I think a “tea run” should be a thing because I seem to have done my first “official” tea run this summer. The summer of 2018 I visited the Maritimes, (Nova Scotia, PEI and New Brunswick, Canada) this summer, for a few weeks and decided along the way I would see what kinds of tea I find. I wasn’t expecting to find much in terms of interesting tea, tea shops or teaware. But I was pleasantly surprised! Below I tried to highlight some of the teas and places I found tea along my Maritime tea run in no particular order. I’m sure I missed some as I seem to have more tea than what is listed below! I’ve included links where appropriate, either to the tea room or tea shop where I found the tea or to the site of that particular business. I’ve also tried to include the location, or at least the city, where the business from or where I found the tea. I don’t think I’ve tried all the teas in my “Maritime tea stash” yet, but I’m slowly getting through it!
My trip started in Cape Breton and I had brought loose leaf tea but no tea bags. So I was looking around Cape Breton for tea bags. No luck. I was giving up on the maritimes and tea until I got to Halifax. I decided to search for tea shops, tea rooms etc in Halifax and see what came up. Of course a David’s tea came up and of course David’s tea has tea bags. So I was set. But a short lift of tea shops also came up. So I decided to go for a walk. The firs tone I came to was Yoyo craft supplies and Tea House, Halifax, Nova Scotia. This was such a cute place. It had all these craft supplies for what I believe was Japanese paper crafts. They offered different types of classes in various crafts. And it seems they added tea to the mix which was great for me! I got this beautiful flowering tea, a chrysanthemum.
Lady Baker’s Tea Trolley, Charlottetown, PEI So I kept seeing this packaging in all the little Charlottetown shops. Each package was brightly coloured and had this little tea cart on it. I finally googled this Lady Baker’s Tea Trolley and found it right there in Charlottetown, PEI, not far from where I was staying. I went over and found this. A church address and office. It seems Lady Baker’s tea was started in North Carolina, I believe quite a few years ago. The founder moved to PEI around 2006 and started it up again by slowly selling through the church. Over time it grew and grew. They still sell out the church but now sell across the country and beyond I suspect, as they sell online now! They still have plenty of tea in local shops. In any case, I’ve tried their Peach my Cheeks and Island Strawberry as a cold brew and they’re great!
Another tea shop I found in Halifax was World Tea House, Halifax, Nova Scotia. This place was great. It had this great atmosphere and a warmth to it. There were many blends but this Tali’s Masala Chai stood out. I’m not a coffee drinker and respect that most coffee drinkers aren’t tea drinkers and vice versa. But this owner was great. When we went to pay for the chai his comment was that it was great with coffee! What?!?! So I asked how does he do that? Well..it seems he makes his coffee, freezes it in ice cube trays. Then when he makes the chai, he puts a couple of cubes of frozen coffee in! Volia! Tea and Coffee! In any case we go two types of tea from here a chai and a blueberry pomegrante blend.
Brigh Tea and Music, Charlottetown, PEI When I googled tea shops in Charlottetown, PEI this place that sold tea and music came up. I thought it was an odd combination but I had to check it out. When I got in there it was a cute little store that sure enough had musical instruments, sheet music, CD’s and was playing easy coast music. But they also had loose leaf tea and they were brewing tea in the back by the cash. It was great! I never though of pairing tea and music together. Granted, I wouldn’t even know where to start to do that but it makes sense. Tea is relaxing, music is relaxing, why wouldn’t the two go together? In any case, I got this great Almond Spice tea blend which I’m excited to try as a latte in the fall!
The Infusion Tea Room, Saint John, New Brunswick.
Lobster roll on a croissant with this very interesting and lovely Czar Nicholas Infusion Black tea at The Infusion Tea Room in Saint John, New Brunswick. I enjoyed the tea and lobster roll and the soup was great too! A ginger, butternut squash soup. The entire meal was perfect! I was really hoping to bring some of the tea home but the didn’t have it in stock. Instead I came back with and Irish Breakfast tea from them.
Sawadee Tea House, Halifax, Nova Scotia. This was another beautiful tea shop in Halifax, Nova Scotia that Google lead me too. I wish I had pictures of all the teawares that were in here. They were absolutely gorgeous! The different teapot designs and colours. So many that I’d never seen before. I didn’t get any teaware from here and regretfully so, but I knew there was a great chance of breaking it along the journey and I had another two weeks travelling ahead of me! But I did get a puerh tea from here. I’m excited to try this tea!
Freak Lunchbox, Maritimes, Canada. I first noticed this shop in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was probably the only shop open during the week after 8pm! It was great! While it didn’t have any tea in it, it did have candy! And lots of exotic and fun candies don’t see in the regular candy aisle at the grocery store.
This little guy is great. Unfortunately, I don’t remember what the name of the store was that he was purchased from. 🙁 The store was right beside Freak Lunchbox in Halifax. In any case, he was a gift and is a wonderful addition to my father’s teaware collection.
4good tea shop was another little tea shop google directed me to in Charlottetown, PEI. It was a cute little shop with some very interesting teas including this one tangerine, ginger blend. Looking forward to trying it!
So Halifax, Nova Scotia has this Farmer’s market by their harbour front, The Halifax Seaport Farmer’s Market. This market was great. They had everything, baked goods, jams, meat, fish, crafts, and tea! In particular, this interesting coconut pineapple rooibos from Tea Brewery, Nova Scotia. I decided to try it the next for breakfast. Those peanut butter cookies were from the market and well, let’s just say, the Maritimes knows how to make a good cookie!
Osha Mae, Halifax, Nova Scotia I found this at the Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market in Halifax, Nova Scotia. A chai body butter. Not exactly something to steep but definitely smells wonderful like warm chai. Looking forward to using it this Fall!
The Feel Good Store, Saint John, New Brunswick is another store with tea Google directed me to in Saint John, New Brunswick. While I didn’t find a lot of shops just dedicated to tea in Saint John, I did find some tea here and there including this Kenya Zebra Sencha. Actually, I found this shop had a lot of interested and good “pure” teas and not just blends. Was quite impressed!
Rita’s Tea Room While in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia we had to go check out Rita MacNeil’s tea room. It was such a surprise of a place in what felt like the middle of no where! It was a beautiful house turned into a tea room. We had, what felt like the perfect amount of food for a light lunch and tea. We had this beautiful three tiered platter of food perfectly set for tea! Sandwiches, scone, desserts and cream and jams! And of course tea!
Tea for two at Rita’s Tea Room, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
I had no idea that Saint John, New Brunswick was the home to a tea company. But apparently King Cole Tea was started in Saint John, New Brunswick in the 1800s. Wow! Anyway, I had a cup of King Cole, Early Grey with breakfast at the Skywalk Reversing Falls Restaurant in Saint John, New Brunswick. The breakfast meal I had is below.
I think this was called the Fisherman’s Breakfast and came with cod cheeks. I have no idea what cod cheeks are but, it was great! It was 45 minutes walk to where I got to see the rapids at low tide that morning and the morning was foggy as you can see by the picture below!
This is the Skywalk at the reversing falls in Saint John, New Brunswick. It was a foggy, drizzily start to that day. Looks so ominous! The view was great and scary!
Here is the entire family of teas I got while in the Maritimes during my Maritime tea run! 🙂
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