The Canadian Food Experience Project began June 7, 2013. As we share our collective stories through our regional food experiences, we hope to bring global clarity to our Canadian culinary identity. The theme for this month’s Canadian Food Experience Project is “A Regional Canadian Food Hero”, which can be broadly defined as anyone involved in food growing, production, education, activism, or the like, working to preserve local foods, skills, traditions, or to define the local terroir.

{For some reason, I had a hard time writing this post – sometimes it’s difficult to put an experience in words. I wrote several drafts, one of which accidentally got published a few days ago, so apologies to anyone who got a bunk notification in their reader or email. This is the real post!}

The Cowichan Valley is home to many farms and artisanal food producers, one of which is Teafarm, located just north of Duncan in the Westholme area. My friends Lynette, Ang, and I visited on a beautiful Sunday in July for their “tea + sweet pairings” menu, and ended up having a pretty wonderful afternoon, sipping tea, enjoying chocolate goodies, and basking in the farm’s pastoral bliss. Believe me when I say I am not at all exaggerating about the bliss part.

Welcome to Teafarm!

We arrived at Teafarm in the midst of a rush of visitors, yet the peaceful surroundings and general serenity of the farm made us feel totally at ease. We were greeted by Victor, co-owner of the farm with his partner Margit, and were invited to browse around the Teashop, sipping on a sample of tea, until we were ready to sit down and order. The Teashop is not only a place to drink and buy tea, but also a gallery for Margit, a ceramic artist, who creates beautifully evocative ceramic tea pots and tea cups.

inside the Teashop

Victor gave us an extensive list of teas (over 100 varieties) to choose from, along with some astute recommendations. Lynette chose a deluxe single origin variety (I can’t remember what it was called, but it was very good), Ang went with a herbal tea called Rooster (a rooibos-based chai), and I chose Cowichan Caravan, an original Teafarm blend. The tea was served in Margit’s handmade tea cups without milk or sugar, and drinking it black made me slow down, savour each sip, and really taste the tea rather than the mindless sipping I often to slip into with sweet, milky tea. Cowichan Caravan is a riff on the smokey Russian Caravan tea, and is a combination of four black teas plus smoked lapsang souchong and farm-grown lavender. The tea is slightly astringent and earthy with a subtle smokey aroma, and while delicious black, it is also very good with milk and sugar.

Along with our tea, we enjoyed two kinds of chocolate cake, shortbread cookies, handmade caramels, and some truly amazing chocolate-dipped figs filled with cognac ganache, all of which were infused with tea. One of Teafarm’s focuses is on the culinary use and pairing of tea, and I never realized just how well tea and chocolate went together until that moment.

our culinary tea experience

We sat outside on comfy chairs under the shade of a tent, overlooking slightly wild, exuberantly blooming garden beds and a lush field against the backdrop of Mount Prevost. Like I said – bliss. Over the course of the afternoon, as we sipped our tea and nibbled on our chocolate goodies, Victor shared with us the story of Teafarm and how he and Margit came to turn a former cattle farm into a haven combining nature, tea, and art. Originally envisioned as “Artfarm”, a place to grow food and for Margit to create unusually beautiful tea pots, they hosted an Art + Tea event in 2008 which combined visual and performing art and the tea cultures of Japan and the Middle East, and a new vision for the farm was born: in Victor and Margit’s words, as “a place to share art and tea culture in an eclectic rural setting“. Today, they make their own unique, flavourful tea blends by combining farm-grown herbs and flowers with imported organic teas from around the world, which are served in Margit’s gorgeous tea cups. They recently released a line of Chinese Zodiac tea, with each blend inspired by the astrology sign it represents.

loose leaf tea display; Teafarm’s pastoral view

In addition to creating these one-of-a-kind local teas and tisanes, Victor and Margit have also planted several terraces of tea plants (Camellia sinensis) and are “experimenting” with growing tea – something that is usually confined to areas closer to the Equator, most notably China, Japan, India, Sri Lanka, and Taiwan. Three years later, the tea plants are flourishing (despite being “pruned” by deer), and while growing all of the tea for their needs might not necessarily be in the cards, in the future they hope to offer small harvests of local Cowichan Valley tea, which, much like wine, will carry with it the terroir of the region. Green, white, and black teas are all differently processed products of the same tea plant, and according to Victor, Teafarm’s tea contains muscatel and darjeeling-like flavours that will most likely be suited to black tea (which I can’t wait to be able to try myself!). Beyond simply steeping and drinking tea, Victor and Margit are interested in its culinary use, and hope to perhaps partner with local restaurants to explore this further. In fact, many of the unique tea-infused sweets on their menu are made by local chefs, and creating a culinary tea experience for their visitors is their goal.

