Kalasin

This is the tea that got me through undergrad. I worked a full time job while taking five classes, so I would spend all my “free” time holed up in the university library until they forced me out at the 11pm closing, desperately trying to do all my readings and assignments and research. I always had my trusty thermos at my side and a cache of Library blend tea bags (the horror!)

Now that I’m not constantly on the go, I’ve switched to the less-portable but ever so much nicer loose leaf version. This is just a great staple tea, and exactly what I think a breakfast tea should taste like. It’s a little smokey from the black tea, and a little vegetal from the green, but it all rounds out nicely for something that you can drink without being distracted.

I am conflicted with this tea.

Is it delicious? Yes! It is such a lovely creamy caramel flavour that stands very well all on its own. The tea is composed almost entirely of berries with hardly any white tea leaves in it, and definitely no delicate white tea flavour (the coconut and mulberries make sure to obliterate any chance the few white tea leaves had.) 25g netted me just enough tea to make two pots. TWO POTS, for $6! It is such a spendy tea, I feel like a sweet dessert tea fix would be better served with a caramel flavoured rooibos at a fraction of the price.

What can I say about the Skinny? I love this tea. I love that when you open the package, it smells like fresh orange peel with that bright sunshiney smell. I love that when you brew it, it tastes like lovely earthy ginger with a hint of citrus, and I love that it never gets bitter.

The fact that “it just might make you skinny!” hardly factors into this tea for me; it is just plain delicious, and is so nice to drink after a meal with the stomach-settling ginger and palatte-cleansing orange.

The smell of this tea dry is amazing: it’s such a nice smokey bergamot scent. Steeped, however, this tea has a very strong tendency to go very bitter very quickly, but steeping it for less time makes for an equally disappointing weak cup of tea.

When I saw this booth at the Sidney Nightmarket, I thought it was just another artisan tea blender taking advantage of tea’s growing popularity. Colour me surprised when I discovered that apparently we grow tea on Vancouver Island!

Being born in the year of the boar, and having a soft spot for all things vanilla, I settled on this tea in their selection to see if it was any good.

The tea brewed is darker than most standard green teas, but the first sip tastes like lovely toasty greens in the Japanese style. It has a smooth finish thanks to the vanilla, which allays some of the bitterness I find Japanese greens can have. All in all, a relaxing cup.

If we were rating teas strictly on a “looks” scale, this would be the supermodel-perfect-10 of teas. Holy crap, is this tea gorgeous to look at. Beautiful big brilliant pink rosebuds, petals, a scattering of fennel seeds, and chili threads strewn throughout.

The taste doesn’t quite live up to the promise this tea has dry. It tastes rosey, but not as overwhelmingly so as the dry smell would imply. It is tempered quite a bit by the fennel, which gives it a bit of a licorice aftertaste. It is quite yummy, but perhaps a bit too strange for an “everyday” tea.

When I first read the instructions for brewing this tea, I thought it was crazy. Boiling hot water for 15 seconds on green tea? Sounds like it would taste like nothing with an aftertaste of bitter. Boy, was I surprised.

I took a leap of faith and brewed this according to instructions, and it was delicious. The brew itself was the palest jade green, and the taste is vegetal, light, refreshing, and with just a hint of sweet. It is very smooth and not in the least bit bitter, and it tastes just as lovely even after multiple steepings (my record so far with one batch of leaves is 4; unfortunately it got knocked over into the sink!)

I like this tea, and I buy it often, but it isn’t as bright and cheerful as I expect peach to be. You really have to add honey to this tea to counteract the bitterness that this brew has even with a regular-strength steeping. I think this may be derived more from the tea leaf base – Ceylon – and the citrus peel than the peach flavouring itself.

I’ve passed this tea up in the store before, but something about it caught my eye recently. I think I just needed something to unwind with, and lavender sounded perfect. I feel like I’ve been missing out all this time; this tea is absolutely delicious! It tastes creamy, probably due to the coconut. It also tastes like lavender cake, and I can imagine drinking this before bed to relax after a stressful day. So yummy!

This is the way you wish marzipan fruit tasted: almondy AND fruity. It is faintly spiced as well, making it taste like a decadant fruit punch. It is a little flat and one-note, but it is nice for an afternoon pick-me-up.

This tastes the way you think a health tea should taste : very earthy, hint of ginger, and a salty edge. I feel so self-righteous when I drink this, like I’m doing something good for myself, but it’s not exactly the best tasting tea in the world and it certainly isn’t my go-to.

The dry scent of this tea is definitely Hubba Bubba. I expected it to have more of that alcoholic tang and I couldn’t detect anything of the sort.

The scent of the steeped tea is decidedly fruity, with a sour edge. The taste is a little tangy and peachey, but not in the least bit like alcohol. This isn’t a BAD tea, but it isn’t great, and won’t be a repurchase for me.

This is such a great refreshing tea, and a nice twist on the traditional Earl Grey blend. The green tea makes it lighter in body and the orange gives it a brightness that counteracts the sometimes bitter edge bergamot can have.

Walnuts in tea? What a terrible idea. “Let’s steep a super bitter nut and see what happens!” you can imagine them saying. Guess what! It makes bitter tea! No amount of banana pieces or coconut shavings can save this tea from tasting like a walnut.

No notes yet.

It’s certainly not bad, but it’s certainly nothing to write home about. It is just your average black tea blend, with a little smokiness from the Chinese teas.

No notes yet.

Dry, this smells amazing, though very little like chocolate. More like raspberries.

Brewed, the smell is hard to place: kind of fruity, but a little more earthy (likely from the chicory.) The taste is lovely, but definitely not super chocolately; it’s really all about the raspberries, with a little bit of sweet earthiness (again, that chicory!)