Fairmont

Ok so I brought home a couple of tea bags from my conference :) i didn’t drink any decaf black teas while I was there. I wanted to make sure I had caffeine in my tea. Anyways this is a nice medium strength tea. It doesn’t say specifically how it is decaffeinated but I am guessing it is done via the CO2 method as opposed to the chemical method but I don’t know for sure.
I unfortunately added milk and honey to this cup before I tried the tea so I can’t say for sure but I think I could drink this straight or with just a bit of milk. I will have to try that with my other tea bag!

Ok last tea that I tried this weekend at the Empress hotel in Victoria BC that I am going to write about. I tried this during one of my breaks and found the bergamot was quite strong but the base not as strong as I would have liked compared to the scent of the bergamot. Still can’t complain not a bad tea; variations could be due to brewing conditions. I was lucky enough to have quite a selection of fairmont teas to choose from throughout our conference!

This was a nice strong Assam blend…perfect with a bit of milk in my travel mug to take to my lectures this weekend at the Empress. This was a stronger black tea than the Empress Orange Pekoe. Unfortunately I don’t have enough experience telling apart the different types of black teas to describe these teas properly.

Not a bad tea. I just came back from a convention in Victoria and although I could not afford high tea, they had this tea as a choice for us to brew ourselves during our breaks. The tea bags were labelled Empress orange Pekoe and a salesperson at the fairmont tea store in the Empress told me this was the famous tea served at high tea. Nice basic ceylon type tea…not as strong as I would have liked considering I was sitting in lectures for most of the day.

well bodied cup that I think I enjoy best as a daily drink. Affordable 100g bags are consumed quickly and the ceylon heavy blend is good plain or with cream/milk/sugar. A good base for chai blends or for a standard cup I think this provides a good “English” tea flavor. Not tolerant of over steeping keep the brew time under 4.5 minutes and brewable twice.

This tea is blended by Metropolitan tea company out of Toronto and has a few names Empress, 1908 blend, it is their standard blend available in the shop.

The last Fairmont tea for me to try. The teabag doesn’t smell the best, like the chamomile is dirty or something, so that sketched me out and I almost didn’t bother trying this.

Steeped though, the chamomile sweetens in aroma, and the flavour is overall smoother and sweeter than most of the chamomile teas that I have tried in the past. It doesn’t have that herbal edge that many do, which in a way is good because the flavour isn’t as medicinal. Although this may not taste as fresh and lively as other chamomile tisanes, especially ones that are in loose form, it’s darn good for a bagged one.

I have a really weird relationship with jasmine. Depending on the quality or type, it can smell beautiful or like moth balls. Depending on which other essential oils it’s blended with, it can create a symphony of gorgeousness or an olfactory train wreck. Up until now, every single jasmine tea that I have tried has smelled (and tasted, if you know what I mean) like moth balls. Lush has a shower gel called Flying Fox. It’s a love or hate kind of product, chock-full of jasmine and honeysuckle. Yeah, it’s moth balls for me. And almost every jasmine tea smells like Flying Fox.

This tea is no exception. Actually, to be entirely fair, the smell of the steeped tea isn’t nearly as potent as others I have tried in the past.

The first time I tried this, I steeped the bag for about two minutes in approximately 95°C, and the result was a heady jasmine aroma and flavour. Slight bitterness too due to the fact that I didn’t let the water cool enough before steeping.

But this time, I’ve steeped the bag for not quite two minutes, but allowed the water to cool longer, like maybe a good ten degrees cooler. The result is a much more delicate green tea with barely any heady jasmine at all. The green base is more evident too. Slightly vegetal and zero bitterness. The jasmine barely makes itself known. Cool beans.

Best tasting berry flavored tea I ever had. Most of the berry teas I had were too sour with tinge of berry aroma. This one has a very nice balanace of berries, apple, vanilla, sweetness and tang. Tastes very good without having to add any sugar or honey.

I’m sitting here enjoying a pot of this for breakfast while I plan today’s adventure.

The liquor is a rich, deep burgundy brown, and smells slightly sweet and malty. It actually reminds me a lot of the Empress’ signature blend, but with more Assam.

It even tastes like that too. I get more of the maltiness and it leaves a pleasant malty oaky aftertaste. I haven’t tried this with milk and/or sugar yet, but I’m sure it would taste very similar to the Empress signature blend.

