I like tea. Real tea.

I went into a new tea shop in Timmins today. It was so cold outside, I welcomed the idea of a fresh cup of tea and a snack. Aline’s Tea Shop is not that new, but it is new to me. I had heard good things from other folks and decided to try it. I really like that we are getting a few more boutique style eateries in downtown Timmins. So I asked the pleasant lady for a cup of tea, telling her I like the plain orange pekoe tea. She had a shelf without about 30 big jars holding all sorts of different flavours of tea. Some of them smelled quite different. Not necessarily bad, but certainly not something I would drink.

So here’s the thing. They were not really blends of tea. They were all sorts of herbs and flavours. But I like the ordinary tea, that comes from the familiar Asian tea leaves. Usually it is known as black tea. Orange Pekoe is a grade of black tea. Everything else is an infusion. Anyway, we found a plain black tea and it tasted very nice. Only after I explained I wanted ordinary black tea like the grandmas in Nova Scotia would drink. I also had a couple of home baked cookies. Very nice. I think I will go back and bring a couple of Red Rose tea bags with me.