Good Earth Sweet & Spicy Herbal Tea

This tea was given to me by my friend, Ina, who is a naturopath (and therefore an expert on all things natural!). She raved about this tea to me, and gave me a few teabags to try. Unfortunately, this is not available to buy in Canada...so if you have friends in the US who are willing to send it to you, count yourself lucky!

Sweet and Spicy is a rooibos blend of many different ingredients. Many ingredients. It smells just like its name, sweet and spicy. On drinking it, though, the overwhelming flavour is cinnamon, like those cinnamon heart candies that everyone except me seems to love, ha ha!! This tea also tastes like you've added a couple teaspoons of sugar to it. I've never tasted a tea that tasted sweet, but hasn't had any sweeteners added to it. I like the concept, as I do like a bit of sweetness in my tea.

This is by far the most flavourful tea I've tried. If you get the chance, definitely try it for yourself!

DavidsTea Hot Toboggan

DavidsTea Hot Toboggan is part of the Winter Collection from DavidsTea. This is a green tea, but I'm not sure that green tea is the main ingredient, seeing as it's so full of apple pieces and lemongrass. When it's steeped, it is really pale, and cloudy, so much so that it doesn't even look like a green tea. It smells sweet, like cinnamon, and the taste is a tart/fruity combo, which is really nice and smooth.

Get fired up

Playing in the snow can be pretty hard work. You’ve gotta stay energized. Focused. Warm. So, what’s in your thermos? How about this blend of green tea, apple, cinnamon, and almonds? You get all the benefits of green tea plus all the sweet, creamy flavour of a caramel apple. Pack some to go and you’ll really heat things up on the toboggan run. And with a tea this delicious in your hands, you’ll never want to come in from the cold. 

 

ingredients

Organic: apple, almonds, Saigon cinnamon, lemongrass, green tea. With natural flavouring*.

Allergens: Tree nuts

DavidsTea Creme Brulee

DavidsTea Creme Brulee was given to me by a coworker who didn't like it. When I open the bag, it smells sweet, with an almost alcoholic smell to it. Once steeped, it smells strongly of vanilla. The flavour is very smooth and mellow, I actually quite like it. I don't know what my coworker didn't like about it, but her loss is my gain!

From the website:

 

Sweet seduction

No one can resist this organic green rooibos tea. Seriously. The aroma is just too outrageously tempting. Creamy, caramel, decadent, rich. And the taste! How can something so sweet be so light and fresh? Plus, rooibos is caffeine free, making it the perfect drink for after dinner or before bed. Could life be more wonderful?

 

Ingredients

Organic green rooibos, organic safflowers, organic calendula marigold, natural flavouring*.

Some teabag teas!

In the course of trying to use up the tea I have before buying more, I realized that I have quite a few types of teabag teas. Now, if I had to choose between loose tea and a teabag, I would choose the loose tea hands down. But, there are times when I'm feeling lazy, or I'm in a rush and I don't want to deal with the mess of loose tea. That's when I go for a teabag. Here are my thoughts on a few Tetley teas...

Tetley Rooibos Vanilla  is my first Rooibos in a teabag. It smells faintly spicy, but once steeped, it smells faintly like vanilla and Rooibos (you know, that burnt smell). Drinking it, there is very little flavour, but I can make out a hint of vanilla, and surprisingly, it does NOT have the burnt flavour I associate with Rooibos.

Tetley Naturally Decaffeinated Lychee Pear Green Tea is a nice, sweet-tasting green tea put out by Tetley. I assume the sweetness is from the lychee, and I can smell/taste the pear essence as well. This is a nice tea cold as well as hot, and it's refreshing. It also travels well in the stainless steel thermos.

Tetley Earl Grey Vanilla is a surprisingly nice tea, for a teabag. The overwhelming aroma is vanilla, which gives it a nice creamy flavour. I swear that I can't taste any bergamot in this, but it's listed on the ingredients list, so I guess it's there. I like this one if I'm in a rush and don't want to deal with cleaning the loose tea out of my tea maker.

