London for the True Tea Snob [London]

The British reputation as tea connoisseurs is overblown, and most locals are content to fuel up with daily mugs of builders brew drowned with milk and sugar. When Americans come to town, they tend to do the fancy tourist high-tea scenario -- which is more about the finger sandwiches than the tea. Nevertheless, a handful of boutique tea salons have popped up in recent years, determined to teach the British what a real cup of quality tea tastes like. At the following highbrow London venues, the discerning tea snob or the merely discerning can choose from hand-tied Chinese green or organic chamomile flowers come teatime. London's top specialty tea spaces range from the uber-chic to the cozy and casual, but all offer only the very best cuppa the world has to offer.