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.