Today's Tea: Chocolate Orange

Chocolate Orange from DAVIDsTEA

Description: Some things are just meant to go together. Cups and saucers. Cream and sugar. Tea and cookies. And chocolate and orange. It’s a harmonious combo alright – rich, sweet and decadently dark. And this delicious pu’erh blend has it all: big chocolate chips to satisfy your dessert craving and zesty orange peel for a touch of fruitiness and spice. It’s the kind of thing you could get used to. Which is good, because you and this tea are totally made for each other. (MK Kosher)

Ingredients: Pu'erh tea, chocolate, orange peel, natural and artificial flavouring.

Allergen Information: Contains soy. May contain milk

Caffeine: 2 (Medium caffeine)

Brewing Instructions:  1.25 tsp    98°C/208°F     4-6 min

(From: DAVIDsTEA: Chocolate Orange)

Steph's Thoughts:
I went in to DT today, craving chocolate. I spoke with the TeaGuides, and they recommended a few, but they were all ones I had at home. I wanted to try something new. Chocolate Orange is the only tea that I haven't tried.
I'm not a fan of orange-flavoured chocolate. I don't like Terry's Chocolate Oranges. I'm often disappointed when things taste like orange (except... oranges. Them I'm okay with. Although not always. Some are too orangey). So you can understand my reluctance to try the Chocolate Orange tea. It is a pu'erh, though, which is often quite smooth. So I decided to bite the bullet and try it.
The TeaGuide mentioned that it's not really ORANGE, but more creamy. I don't necessarily know if I agree with her. It is smoother than most, but that's because it's pu'erh (which is awesome).

Dry leaf notes are definitely citrusy. There is the aroma of chocolate as well as the distinct smell of pu'erh leaves.
The steeped flavour is of a chocolate pu'erh with a bit of citrus. The orange isn't as overwhelming as I'd thought, but it's still distinctly there. It is on the sweeter side, so it doesn't require a lot of sweetener. I do like my tea on the sweet side, though, so I added agave. I might add a little more to bring it up to my sweetness level.
The Hubby , who doesn't normally like chocolate teas, says "mm, good!" In fact, he asked for more. I GUESS I can share.... While there is no vanilla in it, he did pick out hints of vanilla. This could be part of the chocolate, however.
It's not as chocolate-y as some, so if you're looking for a chocolate kick, I'd recommend another tea. But if you want a hint of chocolate in a smooth cup of tea, then this would definitely be up your alley.

Verdict: Pretty decent. It's not my favourite, but it's good!

Today's Tea: Crème Brûlée

Organic Crème Brûlée from DAVIDsTEA

Description: 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? (MK Kosher)

Ingredients: Organic: green and red rooibos, safflowers, calendula marigold. With natural flavouring.

Brewing Instructions: 1.5 tsp        98°C/208°F      4-7 min

(From DAVIDsTEA: Organic Crème Brûlée)

Steph's Thoughts:
This is a really beautiful tea to look at! I can imagine it would make beautiful tea art.
The dry leaf notes are rife with caramel.
I normally don't choose caramel, but Laura at DT was so excited about this one. Also, it's beautiful to look at, and it smells really lovely. It's what I needed on a cold day.
Never having had crème brûlée, I don't know what this tea is "supposed" to taste like. The flavour is really quite lovely, though. It's smooth and creamy without being overpowering.
It pairs very well with sweetener. It is on the sweeter side by itself, though, so I would be attentive to how much sweetener you're putting in. Too much and it's like liquid cavities. Not enough and it doesn't quite taste right.
It is definitely a rooibos, with the red leaf flavour coming through, though not overpowering the caramel.
I won't say it's my favourite, because it doesn't quite grab me the way others have. However, it is soothing and comforting!
It tastes alright both hot and iced (I had minutes from a board meeting to write and it went cold on me. Whoops), though I would recommend it hot.

Verdict: Pretty decent! If you're a caramel fan or like decadence, this is your tea.

Today's Tea: Mom's Apple Pie

Mom's Apple Pie from DAVIDsTEA

Description: This tea will bring you right back to your childhood. Thanks to the spicy aroma of cinnamon, the sweet smell of apples baking in the oven and the fresh green tea blend. Don’t remember that last part? Okay, so we added the green tea. It’s a great way to bring all the nostalgic flavour of mom’s dessert right to your mug. So wherever you go, you’ve got the warm memories…but not the calories. Mom would approve.