Better than I expected. A good tea to grab in the morning when you’re in a hurry and don’t want to have to deal with the mess of loose tea leaves. I kind of feel like this should get a higher rating than the Empress since I’m preferring the more dominant Assam in this, but for now, I’ll rate them almost the same until I try this one with milk and sugar. That’ll be the real test.

This was another tea I had the opportunity to try while I had Afternoon Tea at the Empress. Straight up, this Earl Grey lacked balance. The steeped tea itself was very aromatic thanks to the bergamot, but taste-wise, the bergamot was a little weak. And the tea base was too astringent for my liking. Perhaps they steeped it longer than I would have liked, who knows, but the astringency took everything over. It’s the kind of astringency that leaves an almost dry feeling in the mouth.

A disappointment, but there’s no loss, quite frankly. There are much better Earl Greys out there that brighten my day.

I had Afternoon Tea at the Empress the other day and they serve you this signature tea. It was a really cool experience, but to be honest, definitely isn’t worth the money doing it again.

I had this both black and with tea and sugar. Either way, I couldn’t taste any of the Assam in the blend, however, the Ceylon and Keemun stood out the most. I’m writing this from memory, but luckily they give you a box of this tea to take home, so next time I try it, I can always reevaluate it.

This tea takes the additives really well. It’s exactly the kind of tea I like to drink with milk and sugar. Kind of like a Tim Hortons steeped tea double double, but without the cardboard flavour you get from the TH. My mom had Afternoon Tea with me and she said that it reminded her of when she was a little girl, her grandmother used to serve her tea with milk and sugar, and it tasted exactly like this. So this tea definitely earns points for bringing back good memories.

This is one of my favourite peppermint teas. I purchased a couple boxes after going to high tea at the Banff Springs Hotel.

It makes a great strong brew, perfect for clearing out sinuses from head colds or allergies.

Definitely a fan of this tea.

Had this one at the Fairmont Banff Springs this weekend with brunch. It had a nice rich flavour for a bagged tea, and totally warmed me up. Very good!

No notes yet.

Just for kicks I thought I’d try one of the bagged teas I had sitting around, and was very pleasantly surprised by this one. The bergamot to tea ratio is not out of the ordinary, but there’s a fruity component to the flavor that is quite compelling. My guess is that it’s coming from the Ceylon tea they used as a base, which was slightly malty and astringent in a good way.

Picked up during a recent hotel stay and becoming part of today’s “wind-down Friday” routine. I’ve always associated chamomile with an apple scent and taste, and while this one has that element, it also features a sweet grass/hay note which is nice. It steeps up to a bright golden color, and smells very fresh and floral.

The taste is naturally sweeter than other chamomile I’ve tried, and I like that. It’s really juicy, especially as it cools down, and between that and the meadow-like smell, I’m finding it a very relaxing cup. I don’t think I’ve tried specifically Egyptian chamomile before, so maybe that’s where this nice blend of characteristics is coming from.

One of the teabags I picked up last week during my hotel stay – it’s got a very fresh scent, and the bits of leaf I can see through the bag are a lighter green color than I’m used to seeing in peppermint.

After three minutes steeping time, I’m a little surprised by the notes in the flavor that I can pick out aside from the mint. The mint itself takes center stage, but is not as “breath minty” fresh as I’ve had with other peppermint teas. Aside from that is a pronounced grassy taste – I’d swear there was chamomile or some other herb in there, but I don’t think that’s the case. There’s also another aftertaste that comes into play, something akin to what it tastes like to chew on paper, which is not entirely pleasant.

This one’s okay, but I’ve had others I prefer.

Late in posting this. I actually dug this out during the Olympics when I saw this clip and ended up drinking quite a bit. They attend the tea about halfway through the clip.

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/35017294/#35558956

Wish that I could say I was lucky enough to go to one of their afternoon teas but… it was a gift for babysitting while relatives combined business with pleasure. It is a very refreshing tea with a little citrus aftertaste – like a mild Earl Grey.

I stayed at the Fairmont Banff Springs a while ago when my brother was working there, and I quite liked this tea, which was among the teas provided in the rooms. He surprised me with a couple boxes of it that he, um, “acquired.” I didn’t ask; he didn’t tell. :P

This is one of the few fruity teas I actually like. Tastes best with some honey.