Munchy Monday: The Urban Tea Merchant Summer Westcoast Tea Service

If you’ve seen my Instagram, I am a sucker for taking food pictures, cause food is as important to me as beauty, YUP! I do ramble about food once or so often so I dub Monday to be the day for food posts (if I have any) and call it Munchy Monday! Every summer I look forward to the summer themed tea service that The Urban Tea Merchant makes because their presentation hits the spot (and I was bummed for missing on their Garden Tea Party.) This year I was invited to try their Summer Westcoast Tea Set and I felt some Alice in Wonderland vibes from it!

Opposed to pairing the tea service with a pot of hot tea, I had the summer Iced Teas with the Summer Westcoast Tea Set. Only The Urban Tea Merchant can make iced teas look gourmet; Mark and I had an iced 1837 Tea and an iced Weekend in Singapore Tea. The 1837 Tea is also part of the Iced Teabag Collection. Even without sugar, these teas were thirst quenching and the tea’s natural sweetness (the 1837 Tea has a hint of caramel,) lingered in my taste buds.

The Summer Westcoast Tea Set has a bit of a whimsical feel, with one side savouries and the other side sweets. I love the tipped over pot and the “spilled” baked Camembert cheese is a nice and creative detail. The savouries were:

Miso-Maple Glazed Sablefish in Butter Lettuce
“Imperial Lapsang Souchong” Chicken Cone
Rosette of Smoked Salmon with Wasabi Aioli
Baked Camembert, Cranberry Cashew Crumble, Rosemary Brioche

As always, the glazed sablefish in butter lettuce is my all time favourite in every tea service and The Urban Tea Merchant knows that’s their forte since it’s been in almost every service I’ve tried and I’m not complaining. Mark says he can eat infinite of those chicken cones, I wouldn’t have minded if there were two more as we each only got one during the meal.

The only new savoury item to me was the Rosemary Brioche; it was buttery and herby and I wish I could get a loaf of this. I actually preferred to eat this on its own as it had a lot of flavour to it. I may have spent too much time taking photos, because the cheese was hardened when I got to that part so I kind of scraped it on to my bread. I also dipped the brioche into the Cranberry Cashew Crumble as well for a bit of a sweet and salty flavouring on top.

After combing through the savouries, I had to snap extra pictures of the sweets as they are so strategically placed to look like a garden. The sweets are:

“Magic Moment Tea“ Genoise, Butter Cream Icing
“Sencha Tea”, Cucumber Lime Margarita Jelly
Tuxedo Strawberry
TWG Tea Macaron
Fresh Berries

I suggest eating the jelly after the savouries because it was super refreshing and cleanses out the leftover salty flavours in the mouth. The genoise (which are Italian sponge cakes) were formed to look like mushrooms; adorable YES? I had to “awww” a bit before eating the cuteness. The two macarons we had are the Matcha Tea Macaron and the Lemon Bush Tea Macaron.

Apart from sampling the Summer Westcoast Tea Set, I also tried three new TWG Teas that are inspired by dessert teas, also known as the “Tea Gourmand Experience.” Three new teas are part of this collection: Macaron Noir Tea, Singapore Surprise Tea, and It’s So Good Tea. The Macaron Noir Tea is a black tea inspired by their black macaron, it has a hint of cocoa to it and I think this would pair with desserts that are light and not too sweet. The Singapore Surprise Tea is also a black tea with notes of strawberries. Lastly, the It’s So Good Tea, was my favourite, as it contains notes of Tahitian vanilla, mixed berries, and roses. I love floral and fruity blends; the It’s So Good Tea’s name speaks for itself!

If you’re a fan of iced tea (like my man is,) you will be delighted by the Summer Westcoast Tea Set ($45/person), and now is the best time since Vancouver is extremely hot these days. And if you want to brew your own gourmet iced teas, The Urban Tea Merchant have 10 flavours you can pick up at their retail store and salon. I didn’t grab any since I already have enough tea to open a little store, their display was super summery and gorgeous! Remember to always stay hydrated during the summer!