Over the last year, I’ve been to several large branches of the Boston Tea Party (Whiteladies Road, Birmingham and Salisbury spring to mind), so it’s nice to visit a smaller one for a change. Not that the Honiton Tea Party is tiny; it’s not, for example, on the scale of the one in Bath, but at the same time, it’s not a sprawling, multi-floor affair.
Honiton’s Tea Party occupies a beautiful, old house on Honiton High Street (Monkton House, a Grade II listed building). As with every Tea Party, it’s instantly recognisable as a Boston Tea Party, while simultaneously its own place. There’s the usual Boston Tea Party offerings: good quality food, including an all-day breakfast menu, loads of cake, and coffee from Bristol’s Extract Coffee Roasters. This includes the house-blend espresso and single-origin bulk-brew filter.
There’s something about the smaller Tea Parties that promotes a sense of intimacy. It’s not that the staff at the larger branches aren’t friendly (far from it; the Boston Tea Party staff have always struck me as very friendly), it’s just that in the smaller ones, there seems to be more time to interact and chat and, in that respect, Honiton is no exception.