Desserts Tasting: Secret Garden Tea Company

On a Friday evening, several UBC students entered the Secret Garden Tea Company exhausted from a long week of classes and end-of-term assignments. Later, those same students exited with bellies full and smiles on their faces. So, what happened inside?

This event marked our last event together as a miniclub. It was brief, but I hope it was memorable! Especially how I stuffed you guys with cake while I cheated and took smaller pieces… Anyway - for this event we decided to splurge and share high tea at arguably the best place in Vancouver serving high tea, the Secret Garden Tea Company in Kerrisdale. As this was our first time having high tea, we were a little unsure what to expect, but the servers were friendly and we felt right at home in the midst of the decor which made it seem like we were in the English countryside. It felt so girly, in a good way. We couldn’t help but exclaim how adorable everything was, check out the sugar bowl!

We each had our choice of tea, which was a difficult choice, as there were so many varieties in a place specializing in it. I had the Buckingham Palace, which consisted of Jasmine and Earl Grey teas. Other choices were the Secret Garden’s secret, Chai Rooibos, Strawberry Kiwi, and Rooibos Vanilla. All were very aromatic and good. No stale tea here! They also gave us each a different coloured tea pot, which was a nice touch.

Then the dessert came out, on 2 two-tiered towers. The top plates contained assorted sweets, and the bottom plates contained mini apricot scones with clotted/Devonshire cream and raspberry jam.

I cannot, for the life of me, remember the names of each dessert, but they were all very good, and very indulgent. I only wish that they were bigger so we could each get a taste of all the desserts. The desserts were a little on the rich side, but the experience made a Chinese girl like me feel so English and old-fashioned, so I shouldn’t complain haha. It was great experience overall, but a tad pricey.

As an aside, Vancouver turns 125 today! Happy birthday, you lovely city!