Tea at The Empress

I had Afternoon Tea at the Empress the other day and they serve you this signature tea. It was a really cool experience, but to be honest, definitely isn’t worth the money doing it again.

I had this both black and with tea and sugar. Either way, I couldn’t taste any of the Assam in the blend, however, the Ceylon and Keemun stood out the most. I’m writing this from memory, but luckily they give you a box of this tea to take home, so next time I try it, I can always reevaluate it.

This tea takes the additives really well. It’s exactly the kind of tea I like to drink with milk and sugar. Kind of like a Tim Hortons steeped tea double double, but without the cardboard flavour you get from the TH. My mom had Afternoon Tea with me and she said that it reminded her of when she was a little girl, her grandmother used to serve her tea with milk and sugar, and it tasted exactly like this. So this tea definitely earns points for bringing back good memories.

Not a bad tea. I just came back from a convention in Victoria and although I could not afford high tea, they had this tea as a choice for us to brew ourselves during our breaks. The tea bags were labelled Empress orange Pekoe and a salesperson at the fairmont tea store in the Empress told me this was the famous tea served at high tea. Nice basic ceylon type tea…not as strong as I would have liked considering I was sitting in lectures for most of the day.

well bodied cup that I think I enjoy best as a daily drink. Affordable 100g bags are consumed quickly and the ceylon heavy blend is good plain or with cream/milk/sugar. A good base for chai blends or for a standard cup I think this provides a good “English” tea flavor. Not tolerant of over steeping keep the brew time under 4.5 minutes and brewable twice.

This tea is blended by Metropolitan tea company out of Toronto and has a few names Empress, 1908 blend, it is their standard blend available in the shop.

Late in posting this. I actually dug this out during the Olympics when I saw this clip and ended up drinking quite a bit. They attend the tea about halfway through the clip.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/35017294/#35558956

Wish that I could say I was lucky enough to go to one of their afternoon teas but… it was a gift for babysitting while relatives combined business with pleasure. It is a very refreshing tea with a little citrus aftertaste – like a mild Earl Grey.