Tea in Manchester

It struck me that this Blog was born out of three things, theatre, moving to Manchester and, well, tea.

I'm pretty sure I've covered me and theatre pretty extensively, but I seem to have neglected tea and Manchester, so to rectify that, here is a list of my favourite places for Tea in Manchester and the best conversations I've had there. I'm also playing with the importance of place and memory for my new show Love Letters...

1. Home Sweet Home & the 'THIS is your Twenties' Conversation

Home Sweet Home is probably my favourite place for tea and food in Manchester. The cake there is amazing, you walk in and it is like you've died and gone to Charlie and Chocolate Cake Factory. Hence why I am currently avoiding it like the plague, thanks to the whole Gluten Free Challenge, because that would probably break my already weak will power for maybe ever, and I would spend the rest of my life in a bath of butter cream icing. Without fail, whenever my bestfriend Lucy heads into town we end up here, and once my darling Jess popped over too. Any conversation with these two improves my life drastically, particularly if they are together, but this day is the first time I remember sitting there and thinking, THIS is your twenties, everybody goes through it. It was comforting, and sickening, but that could well have been the sheer amount of cake...

2. Nexus & the 'If All Goes Wrong There is Still Tea in Manchester' Conversation

A week before I moved to Manchester, I was freaking out, I'd just broken up with some one I guessed I thought would be my safety net while I was here. I wasn't convinced that this was the city for me. Luckily Natalie was on hand, as she often is. I didn't even have to say I was freaking out, I just needed a tea, and we headed to Nexus Art Cafe. I've posted about Nexus before, it's ramshackle and a little ragged around the edges, but it has free wifi, ridiculously good food and you can sit there undisturbed for as long as you like. Heading there and sinking into those chairs, felt reassuring. What was I going to do in Manchester? Well, I was going to make a go at this whole theatre thing, and if it all went wrong, then a good friend would be near by and until she arrived I could always hide in Nexus. I can't count how many days I've spent there, how much work I've got through using their wifi, or how much falafel I've consumed, but I do know it is only going to keep increasing as the tea and conversation flows.

3. North Tea Power & the 'It's the Little Things that get You Through the Day' Conversation

Ok, this place for tea is pretty phenomenal as the name would suggest, and please please go try their blood orange tea. Having said that, I don't associate this place with tea, I associate it with Soya Milk Mochas. And I associate Soya Milk Mochas with Hannah. We first headed here one morning early before work and grabbed a take out. I spend probably more time with Hannah than I do with any other person. I read somewhere that in your twenties you only make friends with people if you become obsessed with them, and I guess this is a pretty prime example of that, seen as though Hannah has only been in my life for 6 months. ANYWAY, North Tea Power is the place we go when we just need a little pick up, either a we-can-get-through-this-coffee-to-go or a stopping-in-and-lets-fix your-life-fruit-tea, it doesn't really matter, it helps the day go a little smoother, and not just because of the caffeine.

4. Insert Anonymous Chain Coffee Shop in Albert Square & the 'Sometimes I Just Need to Talk it Through by Myself' Conversation

It goes without saying that the majority of the time I would rather go to an independent café. Basically everything about them is better than their chain coffee equivalents. However, the beauty about the anonymous chain coffee shops, IS their anonymity, especially if you are in that mood where you want to be a bit invisible. When I find myself in this mood I wander the ten minutes from the flat that nobody loves, past the art gallery, around the library and into Albert Square. I can't really put my finger on why I find Albert Square so comforting, I one said to my mum that the town hall kinda reminded me of York, but she got all sad and freaked out that I was home sick, which then freaked me out bout being home sick. So now I prefer to see it as my anchoring point in Manchester. Anyway, to get back on point... The whole walking down to the square, the town hall looming, and the anonymity of the chain coffee, just gives me that space to think things through when I'm beginning to get a bit claustrophobic.

5. Teacup & the 'Conversation that Led to a Much More Important Conversation' Conversation

I ummed and ahhed about whether or not to include this final tea palace. For a start, this blog has gone on for much longer than I intended, and secondly, well this might make me sound a bit like a spinster. But here goes. Teacup is where I first properly met my ex, here after referred to as The House Mate. Me and The House Mate weren't together all that long, but it took a long time for me to get over it, not so much because of him (sorry if you are reading this, my god I hope he isn't reading this) but in that time, a lot happened for me, and he was the person I talked through it all with. He was the person I first told about how I was thinking of making this show about waitressing and he was the person I talked all the pros and cons about moving to Manchester through with. We broke up before I moved, and I always came to Manchester for my theatre work, but those conversations were a really important part of making all this happening. So Teacup, kind of has a bitter sweet element to it, but when you order a tea, it comes with a timer and it is unlimited hot water refills, and that is enough to distract me from mulling on it too much.

So there you have it, if you're ever in Manchester and looking for a god cuppa you know where to go, chances are you might even spot me hugging a teapot two tables down! x