Cold weather is hot drinks weather and it just feels so good to be wrapped in the warmest of knits, and hands around a piping hot drink that doesn’t taste like water. One of my favourite afternoon tea spots, The Urban Tea Merchant, is temporarily closed for renovation but they do have a pop up shop at Nordstrom in Pacific Centre. I was invited to their media event and visit their shop a couple of weeks ago and got a sneak peek of some upcoming new teas (with a macaron to nibble on!)
The Urban Tea Merchant’s Pop-Up shop features a range of gifts, with a Tea Ambassador to help you make your tea decision (which is an important one IMO!) One of my favourites is The TWG Haute Couture Tea Collection; there’s something very sastifying seeing pretty containers lined up like that and would love a whole wall of these. Along with the the tea collection, the pop-up shop also carries TWG Tea’s teaware, such as their hand-blown glass teapots saucers, filters, and more.
The media event was held in another room inside Nordstrom, which I had no idea it existed! It was nice to have a more private area to sample tea and of course, take photos of everything!! One of their featured teas was the Magic Moment Tea in a caviar tin. The Magic Moment tea is a black tea with citrus and coconut notes – wish it could magically transport me to another country instead of staying in raincouver land!
The Urban Tea Merchant has their Christmas spirit game on; The White Christmas Tea ($98CAD), in the Haute Couture tin, is an exquisite Yin Zhen (silver needle) white tea with orange peel, hibiscus, and spices.
One of my personal favourites is the Red Balloon Tea, I tried it a few years ago during the spring season. It’s a rooibos tea that has blueberries and nashi fruit, an Asian pear. I’ve been drinking this at work to uplift my mood and to make myself feel more productive woohoo!
No tea experience is complete without a few bites to go along with it (or is that just the always-hungry version of me who thinks like this?) The Urban Tea Merchant had their TWG Tea macarons ( the macaron infused with Bain de Roses Tea is the rose macarons of macarons,) and freshly baked scones to sample along.
As beautiful as their pop up shop is, I can’t wait until the official opening of the first TWG Tea Salon & Boutique in North America!! I have a feeling they are going to take the meaning of “grand” to next level! In the meantime, I will be having macaron and scone dreams while I sip on my Red Balloon Tea. The Urban Tea Merchant Pop-Up shop will be at Nordstrom until October 31.
Follow Me, Tweet Me, Befriend Me!
{ Instagram ; Twitter; Facebook; BlogLovin‘}
