One of the main things we did in Victoria we go to several tea houses. Three in total. The first we visited was within Butchart Gardens, which was just lovely to walk through even though several of the different areas weren’t fully in bloom yet. Very, very similar to Montreal’s Botanical Gardens but somewhat smaller. In particular I was enchanted by the Sunken Gardens, and this small area where you basically walked through the forest with these MASSIVE sequoia trees.
After a few hours touring the gardens we retreated to afternoon tea, which was also just beautiful. We were in this large glass walled sun room filled with plants and statues that overlooked more of the exterior gardens.
This was actually the tea my mom ordered for her high tea. She loves Earl Grey and also adding milk to her teas, so when she saw this was essentially a strawberry Earl Grey she got very excited. I did get to try a cup of her pot – as I said last night, we both sampled each other’s teas at pretty much all the spots we visited. It was very floral leaning, with a fresh strawberry note that was as strong as the bergamot. Very well balanced I thought. Quite “European” in blending style, but of course that makes all kinds of sense given that it was very typically British afternoon tea service.