DavidsTea Advent Calendar Day 1

I was delightfully surprised to receive a DavidsTea advent calendar this year from my friend Ryan (a fellow tea lover), so that means 24 days of blog posts! Starting with the calendar itself, this year's is quite fancy (two thumbs up from me). The two flaps on the front open to reveal the boxes of tea inside, as well as a box which contains a shiny black tea scoop.

 

The boxes have ribbons on the top so that you can hang them on your Christmas tree, and inside each box is a resealable bag of loose leaf tea. For me, this is a HUGE improvement over the tins with screw-top lids that previous calendars have had, as I had problems with more than a few of the tins being so tightly sealed I had to crack the plastic on the lids in order to get them open (another two thumbs up, DavidsTea!).

Now, on to the tea...

Day 1 tea is Candy Cane Crush which is a low-caffeine black tea described as:

"This rich and decadent peppermint black tea is like a minty wonderland in a cup. Think creamy white chocolate drops. Crushed candy cane pieces. And tons of cute little snowflake sprinkles. One sip of this sweet, icy-cool blend is all it takes to get you smiling from ear to ear – especially if you add it to your next mug of holiday eggnog. Could this tea be any more festive? We think not."

Ingredients: Black tea, white chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, milk powder, butter oil, soy lecithin, vanilla extract), peppermint candy (corn syrup, sugar, peppermint oil, colour (red 40)), snowflake candies (sugar, rice flour, cottonseed and soy bean oil, corn starch, gum arabic, cellulose gum, titanium dioxide (colour), confectioners glaze, carrageenan, soy lecithin, artificial flavour), cane sugar, peppermint, natural peppermint and vanilla flavouring.

 I love the look of this...the white chocolate chips, the snowflake candies, and the crushed bits of candy cane really add to the festiveness of it.

Once steeped, it smells very minty, and it brews up as a light amber colour. The flavour is light and mild, and the mint left a nice tingle on my lips. No need to add milk or sugar to this one, just drink it straight up. This would be great to sip on a cold dark night when you're cuddled up under a blanket on the couch with a good book, especially with a bit of snow on the ground outside.

We're off to a good start, DavidsTea!

Holiday Tea #2 - Butchart Gardens

My second holiday tea was with my friend Charlene at the world-famous Butchart Gardens, and you can read more specific info about afternoon tea here. We went on a cold, wet afternoon so it was lovely to step inside the Dining Room of the Butchart family's former residence and enjoy some tea and treats. Our table was in the far corner of the former conservatory, so we had a great view from the windows, and even had a bust of a Roman emperor on the ledge behind Charlene (shades of my upcoming trip to Italy??).

The table setup was clean and classic - white and silver, you can't go wrong with that.

 

I love being presented with the menu, and this one was so big I had to take two photos to capture all of the info on it:

 

For my tea, I chose the Teaberry Blend, and I ended up liking it so much that I bought a 50g bag of it in the gift shop! It's just the right mix of Ceylon tea (my favourite type of black tea) and fruits (strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and currants) without the fruits being overpowering.

 

Once we had our tea, we didn't have to wait long before our server brought out our starter, the cranberry trifle. I was pretty much speechless after my first bite, it was SO GOOD!! I think we both oooh'd and ahhh'd over it and savoured every bite.

After enjoying the trifle we were then presented with the main tea tray - very impressive!

Again, we started with the savouries on the bottom. Charlene and I both hate egg salad, so we were able to substitute smoked salmon sandwiches for the egg salad (yay!). What we have on this savoury tier are:

• Cowichan Valley chicken salad, fig walnut chutney
• Albacore tuna salad, celery, and tarragon aioli
• Smoked salmon, caper cream cheese, red onion marmalade
• Sausage roll, green tomato relish, German mustard
• Smoked salmon and scallion quiche
• Glazed heritage ham, Okanagan apple chutney

That is a big assortment of savouries! I didn't think that I would have room for anything else after eating all of that, but somehow I managed. If I had to pick a favourite, I would choose the sausage roll, and the smoked salmon pinwheel a close second. The sandwiches all had a comforting, homey quality to them, which was nice to experience in a rather "fancy" environment.

Next up was the top tier and the signature house scone, with cinnamon berry preserve and Devon-style cream. The cinnamon gave a nice little kick to the preserve and the Devon-style cream was soooo good (I truly feel bad for people who can't consume dairy).

And to top it all off, the middle tier of treats!

