Afternoon Tea - Urban Tea Merchant

Hello! I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend. May has been a blur, I can't believe the month is almost over. I took a much needed break over the weekend and visited Urban Tea Merchant with a friend. I love having high tea, but I've only been frequented two places in Vancouver; Adorabelle and the Fairmont Vancouver Airport Hotel. This was a brand new tea salon for me, and I am quite satisfied with our tea service.

I chose Pink Flamingo, a green tea with crimson hibiscus blossoms. The tea was a pretty pale pink color with fruit overtones. My friend and I both chose the Petite Tea Service, which was $28. The other services were much too heavy for an afternoon snack. We each had a chicken salad cone, a cucumber & watercress sandwich, a curry egg salad sandwich, and a ham & arugula sandwich on our first tier. The chicken cone was the highlight. It was in the form of a mini ice cream cone but it was a delicious, savoury surprise. Next, we each had a scone. My friend had a sweet scone, and I had a savoury scone. I am usually not a fan of savoury scones, but this particular scone was not too savoury or dry. Although I couldn't really taste the flavour (our server did not bother to tell us what was being served), I enjoyed it. On the top tier, we had seasonal fruit, a chocolate dipped strawberry and a signature macaroon. The macaroon was one of the best I've had - and I've had macaroons from all over Montreal. This one was not too sweet or crumbly, it was just right. In my opinion, the price was steep for the amount of food in comparison to the other two services I've had in the past. When I asked our server to refill my teapot, she told me that they needed to prepare the tea by steeping it before bringing it out and I would receive a new teapot. I was unsure why she was explaining the process to me, but I was reluctant because I didn't want to wait for a new teapot. I had a feeling something was up but I agreed anyway. Well, I was right. She failed to tell me that it would cost me an extra $8 for the pot. I was not a happy customer when the bill came, but she was kind enough to correct it for me.

I don't think I would visit Urban Tea Merchant again - not because of the tea charge, but because I've had better tea service elsewhere. I will be visiting the Fairmont Vancouver Airport Hotel for afternoon tea again in the summer, so stay posted for that review!

(courtesy of yours truly via Instagram)