Banff Tea Co., The

It’s amazing what you find when you delve way back into your tea cupboard. This was given to me as a gift several months ago, and has been shuffled around (and back into the far corner) since then. I found it tonight and decided to give it a try. Glad I did.
This is a fun little maple tea. It’s sweet, it’s mapley, it’s a bit creamy. I like it and am sorry that I hadn’t tried it until now.

It basically tastes like a slightly chocolaty earl grey tea. It is very nice.

De-cupboarding this tonight. I just wanted to note that I had it with a splash of milk for the first time, and it’s really fabulous that way. (For the longest time I had cut milk completely out of my tea on the basis of it negating so many health benefits to tea. Not that health benefits are the reason I drink tea, but if I’m going to drink so much of it, it would be best to maximize its benefits. Unfortunately, easy tea lattes from Teaopia near work got me re-hooked on tea with milk, so now I am always stuck bargaining with myself – 10 cups without, 1 cup with…)

Unfortunately, this is not an easy re-purchase, because the store it’s from is in Banff. I could order it through their website, and I might eventually do just that – but I’ll hold off for now. (I also asked about a chocolate Earl Grey on the DAVIDs Facebook page, as I’d be curious to see how DT did this idea.)

In the meantime, this one has really grown on me and I will miss it!

This tea tastes like one would expect a digestive tea to taste. It has all the flavours one associated with stomach-ache cures; for me, that’s ginger and mint. I’m not a huge fan of the flavour of herbal teas, so I marked it down for that reason, also it was one of the more expensive teas in the shop (still cheap compared to other fine tea retailers). However, I did drink some of this tea when a stomach ache hit after some enchiladas, and after a few sips all my discomfort was gone.

This is an amazing tea with a well suited name. I really believe that if Eros had a tea-form, it would definitely smell/taste like this. In fact, I think that this tea should count as aromatherapy on top of being a fantastic tea.
As it’s roobois, I tend to drink this in the evening and it is a fantastic way to relax. The caramel, chocolate, and flower all come together to make perfection. I don’t usually like caramel and chocolate flavoured teas, but here they are perfectly complementary with the other flavours that I can’t really imagine it without!
Another thing: I am a slow drinker, but this tea holds its flavours well without becoming bitter. Tea is higher priced for store, but overall a great bargain compared to some other higher end tea companies.
I definitely recommend this. Hands down my favorite tea!

I tend to find that chocolate teas have something of an odd common…undertaste? No. Aftertaste? No. “Back” taste, is what I’d call it, as it’s a strangely dusty, somewhat bitter taste at the back of my tongue. Only really good chocolate teas don’t have it.

This tea smells like the backtaste of it would be strong. It’s an Earl Grey…with chocolate chips. My god, what an odd combination. And the smell is sort of icky. But I decided to steep it anyway, to try to use it up.

It’s not even mine, you see, it’s my mother’s. Evidently she and my aunt were in Banff for a knitter’s retreat (although why knitting requires retreating, I cannot figure – if they’re so pleased with themselves for knitting, why don’t they hold their ground?) and the two of them got excited looking around a local tea shop. She came home with three teas, but she was most excited about this one. You know. Because it has chocolate in it, and my mother is one of those people who likes chocolate brownie covered in chocolate icing and drowned in chocolate syrup and raspberries made out of chocolate and eaten off a chocolate plate with a chocolate spoon and spit on by a waiter with chocolate saliva.

But she hasn’t used up this tea (or the other two) in a year and a half. I don’t know – maybe there’s not enough chocolate in it.

So I steeped this up with some brown sugar, and it’s surprisingly good. I definitely understand the name; it certainly makes me think of kicking back in a warmly lit room and playing some jazz on the stereo. Hah, I don’t even own a stereo. It’s Earl Grey. With chocolate. It’s like a sophisticated, finely constructed armchair with well-worn cushions that have never been re-upholstered. It’s a bit bittersweet – which puts you in exactly that mood.

I think I’m going to go steep some more of this and listen to, “I Will Always Love You,” on repeat like I was last night. Not exactly jazz, but I think it will go.