Ingredients:Green tea (China), apple pieces, cinnamon, artificial flavouring

Caffeine: 2 (Medium caffeine)

How to Brew: 1.5 tsp    82°C/185°F      3-4 min

(From DAVIDsTEA: Mom's Apple Pie)


Steph's Thoughts:

Today is FALL TEA DAY at DT, which is what brought me in to the store. That, and "my favourite and my best" TeaGuide was working, and I haven't seen her in a while.
So, with the advent of the amazing Fall Tea Collection, I was excited to try something new. I bought a tin of the Pumpkin Chai (oh my WORD, worth every single cent!), and hubby got a mug (and a bag!) of the Cocoberry (a black-maté blend with berries and coffee beans, with other things thrown in). Sugar and Spice (a black tea that smells like spice cake) smelled a little too strongly of cloves for my taste tonight, so it was a toss-up between Pistachio Cream (pistachio and mulberry leaves) and Mom's Apple Pie.

I was very hesitant to try the Mom's Apple Pie, because as you all know, I'm not a big green tea fan, but the smell of apples won out.

The aroma is the perfect blend of apples with a hint of cinnamon and sweetness. It smells fresh and invokes memories of harvest. It brings to mind images of an apple orchard during the fall harvest in days of yore, with luscious ripe fruit being picked by the whole family, with a pie-baking spree to follow in the country kitchen.
And that's just the smell!

The tea is sweet to taste, and unlike some greens, doesn't get bitter with a longer steep time. I've had my bag in the cup for over an hour, and it's just a strong apple tea, rather than *spit out* bitter.

The flavour is the perfect ratio of apples to cinnamon - you can taste the cinnamon, but the spice doesn't overpower the sweet apple flavour. The tea leaves are present, but again, not overpowering.
I added a bit of agave, which provides a more pie-like flavour. I can see myself drinking this straight for a bit of a "healthy treat."

According to my TeaGuide, this was one of the fall teas from several years ago, and they've brought it back. It's a good thing too, because with flavour like this, it'll be flying off the shelves.

Verdict: Green for GO! (really, I think I'm going to pick up a tin of this. Nom Nom Nom, and that's saying something for me to like a green tea!)

Today's Tea: Redberry Tonic

Redberry Tonic from DAVIDsTEA

Description: Ladies and gentlemen, step right up and get a taste of our revitalizing, tantalizing, exhilarating, invigorating tonic. Put some zip in your sip with tart and tangy hibiscus, rosehips, lemongrass and immortality-boosting goji berries. But that’s not all! We’ve harnessed the power of the legendary sea buckthorn wonder-berry, prized for centuries in Chinese, Indian and Tibetan medicine. You’ve got to see it to believe it folks, so get your hands on a cup today.

Ingredients: Apple, rosehip, hibiscus, lemongrass, sea buckthorn, goji berries, natural sea buckthorn flavouring

How to Brew: 1.25 tsp      96°C/205°F   5-7 min

(From DAVIDsTEA: Redberry Tonic)


Steph's Thoughts:
I stopped by DT today to pick up something new. The lovely and always effervescent Claire (I really hope I got your name right!) guided me to this tea. It's one of the new teas that DT has brought to market.

Apparently, it's very very healthy, as it's all-natural. Sea buckthorn (or hippophae) is supposed to aid in digestion (always good for me!), has very high concentration of vitamin C, and can also be used as a skin softener. I was also told that if you don't intend to resteep the leaves, you can use the brewed leaves as a facial mask.

Hippophae is also currently under research to test its effectiveness in treating inflammatory disorders as well as in cancer treatments, especially relating to bone marrow. According to Wikipedia, it's been used in traditional Chinese medicines for eons. AND - get this - research has proven that hippophae rhamnoides (common sea buckthorn) leaf tea reduces high-fat diet-induced obesity (in mice.... BUT STILL! HOW COOL IS THAT?!).

It steeps a vibrant red colour, most likely due to the hibiscus and rosehips. The smell reminds me very much of a very ripe, dark red apple. I wonder if the apple is a red delicious, because it's giving off a very red-delicious-y smell.

