February in Victoria is everything you might imagine for a West Coast island town: not too cold, a little wet at times, but almost certainly grey. It’s a month that begs for a warm cup of tea. Until its permanent cancellation in 2014, the Victoria Tea Festival obliged, bringing thousands to the region for a weekend packed with the piping hot pick-me-up.

One year without a tea festival was enough for the city often called the tea capital of Canada. So this February, the Victoria Tea Festival Revival was born. A smaller, but no less dedicated group of tea lovers gathered—B.Y.O.Tea cup— to celebrate the world’s most popular beverage: from its ancient roots, to its British traditions, to more modern experimentations.

For Victoria—a place experiencing its own revival from a sleepy, colonial town to a vibrant, culture-rich city—tea is the perfect mascot. In a region known for its coffee, beer and wine, Victoria’s tea culture provides an educational, immersive and historical experience for anyone who enjoys a good cuppa; no museum required.

Three-tiered cake stands brim with goodies at The Butchart Gardens. Credit: Lucas Anderson
Three-tiered cake stands brim with goodies at The Butchart Gardens. Credit: Lucas Anderson

Learn, Sip, Repeat

Tucked into Nootka Court off Humboldt St., you’ll find JagaSilk, a humble tea shop owned by Miyuki and Jared Nyberg. The two were a driving force—and de facto hosts—of this year’s festival, and describe themselves as “mad gatherers of maccha knowledge.” For the uninitiated, maccha, or matcha, is finely ground green tea with specialized processes for growing, producing and serving that separates it from other types of green tea. For JagaSilk, honoring the different parts of this ancient process is essential for a quality tea experience.

Despite its categorical association with the craft beverage movement, a tea experience at JagaSilk provides a glimpse of a world beyond bearded beer geeks and snobby wine sommeliers.

Talking to Jared reveals two things: his deep appreciation for the history and tradition of tea, and his almost scientific approach to uncovering its nuances. Despite its categorical association with the craft beverage movement, a tea experience at JagaSilk provides a glimpse of a world beyond bearded beer geeks and snobby wine sommeliers.

However, don’t be surprised if you hear a comparison of a Japanese tea farm to a Napa Valley vineyard at any point on your tea journey. Tea’s endless variety, as well as its pairing and flavor depth, is something Victoria’s tea merchants love to boast about.

While their combined experience in tea is measured in decades, the Nybergs are quick to dispel any title other than one that is equal to their customers: seekers. Whether it is new knowledge, a quick caffeine buzz or just something a little different, a trip to JagaSilk will likely meet your curious needs.

Visit the shop with an open mind, and an open afternoon. If a bright green maccha latte doesn’t completely blow you away, a conversation soaked in rich, leafy dogma will prepare you for the enviable next stop in your Victoria tea journey.

Clean lines complete Terroir's modern aesthetic. Credit: Lucas Anderson
Clean lines complete Terroir’s modern aesthetic. Credit: Lucas Anderson

Taste a Sense of Place

If your vision of a British tea experience looks like a scene straight out of Downton Abbey, stepping into Terroir on Fort Street, with its modern, concrete aesthetic, might make you feel like something is missing. Yet that empty feeling you get is intentional, and one that owner Charity Hobbs hopes to fill with the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of meticulously crafted, pure tea.

Terroir is a newcomer in Victoria, having opened in October of last year. The brand’s intentional sourcing and dedication to quality fits right in with the thriving Fort-Blanchard corridor. However, Hobbs’ roots as a Vancouver Island native, combined with her product’s tradition in the Victoria area, makes for a unique addition to the area’s food and beverage scene.

“She experiments with processing the leaves with different levels of roasting to bring out the flavors,” Hobbs said, referring to the owner of the farm who she met at the World Tea Expo last year. “The varieties that she achieves from her tea [are] just amazing.”

In naming her shop, Hobbs borrowed a term from the wine industry. Terroir describes the unique environmental conditions of a region that impart a variety of characteristics on a crop that is grown there. For coffee, the term most often used is “single-origin.”

Hobbs holds a sturdy ceramic jar filled with aromatic dried tea. Credit: Lucas Anderson
Hobbs holds a sturdy ceramic jar filled with aromatic dried tea. Credit: Lucas Anderson

Hobbs sources her mostly Oolong tea stock from a stand-alone farm in the Alishan Mountains of Taiwan.

“She experiments with processing the leaves with different levels of roasting to bring out the flavors,” Hobbs said, referring to the owner of the farm who she met at the World Tea Expo last year. “The varieties that she achieves from her tea [are] just amazing.”

Like any tea experience, ritual plays a big role in serving at Terroir. First, you must choose your tea, picking flavors out of the display of pressed, brewed tea leaves and exploring aromas from a lineup of sealed ceramic jars filled with dried teas. Second, using a brewing machine aptly named a “Steam Punk,” Hobbs dials in the exact temperatures and times for each of her 24 varieties available to ensure a perfect cup of tea. Finally, the elixir is poured into a vacuum-sealed glass and served with the spent and splayed tea leaves, completing the sensory experience right back where you started.

Tea brews to perfection in the Steam Punk brewing machine. Credit: Lucas Anderson
Tea brews to perfection in the Steam Punk brewing machine. Credit: Lucas Anderson

Experience a Ritual Steeped in Tradition

You can probably relate to the need to take a break after the long, slow afternoon hours, and craving a boost of energy before pushing on into the evening. While afternoon tea originated in the British upper classes as a customary meal between lunch and dinner, the tradition gained more widespread appeal as a time of rest for the working class.

At The Butchart Gardens, the tradition lives on not only because of the history that’s found throughout the grounds, but out of necessity. A couple of hours exploring everything The Gardens have to offer can make your feet a little tired, and can cause you to build up quite an appetite.

Here, you’ll experience the classic three-tiered assortment of sweet and savory snacks, accompanied by your choice of tea. More luxurious than presumptuous, tea at The Gardens is a white cloth experience, but is still reasonably priced given your surroundings and provides the chance to escape the city for a few hours.

Mouth-watering sweet and savory tea treats will have you oohing and ahhing with every bite. Credit: Lucas Anderson
Mouth-watering sweet and savory tea treats will have you oohing and ahhing with every bite. Credit: Lucas Anderson

Although it’s about a century too late to be one of Jennie Butchart’s thousands of personally-served guests, consistency and a sense of community make The Butchart Gardens a spot not to be missed on a Victorian tea pilgrimage. Sip on a cup of their Bachelor Button blend in the window-laden conservatory, and you might get a hint of what it was like to dine out on the lawn in the early 1900s.

Victoria takes its tea seriously, but how you take yours is up to you. Venture out of town and dine among the flowers, discover the hidden gems of the tea scene inside the city, or, simply stay in your hotel, and be served on custom china fit for a king and queen.

Still thirsty? We also recommend…

For the Knowledge Seeker:

Silk Road – A great place to start for the tea novice, this shop contains a wealth of all things tea, including a huge variety of locally grown and blended tea selections.

For the Purist:

The Empress Hotel – The only place in town with a Tea Sommelier that has also played host to Queen Elizabeth II herself. Look out for the opening of its newly remodeled tea lounge and the start of their evening tea offering in May.

For the Traditionalist:

Hotel Grand Pacific – Their “West Coast” afternoon tea provides a classic experience with a modern twist.