A World of Tea in Westboro

I visited the Westboro area of Ottawa last week on business and had to investigate World of Tea (298 Richmond Road, Ottawa).

Upon entering the store I noticed three tables in the front with a group of three customers about to enjoy their tea.  As well, there was a wide variety of teas, teapots and other tea related items neatly arranged on shelves and around the main cash area.

I was welcomed by Ji Li, the store owner, and inquired how I was and handed the menu.  The menu of teas consists of pages upon pages of different types of tea to choose from.  The list was endless and I had limited myself to just one!  No wonder the other customers had decided to come together in a group of three, more options to enjoy!

I settled on the Organic Peppermint.  Ji asked me to have a seat at the front and she would bring up the tea after she had prepared it.

Five minutes later I had the sweet smell of peppermint tea wafting up my nostrils.  Ji explained that she had just poured the water to steep with the loose leaf peppermint tea and could drain the pot into the carafe when I thought the tea had steeped enough for my tastes.

I eyed the small clear glass tea pot as the water slowly steeped through the tea leaves.  Hmmm.... when to drain it?  I poured a small cup for tasting purposes and took a sip.

Perfecto!  I quickly drained the pot into the carafe.

Trouble though was on it's way over with Ji, she was bringing a carafe of hot water.  Yes, she was offering yet more hot water to add to my peppermint tea leaves.  Too much tea to enjoy!

The tea continued to wreak of peppermint as I sipped.  I enjoyed a little reading material from the front, examining a few art tour booklets and other community information that Ji encourages locals to provide in promotion of their events.

The tea overall, was excellent.  A nice pleasing peppermint odour for the nose while being heartwarming going down on a cool fall day.

Price wise, at $3.50 for an amount of tea that could of filled 3 tea pots, it is inexpensive.

Overall, World of Tea provides a great afternoon spot to bring friends to enjoy some tea.  Ji welcomes newbies and experienced tea enthusiasts with open arms.  Have questions about tea?  Ji will patiently walk you through everything about tea and then answer all your questions.  Even better, it is priced economically.  Friends are definitely a requirement as there are way too many teas to choose from to simply choose one like I did.  The more friends you bring, the more teas you can sample as, at World of Tea, sharing is caring.