The Tea Store in Ottawa offers over 200 different teas including oolong, rooibos, white, black, and green tea. You can buy it in either loose leaf form or in tea bag form. When you walk in, you will notice their wall completely covered with jars of exotic teas (pictured above). The nice part is that you can open each of their jars to catch a whiff before buying. The Tea Store also offers many tea accessories such as tea balls, pots, and cups.
Many of their teas come from estates monitored by the Ethical Tea Partnership, which ensures that the working and living conditions on tea estates are carried out in a socially responsible way.
The store also has a small seating area where you can enjoy a pot of tea in house with scones or cookies. It is always busy when I visit, so consider yourself lucky if you can snag a seat.
Here's what I bought for myself the last time I was at the Tea Store.
Below is the Sencha Kyoto Cherry Rose tea. This is the same tea that was featured in my teastick post, and it is a green tea flavored with sweet cherry, and a hint of rose. This is a very flavorful tea.
Sencha style tea is first steamed, then rolled into thin cylinders, and finally roasted. It differs from Chinese green tea in that it has a more grassy flavor. Chinese green tea is pan roasted right after picking, and has a more smoky flavor.
Sencha Kyoto Cherry Rose Tea
I've always had great memories of my blooming tea from the Slanted Door in San Francisco, and any time I can buy blooming tea, I will. I bought two different kinds from the Tea Store.
The first was the 3-Flower Burst Tea. I initially put it in a wine glass, but when I noticed that the wine glass was not wide enough for the flowers to fully bloom, I transferred it into a pyrex bowl to take photos. This tea may have been light in color, but it had a strong bitter taste.
This is what the tea looks like before you steep it in hot water.
3-Flower Burst Tea
Here are some shots after the tea fully bloomed.
3-Flower Burst Tea Fully Bloomed
3-Flower Burst Tea Steeped in Water for Almost an Hour.
The second blooming tea was the Tiffany Rose Melody. This one doesn't grow as large as the 3-Flower Burst, so a wine cup is just fine for this one. This tea had strong floral notes.
Tiffany Rose Melody Tea Before
Tiffany Rose Melody Tea
The Tea Store also has a location in Kingston, Ontario.
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7 comments:
I would spend HOURS in that store! I wish we had something like that where I live!
Gorgeous photos, especially of the flowering tea. I've never had one, but seen it on TV and in stores.
love this place... amazing selection of teas... the owner is very friendly... fabulously yummy baked goods as well.
That flower tea looks amazing, wow. You take some awesome shots.
Wow...I've heard of these, but never actually seen them before. Beautiful photos!
Wow! That Tiffany Rose tea is gorgeous. I never knew tea flowers existed. Does the flavor get too strong if you let the flower sit in the tea the whole time?
Hillary,
I guess it depends on your taste. I find too much rose is overpowering, but with tea, the more bitter the taste, the better. With the Tiffany Rose, I found the Rose flavor a bit too much, and would have liked to take the flower out of my cup much earlier than I did.
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