Duke C.
Yelp
It's hard to miss Granville Island Tea Company when walking around the market since you can smell the chai. I have a few friends that are huge tea fanatics so I figured it would be grab a few things here as gifts.
Of course, there are a ton of selections, and the guy helping me out was very helpful. He explained all the different types of black tea, green, oolong, and even let me smell some of the teas. In the end, I went for an organic Assam that they also use for their own chai blend as well as a Formosa Oolong.
The Assam has a very strong smell, and I can see why they use it for their chai. Just from the smell, you can already smell a little bit of the spiced quality chai teas are known for. The tea leaves are very fine though so I imagined my friend would have to use a tea bag to brew it haha.
As for the Formosa Oolong, it is a tea that I'm very familiar with and I got it for myself just to compare. Brewed it in a tea ball for about 2-3 minutes, tried it and definitely digging it. Parents liked it as well and they actually used up about half of the bag already haha.
I went and got the 100grams for each, exactly how it is priced on the menu. There's also loose leaf teas already packaged but I think they are bit higher. They are good for gifts though!
You can also get their chai teas brewed on the spot. I would've tried it but I was still having a caffeine rush from the coffee that morning haha.
Overall, price is a bit pricey for what I can get in the States, but the quality is definitely there, not to mention that they really know their stuff!