Silk Road Tea

Silk Road Tea opened in 1992 and is still led by its founder, Daniela Cubelic, who calls herself its chief tea ambassador. The shop is at 1624 Government Street, in the heart of Victoria's Chinatown, and shares the building with The Spa at Silk Road, so the same door leads to a tea counter and to treatment rooms. The teas are organic, and the shop also makes its own skincare and body products with tea.

The teas are sold by format rather than by weight: a taster envelope of about 3 teaspoons for 3.99 CA$, a stainless-steel tin of about 40 teaspoons, a paper refill bag for that tin and a barista bag of about 90 teaspoons. Only the special reserve teas, such as the Moss Garden Gyokuro, are sold by the gram. The core list covers Sencha, Dragonwell and Genmaicha among the greens, Imperial Earl Grey, English Breakfast, Ceylon and Darjeeling among the blacks, a Wuyi Rock Oolong and an Iron Goddess Ti Kuan Yin, and a rooibos.

The shop is open Wednesday to Sunday and closed on Mondays, Tuesdays and statutory holidays; it says on its own site that it adjusts hours to foot traffic and hopes to return to seven days. Online orders can be collected in store, and the shop asks regulars to order ahead for pickup when they can. Workshops are run online for groups of ten or more. The teaware is sold in the shop only, which is a good reason to go in person.