Hotel Saskatchewan

Cross referencing with this tasting note for context: https://steepster.com/roswellstrange/posts/398449#likes

This is the tea that I ordered for myself; it’s the “house blend” from the hotel but essentially it’s just a Lady Londonderry – which is the say a strawberry and lemon flavoured black tea. Interestingly, I was served my pot without milk as an option, but tasting the tea I can tell that it’s literally just black tea and strawberry/lemon flavouring (and possibly some flavourless ingredients for visual; calendula maybe) and nothing that would introduce acidity/cause curdling. It was just so simple and mild…

So, I wonder why I wasn’t allowed milk with my tea? Not that I wanted it – but I didn’t like not being given the option in the first place.

I was happy with my tea selection though; it wasn’t amazing quality but the flavours all came through quite clearly and the sweetness level was just right. The added bonus was that nearly everything we were served in terms of food complimented it perfectly which was not intentional on my part! My favourite things were the macerated strawberries with a honey chantilly cream, basil, and lemon olive oil – what a perfect thing to snack on with this tea!! However, the scones were also incredible, though not as much as the ones at The Vintage Tea Room. These were a berry scone, which was sweet and almost felt like they had a sugared top? The kicker was the butter they were served with – which was actually to die for! It was a whipped thyme infused butter, and it was so light and airy while also having this lovely herbaceous quality that really distinguished the scone and played off the strawberry in the tea as well.

All my tasting notes are jumbled and out of order…

This was from my holiday vacation in Saskatchewan; on Christmas Eve my mother and I went for afternoon tea at the Hotel Saskatchewan. The Hotel Saskatchewan is a very old and fancy hotel; and they do this Christmas Eve service yearly. However, you need to make reservations for it and this was the first year that my mom got them in before the service was filled. Christmas Eve is also her birthday, so it double as a fancy afternoon out for Christmas Eve and a nice birthday meal/dinner.

I was a little underwhelmed by the service, to be honest. The food quality wasn’t bad and the service was really nice – but I didn’t find it comparable to the cost. Plus, the teaware we were served with was kind of dull in appearance, over a BEIGE tabletop, and one of the cups even had a chip in it. So for a very fancy hotel it was just a little bit underwhelming – especially when I mentally compared to the other place in town you can get afternoon tea service (The Vintage Tea Room) which is STUNNING visually, equal in terms of tea quality, and has much better food…

Anyway; this was the tea that my mom picked out for herself – and she kindly shared a teacup of it with me so that I could try it too. I did the same for her, with my selection.

I thought it was ok; very simple and straightforward flavours though. Malty, sweet black tea with a touch of woodiness and a low energy, minimal sweetness maple note. I wish it was richer, but I do appreciate that it’s at the level that allows for really good customization to suit your personal taste preferences – through adding stuff like cream and sugar.

I had debated ordering this, but ultimately was happy that I hadn’t…

Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/B6eVRWOg4Ns/