entrance to the Teashop; Camellia sinensis

After a wonderful, relaxing few hours spent at Teafarm, I came away with a tin of Cowichan Caravan loose leaf tea and a deep appreciation for what Victor and Margit are doing. Tea culture is usually associated with the regions that grow it, such as a traditional Japanese tea service, or the regions that drink a lot of it, such as Great Britain’s afternoon tea. Anyone visiting Teafarm will experience an entirely new kind of tea culture, unique to the Cowichan Valley and more specifically to Margit and Victor’s establishment. Here, the tea and its pairing with food are the stars of the show, supported by a beautiful pastoral setting. There are no complicated rituals or pinkies in the air – just enjoyment of the tea and surroundings.

Teafarm owners Victor and Margit; antique brass filigree tea cup

Teafarm hosts many different educational and culinary tea and art experiences throughout the year, and coming up in September, in conjunction with the Cowichan Wine and Culinary Festival, they have several tasting events to celebrate the different flavours and traditions of tea. I have already brought my mum to experience Teafarm – we were served our tea in antique brass filigree cups, family heirlooms given to Victor and Margit by a friend – and Lynette, Ang, and I can’t wait to return for their Moroccan tea service, which involves green tea and spearmint along with Victor’s own twist on the tradition. Perhaps most unbelievably, the cost of these experiences is only about $10 – a steal by any measure, especially when you consider the quality of the tea, the care given by Victor and Margit, and the richness of the chocolate cake! In other words, Teafarm is not to be missed on any trip to the Cowichan Valley.

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Now that I know that tea and chocolate are best friends, I decided to explore that pairing in my own kitchen. Chocolate cake often contains coffee, which complements and brings out the deep chocolate flavour. In this chocolate bundt cake, Cowichan Caravan tea, with its robust, slightly bitter edge and smoky undertones, does the same thing to a more subtle degree. I added a little bit of extra lavender for a more floral note, which pairs beautifully with the slight smokiness.  Inspired by the Earl Grey chocolate cake we had at Teafarm, this is one moist, chocolatey, delicious cake, and it is a good placeholder until my next visit. I invite you to make this cake, pour yourself a cup of great tea, and find a peaceful spot outside to enjoy a little bit of Teafarm serenity.

Cowichan Caravan Chocolate Bundt Cake

Makes 1 small bundt cake (4 cup capacity tin) – can be doubled for a regular size bundt (use 3 whole eggs). If you don’t have Cowichan Caravan tea available to you (order it here), Earl Grey tea can be substituted (1 tbsp loose tea = 3 tea bags). Cake recipe adapted from Real Simple Magazine via Shutterbean.

Preheat the oven to 350˚F. With a pastry brush, thoroughly coat the inside of a 4 cup capacity bundt pan with about 1 tsp melted butter. Set aside.

Stir 1 tbsp Cowichan Caravan loose leaf tea + 1/2 tsp dry lavender flowers into 1/2 cup boiling water. Steep for 5 minutes, then strain out the tea leaves and set the tea aside.

Melt 2 oz unsweetened chocolate and set aside to cool.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together until light and creamy:

1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 egg + 1 egg yolk, room temperature

1 cup granulated white sugar

Meanwhile, whisk together in a small bowl:

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup ground almonds

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

Add the cooled melted chocolate to the creamed mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl to make sure it is well combined, then add:

the flour mixture

1/4 cup plain yogurt

the cooled tea

Beat the mixture on medium-low speed until combined, making sure to scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl a few times.

Spoon the batter into the prepared bundt pan, then thump the pan on the counter several times to dislodge any air bubbles and spread the batter out evenly. Place the pan on a baking sheet in case of overflow and bake in the preheated 350˚F oven for 50 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out with a few moist crumbs sticking to it. Cool in the pan for 5 – 10 minutes, then turn it out onto a rack to cool completely. Place the cake on a serving platter and trim the edges with a paring knife, if necessary.

For the ganache glaze*, heat 1/2 cup heavy cream until just boiling and pour it over 4 oz finely chopped dark couverture chocolate. Let it sit for a minute to melt, then stir until smooth. Spoon the ganache over the cake and chill until the ganache sets before cutting the cake into slices.

*This makes a very healthy portion of ganache, so feel free to use less or cut the amount in half. If you wanted to be really thorough, you could also infuse the hot cream with 1 tbsp of tea as well.