#12DaysofHygge Day 2: The perfect cup of tea in Edinburgh + Tea-to-Go in Vancouver

The British are famous for their stereotypical love of a ‘cuppa’. Naturally, my Brit doesn’t like tea. Ha. Anyway, I’m obviously not British, but like Oprah LOVES bread, I REALLY love tea. I have at least one cup, every morning. It’s comforting, it’s warm, and tea always smells lovely.

So for Day 2 of the #12DaysofHygge, it’s all about tea. I’m sharing why my favourite Edinburgh tea shop makes the best cup of tea, my favourite places in Vancouver to grab a tea-to-go, and because everyone needs to have some tea joy… I’m giving away a box of Starbucks Teavana Joy Tea! (Contest details at the end of this post!)

The Perfect Cup of Tea

Aside from my own house, my favourite place in the world to go have tea is Pekoe Tea (20 Leven St, Edinburgh) in Edinburgh. Whenever I go, I always have an Earl Grey or green tea variant, and I usually end up buying a fair amount to take back to Canada as presents for people and to replenish my own stock at home. I have a lot of tea…

The reason Pekoe Tea makes the best pot of tea is that they are savvy about the steep time. Depending on the kind of tea, it’s 3, 4, or 5 minutes, and they have mini hourglasses for each time. It’s a test of patience that is well worth the wait. Particularly if you’re having one of the teas made from the pickings from their own garden just outside of Edinburgh. Add a baked treat from the counter and the world is bliss.

• Address: 20 Leven St, Edinburgh
• Website: https://www.pekoetea.co.uk

Tea-to-Go in Vancouver

We are all on the go, and while I’m still searching for the perfect (and more environmentally friendly and money-saving) go-cup for my loose leaf tea, there are some great options in Vancouver for a tea-to-go.

TEAJA Tea Lab 

• Address: 1072 Mainland Street, Vancouver
• Website:http://teaja.com/home/

The TEAJA Lab in Yaletown is Vancouver based and award-winning TEAJA’s flagship TeaBar. They have over 50 ethically sourced organic loose leaf teas and they use this nifty Teaze infusing machine to prep your beverage. So you don’t have to worry about your tea getting too strong because you forgot to take your tea bag out.

I really like their Lady Grey tea, as well as their Ginger Immunity wellness tea. They also have some lovely holiday teas out right now, with the Mulled Berry being my current favourite. My work is a two minute walk from this shop, so you can imagine my willpower is basically nil. Ha.

Great Wall Tea Co. 

• Address: River Market – 810 Quayside Dr, New Westminster
• Website:https://www.facebook.com/GreatWallTea

When we moved to New West last month, I was so excited when I saw this shop was still open (because you never know!). Like its name says, the shop is literally a wall of tea with the containers all staying as they are due to magnetic magic. You can sit down at the little bar or take a tea to wander around the shop’s home, New West’s River Market on the quay. They have some cute Christmas teas that I need to try, I guess I’ll be at the market a lot this month!

Allegro Coffee Bar at Whole Foods 

Whole Foods’ Allegro Coffee Bars apparently have excellent coffee, but I quite like their peppermint tea. They have a great #GetThrifty coffee/tea and a muffin deal that comes to $3-ish plus tax. I love their Power muffins, so this is a win-win all around in my books.

Starbucks

Starbucks sells Teavana teas, and the price-point is quite good. I don’t care what anyone says about them being a big-box business. The tea is good. Particularly their seasonal tea (my absolute favourite!): Joy. Check out the below for how to win a box of it!

Joy Tea Giveaway*! (CLOSED)

I went a little nuts last week and bought a few boxes of Joy tea. Tea is my shopping vice… But I wanted to share the joy (see what I did there? 😉 ) and give a box to a lucky Vancouver reader!

How to enter: Share your favourite Christmas tradition in the below comments section. (That’s it!) The winner will be randomly chosen on Wednesday, December 7 at 5pm PST.

*This contest is only open to residents of British Columbia. This contest is not sponsored by Starbucks Canada. The prize was purchased by WestCoastCityGirl.com and is valued at $14.95 CAD. Must be 13+ to enter.

Tea is drunk to forget the din of the world ~ T’ien Yiheng