High Tea in Cape Town

I don't know about you but I love tea.  I was a complete coffee pot up until a few years ago but that didn't mean I couldn't appreciate a good cup of tea.  My mom starting me on herbal teas when I was in high school, I was stressed out and not sleeping and so the tea experiment started.  To think there are so many different teas out there, with so many different healing properties, so of course a tea tasting is on my to do list.

A few years ago we had High Tea at the Vineyard Hotel for my birthday.  The service was shocking but the treats and view were stunning.

Some of the more well known spots for High Tea are the Mount Nelson Hotel, One&Only, Franschhoek Hotel and Spa, 12 Apostles Hotel and the Table Bay Hotel V&A.  Most of the hotels in Cape Town offer some form of tea time, but the one place I've been dying to try out is Nigiro Tea Merchants at Origin Coffee in De Waterkant.  I've been to Origin many times before and have even had some divine tea there, but they have the most amazing tea ceremonies.  Hhmm, friends this is a hint of what I want to do for my birthday this year :)  O Ways in Claremont is said to do a similar tea tasting, but Nigiro is on the top of my list.

When I did some research for this post I came across a few places that I didn't know existed, and have now made it onto my list of places to try.  These are the Tibetan Tea House in Simon's Town which serves their tea in traditional Tibetan wooden teacups, and Lady Bonin which is a gypsy like caravan that attends markets and events.  How have I not known about these places before, I feel like I've been missing out.  On the list they go, and hopefully will get crossed off this year.

But my reason for this post is because a friend brought to my attention the first ever High Tea Festival hosted by the Tea Princesses to be held at Kirstenbosch Gardens on 5 March.  How amazing!!  Of course when you look into it, the cost is high but you need to weigh up the pros and cons.  It's something different, it's all about tea and won't it be worth it?  So now to try convince some friends that my logic is right and to join me in a day all about tea :)

The articles I've read all make me want to go even more, it's a combination market, tea tasting, champagne event and you get to dress up.  The entry price includes high tea, a tea master's class and a goody bag. So maybe the price is worth it :)   Now to convince my friends.