Today's Tea: Gingerbread

Gingerbread from DAVIDsTEA

Description: For the past four years, all we wanted for Christmas was a gingerbread tea. Every winter, we’ve pestered David for a spicy-sweet, festive tea. But he just couldn’t find the perfect blend…until now. And with its warm, comforting aromas of ginger, cinnamon and molasses, this rich rooibos tea totally worth the wait. It has the most nostalgic aroma you can imagine – like gingerbread cookies baking in the oven. And the taste is everything we hoped for and more. Thank you David! Now…what will we ask for next year?

Ingredients: Rooibos, green rooibos, honeybush, cinnamon, currants, crystalized ginger, pineapple, safflower petals, natural and artificial flavouring

Caffeine: 0 (Caffeine free)

Steeping Instructions: 1.25 tsp     96°C/205°F 5-7 min

(From DAVIDsTEA: Gingerbread)

Steph's Thoughts:
NEW HOLIDAY TEAS YAYE! Technically this isn't part of the collection, but a new-release.

I really wanted to try this tea, though initially I wasn't terribly keen on the smell. You can smell the ginger and pineapple. I waffled over it for a bit - I LOVED the concept, but there was just something about it that was missing. One of the TeaGuides at St. Vital assured me that this tea was really good as a latte, so I decided to trust her judgement and try it with skim milk.

At first, I wasn't too keen on the taste either. It wasn't quite what I was looking for. I think I was missing the molasses taste. And honestly, I think that's what it's missing - that sticky-sweet molasses flavour that makes a great, great gingerbread. Maybe I can try adding some to my next cup to see if that's what it's missing.

I let both the Hubby and another tea-loving friend try it as well. Hubby said, "um. Interesting. Something's not quite right." But my friend really, really loved it. She said it had the right mix of ginger and spice. Also, Laura (the Manager TeaGuide at both St V. and Grant Park) said that she isn't normally a fan of ginger, but that she really, really liked this tea. So I'm getting lots of opinions. 

HOWEVER, I will add this. This tea pairs very, very well with fish fingers and custard. I know that sounds like an odd pairing. It's a Doctor Who thing.
But, as the Tenth Doctor says, "Tea! That's all I needed, a good cup of tea! Superheated infusion of free radicals and tannin. Just the thing for healing the synapses."  From The Christmas Invasion) 

Doctor Who, fish fingers and custard, great friends and tea. Could I ask for a better Friday night?

Verdict: Still making up my mind. Some sips are amazing, some are not quite right. But it's not bad!

Today's Tea: Happy Kombucha

Happy Kombucha Oolong from DAVIDsTEA

Description: Our deliciously fruity blend has its roots in the 1960s, when every cool hippie was growing kombucha. Today, hipsters are again promoting this fermented tea for its delicious taste and good vibes. We’ve combined it with oolong, mango, pineapple and safflowers to make it taste like a golden ray of psychedelic sunshine. Yeah.

Ingredients: Oolong tea, mango, pineapple, Kombucha Powder, safflower petals, artificial flavouring*.

Allergen Information: Contains gluten-free wheat starch

Caffeine: 1 (Low caffeine)

Brewing Instructions: 1.5 tsp     94°C/201°F       4-7 min

(From DAVIDsTEA: Happy Kombucha)

Steph's Thoughts:
I felt like picking up an oolong yesterday, so I went to DT. The Tea Guide at St. Vital recommended Happy Kombucha.

The dry leaf notes are sweet, with pineapple and mango. I want to compare it to Mango Madness, but with a little more dried pineapple.

Those two flavours come out very strongly in the tea itself. I don't know what kombucha is supposed to taste like, or even what it is, really.

A quick Google search informs me that Kombucha is a fermented sweetened black tea (or I suppose you could use oolong as well...). The tea is fermented using a "symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast." (from Wikipedia) Some claim that kombucha has significant health benefits, lessening the effects of arthritis, depression, heartburn, and even cancer. It is also claimed to be full of probiotics and other gut-happy things. I don't know if science has PROVEN any of these claims to be true, but ... one can always hope, right? A tea that makes my gut, brain AND body happy? I could get behind that. And one that tastes amazing too? Yup. Done and done!

The tea itself is very sweet, and doesn't require a lot of sweetener. Because it is an oolong, though, it does have the potential to get bitter if steeped too hot or too long. I, however, left the teabag in for 24 hours (yeah, it takes me a long time to drink a cup of tea...), but due to the sweetener that I added it's still good!
I prefer this tea warm, but it is also refreshing when iced. It's a very versatile all-season tea!

Verdict: Nicely done, DT! Another yummy tea. Fruity and healthy.

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!