Tea at the Shangri-La Hotel (Toronto)

Last December, three Certified Tea Sommeliers (friends: Debbie, Raymonde, and I) went to the Shangri-La Hotel in downtown Toronto for pre-Christmas afternoon tea.  

Yeah, you heard me, I said afternoon tea, not high tea.  Traditionally, high tea was the evening meal of the working class, after the Industrial Revolution in England, served between 5pm and 7pm at the end of the work day.  It consisted of strong tea and hearty foods like kidney pies, shepherd's pies, finger food, and sandwiches. It was their supper.  

Afternoon tea (or low tea) was credited to Anna Maria Russell, Duchess of Bedford circa 1840 because she needed something to tide her over between the long hours of lunch (the main meal) and their late dinner.  The tradition of taking tea and a bite to eat in the mid-afternoon soon became fashionable and it spread across the kingdom and continued to this day.  

Don't believe me?  Click here

The afternoon tea service at the Shangri-La Hotel is served in the lobby lounge just outside the Bosk Restaurant.



Who wants this in their living room?  I do!

We were seated in front of the fireplace.  The lobby looked like a luxurious living room with deep leather sofas, and marble floors with carpet. Toronto Life magazine did a great photo spread of the Shangri-La Hotel, click here to view.

Their tea menu is a red fabric bound book.  How elegant!

 

The cover poem, "Seven Bowls of Tea" by Lu Tong is translated below.

We were told they carried as many as 68 teas.

The staff was friendly and helpful.  We settled on two pots of tea and two tea services to share.  We asked for the Nilgiri and Keemun.  Our server took our order and went off to get our tea.  She came back to inform us that they didn't have the teas we selected.  She brought a few tins of tea with her to help us make another selection.  We asked for Darjeeling and Kenyan Purple tea.  Off she went and back again.  No Darjeeling.  Okay.  We consulted the tea menu book again and settled on the Yunnan Ancient Tree.  She went to check and said they have that.

It's nice to say you have a big selection of teas, but not in stock?  hmm...

Our teas were brought to the table and the server poured for us.  We tasted the Yunnan Ancient Tree, not much flavour, we looked at each other and lifted the lid to check the leaves.  We glanced at each other, all shook heads in unison and then poured our cups right back into the pot to let it steep longer.

4 or 5 minutes later, we tasted it again.  Much better, more like the earthy taste of a Yunnan black tea.  It was nice but it wasn't as rich or malty as some.  The Kenyan Purple tea tasted nothing like what I had read before.  It was okay...

The leaves from both teas already looked spent, fully opened after one pot.  There weren't enough leaves and they may have been sitting around a while.  It was a bit of a let down.  

Beautiful setting for our afternoon tea

The scones were good with plump raisins and tasty fruit compote.

The sandwiches: sliced ham with grainy honey Dijon mustard, and the egg with a touch of curry, but the bread was noticeably dry.  The cucumber sandwiches were soggy and mushy.  Must have been sitting around.  Not very creative, in fact the girls proclaimed they could make better!

The sweets (from left clockwise): almond tarts, lemon meringue tarts, pumpkin tarts, brownies, and carrot cakes.

The almond tart was like a biscotti, dry and hard, and tasted like the almond cookies you get at a Chinese restaurant.  Tasty.  A clever presentation.  Perhaps it was designed to be dunked in the tea.

The lemon meringue and pumpkin tarts were good.  I enjoyed those.  The brownie was nice.  The carrot cake was pretty tasty.

pumpkin tart, mmm

lemon meringue tart, yum

The sweets were definitely the highlight of the tea service.  The sandwiches and teas themselves were disappointing.  The service was very good.  But you'd expect a 5 star hotel in a big city like Toronto to be a little more creative and put a bit more care and attention into their tea and food service.  All three of us were surprised.  We were, however, very happy to get together and catch up during the holiday season.

I decided to email the hotel to tell them about my disappointment.  I received two emails back from the hotel, including one from the Food & Beverage Manager.  She thanked me for my feedback and notified me that they were in the process of revamping their tea service for the new year.

I had been wondering about their progress until a couple of weeks ago.  Then I noticed that The Tea Emporium was posting photos about preparing the tea room and the staff of the Shangri-La Hotel.  So that's who they've been working with to revamp their tea service, how intriguing...

I look forward to visiting the Shangri-La again to see how they've improved.

"Rising" by Shanghai-based sculptor, Zhang Huan

An Elegant Charity Afternoon Tea with Soroptimist International

The Soroptimist International of Toronto presented a lovely charity afternoon tea featuring a colleague of mine, fellow Certified Tea Sommelier and Culinary Consultant, Ingrid Folkers.  How fitting that on Mother's Day weekend, this group of business and professional women will use the proceeds of the event to help local women and young girls, in this case, the 416 Community Support for Women. 

Ingrid, a classmate for quite a few of the Tea Sommelier classes at George Brown College, has been a member of Soroptimist for four years.

Ingrid Folkers (left), Rosita Mandeville, organizer (right)

Ingrid received comprehensive hospitality training (including chef training) in Austria prior to her coming to Canada.  She makes all the foods for her afternoon teas, even the macarons!  Although her oven wouldn't cooperate, so she had to use Ruelo Patisserie's macarons for this event.

It was a lovely afternoon tea, yummy treats and good tea in company of friendly ladies for a great cause!

