Waterloo Tea

Waterloo Tea began in 2008 as a single teahouse at 5 Waterloo Gardens in Penylan, the street that gives the company its name, and the site still calls that room the heartbeat of the business; it says the café was named Best Café in the UK at the Beverage Standards Awards within a year. From there the company grew three arms: the teahouses, a wholesale operation importing loose leaf from growers in India, China, Japan and Sri Lanka, and the online shop, which sells what the teahouses pour. Each room hosts a monthly art exhibition and gives a fifth of each sale to a charity the artist chooses.

In Cardiff there are three rooms. Wyndham Tea sits in Wyndham Arcade off The Hayes, one of the city's oldest Edwardian arcades and less than five minutes on foot from Cardiff Central station; it is split over two floors, licensed, and the upstairs can be booked for groups of up to fourteen. Waterloo Gardens in Penylan is the original, with breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea from a chef-led kitchen. The Whitchurch Road teahouse opened in September 2021 at number 190-192, keeping some of the previous shop's features. A fourth room, Washington Tea, is in Penarth, outside the city.

The shelf is organised by origin and by type, and it rewards reading the labels. The everyday end is an English Breakfast and a Kenilworth Estate Ceylon at 5,80 £ for 100 g; the single estates are a Khongea Estate Assam, a 2026 first-flush Darjeeling from Glenburn and a Japanese sencha at 26,30 £ for 100 g. China is covered by Dragon Well, a Tie Guan Yin oolong, an Oriental Beauty, Silver Needle white and a raw mountain puerh; the house blends include Waterloo Chai, and the herbal side runs to yerba mate and peppermint. Most teas come in three sizes, and the online shop offers collection in store.