Food & Drink

Fifty Shades of (Earl) Grey: Northern Quarter’s Teacup offer S&M with your brew (sugar and milk)

A mug of Earl Grey tea may not be the first thing that comes to mind when thinking of way to get romantic this Valentine’s Day – but one Northern Quarter café are adamant that you can ‘you can get sexy with a brew’.

The hotly-anticipated Fifty Shades of Grey hits cinemas today and Teacup are planning to do the impossible – make tea ‘sexy’.

Hoping to ‘possess’ and ‘obsess’ tea lovers looking for the perfect brew this Valentine’s, the Thomas Street tea room believe their Fifty Shades of Earl Grey will bring things to the boil.

Don’t get too shocked when they proposition you with some S&M either – their just wondering how you take it (ooh-err), sugar and milk or whether you opt for a ‘naked’ cuppa

Assistant manager, Claire Barton, from Manchester, told MM: “I’ve not read any of the books, I’m more into drinking tea but I think you can definitely get sexy over a good brew!

“Anyone who knows their tea will know there is a massive difference between certain types of leaves and blends and we have a huge selection on offer as part of our 50 shades menu.”

However the tea room’s tea-sing menu falls short of the 50 marker – deliberately it turns out.

“We had 50 but we had to chop it down,” said Claire. “We have a massive tea menu anyway so with 50 kinds of just one variety it was getting a bit too much choice for people!”

In the spirit of E L James’ book and film, Teacup are encouraging people to ‘try something different’ in their tea drinking this weekend.

“We have some really amazing flavors on offer,” said Claire.  “Dandelion, snowflower, lavender and vanilla and we have a smoky Earl Grey, which is really strong and really does taste like smoke but in the nicest way possible.”

And lovebirds looking for some candlelit romance can enjoy a six course meal washed down with a glass of prosecco or a cold beer.

Claire said: “Hopefully we’ll have lots of love in on Saturday, it’s going to be lovely and bustling during the day with a special afternoon tea on offer and then we have a set menu for the evening.

“If you fancy something nice and chilled and cosy come to Teacup and sample lots of loveliness! The cakes, the atmosphere, it really is a place you can indulge in your senses and enjoy it.”

Main image courtesy of Universal Pictures, with inset courtesy of Sean, with thanks.

Related Articles