Comins Tea House

Comins Tea House is the original home of Comins Tea, Rob and Michelle Comins' fine tea merchants, based at The Quarterjack on Bridge Street in Sturminster Newton since 2013. Rob and Michelle travel to source loose-leaf tea from growers around the world rather than buying it in bulk from a wholesaler, and the house itself is set up as a proper showcase for it: a shop, kitchen and courtyard garden downstairs, with blonde wood, slate floors and tall windows giving it a calm, considered feel rather than a typical cafe.

These days the Dorset house runs mainly on private bookings, tastings and events rather than fixed daily opening hours - Comins also has a second tea house in Bath, near the Theatre Royal, which took on more of the day-to-day trade after opening in 2016. The range covers black, green, oolong, white and puer teas, alongside British-made teaware designed in-house and produced by craftsmen in Britain. Booking ahead by email or phone is the way in if you want to visit the original Sturminster Newton house.