Tea at Samovar

There are many tea houses in Vancouver, but I’m yet to discover one that’s as grand as Samovar in San Francisco. You could say that tea is the same wherever you drink it but atmosphere really does a lot for of the enjoyment of good teas. It’s the same for coffee, but each deserves its own enjoyment. One of the small failings of the tea houses in Vancouver is to try to make them similar to the numerous coffee houses in town. Don’t get me wrong, I still think they’re a great place to get a good cuppa and spend time with a friend or working away, but Samovar is a whole different world.

At the core it’s a shrine that can comfortably house a good crowd of people; a quiet and serene place with character and conversation in every corner. When we descended on the unsuspecting owners we certainly made it a little more rowdy but what can you do with a group of 10-15 happy people? We were well accommodated thanks to good connections and so we took over half of the room for a couple of hours.

Even when surrounded by great friends and endless entertainment and action I still can’t help but find my mind [and eye] wondering to the rest of the room and everyone in it. Sometimes it’s the small moments between humans that touch me the most; the little stolen glances and the bubbles everyone blows around themselves.