Atlantica - 01.12.2006, Page 50

48 AT L A N T I CA
THE TWEE OF TEEa
ventional settings, like the Tea Palace at Notting
Hill and the slick Asian tea house Yauatcha in
Soho, but even these newer establishments had
an air of the tourist trap to them. Had I, and
everyone else, been suckered into a fake British
tradition?
I HAD ONE LAST HOPE to witness natives
drinking tea in their natural environment. On the
night I arrived, a cab driver had told me to look
for a “green hut.” Green huts, he said, were where
cabbies went to take their own tea breaks.
“Go to a green hut,” he’d said, “and you’ll find
out about tea.”
Easier said than done, as I’d discovered in the
past 48 hours. The non-cabbie world of London
unanimously registered vague recognition when
I said “green hut,” but no one could quite place
a finger on where – or what – one was. When I
finally flagged down another cab, the driver said
he didn’t frequent them himself, but he’d try to
find one that was open.
In the meantime, he gave me some Green Hut
101. Back when London cabbies drove hansom
cabs, the Cabmen’s Shelter Fund was started to
provide drivers with a place to park their cabs and
have a bite and an affordable cup of tea. About 60
of the buildings went up at the end of the 19th
century; now there are 13 left, probably preserved
more as architectural nods to the city’s past than
indispensable businesses.
The cabbie also echoed what I’d been hearing:
in London, tea was out. “Nowadays people want
to go to the Starbucks and all the places like that,”
he said. “It’s quite trendy and modern now.”
By the time we found one of the 13 remaining
huts alongside the Thames, the one-room green
wooden house, with white plates leaning against
its windowsills, was closed.
The next day, I found another hut. Closed.
As I was poking around, a cab pulled up behind
the tiny building – naturally, plenty of room to
park – and I knocked on his window. Walter Levy,
81, rolled it down.
“It’s something that English people
grow up with... even if it’s
contrived, they like it.”
LONDONa
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