Silk Road Tea has spread its wings to Vancouver! After more than two successful decades of operation in their landmark Victoria Chinatown location, Silk Road has recently opened a second store, right in the heart of Kitsilano’s busy West 4th Avenue corridor.
I attended the media launch a few weeks ago and was in awe of the beautiful space that Tea Master/Founder Daniela Cubelic and team have created for enjoying and learning about quality, organic teas.
Upstairs is a private tasting room and workshop studio, perfect for tea pairings (we enjoyed some lovely Thomas Haas chocolates to pair with Silk Road’s Berry Victoria and Summer Shangri-La teas).
The main level’s stocked with tea accessories, gorgeous one-of-kind and vintage cups and saucers, teapots, matcha wares and travel mugs.
The company also collaborated with First Nations in the Great Bear Rainforest to create a lineup of body care and aromatherapy products, appropriately titled the Great Bear Rainforest Collection. These include skin and body care, room diffusers and natural remedies.
A first for North America, Silk Road tea bags use compostable plant fibre. Their packaging equipment won’t crush or damage tea leaves so your tea has maxiumum nutrient value and taste.
In addition to the current lineup of teas, the Special Reserve Tea Collection was launched in celebration of the new store. These rare teas honour the art of tea craftsmanship while supporting biodiversity, the environment and small scale tea farmers.
Promoting wild tea varietals and biodiversity have become increasingly important as these are hardier plants which are more resilient to climate change. The majority of tea produced in the world comes from very few varietals of cloned plants which are neither as hardy nor antioxidant rich.
These teas, however, are extraordinarily rich in antioxidants and contain beneficial properties due to unique growing conditions, using wild and heritage tea varietals and traditional production methods.
Requiring great skill to produce, many of the teas in this collection can take a Tea Maker over 10 years to learn. By creating a market for these teas, Silk Road is helping to keep these traditions and unique tea varietals alive and thriving.
All of Silk Road’s teas are void of artificial flavours, colours, sweeteners, dairy or soy, making them perfect for gluten-free and healthy lifestyles alike.
From field to cup, the teas are grown organically, which is not only eco-friendly but provides better working conditions for tea farmers around the globe.
Since 1992, Silk Road Tea has offered expertly blended, award-winning tea. In honour of the new Vancouver location, Silk Road and Vancouverscape have teamed up to give one lucky reader FREE TEA FOR A YEAR!
All you have to do is leave a comment below mentioning your favourite cup of tea and follow both @SilkRoadTea and @Vancouverscape on Twitter and tweet the following:
I’ve entered for a chance to win a year’s worth of tea courtesy of @SilkRoadTea & @Vancouverscape http://bit.ly/2aG8PtO.
I’ll draw a winner at random on Tuesday, August 16 at 5 pm. Good luck to all entrants. Winner must be based in the Lower Mainland.
Congrats to Debbie Flynn aka @missycat57! We drew your name at random and will be contacting you in order to get you set up with free tea for a year!
