Explore Victoria’s hidden tea gems and the artisans keeping the tradition alive.
By Joanne Sasvari
There’s this idea out there that every afternoon, everyone in Victoria stops what they’re doing and settles in for a nice cuppa tea, preferably with some buttered scones. And while that perception isn’t completely wrong, it doesn’t tell the whole story, either.
True, the city has several lovely tea rooms serving up tiers of sweet and savoury treats alongside pots of fragrant orange pekoe. The Fairmont Empress, for one, has been offering afternoon tea since it opened in 1908 and now pours some 550,000 cups a year; there is also the White Heather Tea Room, The Butchart Gardens, The Teahouse at Abkhazi Garden and Pendray Inn & Teahouse, among others.
The local tradition of afternoon tea goes back to the 1840s when British settlers, likely members of the Hudson Bay Company, brought tea to Victoria; the trading company had earlier introduced tea to Canada, back in 1716. Canada was actually a little late to the tea party. Tea, which is made from leaves of the evergreen Camellia sinensis plant native to East Asia, has been enjoyed in China for at least 5,000 years and in Europe since the 1500s. It is the world’s most consumed drink after water, and the third most popular in Canada, beaten out by coffee.
Victoria was also home to Canada’s first tea company, Murchie’s, which was established in 1894 by a blender who’d once provided tea for Queen Victoria herself. A century later, master blender Daniela Cubelic opened SIlk Road Tea, where she concocts award-winning teas from fresh, premium-quality, organic botanicals. Now young entrepreneurs are fermenting tea to make kombucha, a slightly fizzy beverage said to have certain health benefits, especially for digestion.
Tea itself is said to improve cardiovascular health while reducing the risk of diabetes and cancer, along with stress and anxiety. Then again, maybe that’s because we stop what we do and take a break to enjoy it, with or without the bone-china cups, floral teapots and buttered scones.
