I say,.... fancy a spot of tea love?

For those of you who've visited Victoria you may have been tempted by one of the city's great traditions.... "Tea at the Empress".

If you type "Empress Hotel" and "tea" into Google, guess what the first hit is? Yup, "Afternoon Tea"!

"Indulge in one of Victoria's grandest traditions - Afternoon Tea at The Fairmont Empress. For almost a century, the majestic lobby of this landmark hotel has played host to England's most beloved ritual - the taking of Afternoon Tea."

This Fairmont hotel has a page in their website's navigation devoted to "Afternoon Tea" .... But here's the scoop... England's most beloved ritual uses tea bags!

Now, to me this isn't a huge deal. Let's face it, I'm willing to bet, in my best English prep school tradition, that there's a fair chunk of the tourist population who visit Victoria every year, and choose to indulge in this ritual, who have never had anything but tea made with tea bags and for whom Earl Grey is some wayward country star from Nebraska. But I'm equally confident that there are a few visitors, maybe even the odd local (typically under some delusional obligation to entertain guests from out-of-province) who are accustomed to preparing tea without a tea bag - who are well versed and quite comfortable in using a tea strainer.

The beauty of this story, however, is the waiter's classic objection-handling when challenged with this revisionist tea ceremony. Delivered in an absolutely straight face... "well sir, we do use tea leaves... we simply collect them together in a bag".

All of this contributed by one of my regular sushi-dining companions.

And what of tying this to the Ottawa food scene? Like it's cousin in Victoria, the Fairmont hotel in Ottawa, the Chateau Laurier, also serves an Afternoon Tea (although it has yet to earn the distinction of having its own web page). But apparently there's enough confidence among hotel management that visitors to the Chateau have mastered how to use a tea strainer.... or is that why the staff go that extra step of pouring the tea for you.

"I mean, really, how utterly delicious."