The Butchart Gardens

This was the pot of tea that I ordered for myself during our afternoon tea service at Butchart. I was inspired by the large center section of the gardens dedicated solely to different types of roses. Though it wasn’t fully in bloom during our trip, it was just starting to bloom and seeing all the pops of colourful flowers among the bushes was lovely.

Plus, I’m a total sucker for a good rose black tea and Rose Congou are usually pretty predictably and consistently pleasant. One of the nice things about the blend, aside from the smooth florals that commanded the cup, was just how nicely it paired with pretty much our entire meal – the scones in particular, which had candied ginger and a really lovely fresh strawberry jam with marscapone clotted cream.

Of the three different tea houses we visited, I think Butchart was maayyybbbeee my overall favourite – not just for the tea but the food, service, and atmosphere as well. There’s one that gives it a run for its money though, but I’ll get to that in another tasting note.

Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cs34k9mLqv3/ (…and also flower photos)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8d2W1VUwvUE

One of the main things we did in Victoria we go to several tea houses. Three in total. The first we visited was within Butchart Gardens, which was just lovely to walk through even though several of the different areas weren’t fully in bloom yet. Very, very similar to Montreal’s Botanical Gardens but somewhat smaller. In particular I was enchanted by the Sunken Gardens, and this small area where you basically walked through the forest with these MASSIVE sequoia trees.

After a few hours touring the gardens we retreated to afternoon tea, which was also just beautiful. We were in this large glass walled sun room filled with plants and statues that overlooked more of the exterior gardens.

This was actually the tea my mom ordered for her high tea. She loves Earl Grey and also adding milk to her teas, so when she saw this was essentially a strawberry Earl Grey she got very excited. I did get to try a cup of her pot – as I said last night, we both sampled each other’s teas at pretty much all the spots we visited. It was very floral leaning, with a fresh strawberry note that was as strong as the bergamot. Very well balanced I thought. Quite “European” in blending style, but of course that makes all kinds of sense given that it was very typically British afternoon tea service.

My husband and I really enjoy this tea. We make sure to buy several packages whenever we visit Butchart Gardens to get us through until our next visit. We’ve tried other Rose teas, but have not been happy with them.

I picked up this tea when the boyfriend-creature and I visited the Butchart Gardens last year – which incidently are absolutely amazing, so if you’re ever in Victoria, BC it’s well well-worth your time and money to go visit.

The tea isn’t anything that strikes me as extraordinary – just another fairly generic berry-flavoured black tea that stands out as neither fantastically good nor horrifically bad. The cornflower petals are supposedly from the garden itself though, which is a nice touch for all that cornflowers are more for visual appeal than for flavour.

My first rose congou which I see is more than just a name for this particular pouch. I will have to try the others as much as I enjoy this one.