I’m doing it. I’m posting about tea and not cupcakes. Bah! Horrific! Terrible! Or as my title says, “Tea-rrific”. Sorry for no cupcakes folks, but what I’m about to tell you is just too good to leave lost in the chilly October air. Truth is, in my efforts to blog more frequently, I have found that clearing time in my hectic schedule – of school and work, work and school - to bake cupcakes more than once a week is a little tough. Thus, lately I have been blogging about other things related to cupcakes. See my posts, Free Cupcakes and Double Trouble for material related to cupcakes, but not boasting any new creations.
So for now – at least for today’s blog – I’ll be telling you a bit about tea (which if you haven’t tried it yet, makes for a great cupcake accompaniment; or better yet, excellent inspiration for cupcake flavours!). If you follow my blog, you may know that not only am I a big fan of tea, but I particularly love chai tea. Other than chai, I really enjoy a good green tea. It’s simple, soothing, calm. Ever try ginger green tea? De-light-ful!
I recently visited a great tea shop on Bloor Street in Toronto called T Café. Relatively new to the area, T Café is one of the many coffee shops/tea shops participating in the revolution against Starbuck’s and the like. I’m kidding. But with the shop’s massive selection of international loose leaf teas, as well as tea-inspired tapas and baked goods, it definitely has the potential to be a major café competitor.
Located at Bloor & Borden, my new tea hang out.
For my first visit to T Café, my friend warned me that it was a little pricey. And yes, when you’re looking at paying nearly $4 for ordinary tea, it is expensive. But this tea isn’t ordinary.
All of the tea is loose leaf and stored in metal tins behind the main counter – I wish it were the pantry in my house, really. Since I was overwhelmed with all of the options, I asked the barista (wait, is that what she is? Tea girl? Lady?) what she would recommend if I tend to enjoy green teas. After one sniff, a smile, a nod, I chose a variety of green tea mixed with roasted brown rice called genmaicha. The tea was stunning. Perhaps it was the roasted brown rice mixed with the green tea leaves, but the tea smelled a lot like Chinese tea from an authentic Chinese food restaurant. The tea was very simple like green tea, but flavourful as a result of the brown rice. I sipped the tea on its own, but it would have been delicious with a meal. Because it wasn’t a sweet or fruit-flavoured tea, I call it a savoury tea, one which would be excellent with Japanese food.
Choose from a wide selection of loose leaf teas, from fruit-flavoured to black teas.
This isn't a photo of my tea, but this is exactly what mine looked like.
If the tea itself isn’t enough to make you fall in love with T Café, they serve your tea in an ornamental Asian teapot and you’re welcome to refills. In other words, for $4 you could stay there all day and drink tea. Maybe? In addition to its vast selection of tea, the shop offers a menu of tea-inspired and tea-infused cuisine. I happened to catch a glimpse of the menu, but didn’t order anything. However, through research I learned that they serve everything “…from samosas, to tapas, to sandwiches, to meats off the grill”. I did see sweet potato chips on the menu and I always make my own sweet potato oven fries at home, so these might be worth trying.
In terms of atmosphere, it was quiet, cozy, and hip all at the same time. The layout, the menu – the fact that they have free Wi-Fi – made me want to return for a chill night of working on scholarship applications, or sooner yet, grad school applications. All in all, I had a great first experience at T Café and highly recommend that you check it out. Get lost in a good book with a piping hot pot of tea. And let’s not forget, they have coffee for all of you espresso junkies. Coffee and lattes are served in cappuccino bowls – yep, no handles. It’s European.
Thanks to: http://www.blogto.com/cafes/t-cafe
1 Comment
October 18, 2009 at 7:59 pm
[...] Jump to Comments Aha! After posting a blog solely about tea (see two entries ago), I thought I’d surprise you with an extra cupcakes-only post. Sweet, I [...]