I've chosen to try this cold, and it's very refreshing. The hibiscus cuts through, but you can't taste the lemongrass at all. It's a little on the tart side, but not in a negative way. I could see making popsicles with this one with no sweetener at all. You could also make a cocktail out of it by adding gin or vodka, but I'm perfectly happy without.
There isn't quite as much ZING with this one as with some of the other hibiscus teas, which is good. It's a little more mellow.

All in all, it's a good summer tea. Hubby suggests it might make a good TeaPop; I'm inclined to agree, though I think you'd want to add a bit of sweetener if you were doing so. If you drink it straight, it doesn't require any sweetener at all.

Verdict: Yum. The hubby calls it "palatable." I think he's just tired and can't appreciate it.

Today's Tea: Yerba Mate!

For many years, I've been TRYING to be able to drink straight, unflavoured yerba maté. I have been grossly unsuccessful, until this weekend.

Traditional Yerba Maté is sipped from a guampa (a horn or a gourd, also known as a tereré) using a straw with a filter on the end, called a bombilla. 

One fills the guampa 3/4 full with maté, and then one has to invert the guampa and shake it so that all the teeny little stuff goes to the top. That way, it takes a while to get to the filter. 

Once you've shaken the guampa upside-down, you turn it right side up. The instructions on my package of yerba maté said that you wet the maté on the edge in one spot, and once the maté has soaked up all the water, you insert the bombilla all the way to the bottom. Once the bombilla is in, you fill the guampa up with water, and sip everything. 

Some say that when preparing the maté for the straw, you should use COLD water and let it sit and absorb for about 2-3 minutes before adding the straw.

 

The very first few times you add water, it may be very bitter.

Now, the VERY IMPORTANT thing about yerba maté is that you CANNOT use boiling water. If you use boiling water, the maté comes out even more bitter. 80°C is ideal. Also, resist the urge to stir this stuff. I know it's tempting with a straw in it, but don't. Just.... don't. 

The reason I've decided to do this is because for Christmas, we received a guampa, bombilla and a brick of maté from my brother-in-law. We got Pajarito from Paraguay.

We went camping this weekend, and I figured that it would be the perfect opportunity to try this out.

It would've gone a little better with someone who drinks maté on a regular basis to help us out, but in the end I think we did not too badly.

The first few sips were VERY bitter and I was a little concerned that I'd hate it. But after several turns with the bombilla (the hubby and I shared, as you are supposed to do, as maté is a communal drink) it started tasting a lot better. Either our bitter taste buds were so disgusted that they turned themselves off, or the taste changed to be a little bit more sweet.

Yerba Maté does have quite a kick, so it's not a good evening drink. It is also a bit bitter, though it can be sweetened. Refined sugars cut down on the health effects of maté (it's been suggested that maté aids in digestion, reduces certain types of cancers, helps with weight loss, combats fatigue, as well as a host of other things) so it is suggested that sweeteners like agave or honey be used.

The hubby suggested cupping your tongue around the bombilla and putting it further back in your mouth, and sucking the whole guampa dry (our guampa is really small!), which helps with the bitter taste. 

Also, the more cups you drink, the smoother and less bitter it becomes, while still being very flavourful. Ours tastes a little woody. 

All in all, I think our first experience with our brick of maté wasn't so bad. I'll ask for some help from a seasoned veteran and we'll go from there. But.... I think I might be a maté drinker. Not quite like some of the people I know, but .... getting there!

Something a little different...

Sorry for not blogging for a while, teaple. It's been a bit bananas. 

I've still been drinking tea, but I haven't ventured into the "new tea" category in a while. I ordered a bunch of 250g packages from DAVIDsTEA when they were doing their super-promo (I got a kilo of tea for $58. HECK YES), but it's all stuff I've reviewed before. 

I am, however, going to give you a bit of a review today. 

I was at McDonald's (yes, I know. Stop looking at me like that) the other day, and I tried one of their iced chai frappes. They are fairly decent, but there seems to be a ludicrous amount of dairy in them, which disagrees violently with my digestive system. Since I prefer to actually spend my day DOING THINGS and not BEING IN PAIN, I wondered if I could make my own. 

Short answer: Yes. They're not as pretty, but you can, in fact, make an iced chai frappe in your own kitchen.

