The Wonders of the Tea Hour(s)

Ah, tea time.

I thought it was a quaint, dainty, and annoying thing; an English custom taken on by many of its colonies with excess preciousness. But in fact, I have come to love tea time, and have an understanding of why it has caught on in so many places. Tea occurs twice daily, and most people seem to take both, at 10am and 4pm. Tea consists of three main items: tea or coffee, an indulgent pastry, and sitting. And why the hell not take a break with a big old piece of cake twice a day? I've found that I happen to meander into bakeries most often around these hours anyways, and now find myself among company. These people have built a tradition, basically a twice-a-day party, around what I've thus considered my daily hours of biggest weakness. Faaaantastic.

Consequently, there are coffee shops everywhere, literally stocked full with home-baked, luscious pastries. Even the delis have gorgeous bars, muffins, and cakes. It seems everyone is competing for the best pastries in town, and I am loving it. Nowhere else have I been with so many delicious options everywhere. My favorites so far are a vegan/organic coffeehouse called Cuba 178 (or something like that) on Cuba Street, with amazing cakes towering three layers high, including a great vegan chocolate cake, cheesecakes, and some kind of mystery coconut/passionfruit cake today, and mocha coffee milkshakes (thick shakes hereabouts). I think a milkshake qualifies as tea, don't you? Also, a cozy basement place downtown off Lambton Quay with melt-in-your mouth lemon muffins served with cream and yogurt on the side. It helps that the cafe mochas here taste like hot chocolate with a little coffee drizzled in, so I can actually order some kind of hot drink that I like, rather than just pretend that I'm participating in tea hour by taking the opportunity to wolf down yummy sweets.