Tea Centre.

The Tea Centre is the kind of shop where the oolong menu is organised by mountain. Ali Shan, Dong Ding, Li Shan, Da Yu Ling, Wen Shan for the Bao Zhong and Hsinchu for the Bai Hao each have their own entry, several with the lot number printed in the product name, and the Taiwanese teas carry their Chinese names alongside the English ones. The shop says it chose some of its leaves directly from the tea farmer, and the Taiwanese shelf is where that shows most clearly: a Sun Moon Lake black, a honey-scented Black Nectar and a hand-made Bai Hao oolong sit beside the everyday Ali Shan.

The rest of the world is filed with the same care. Indian blacks are sold by estate and grade: Dejoo and Dikom from Assam, Castleton and Margaret's Hope from Darjeeling, and an organic Ceylon Gardens OP-1. There is a Kenyan Nandi Gold, a Vietnamese Snow Shan red tea, a Yunnan Dian Hong, Keemun in two grades, and a Japanese drawer that runs from Genmai Cha and Houji Cha to Fukamushi sencha, Kuki Cha and Gyokuro. White teas, loose pu'er and dated 2014 and 2017 lots, a Hunan Fu Cha brick, chai, rooibos, honeybush and Paraguayan yerba mate fill out a tea list of more than two hundred entries.

Almost everything is priced from 50 g, with 100 g, 250 g, 500 g and kilo sizes behind it, so a first visit can be a handful of small bags rather than one big one. Estate Assams start at CA$6, the Ali Shan, Dong Ding and Bao Zhong at CA$9, and the Gyokuro, Silver Needle and the Bai Hao at CA$18 to CA$20. The shop is at 267 5th Street in downtown Courtenay, open Monday to Saturday from ten to five; online orders can be picked up there for free, shipping within British Columbia is free over CA$100 and across the rest of Canada over CA$120.