Murchies Ms. Grey

This is the last of the three teas that Kathy gave me for Christmas: Ms. Grey from Murchies. The website describes it as:

Murchie's Ms Grey is a smooth black blend that is very easy to drink. The bergamot gives light, bright citrus flavour; hints of lemons and oranges, that make us think of a villa in the south of France.

Ms. Grey has the same base blend of teas as Earl Grey (Ceylon, Darjeeling & Himalayan, and Keemun), but about half the bergamot: Darjeeling is an addition to Earl Grey that is fairly unique to Murchie’s, and makes this tea smooth and layered.

As I've written before, I love Earl Grey and all variations thereof - this one is no exception. You can definitely notice the "lack" of bergamot (if you're used to drinking an Earl Grey) but I find this one to be quite nice in its own right. Nothing overpowering, nothing overwhelming, just a hint of the essence of Earl Grey. Very nice and light for an early afternoon tea!

Murchies Scottish Breakfast

Today's tea is the second of the three teas that Kathy gave me for Christmas...Murchie's Scottish Breakfast. The description from the website describes it as:

Murchie's Scottish Breakfast tea is blended to be full bodied, brisk, malty and oaky, with a hint of natural smokiness. Great with milk and sugar – or drink it ‘neat’ for a rich, robust cup.

With this strong, well-rounded black blend with Assam, Ceylon and Yunnan teas, Murchie’s celebrates our Scottish heritage. (Grandpa John Murchie emigrated to Canada from Scotland, where he delivered teas in the Scottish Highlands)

I agree with this completely - this is a VERY robust and hearty tea. It is definitely not for the faint of heart if you want to drink it without BOTH milk and sugar. This has become my "go-to" tea on mornings when I wake up and don't think I have the energy to go to work, and would much rather just go back to bed. It gets my brain going for sure, and I have yet to go back to bed after having my cuppa, ha ha!

As the name suggests, it is definitely a breakfast tea - I would never drink this in the afternoon or evening, it's just too strong of a tea for that.

This one is a keeper for sure!

Murchies Balmoral Blend

I can already tell that this is going to be a great year of tea drinking!

Today's tea is Balmoral Blend from Murchie's (a Christmas present from my friend Kathy), and it is a black breakfast tea.

First of all, if you don't live in Victoria or Vancouver, you may have never heard of Murchie's Fine Tea and Coffee, which is a shame, because this place is fantastic. John Murchie started out working for Melrose's of Scotland, and one of his jobs was DELIVERING TEA TO QUEEN VICTORIA at Balmoral Castle (how cool is that?!?!). He continued to grow and develop his skills as a tea blender, passing down his knowledge to his son, which was Scotland's loss and Canada's gain when they immigrated to Canada in 1894. They founded Murchie's Tea and Coffee in New Westminster, and locations have expanded to include 2 here in Victoria (downtown and Hillside Mall), 4 in Vancouver, and 1 each in Surrey, North Vancouver, and West Vancouver. The head office/manufacturing facility is in Delta.

Several years ago I went to the Tea Festival here in Victoria and went to a lecture put on by the staff of Murchie's. The coolest thing I learned was that at one point in the early days, they had a book of all the different blends they made for the families of the city (apparently each family had its own special blend, how swanky!). The number of blends they had in their book was 10,000 - yes, ten THOUSAND! Can you imagine 10,000 different blends of tea?!?!?! Amazing!

Anyway - back to the tea of the day. Kathy gave me 3 teas and I pulled Balmoral Blend out of the cupboard first. Now, if you know me, you know I love the royal family, castles, Scotland, and all that jazz. Balmoral makes me think of Queen Victoria, and the current queen who spends her summers there.

A description from the website:

"Murchie's Balmoral Blend Tea was originally blended for York House School – a private school for girls which has been an institution in Vancouver for over 75 years.

This blend is also a nod to Murchie's Scottish roots, as Balmoral Castle is the Queen’s official residence (palace) in Scotland, where John Murchie would deliver teas to Queen Victoria, before he came to Canada and founded Murchie’s in 1894.

Recommended for traditional tea lovers, fans of Irish Breakfast, English Breakfast, Scottish Breakfast and Assam Pure looking for a different mix of teas or tea drinkers looking for a strong black blend with some briskness but not as much as pure Ceylon."

My impression: This is a really nice (strong) breakfast tea, made up of Ceylon and Assam teas. Ceylon is my favourite black tea, and Assam is always great for a strong, malty flavour, which is what I want in a breakfast tea. If I close my eyes, I can picture myself at Balmoral, sitting at the breakfast table with the queen, each of us sipping tea while we enjoy a hearty breakfast of bacon, eggs, and maybe some haggis and tattie scones.

Overall rating: 10/10

TWG New York Breakfast Tea

Happy New Year!! I hope everyone received some great teas for Christmas! My sister Erica surprised me with 4 different teas I had never tried before, and my friend Kathy gave me 3 black teas from Murchies (again, teas that I have never tried before). Tasting new teas makes me so happy, yay!

 Today I'm starting with a fancy one my sister gave me, New York Breakfast Tea by TWG Tea.  I've been to the TWG store in Vancouver (which is their ONLY Canadian location) and was overwhelmed by the variety of their teas and amazed by their packaging (I'm a sucker for fancy packaging).

Seriously...how cool is this?!?! It's a 100-gram tin in a matching box, and it comes with a little booklet which tells you about the company and its "haute couture" tea collection.

(they also do "afternoon tea", breakfast, all-day food, and even alcoholic bevvies - check out the menu here )

I've had another of their teas, 1837 Black Tea, which was *amazing*, so I was expecting this New York Breakfast Tea to be great as well.

I WAS NOT DISAPPOINTED!! The description from the website says:

"A contemporary masterpiece evocative of the sparkling city that never sleeps, this extraordinary black tea is an inviting whole-leaf Assam blended with rich and malty sweetness. A tea to savour from morning ‘til far into the night."

The ingredients in this are simply black tea and cocoa husks - simple, nothing bad, no chemicals. It has a strong malty flavour, which is the Assam tea, and the cocoa husks give it a nice burst of chocolate, but without being overpowering or fake-sweet.

This tea is a bit pricey ($40 for 100g), so it's not an every day tea for me (I'd go through it far too quickly, ha ha!), so it will become my "weekend" tea and I'll be able to enjoy it for quite a while to come.

Overall rating: 10/10!