 

Two teas were served:

Dilmah's Ceylon Earl Grey and Ingrid's own sommelier blended Bourbon Street Vanilla Rooibos  for the non-caffeinated choice.  

The Earl Grey was well blended, strong and rich brew with just the right amount of bergamot.  You can click here for a video to find out the story of Earl Grey tea.  

The rooibos tea was enjoyable with a mild, warming, earthy taste, rich Bourbon vanilla notes, some spices, and had a sweet finish. 

Both teas paired well with the foods.  Yes, I saved bites of food to try with each tea... it must have been quite a funny sight for the other ladies at my table watching me with my camera snapping photos, taking bites of food, sips of tea, taking notes...

Citrus ginger scone, refreshing Lychee Spritzer and Earl grey tea 

the scone was light and tasty

 The afternoon tea tier had many goodies

 from bottom to middle: Mustard Pork loin with chutney on rye, Smoked salmon wheels

from left to right: curried chicken medallions, egg salad, cucumber/dill sandwiches

Mustard Pork Loin with chutney on rye

The sandwiches were really tasty, I particularly enjoyed the pork loin with chutney on rye, not a typical afternoon tea sandwich.  The cucumber sandwiches were very enjoyable too, perfectly thinly sliced, soft bread, nice dill flavour.  The curried chicken medallions were creative with the slices of egg and carrot infused bread.  The breads were slightly sweet, the curry chicken filling was mild, interesting. The egg salad and smoked salmon were more typical afternoon tea style sandwiches.

The sweets: lavender matcha tea cookies, Pot de Creme, French macarons, black velvet cupcakes. 

The rich red velvet cupcake, if you were a cupcake fan, you'd like it very much.  The lavender added a nice touch to the matcha cookies, which I quite enjoyed.  The macaron were yummy, a little bit chewy, lovely raspberry with the chocolate ganache, oh my goodness! 

I really liked the pot de creme, rich dark chocolate cup with light raspberry creme and fresh ripe raspberry, slight bitterness of the chocolate with sweetness of the berry creme, mmm.

Pot de Creme

And of course, what would a charity afternoon tea be without fancy hats and facinators!

A couple of us forgot ours though, aww darn ...

Sakura Sakura in Vancouver! (Part 2) ... The tea service!

As mentioned in the previous post, while on vacation in Vancouver during Cherry Blossom Festival time, I invited my friend Drew to The Urban Tea Merchant for their special Sakura Westcoast Tea service. 

The Urban Tea Merchant only carries 100% natural luxury TWG Teas.

Tea Sommelier, Reza Nasooti, will do tastings to help you decide which tea to have with your tea service or purchase for home.

Reza brought several tins of their special teas us to sample:

 

 - Sakura! Sakura!
 - Paris Breakfast
 - 1837 Black

Sakura Sakura!

 

Drew smelling the tea

Paris Breakfast

Tasting Sakura! Sakura!  I enjoyed it!  Aromatic, sweet, refreshing

Paris Breakfast

And with the tastings all done, time to decide which tea to have with our 

Sakura Westcoast Tea Service...

Our server comes to get us and we are led to the dining area.  We pass a beautiful teapot waterfall. 

 We are told that our service will start with the sommelier's choice of chilled tea in a champagne flute glass.  Today's was the Sakura! Sakura! green tea, how fitting.  I wanted to try another tea, so  I selected the Brother's Club.  It was very nice, a little nutty, a bit sweet, reminded me of a fine smooth whisky.  Drew selected the very pleasant 1837 Black which is TWG's signature tea.

(Photo:Drew Taylor)

The Sakura Westcoast Tea Service!   (Photo: Drew Taylor)

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Spring rice roll with honey & balsamic, shitake mushroom and crisp vegetables

Miso-maple glazed sable fish wrapped in butter lettuce - so delicious!

Smoked salmon and wasabi aioli with in-house ponzu jelly with flicks of lemon zest was yummy.  Definitely a nice yummy twist to the usual smoked salmon tea sandwich.                                  (Photo: Drew Taylor)

Japanese fish crackers, crisp soba noodles with tangy seaweed salad and sesame crumble - chewy, interesting

lovely tea-infused macaroons, chocolate truffles, fresh fruits, and edible flowers

Tea-infused jelly - light pear sweet taste.  The edible flower was fun to eat.  This went really well with a sip of the chilled Sakura! Sakura! tea.

Chevron strawberry - strawberry was perfectly ripe with the chocolate... mmm...

Both teas paired nicely with our food, but I preferred the Brother's Club.  I thought it was able to round out some of the flavours slightly better.  We saved the chocolate truffle (with a brandy-like tasting centre) for close to the end.  It was mmm, wow! oh my goodness good!  

A final piece of watermelon waited for a last sip of chilled Sakura! Sakura! tea to make the perfect well-balanced refreshing ending of a marvelous tea service.

I would definitely go back to The Urban Tea Merchant next time I'm back in Vancouver.  Try another tea service and some more of the fine TWG teas.  Unfortunately, since it's past Cherry Blossom season, the Sakura Westcoast Tea Service will have to wait for next year.  

But I'm sure they've got something special planned for Mother's Day!  

And Drew... how successful was I in making a new tea convert?  Well, they say a picture is worth a thousand words, have a look and you tell me...

Drew is also a local actor, will be performing in "Farragut North" at the Havana Theatre in Vancouver from May 15-26.  You can catch him there, enjoy a good play, support the local art scene ... and ask him yourself...