Tea-rotica and High Tea at the Empress Hotel

It's not often that I go to a world-class, upscale tourist destination, but today was a bit different: Niche Magazine hosted an afternoon tea and fashion show event  at the Empress Hotel; a portion of each ticket sold offered support to the BC Children's Hospital Foundation. And because I adore fancy tea situations, and don't find myself in nearly enough of them, it seemed like the perfect opportunity.


Tea-rotica
Goodies at the Empress Hotel, November 30, 2014



Now, because of my late grandmother's lifelong tea-loving ways, I've sentimental feelings for super-floral china tea cups and teapots. But I am by no means a tea aficionado—I just like a good Orange Pekoe, a fancy tea pot, and Granny-type cups and saucers. Add a few dainty sandwiches with the crusts cut off, arrange them on a tiered tray, and I get giddy. Accordingly, I spend a lot of time on Pinterest collecting images of what I call tea-rotica, and have a little cup and saucer at home that I use ritualistically. (By ritualistically I mean that I have sternly instructed my family that nobody else in this household is to ever, ever use my cup and saucer. Because it's my fancy cup and saucer and it's mine and I will cut anyone who sullies it.)


Tea-rotica
My at-home fancy teacup and saucer, purchased from a corner thrift shop for less than five bucks.
It currently sells for $38 on eBay.
But I digress.

So, at the Niche event this afternoon, I only took a couple pictures of the food with my iPhone. I would have taken more, but I was too busy putting tea and goodies in my pinwheel hole. I share those photos here now because I want to be able to share my own first-hand tea-rotic pictures on Pinterest. Yes, that's the entire purpose of this blog post: to share these pictures on Pinterest. I feel like I should be a little bit ashamed, but I'm not.


Tea-rotica
I can't describe everything in this picture; it was a bit of a feeding frenzy.
But check out the chocolate tea-cups with chocolate mousse in the upper right-hand corner. 
Writing this post, I realize that I have enough of an interest in this fancy tea stuff to warrant a more investigative visit back to the Empress. Time for me to get serious. I have questions that need to be answered! Because where else in Canada is tea taken more seriously than at the Empress Hotel in Victoria?

Comments

Jody said…
Apart from your lovely self being there, this post makes me want to move to Canadaland :).
Fergus said…
"[…] and it's mine and I will cut anyone who sullies it."

^ awesome
Warren Layberry said…
You should make Empress tea a monthly event.
Renée said…
Move here, move here, Jody!

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