Tea at The Elephant House Edinburgh – otherwise known as the venue J K Rowling wrote Harry Potter

The Elephant House Edinburgh - Birthplace of JK Rowlings Harry Potter

You could still easily walk past this rather unsuspecting cafe on the George IV bridge in Edinburgh – except that you are now hindered in your journey by those wishing to have their photographs taken outside…………

What I love about The Elephant House is that it has resisted turning its focus from saving elephants to the subject that has made it famous globally – and just in case you are unaware, this is the cafe that JK Rowling found warmth and inspiration when she was initially writing the tale of the now famous wizard – it is now known as the birthplace of Harry Potter .

I failed to resist the wonderful looking (and tasting) elephant shortbread, with a square of millionaires shortbread  sufficient to satiate any sweet tooth. What I adored most though was the choice of a large pot of leaf tea that tasted divine  – I opted for assam but there was a quite wonderful choice of other tea leaves. A nice touch are the Harry Potter fans scribbles  in the ladies which are a quite splendid tribute to the influence JK Rowlings books have had. It is well worth a visit to this quite unique venue.

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Magical Tea with Harry Potter

No doubt like all Harry Potter fans you are still reeling from seeing the thrilling conclusion to the last Harry Potter film

The main issue  for me though is this – I am not sure if I have quite forgiven J K Rowling for making Delores Umbridge – you know, the one who is all fluffy and pink and the essence of evil – the focus of tea drinking in Harry Potter. Oh no, I thought, look at all those beautiful vintage tea cups……and she is torturing Harry Potter! I can tell you hardly my image of a restful cup of afternoon tea.

Evil Delores Umbridge with a beautiful vintage tea cup (image from Harry Potter wiki)

JK Rowling does make amends though – I adored the divination class on tea leaf reading

Hermione, all logic and rationality, is sceptical as she follows instructions, torn between being a star pupil and utter disbelief – quite ironic given her muggle origins where tessomancy, the art of reading tea leaves to predict future events, was well known. Then, Harry discovers the grim in his tea cup, an omen of death. Well, with he who must not be named his sworn enemy, it looked a very accurate assessment of the situation from where I was sitting. The marvellous Emma Thompson as Professor Trelawney then has “one of her trances”, enough to send any self respecting tea drinker rushing back to boil the kettle for a calming cup.

Harry Potter discovers the grim whilst reading tea leaves (image from Harry Potter Wiki)

Tea drinking is a thread that is there throughout all the books

There is a very poignant scene in this last film where for me it captures what making & drinking tea is all about. It is at the point of the final battle, when all heads are down, where significant losses have been incurred, where doubt, and grief and fear is all around – cups of tea are being handed out – the warmth, the companionship in the giving and sharing of tea is at the heart of what tea can provide – it is compassion in a cup.

Do you drink tea at the pictures?

Many of you familiar with following Tea with Mary Kate’s tea antics will know that I adore tea drinking and tea cups. It will hardly surprise you that it was tea that I took into the pictures with me, not popcorn, do you like to drink tea at the cinema?

………on a final note, the debate that is raging internally is how many times my conscience can justify returning to the pictures - I think I will keep that one a secret.

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