Yumchaa Camden Market

Yumchaa is located in the Camden Market. Stopped by for a quick red tea and it wasn't bad. This was my first tea spot in London, so would definitely need some more points for conparison, but it seemed as if they had a decent selection. The interior was comfy and intimate. Would return again

My friend insisted I had to try this tea spot! There are a lot of Yumchaa spot all over London so it was convenient that there was a Camden location. After browsing through Camden market in the freezing cold, it was rewarding to find cover at Yumchaa and drink hot tea!

The tea:
I highly recommend Notting Hill (black tea), Blueberry Hill (black tea), and Sencha (green tea). The teas were very aromatic! They showcased their tea leaves at the front of the store - I ended up spending a lot of time smelling the tea leaves before making an order.

I was kinda bummed they made my tea in a take-away cup instead of the whole tea pot experience. Maybe because I didn't specify... next time lol.

Yumchaa is the perfect place to buy tea for as gifts! They had a special deal where if you purchased 3, you get a discount. Or 2 bags with a tea diffuser for a discount. My friend purchased a tea pot, tea diffuser, and 4 bags of tea for a little over 30 pounds I think. Worth it imo :)

Great cappuccino and good tea selection. Cool folks too.

Love the view of my favorite place in the world!

Exactly what's been missing in Camden is a quirky, no-frills tea shop just outside the Lock Market shops. They really only do tea, but they do tea really well. They keep all their blends in cups at the counter, so the best way to choose is to follow your nose. And the staff know their stuff, too, and can not only list all of the ingredients of each tea but can recommend something to suit your mood. They also serve cakes and sandwiches.


The decor's nice and simple, white-washed brick, tile-topped tables and pastel upholstery. They had rock tunes playing just loud enough to be identified but not so loud that you can't have a conversation. If they get free wi-fi, I'll never leave.

Not a bad coffee, but the real winner here is the view of camden market as you sit on the balcony taking it all in.

Don't get me wrong, I love the atmosphere here. The seating is great and although it gets a bit noisy for work, I pop in some headphones and we're fine.

My problems lie with their drinks and food:
The cakes while looking great are much too sweet.
The coffee is average. Also, there is only one staff member I have found that knows how to make a proper dry cappuccino. Once I ordered and the lady barista argued with me saying that it was impossible to do so (although clearly not considering It's my go to order and I'd even had good ones at Yumchaa)

Whenever I order tea, it feels watered down as they often don't even put in the whole teaspoon per tea pot.

(I actually bought some tea to try it on my own, but was rather displeased by the blandness of the sencha and blue star earl grey. Despite having bergamot oil in the latter, it was very tame and I decided to switch and opt for a generic tea bag instead)

As much as I love the Soho location, I've gotta give it up for the O.G. Yumchaa. Tucked away in an upstairs room in Camden Lock's inner yard, their shabby chic style shines through this itty bitty location and they still serve up some of the best tea and baked goods around.

Although it's a bit, how to say, prim and proper-er than its gothic rave-tastic neighbours, Yumchaa provides just the solace you'll need to continue your tromp around Camden and beyond - enough of a sugar high to bop through Cyber Dog and enough caffeine to party all night at Proud.

Most importantly, it's just a room full of great people serving up delicious joy in leaf-form for everyone to readily enjoy. Now who doesn't love that?

Now this is tea heaven.

I don't know much about tea, but this little tea house in Camden Lock is just lovely. There are so many different kinds of tea to choose from! But don't get discouraged, ask for help. Every time I visit this Yumchaa location, I always ask for guidance/advice on what to order and the staff has always been very nice and helpful. It's also helpful that they have all the teas out in little jars so you can smell their delicious aroma.

Out of all the teas I have tried, I find the Notting Hill tea to be my favourite. And If you have a bit of a sweet tooth like myself, don't forget to pick up one of their yummy cakes or cookies to enjoy with your cup of tea.

Also, the ambiance of Yumchaa is so lovely. The inside is so cute with it's mismatched, shabby-chic decor. But I love snagging a seat outdoors to partake in a bit of people watching.

What's cute about this place:

-- The shabby chic appearance and mismatched furniture. (Though it's gotten much dirtier over the years, with some of the furniture broken and some spotting to the walls, etc).
-- The location, which is upstairs and sort of overlooking a bit of Camden's market shopping.
-- Those loose leaf teas. And A LOT of them!


However, after numerous 4 and 5 star experiences, I am sadly just going to leave a 3 star review (truly 3.5 in my mind) because I do feel that management and staff have become disorganized, resulting in disappointing service.

Firstly, on one visit during the heatwave, Yumchaa went half the day without an ice delivery. The one male staffer, and the only one manning the entire establishment, was frantically trying to get ice for the cold drinks when this should have been a responsibility taken care of by management or staff the previous day. That is poor planning.

Not only was there no ice, but he was noticeably behind on making sandwiches and other food fare, even though it was already 11:30. I mean, the lunch rush was sure to be coming quite soon and he didn't even have any selection beyond hot teas and pre-made scones. Talk about stressful.

Ultimately, he actually had to leave Yumchaa in order to pick up some sort of delivery. Kindly, he didn't kick my friend and I out as she is a Yumchaa regular. But instead, he locked the door behind us, thereby locking us in. I was honestly a little startled. While he was gone for about 10 - 15 minutes, we ended up being responsible for explaining to potential customers knocking on the locked door that Yumchaa was temporarily closed and to come back later. Not only that, but I had somewhere to be and started to wonder if he'd be coming back soon, as I was now on his schedule due to the locked door. I was just a customer, and it shouldn't have been my responsibility to field incoming customers and watch over the place at all.

While I appreciate the trust factor involved, and did manage to get to my meeting on time, it was clear to me that Yumchaa needs more staff and better management / planning in order to run more professionally. Then this sort of situation could have been avoided.

Hope you get it together, Yumchaa. See you later.

Great tea selection, in a cafe that knows that loose leaf is the only way to go!

A great space to sit and relax for a moment while savouring a sweet treat and a cuppa. I'm not sure that I rate the sandwiches though, as the one I had was more bread than filling, but the delicate Ginseng Gardian tea more than made up for it.

Kiddo friendly?
- they do have cut fruit, but most of the food is sweet treats or big sandwiches (bagels or thick bread rolls)
- no changing facilities
- didn't see a high chair during our visit (though they may have one hidden somewhere).
- pretty big space for a kid to wander around in if you're there early enough to avoid the lunch rush