My tea collection

Okay - for the tea enthusiasts out there, I'm sure you would agree with me that there can never be such a thing as too much tea. I had a tea party a few weekends ago, and I put out my entire tea collection so that my guests could make their own choices as to what they wanted to drink. When I counted everything up, I realized that I had more than 80 kinds of tea. Aiee! The sight was a bit shocking to my friends, so I took a picture to share on my blog.

Having said that, since this picture was taken, I have finished off 5 packages of tea, so my number *is* decreasing.

Vampire Voodoo

I was looking around the Teastore website and placed a small order to try out some of their teas. They're a Canadian store with two locations, Ottawa and Kingston. They've got quite the extensive list of teas, and what caught my eye was their list of Holiday "Hallows Eve Blends". From that list, I picked Vampire Voodoo and Witches Brew, just because the names sounded intriguing. This morning I tried the Vampire Voodoo, and it's a yummy blend of fruity flavours. The ingredients listed are cranberry, apple, orange, vanilla, and cardamon. It was a bit tart, so I added a sugar cube to take the edge of the tartness away, but overall it's a really nice herbal blend.

My only complaint is that the teas have no steeping instructions, so I went with my standard 5 minutes at 100 degrees for herbal brews.

T2 French Earl Grey

Now *this* tea was quite a nice surprise, because I came home from work to find a parcel waiting for me! It was a box of French Earl Grey tea from T2, an Australian tea store. My cousin Ann in Australia sent it to me after reading my blog, and discovering that I love Earl Grey teas. She said that her favourite tea used to be the Twinings Lady Grey (just like me), but that since trying this French Earl Grey, she is now a convert to it. Nothing piques my interest more than hearing a story like this, so I opened up the box right away and cut into the plastic bag containing the tea bags.

What an aroma!!!! It was so sweet and fruity, I made myself a cup almost immediately (had to e-mail Ann first to say thank you!). I love the smell of this so much, I would wear it as a perfume or body lotion, if they could make one with this scent, it's just incredible. I then e-mailed my tea-loving friend, Anni, to tell her all about it, and that I would bring some tea bags to share with her at work the next day. Can we say "excited"?

I added some milk and sugar to my cup and the only way I can describe it is that there was a flavour explosion in my mouth. It was light, fruity, refreshing, pretty much everything I could want in a tea. Needless to say, I've already checked out the website, and they do ship to Canada (and shipping charges are quite reasonable!) so I might be placing an order for myself in the near future. And if I ever get the chance to visit Australia, I'll be taking along an extra bag just for the tea shopping I'll be doing!

Silk Road Red Bush Chai

The final Silk Road tea for today - Red Bush Chai

Awaken a world within
Flavour profile: a racy, invigorating, spicy character
Ingredients: rooibos, cinnamon bark, ginger root,
coriander, cardamom, clove, allspice

Mmmm, this one smells yummy and spicy! I can definitely smell the cinnamon and cardamom when I open the tin. The flavour is very nice, and smooth. If I hadn't known the ingredients ahead of time, I never would have guessed that it was a rooibos tea and not a black tea. I'm a big chai lover, so this one gets two thumbs up from me!

Silk Road Ruby Pagoda

Next up is Ruby Pagoda

Rekindle the soul
Flavour profile: a lively and seductive potion
Ingredients: rooibos, hibiscus flowers, rosehips,
rose petals, citrus peel, pink peppercorns

Opening the tin, this tea smells faintly fruity, and it looks pretty with the pink flower bits in it. I steeped it for 7 minutes at 100 degrees, and the brewed tea has that mildly burnt smell that Rooibos tea has.

Hmmm...the only flavour I can taste in this is the hibiscus. The aftertaste has the Rooibos flavour, which to me always tastes a little burnt. Very tart and astringent. All in all, I'm underwhelmed by this tea, and I'm glad that I only have a small tin of this, as it won't take me long to go through.

Silk Road Sublime

The next tea in my Silk Road list is Sublime

Monk’s Elixir
Flavour profile: green tea with a rejuvenating lime & lemongrass twist
Ingredients: Chinese green tea, lemongrass, citrus & lime extracts

When I open the tin, this tea smells delightfully lemony. I know I'll enjoy anything with lemongrass added to it. I steeped this for 2 minutes at 80 degrees and it's a nice pale yellow/green colour. The flavour is crisp, lemony, and very refreshing. The lemon flavour is neither weak nor overpowering, it's just perfect! This also works well for me as a cold tea. Not an iced tea, mind you, just a room temperature/cold tea. This one, unfortunately, did not travel well in the stainless steel thermos to work, as I found it lost its flavour after being in the thermos. Boo! I guess this one will have to be enjoyed at home!

