During the summer, I thought it would be fun to do a series of different places to visit and while there enjoy the flora, fauna and a cup of iced tea.  Fist stop, Bridal Veil Falls just south of Hope, BC.  This area became a park in 1965 so like me it turns 50 this year!  Along the trail there are streams coming out of the mountains and the way the sun was shining it really enhanced the greenery of the area.

As much as I think I am a hiker I am really not, I have a bad fear of heights and I am not real sure-footed, but it was worth the trek to see this amazing wonder of nature!  The Falls are a beautiful site to behold and when I got really close I could feel the spray off the rocks.  The waterfall is 400′ and the way the water moves over the rock face it looks like a bride’s veil.  At the base of the falls we enjoyed a drink of iced tea.

I made Ceylon black iced tea and it was very refreshing.  Ceylon is the former name of the country of Sri Lanka and tea from there is one of my favourite because it’s a strong tea yet still light because it has a hint of flowers and citrus. This taste really comes out when the tea is cold.  Tea is grown in Sri Lanka from sea level to over 5,ooo’, the higher grown the tea the better the quality because the tea plants grow slower so they store up more nutrition.  The lower grown teas are mainly uses for CTC, and tea bag processing.

It was in Sri Lanka that Sir Thomas Lipton first uses the phrase “orange pekoe” to describe a nice, well-balanced black tea.   Orange Pekoe tea is sold the world over and has nothing to do with oranges!  The orange is from the ruling house of Orange in Denmark, the first people to bring tea to Europe and pekoe is the fine down on the new tea leaves.

The tea I chose for our iced tea is from the Lover’s Leap Estate in the old tea town of Nuwara Eliya in the high, central region of Sri Lanka.  Like our trip to Bridal Veil Falls, Lover’s Leap is named after a 100′ long waterfall on the highest mountain in Sri Lanka. The story told in the region is about a prince who lived long-ago and when he fell in love with a beautiful foreign girl he was rejected by his subjects.  The young lovers did not want to be apart so together they jumped over the falls!  The region’s has a tea plantation is located 5700′ above sea level and is open to tourists.

Pinkie’s Up!