Tag: Coquitlam BC

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Tea Experience: Cakes n Sweets Bakery

Cakes n Sweets Bakery
Coquitlam, BC
High Tea – $24.95 each

I went to Cakes n Sweets Bakery last month as part of my birthday celebrations – after all, how else would I celebrate turning yet another year older than with tea? Cake n Sweets Bakery is located in a small strip mall in Coquitlam, BC. Cakes n Sweets Bakery is primarily a bakery, afternoon tea is served almost every day, but reservations are required and they offer a discount if you order an afternoon tea to-go.

Cakes n Sweets offers their regular high tea menu, along with a gluten-free ($28.95 each) and children’s menu ($14.95 each). Due to the nature of their recipes, they’re unable to accomodate dairy-free or vegan options. Just something to consider if you fall into either of those categories!

When you walk into Cakes n Sweets, you’re first greeted by a gorgeous display case with all the desserts you can purchase à la carte (which is really pretty, by the way). We were seated at a cute table that had the menus, teacups and saucer sets, and cutlery.

The tea menu isn’t pages long, but it has a good selection with options from black, green, rooibos, and even a kiddo friendly option called Bubblegum. I opted for my standard Earl Grey with added sugar cubes and cream for extra decadence. The tea itself didn’t overwhelm me, but it did pair really well with the savouries and sweets.

The food arrived on a two-tier cake stand – with the savouries and scones on the bottom with all the sweets on top. The sweets included a macaron each, which we got to pick the flavours.

On the bottom tier, there were buttermilk scones with Devonshire cream & raspberry jam, three cheese quiche, egg salad on croissant, and a cucumber with lemon aioli sandwich. We each got two scones, and then one of each of everything else on the savouries tier. I really enjoyed the buttermilk scone (especially with the Devonshire cream and raspberry preserves!), as well as the quiche as it was served warm, and the cucumber with lemon aioli sandwich.

For the desserts, I picked the cookies and cream macaron. The “assorted delectable desserts” included: apple pie cupcake, chocolate ganache in a chocolate shell, and a raspberry thumbprint cookie. Hands down, my favourite was the apple pie cupcake – so flavourful! And I really enjoyed my macaron flavour selection as well – it had a great cookie cream flavour to it and the bright blue reminded me of Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster.

I really enjoyed Cakes n Sweets. I found that the serving staff was attentive, and the tea and food was served at a decent time after placing our orders. I would definitely consider going back with some friends for a casual afternoon tea date – especially if those apple pie cupcakes on are the menu!

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Tea Experience: Snowy Village

Snowy Village
Coquitlam, British Columbia
$2.00-6.00 for drinks

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Snowy Village is first and foremost a Korean bingsoo (ice dessert) restaurant, they specialized in shaved ice desserts (and boy do they do it well!). Snowy Village also serves hot tea and coffee (as well as iced), hence the reason for this review.

For those curious, I got a mango bingsoo in the regular size. Most of the shaved ice desserts are available in regular or large sizes. I felt like the regular size was pretty sizeable (and delicious). Instead of using shaved ice water, they use shaved iced milk. A lot more creamier (and delicious) compared to the other shaved iced desserts I’ve had in the past. My regular sized mango bingsoo was $10.

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My drink was a London Fog. Curiously enough, the Snowy Village website states that they make London Fogs but the menus in store did not have London Fog listed. When I ordered, I did get a bit of a blank stare when I asked for a London Fog. I clarified by saying that it was an Earl Grey latte and suddenly a light went off and the person helping me knew what it was. The price of the London Fog was $3.00, which was the same price as the price of a Cafe Latte on the menu.

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I asked and was told that they exclusively use Mighty Leaf Tea, which is a Canadian tea company. My London Fog came with a thin layer of foam on top, but the tea was steeped well. You can see how thin the foam was in the first photo. I forgot to pull out the tea bag after a few minutes of it arriving, but found that the tea itself didn’t get bitter (which was nice!). I do like a good tea that doesn’t get overly bitter if I forget to remove the tea bag when I’m on the go, although I’d have to do some experiments to see if it’s still the case if the tea is steeped straight without the addition of milk.

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Overall, I had a lovely experience at Snowy Village. The price of the London Fog was quite comparable to other places that I’ve been (and it’s generously on the lower end). I do wish that there had been more foam on top, but the place wasn’t primarily a tea and coffee cafe – it’s an iced dessert cafe. I would go back from the bingsoo, but probably not for the London Fog (I like a bit more foam with my tea lattes!).