I’ve got tea on the brain: black tea, green tea, white tea, tea that isn’t actually tea (read: rooibos, anything herbal). And most definitely, tea poured from cozy-clad teapots and served with miniature sandwiches, teeny tarts and scones.
Raise the Roof
If we’re talking tea, we have to talk about the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. While the lobby restaurant gets a facelift, the hotel has opened up The Roof. Zip up the elevator to the 15th floor and you’ll be rewarded with stellar views from the restaurant, which looks onto the city’s panoply of glass towers and the suits that buzz inside. (More fun is to be had on the other side of the room, with its sunken bar, retro-chic cocktail list and views of English Bay.)
The Fairmont offers an iconic afternoon tea, complete with individual teapots, and sweets and savouries on a three-tiered tray. There are, of course, finger sandwiches, and scones with clotted cream and jam. The desserts, consisting of macarons and miniature tarts, look like they’ve been plucked straight from Versailles. At $49 a pop, it’s not cheap, but on my visit, it didn’t stop the mostly female clientele from indulging. The one disappointment was in the gluten-free and vegan options, which are offered on the website; the kitchen seemed unprepared for the requests (despite a week’s notice) and the resulting treats a bit haphazard. Stick to the regular afternoon tea and you’ll be suitably charmed.
Urban comforts
Just down the street, the Urban Tea Merchant offers a similarly upscale, but more modern experience. Their signature tea ($48, which includes an $8 credit toward tea) follows the same idea, but includes luxe touches like smoked salmon with ponzu jelly, butter-poached lobster with saffron pearls and chai crème brulee.
Looking at the multi-page tea menu, you’ll quickly learn that the Urban Tea Merchant takes tea oh-so-seriously. It can be daunting to choose from the multi-page tea menu, but the tea ambassadors (yes, that’s a thing) are good with recommendations.
You might even see them carrying oversized, pastel-coloured tins of tea from the front room to the tea salon in the back, to show off the latest first-flush Darjeeling or custom blend. Notably, the shop uses filtered water, and steeps and removes the tea leaves before bringing your tea to the table — so you’re guaranteed a perfect pot.
Crumb’s the word
Of course, you can enjoy afternoon tea without going downtown. On weekends, The Last Crumb uses its second-floor space as a tea room. Seats near the balcony make for perfect people watching — on a recent visit, there was a steady stream of young families, spectacled hipsters (hey, this is Main Street) and one stalwart table of knitters. Afternoon tea is $24.95 with a serious selection of sweets and savouries. The bakery’s known for its “sconewiches,” so it’s little surprise that the scones are delightful, as is the mascarpone-laced sweet cream. And, in a pleasant twist, a gluten-free tea ($28.95) looks every bit as cute as the regular option, and tastes great.
Fine Arts
Finally, Chocolate Arts has launched a haute chocolate service, featuring made-to-order hot chocolate and a mixed plate of confections, petits fours and sweets. At $15.95, this one’s a steal. The spicy hot cocoa is spicy enough to be interesting, but subtle enough to let the chocolate sing. Given the choice between house-made marshmallow and whipped cream, you’d be smart to pick marshmallows — raspberry, please. And, marshmallows aside, vegans can do this haute chocolate thing, substituting almond or soy milk in the hot chocolate, and choosing one of the vegan truffles for the sweets plate.
Afternoon tea is, of course, quite popular this time of year. Word to the wise: reservations.