What you need:

- Milk (whatever your preference is. I used 1%, but I'm sure you could use soy or rice or whatever)

- Vanilla syrup (Vanilla agave, or the vanilla syrup from Starbucks is what I use) (You could also use vanilla extract and sugar to taste)

- Chai tea (either bags, or you could steep loose tea. DAVIDsTEA's Pure Chai is perfect for this)

- Ice

Steep your tea. Add sweetener & vanilla to taste. Pour it over ice to chill it. Add desired amount of milk. 

Now, if you had lots of ice, you could put the ice in a blender and make it slushy consistency, then add your cold mixed tea. Or if you had lots of time, and some rock salt, you could pour your tea into a ziplock bag, put that bag in a bigger bag, add some ice and rock salt and shake until it was slushy (mixing salt into the ice makes the temperature go below freezing). This, however, requires a lot more time than one might have. When I want tea, I want it NOW, not an hour from now. (although, to be fair, half the time I make tea, it takes me an hour to even take the first sip...... Sooooooo .....)

I normally don't add milk to my tea, and even MORESO, not my iced tea. But I gotta say, the milk adds a nice bit of .... something. Perfect, anyway. 

Also, the vanilla agave? Apparently it's a bestseller at DT, because they can't keep it in stock. 

I haven't figured out where to buy a big bottle of vanilla syrup (that isn't $20) in Winnipeg. If anyone has any tips, please feel free to let me know! I'm always on the lookout for a way to stock my kitchen that doesn't involve wiping out my savings. 

Today's Tea: Pink Lemonade

Pink Lemonade from DAVIDsTEA

Description: When life gives you lemons, reach for this zippy hot pink blend. One sip is enough to turn any frown upside down. Not only is it packed with rooibos, hibiscus and other good-for-you stuff, it’s also unbelievably delicious any way you drink it. Served hot, it’s a tart and tasty throat soother. On ice, it’s an addictively tangy summer refresher. And if you really want to take it to the next level, freeze it into ice cubes and blend them up with some agave and a splash of vodka. Hello, grown-up slushie.

Ingredients: Hibiscus, mango, rooibos, lemon peel, lemon myrtle, lemongrass, stevia, cornflower petals, natural and artificial lime, lemon and sugar cane flavouring.

Allergy Information: Contains sulfites

Caffeine: 0 (Caffeine free)

How to Brew: 1.25 tsp     96°C/205°F  4-5 min

(From DAVIDsTEA: Pink Lemonade)

Steph's Thoughts
I originally got this one on Saturday (2 days ago), but as it was poured for me on the way to a wedding, I didn't have time to write a review. I did pick up a whole bag of it, though, so now I can drink it whenever I want!

My initial thought of this tea was "OOH PINK!" The hibiscus gives it a vibrant pink colour. The Saturday one was a lot more vibrant than today's; part of the reason is that Chris (my TeaGuide on Saturday) let it steep longer than I did. He also put more into the steeper. I have to ration mine because I don't have a giant tin at my disposal. (Oh, but I wish that I did.....)

This is one iced tea that surprisingly tastes just fine without sweetener. I wasn't sure I'd like it without. Saturday's had agave in it, and it was nice and sweet. Today's, I had no time to add sweetener, so I just left it, and it tastes okay. If you want a more juice-y tea, then add sweetener, but if a low-calorie thirst quencher is what you're after, this one fits the bill.

The taste is fruity, and not overwhelmingly lemony. It is tangy, but in a super way! The Hubby really likes this tea too, and stole a good bit of my first cup. I'm hoarding this second cup!  With every sip, I fall more and more in love! (Ha, it was a perfect fit for the wedding on Saturday!! I'm positive the bride would've loved it too, but bright pink tea would have been awful if accidentally spilled on a white wedding dress!) It's the perfect tea to be sipping on a summer afternoon, even if it DOES spontaneously start to hail....

I haven't had this tea hot, but with the lemon, if you add a bit of honey, I can imagine that it would be a super throat soother, with a pretty colour!!!

Another thing that I love about this tea is that it's BEAUTIFUL. You can see the beauty in the pic above. I love the way the pink and the green mix with the orange-y yellow of the mango.... I think I might have to make Tea Art out of this, and go buy another bag tin!!

Verdict: A-frickin-MAZING.
Stop what you are doing and go buy a tin RIGHT THIS VERY SECOND. (no really. It will be worth it!)