Silk Road Casablanca

Silk Road is a retail store and spa located in downtown Victoria, in our historic Chinatown district. They are known throughout the city for their teas, and I went on a bit of a shopping spree there on my birthday(!!!). One side of their store is just tea. They have their teas organized according to type, on shelves along the wall, and (what I *really* like) you serve yourself! First, you choose the container you want, ranging from really small to fairly big, and fill it up with the tea that you want. They have stickers for each type of tea, which you put on the lid of your container, and stickers for brewing instructions as well. I really like this because you don't have to wait in line while a staff member does it for you (like at Teaopia and DavidsTea). I bought several mini tins of tea, and I've been trying them out since then. The first one I tried was Casablanca

Moroccan Oasis
Flavour profile: a taste sensation of sweet spearmint & intense green tea
Ingredients: Chinese green tea, spearmint leaves

This tea is delicious! Spearmint is one of my favourite ingredients, and it's perfect - not overpowering at all. The green tea itself is refreshing, no bitterness or astringency at all. It even travelled well to work in my stainless steel thermos. Usually green teas don't taste very good after they've been in the thermos, but this one kept its flavour really well.

Very impressive!

DavidsTea Pom Power

Well, it's been some time since my last blog post, but I've been busy drinking tea! I've got several reviews to get through today, so let's start with DavidsTea Pom Power.

Put this in your arsenal

Need help getting through the daily grind? Try pomegranates. Doctors have used them for thousands of years to heal just about everything. Warriors in ancient Persia ate them before combat for strength. But we love them because they taste amazing. With tart pomegranate seeds, hibiscus blossoms, and white Silver Needles, this fresh and fruity tea will help you face any of life’s little battles.

I love opening the bag and smelling this tea! It smells delightfully sweet and fruity, almost like candy. I steeped it for 4 minutes at 95 degrees, and I love this one both hot and cold. After steeping, the flavour is both sweet and tart, which makes it great for iced tea as well.

I definitely will be buying this one again, as it's something I can see myself drinking every day.

Teaopia White Butterfly

Ahhhh, Teaopia. My first experience with loose leaf tea was the Teaopia store in Mayfair Mall. I had noticed two of my coworkers drinking loose tea and thought it looked cool, so I decided to get in on the action as well. My original plan back then was to eventually try all of the teas that Teaopia had to offer, and I decided to start with the white teas which is how I came to buy the White Butterfly.

From the website:

White Butterfly is produced in the Fujian province of China where only the youngest leaves are gathered in the few days of early spring. The spiral twisted leaf and naturally white downy appearance makes this a delicate, clean, sweet and mild cup of tea. Not only is White Butterfly revered as one of the finest Chinese White Teas, but it is also naturally low in caffeine which adds to its widespread appeal in the tea community.

When I open the tin to smell it, I get a very faint scent of licorice, even though this is just straight white tea, nothing added. It looks like wrinkled little worms, which makes me giggle to myself when I think about it. I steeped this at 80 degrees for 2.5 minutes, and it has a nice clean flavour. This one, though, I can only drink when it's warm. Most teas I can still drink if they've cooled down, but this one I just can't make myself drink once it's less than warm. The flavour is great for warm water, but as a cold beverage it doesn't work for me.

All in all, a good white tea for someone starting out in the world of tea, or someone looking for a mild flavour.

Tea At The Empress

The Fairmont Empress Hotel is a downtown landmark here in Victoria, BC, and it is known around the world for its famous "Afternoon Tea". Having lived here my whole life, it might be surprising that I have never been to the Empress for tea, but the $58/person price is probably why I have never been (plus, there is the idea that tea at the Empress is what the tourists come here to do!). I never thought I would ever get around to reviewing the Empress' tea collection, but a coworker of mine happened to go for tea and came home with a box of 10 teabags of the Empress blend. Now, this coworker of mine is allergic to caffeine (poor lady!) and therefore cannot drink the tea she was given, so she passed it on to me, hoping that I would enjoy it.

