for elevenses at The Water Mill in Blair Atholl. Having had breakfast at 5.30am, we'd already had service station espressos, but now we were ready for something more soothing.

Di had a distant memory of the tearoom at this old mill, and had us off the A9 and diving down the loop road into Blair Atholl before we knew it. And there, just off the main village road past the Atholl Arms Hotel, down past the level crossing, was this lovely old-fashioned place with wooden tables and benches and a choice of decent tea (Earl Grey and herbal as well as standard). And scones. Lovely big scones, still warm in the middle, with butter and jam as you wanted. And fabby bagels - I sampled Di's; to have both would have been sheer greed.

And when we'd finished we bought a loaf for the next day's purvey which was as soft and cakey as you could wish, and square home-made oatcakes, and a big bag of their wholemeal bread flour. And - lest you think we go in entirely for this healthy stuff - champagne fudge. Hmm.