 What we have here: 

• Chocolate Baileys Irish Cream truffle (in the cute little boxes)
• eggnog Napoleon
• peppermint chocolate meringue
• ginger spice loaf
• shortbread cookie

By this point, I was feeling pretty full...I started with the shortbread and thoroughly enjoyed its buttery goodness (it's hard to go wrong with shortbread). Next was the ginger spice loaf, which was also excellent (I love gingerbread/ginger loaf/ginger cookies). The eggnog Napoleon was also good, but really sweet...I've severely cut back on my sugar/sweet consumption in the last few years, so now I reach my "bursting point" with sweets fairly quickly. I think I finished it, but I may have left a bite or two on my plate. The peppermint chocolate meringue pushed me over the edge of sweetness, and I only took one bite of that. I've never been a fan of meringues or macarons because all I can taste is "sweet" not any actual flavours, but someone with a true sweet tooth would have been very impressed with all of this.

I have to include this photo just to show off the cute little truffle box! I took mine home with me and ended up giving it to my dad when I went to my parents' house later that night.

All in all, a very enjoyable afternoon tea with a scenic walk around the gardens afterward!

Holiday Tea #1 - Abkhazi Garden

This past holiday season I went for a total of THREE Christmas-themed afternoon teas. The first of these was with my friend Ina at the Abkhazi Garden, in the Rockland area of Victoria. There's a very interesting story behind the Abkhazi Garden, featuring a prince(!), which you can read about here. I've been here once before for the afternoon tea and it was lovely, but this Christmas tea was a little "extra" than the regular tea.

Note: "afternoon tea" and "high tea" are NOT the same thing. "Afternoon tea" is the fancy tea we think about the Queen sitting down to, with little cucumber sandwiches with the crusts cut off, delicate shortbread, cakes and other sweets. "High tea", on the other hand, is/was a working class meal served at the end of the work day, basically a working class family meal (what I would refer to as 'dinner' or 'supper' here in Canada). When I go out for "tea" I am going out for the fancy genteel "afternoon tea" a la Downton Abbey.

For me, presentation is everything. Ina and I were seated at a table for two in the front window, which allowed us to look out over the garden below. The tables for tea are laid out in what used to be the living room of the house, complete with bay window, fireplace, and lots of natural light.

Crisp white tablecloth and bone china

 What I love about afternoon tea is getting a menu of what I'll be eating. I can't possibly remember all the wonderful things that the server tells me, so having a menu handy is good for reference.

Look at that menu!

We started with the hot honey-buttered crumpets with housemade lemon marmalade...yummy! I love crumpets, and I love anything lemon, so this was a delight. I would have been happy with just a plate of those crumpets!

Ina and I each chose different teas (Silk Road), but for the life of me I can't remember now what they were (my guess is that we both chose black teas, Earl Grey for one of us). Then our server came out with the 3-tiered tea tray and we were blown away...

I like to start with the savouries, always found on the bottom tier. On this plate we had:

• petite tourtiere
• roasted turkey and cranberry croissant
• cucumber and cream cheese on whole wheat
• free range organic egg salad on rye (I let Ina have mine because I hate egg salad)
• smoked salmon profiterole with caramelized shallot cream and dill

This plate was so, so good! If I had to choose a favourite, it would be the tourtiere, followed closely by the smoked salmon profiterole.

The middle tier was next, the scone tier (quite possibly my favourite tier), and on this plate we had:

• freshly baked currant & cranberry scones with Devonshire cream and housemade preserves
• freshly baked cheddar scones with crisp apple slice

Now...I love scones no matter what, but when you have Devonshire cream to put on them...they blow everything else out of the water (not that I put it on my cheese scone, though, that would just be weird). There really is nothing better than a good cup of tea, a scone warm from the oven, and some Devonshire cream and strawberry preserves. Heavenly!

And finally for the top tier...the TREATS!

Eat your heart out, this was AMAZING!!

Now...Ina and I were careful to pace ourselves throughout the savouries and scones so that we would have room for all of THIS loveliness:

• mincemeat tarts
• dark brandied Christmas cake
• Granny's butter shortbread
• sugarplums
• Melchior's chocolate treasure

Let's break this down...mincemeat tarts? Love them! One of my favourite things to eat at Christmas, and this one was great. Dark brandied Christmas cake? I love Christmas cake, but this one was SO boozy I actually coughed/spluttered on my first bite because all I could taste was the brandy. I wasn't sure if I would finish it, but I did. Granny's butter shortbread? I loooooove shortbread, and this was delicious. Sugarplums? I had never had a sugarplum in my life before I tried this one, so I didn't know what to expect. It wasn't that much to my liking, so I had one bite and left the rest of it on my plate. Melchior's chocolate treasure? Yes, that is 24k gold leaf on the chocolate!!!! Let's have a closer look:

It was DIVINE!!!!! So chocolatey, so smooth, I loved it!!!! If I could eat that every day, I'd be about 800 pounds, but I would also be so happy!

This was a GREAT afternoon tea, and I highly recommend going to Abkhazi Garden to try it out. Keep an eye on their website to see when their special/holiday afternoon teas are coming up, and also go for a regular tea, you won't be disappointed!

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!