From the Empress' website:

 The Empress blend is a selection of seasonal, quality teas, created exclusively for The Fairmont Empress by the Metropolitan Tea Company. With components from Assam (thick malty and full bodied), Kenya (floral-like flavour and a golden coppery infusion), South India (superb fruity and sprightly flavour), Ceylon (airy, almost piquant flavour), and China (burgundy depth with light oaky notes), it is truly one of the finest blends in the world.

She says she was told by the server that this blend of tea was not only created for the Empress Hotel itself, but also specifically for the water of Victoria, so that it would be perfectly steeped in Victoria water. Now this made me extremely curious to try this tea, just to see if the taste actually lived up to the hype (and that's some pretty big hype to live up to), and I was expecting to be amazed by this tea.

I was underwhelmed.

I drank two cups to give it a real try, but it just didn't grab me. It reminded me a bit of the English tea, PG Tips. I definitely think the overwhelming flavour in this blend is the Assam tea, of which I'm not a huge fan. It left a strong aftertaste in my mouth which turned to a smoky/burnt taste after a few minutes.

At some point I will use up the teabags in this box, but they won't be my first choice when I open my tea cupboard, and I won't be buying this for myself when I go to the Empress Gift Shop.

For those of you who live in Victoria and the surrounding area, the Empress has a program called Friends of the Empress in which you get a membership card and enjoy discounts in the restaurants, gift shops, lobby shops, spa, hair salon, the hotel itself, and various nearby attractions. I've used the card myself in both the Bengal Lounge and the Empress Room, and I'd like to go down to the gift shop to pick up some of their Mauna Lea fruit tea, which is divine.

DavidsTea Pumpkin Chai

DavidsTea has just brought out its new Fall Collection, which consists of Pumpkin Chai, Buttercream, Caramel Spice, Copabanana, and Mom's Apple Pie. Tonight I decided to try the Pumpkin Chai, because it felt like a cool autumn night.

From the label:

This autumn treat has it all. Add a little steamed milk and a spoonful of brown sugar for maximum mmm!

I opened the bag to scoop out the tea, and WOW!!! The smell is amazing! I could literally taste pumpkin loaf in my mouth just from smelling this tea. The label on the bag lists the ingredients as: Chinese black tea, caramel bits, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, pumpkin candies, and natural flavouring. The pumpkin candies are bright orange, which looks great with the black tea, and made me think of Hallowe'en. Following the serving suggestion on the label, I added some milk and brown sugar, and this is downright yummy! I was expecting a bit more flavour, just because the aroma was so strong, but next time I might steep it for a bit longer and see how that turns out.

All in all, a good tea for those cold and dark autumn nights!

Twinings Lady Grey

Let's start with my all-time favourite tea: Twinings Lady Grey. I love Earl Grey tea, and all the Earl Grey-inspired teas out there. But there's something about the Twinings Lady Grey blend that is just a cut above the rest. It is an Earl Grey (black tea with bergamot scent and flavour) that has had lemon and orange flavour added to it. I always add milk and sugar to this one, and as I smell it before I drink it, I feel like I'm in the midst of a fruit orchard. A non-tea drinking relative of mine said, "It smells like Fruit Loops". To each his own, I guess!

But I love this tea more than words can say, and I always have a tin of it in the kitchen, ready to go.

New Blog

Well, I'm finally getting around to starting the tea blog that I've been thinking about for so long. A few months ago (after saving my pennies for quite some time!) I bought myself the most amazing machine, the Breville One Touch Tea Maker and I love it. I can use both loose leaf tea and tea bags with it and I honestly think it's the best gadget I own. As a side note, I bought it at Teaopia and was able to use a 25% off coupon that I had received by e-mail, so it was significantly less than the $300 price tag. If you're a serious tea drinker, this machine is a great investment.

From here on in, most of my posts will be reviews of the teas that I try, and maybe some other tea-related merchandise. If you have any suggestions of products for me to try, feel free to post them here!