The top 10 mint tea in Toronto

The top mint tea in Toronto makes for a perfect way to relax and unwind, or to invigorate your appetite for prolonged feasts. Mint tea is a refreshment steeped in tradition, prized in Moroccan culture as a display of hospitality, and brewed, poured and refilled on repeat in a ceremonious fashion. It's a leisurely drink that can't be rushed, and really, that's the best thing about it.

Here are my picks for the top places to drink mint tea in Toronto.

Byblos

This new Mediterranean restaurant makes its Moroccan mint tea ($3.75) with hand-rolled organic green tea and fresh peppermint. Served in gilded glassware, it'll invigorate your appetite for the feast of mezze.

Tabule

Sweet, hot Moroccan mint tea ($3.95) is the drink of choice at this Middle Eastern restaurant. Get a gracefully-poured cup of the brew at Tabule's locations in midtown and on the east side.

Fat Pasha

Mint tea ($3) at this modern-Sephardic eatery on Dupont is made with sweetened gunpowder green tea poured over fresh mint leaves and served in coloured glass teacups.

Walima Cafe

This newly renovated Moroccan restaurant on Avenue Road serves Atai, the traditional green tea with fresh mint, for $6 a pot.

Sultan's Tent

Moroccan mint tea is served by the pot ($6) on a silver tray and poured from a theatrical height as a show of respect, and also to cool and simultaneously aerate the brew. It's steeped with green tea and mint, orange blossom water and generous spoonfuls of sugar per tradition.

Cafe Awtash

This hookah lounge on College offers aromatic brews like the Nahna ($4.50) steeped with freshly muddled mint leaves. On the side, add dates and saffron rock candies for complimenting sweetness.

S Lefkowitz

The hummusia on Dundas West steeps loose black tea with handfuls of fresh mint and whole liquorice roots. Stir in sugar yourself or pair it with a snack of organic medjool dates to sweeten your palette between sips.

Casablanca Cafe

This North African hookah lounge on the Danforth is a laid-back spot to watch soccer or enjoy a little shisha while sipping jasmine green tea loaded with fresh peppermint sprigs.

Marrakech Restaurant

This vibrant Moroccan restaurant on the Danforth offers a traditional Maghrebi mint tea mint tea service by the pot ($3.75/small, $5.75/medium, $7.75/large).

Pomegranate

The mint tea ($1.50) at this Persian restaurant on College Street is more mint than tea. Offered a teacup at a time, single servings of steep mint leaves come with sugar cubes supplied on the side.

What did I miss? Add your favourite mint tea to the comments below.

Thanks to Pure Leaf for sponsoring our coverage of iced tea day in Toronto (coming up on June 10th).

Photo from the mint tea at Pomegranate restaurant

by Liora Ipsum via blogTO

The top live theatre shows in Toronto June 2014

Each month we profile a collection of shows opening soon in Toronto.

Queer Pride 2014 / Buddies in Bad Times / May 31 - June 29 / $10-$25

The world's oldest LGBTQ theatre, Buddies in Bad Times, has a veritable rainbow cornucopia of live performance during World Pride. From comedy to drama and transgressive to celebratory, the shows reflect our rich and vibrant queer theatre practice. Some of the highlights include play readings of Just Me, You and the Silence and Genderplay, a night with Sharron Matthews and Gavin Crawford, the always funny Bitch Salad, The Lady Halmet, and Queer Bathroom Stories, tales from, where else, stalls and urinals.

The God That Comes / Tarragon Theatre / June 3-29 / $40

After a one-night only performance at Summerworks 2012, Hawksley Workman and Christian Barry are back with the second iteration of their performance piece, The God That Comes. Combining the "revelry of a rock concert with the intimacy of theatrical storytelling," Workman's performance was a festival standout so expectations for a full run are high. In the spirit of Dionysian excess, Workman delivers a bombastic take on The Bacchae, about the punishment of the soldier king of Thebes and his mother.

Angels in America / Soulpepper - Young Centre / June 16 - July 12 / $29-$74

You'd be hard-pressed to find a Toronto production more deserving of a remount than Soulpepper's beautifully imagined treatment of Tony Kushner's Angels in America. The realization of the "gay fantasia," rarely undertaken given the length and resources needed, was one of the best productions of 2013. On the strength of an incredible ensemble, faithful direction from Albert Schultz, and the enduring imagery of Kushner's world, the play continues to resonate. Check out our full review.

Cinderella / National Ballet - Four Seasons Centre / June 4-15 / $25-$100+

The National Ballet is set to have a romantic summer, with productions of Cinderella and Romeo and Juliet. These classic tales of youthful struggle have proven to be natural fits for balletic adaptation. Set to the music that Sergei Prokofiev created for the ballet in 1945, the current production of Cinderella, which originally premiered a decade ago, features choreography and staging from James Kudelka. As in the story, the dancing glass slippers allow the heroine to waltz into the heart of the Prince.

A Spirit's Face / Native Earth - Aki Studio Theatre / June 3-14 / $10-$20

Jeff D'Hondt's A Spirit's Face considers the masks that victims wear as a means of protecting themselves, and those in their lives, from trauma. When an Aboriginal palliative care worker and an anxious addictions counsellor start a relationship, a breach in ethics threatens to upend their happiness. Throughout the story, D'Hondt and director Ali Joy Richardson explore how, for their characters, trauma manifests itself physically, as well as emotionally.

