Tea Tasting in Vieux Hull

Could Ottawa's Best Tea Actually Be in Hull?

A stone’s throw away from the Parliament buildings is Old Hull. A little grungy and edgy, this area is often overlooked even by people that live close by.  Its imminent gentrification is obvious by the hip shops and restaurants sprouting up amongst condemned buildings.

Enter Cha-Yi (61 Eddy Street): a tea shop that is inviting, with room at the back to bring your laptop and get some work done while sipping a warm cup of tea.  The counter area resembles a Chinese medicine store.  Embossed, shiny silver containers line the shelves behind the counter, holding teas, some decades old, that were all chosen by the owner on his yearly trip to China.  The staff here are knowledgeable beyond expectation and will help you pick a delectable leaf to brew at home or to enjoy on site.

I recently attended an Initiation to Tea workshop. My first thought when I found out it was a three hour course was: “is there really that much to learn about tea?”.  The answer is yes, there is so much to learn that we actually went over three hours because the owner, our teacher that day, is so passionate about tea that he wanted to tell us everything he knows.Tea, it seems, is a lot like wine, in that it can be aged and it can also be paired with different foods. Cha-Yi offers several workshops from Initiation to Tea and Brewing Techniques to pairing workshops like Tea and Chocolate or Tea and Scotch. 

If specialty beverages fuel your travels in more ways than one, you'll also enjoy:

Cold Vines, Warm Hearts at Ottawa's Smokie Ridge Vineyard
Hawaii is Paradise - And So Is The Coffee
Waterfalls of Wine in Niagara 

About the authors....
Together for close to a quarter of a century, A Cook Not Mad‘s [http://www.acooknotmad.com] Tim and and Nat have indulged their passion for life and experience to the fullest, but they feel most alive when traveling, cooking and eating. An award winning chef, Tim has dedicated his life and career to cooking and the pursuit of honest food. As a professional photographer, Nat records their adventures with incredible pictures of everyday life and the extraordinary. They believe that everyone should get to know a culture by learning about the foods they eat and living like locals as much as they can.

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