Just Us

Wow, I went through this tea faster than I expected. I think that was at least in part because having it as a teabag was nice and convenient, plus my collection is a little bit short on non-caffeinated teas, so I sort of defaulted to it.

This was an X-mas gift from my parents so I didn’t really have the heart to tell them that I normally don’t care for red rooibos teas. And really, it isn’t that bad – this blend lacks the strong woody rooibos flavour that I so dislike and it actually mixes quite well with the spices. It’s a fairly mild and un-ojectionable tea all together.

Needed a quick tea bag, and this was all I had at home, other than medicinal teas.
This tea is really not minty enough for my tastes. I drank it without really paying much attention to it.

This peppermint tea is interesting. It’s not overly minty. It smells and tastes like pencil shavings, but this can be minimized with a very short steeping time. I continue to drink it, though. But I will not be buying it again.

Made a poor-man’s chai this morning by filling a quarter of the mug with milk and mixing in some of my cherry-flavoured creamed honey. Very tasty.

First cup of tea of the morning (well it’s early afternoon now). If you’re curious go read my old tasting notes on this tea.

Drinking this with skim and honey this morning. You can read my past tasting notes to see what I think of this tea.

I added a splash of skim milk to the tea this time and interestingly, it seemed to bring out the tanginess of the lemon a little bit. It also meshed well with the honey flavours too.

I’M BAAAAACK!

I got this when I was passing through the Ten Thousand Villages store on Granville Island. http://www.tenthousandvillages.com/

I wasn’t terribly thrilled with Just Us’ chai tea, but this sounded interesting and I’m a huge advocat of fair trade, so I went for it. And I’m glad I did. This isn’t a mind-blowing tea, but it’s a sort of pleasent, solid sort of tea that doesn’t pretend to be anything more than it is. It’s secure in its sexuality and all that. ;)

The smell of this tea is of lemon but without lemon’s sour bite – it’s like lemon candy or lemon syrup. The taste does have a bit more lemoniness, but it’s evened out with a sweetness that keep it from being mouth-puckingly sour.

I think this tea would handle milk and sweetener pretty well so I’ll have to try it out next time.

Steep Information:
Amount: 1 teabag
Additives: none
Water: 1 flavia cup full of hot spigot water
Steep Time: a little over 3 minutes
Served: Hot

Tasting Notes:
Leaf Smell: Black Tea, spice
Tea Smell: Black Tea, a bit of spice
Flavor: smooth black tea, couldn’t find the spice
Body: Medium
Aftertaste: cinnamon, then slightly bitter
Liquor: dark brown, barely could see through to the bottom of the cup

There was a film of oil on top after brewing, overall a solid black teabag, but not as spicy as I was rooting for.

Post-Steep Additives: none

Resteep: was a little weaker and a bit more bitter but very drinkable, it also colored to a nice dark brown

Mmm chai… Go and read my previous tasting notes if you’re curious.

My morning tea – I seem to like chai in the morning for some reason, maybe because my tastebuds are too dulled to detect anything subtle at this time of day.

On a side note: It’s also nice for dipping leftover Christmas shortbread in. ;)

I added milk and a bit of honey, a poor-man’s chai I guess you’d call it. It’s a nice, soothing drink to have on a cold day. I do wish it were a bit spicier, this chai is pretty mild no matter how long I steep it, it seems.

Just FYI, lugging heavy shopping bags around in bitterly-cold, windy weather when you don’t have a car, does not = ‘Fun’. This chai might not be particularly strong, but its mild spiciness warms me up quite pleasently and, when paired with a bar of Lindt Orange Dark Chocolate, makes a truly decadent snack. ;)

Blinks owlishly Why the heck am I awake so bloody early again?

Anyways this tea is oddly comforting to my still-half-asleep brain.

I’m drinking this tea without milk this morning, which seems totally wrong for a chai but it works somehow and the results are decent. Interestingly enough, I can taste cloves like WHOA! which was something I didn’t get when I added milk.

I picked this up at the Ten Tousand Villages craft fair last weekend. It’s a non profit organization that sells fair-trade products from all over the world. The things they sell are all handcrafted and there some absolutely gorgeous and unique things for sale – plus it all goes to a good cause, the money going directly to the artisans and helping to improve their lives. Here’s a link to their website (I hope this doesn’t count as spam):
http://www.tenthousandvillages.com/

Anyway, so I was attracted mainly by the fact that this tea is fairly-traded and organic (which is always a good thing as well) and not hideously expensive. It’s not a bad tea by any stretch of the imagination, but the spices are rather weak, almost an afterthought to the tea instead of the main event.

The black tea base itself is pleasently smooth and flavourful though, which is a nice change as I’m used to crap teas being used for chais.

Fairly traded. Very good, but I prefer the fuller flavour of Twinings’ Earl Grey.