Shelter / Tapestry - Berkeley St Theatre / June 12-15 / $55-$75

It's always exciting when new and innovative Canadian work appears on stage, but even more so when it's a new opera developed on home soil. Shelter, a collaboration between playwright Julie Salverson and composer Juliet Palmer, is a chamber piece about a "nuclear" family with a glowing daughter named Hope. After 21 years of being hidden away, Hope is called upon to fulfill her destiny. The performance will be accompanied by an Atomic Symposium, a series of complementary talks and readings.

Lead photo of Hawksley Workman in The God That Comes

by Keith Bennie via blogTO

Today in Toronto: Negroni Week, Books on Film, Elvis Monday, Sage Francis, Devonshire Pop-Up, Take on Me

Today in Toronto you can celebrate Negroni Week at a handful of Toronto bars from June 2nd to 8th. $1 from every Negroni served this week at all participating businesses will be donated to the Sick Kids Foundation. The Luminato Festivals's Take on Me exhibit will start to run on video screens today in Toronto subways, so be on the look out when you ride the TTC. For more events, click on over to our events section.

• Drink: Negroni Week


• Art: Luminato Festival - Take on Me (TTC)


• Music: Sage Francis (Opera House)


• Food: Drake Devonshire Pop-Up (Drake One Fifty)


• Film: Books on Film (TIFF)


• Music: Elvis Mondays (Drake Underground)

Have an event you'd like to plug? Submit your own listing to the blogTO Toronto events calendar or contact us directly.

by Aubrey Jax via blogTO

Morning rays over Toronto

Photo by Li Feng in the blogTO Flickr pool.

by Staff via blogTO

Vote: 10 new Best Of categories

Today we're opening up voting in our latest Best Of poll. Now you can have your say in 10 categories including rooftop patios, jazz bars, hair salons, macarons and greasy spoons.

Take the best of poll here

Voting in the poll ends at midnight this Wednesday June 4th.

by Staff via blogTO

What's better than brunch? Patio brunch.

What's better than brunch? Patio brunch.





Best Patios for Brunch in Toronto

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by torontodotcom via torontodotcom's Facebook Wall

The top 10 iced tea in Toronto

The top iced tea in Toronto is a mixed bag of endlessly varied flavours. Depending on the type of tea and optional sweetening, fruity blends, citrus infusions or even milky add-ins, this versatile chilled refreshment is an ultimate summer pick-me-up.

Here are my picks for the top places to get iced tea in Toronto.

Smoque N Bones

This BBQ joint near Trinity Bellwoods blends its sweet tea with muddled oranges, bitters and a house-made black tea syrup infused with star anise. The Southern-style brew is shaken and served over ice in mason jars for $3.50.

Momofuku

The noodle bar offers a refreshing iced green tea ($5) made with cold brewed sencha and lemongrass. Served over ice, the brew will cool you down, but be warned, it does nothing to alleviate the heat of the extremely spicy noodles.

Northwood

The house iced teas at this Christie Pits cafe are cold brewed by steeping for over 16 hours to form a concentrate that's then chilled and diluted to taste. Choose from roobois, earl grey and sencha variations, served unsweetened, for $3.

Grasslands

The vegan restaurant on Queen West serves a chilled brew of steeped hibiscus tea ($5) blended with fresh squeezed grapefruit juice for natural sweetness and lip-puckering tartness.

Cafe Belong

Nestled in the heart of the Evergreen Brick Works, this restaurant and cafe offers an effervescent jasmine iced tea ($3) sweetened with simple syrup, fresh lime juice and soda. Order it to go at the counter and bring it along as you trail through the Don Valley.

The County General

The popular spot at Queen and Shaw does a classic homemade iced tea ($3) that's steeped from Red Rose bags overnight. It's served unsweetened, though the bar is happy to add a little honey syrup to taste, or opt to make it an Arnold Palmer ($3.50) mixed with cinnamon limeade. Spike either drink with rum or bourbon for $5.

Kupfert & Kim

The vegan lunchonette in the PATH keeps batches of house-made iced teas on tap. Expect to find flavours like lemongrass, lemon and mint, or apple, rosehip and hibiscus ready for quick grab-and-go.

Swan Restaurant

The drinks list at this Queen St. diner includes a refreshing and not-too-sweet raspberry-and-lemon iced tea. Order by the glass in small ($3) or large ($5.25) sizes.

Sabai Sabai

This Church and Dundas spot for Thai tapas offers two traditional orange-coloured cha-yen cold teas. Priced at $5, one is sweetened with condensed milk while the other stirs in palm sugar and fresh citrus juice.

Swish by Han

Icy options at this Wellington restaurant include the tart and tangy Yuzu tea ($3) over ice, as well as a thirst-quenching iced honey and mint tea ($5).

What did I miss? Add your favourite iced tea to the comments below.

Thanks to Pure Leaf for sponsoring our coverage of iced tea day in Toronto (coming up on June 10th).

Photo by cliph in the blogTO Flickr pool

by Liora Ipsum via blogTO