Murchie's Tea and Coffee, Downtown Victoria

It has been a very busy week here, so not much to report in, and I've not got much left in reserve to write about.  But, before I hear celebrations from Andrea's blog, and her cheering a win on our weekly blogging challenge, I did have a very pleasant cup of tea and biscuit at Murchie's this week.

The contents of Government Street were huddling in from the monsoon that's hit Vancouver Island. It was a busy and damp place this past Saturday.  The line up was long and there was a slow evaporation of the water in the air, make it humid among the rattling teapots and clinking of the china.  The staff were doing a pretty stand up job getting us served though. One big pot of Earl Grey and a large white chocolate and cranberry cookie were presented to me for less than $5 and no hassles.  There's a long array of choices for tea, and long array of choices of cakes and snacks too. My friend's order of a lemon tea and a Madeline took a bit longer, but we soon found two seater marble table to sit down and talk.

The tea was brewed just right, strong but not stewed into a tanin-flavoured filth.  There was that sharpness of the bergamot balancing the black tea, creating a citrus filled aroma.  Contrary to popular belief, Earl Grey tea was not made first in thanks to the Earl Grey for rescuing a mandarin's son.  Bergamot is an inedible fruit from Italy, and wouldn't have been available in China.  That said, the Grey family claims the tea was created for their ancestral pile in England, Howick Hall. Brewed with the oil to offset the heavy lime deposits in the water (that's the mineral lime, not the fruit lime, of course).

I don't know who first put white chocolate and cranberries together.  I don't suppose it was minor nobility, though I do think they should possibly have had a life peerage.  I value their contribution to biscuits, and the large saucer sized cookie served here was all good things. Moist, slightly chewy, tart but sweet.

Despite the hustle and bustle, and busy day they were having, it was actually a fine place to sit and have a serious conversation about a couple of projects.  I didn't have to strain to hear, or worry if we were being over loud.  I might start suggesting Murchies for other business meetings, as the continue stream of Habit coffee in my veins after 3pm is one day going to take it's toll.