Granville Island Blend

I, like the other reviewers here, have forgotten what teas the vendor told me were in this blend. I remember Assam and strawberry and at least 2 other blacks.

The leaves are very small, some may be CTC but there are others that are a bit larger. It infuses quickly. Most definitely smells and tastes of fresh strawberry – enough so that I picked out strawberry from the smell before I remembered the vendor telling me it was in there. A hint of astringency in the last of the swallow makes me wonder if maybe a darjeeling is in the blend. The liquor is a deep mahogany color. I’m going to hazard a guess that it could border on the bitter if let go too long.

This is tasty.

Added a picture here that my husband took after my purchases at Granville Island Tea. :)

http://s1165.beta.photobucket.com/user/dagony/media/Q02A3541.jpg.html

This is the other tea I picked up there. I believe he described it as a blend of many black teas, including vanilla and pomegranate. So naturally, it smells of Monk’s Blend. Well, Monk’s Blend with Assam.

The leaves are a mixture of orthodox and CTC, like Cream Irish Breakfast’s.

They list their steeping instructions as 2-3 minutes. I did four instead. Mild tea, makes me think of a slightly malty monk’s blend (Assam? Mild? I suppose it’s their tea ratios). This is definitely more of an afternoon blend. Nice, though. Liking it more than the Ice Wine, but I think that one might just require some special attention to steeping parameters.

The vanilla and pomegranate are definitely more hints in the background. But I think they compliment it well. Assam’s a bit drying on the tongue, but that’s to be expected.

Sipping this out of my brand new Dalek mug, which I picked up for ten bucks from Golden Age when I was headed back from Granville Island. The bus was passing it. I couldn’t NOT stop. Of course, I get in there and someone’s completely cleaned out the Doctor Who comics. NewWho I could understand, but there was NOTHING in Classic either. Just two division tabs with nothing between them. Sob. The only figures they had were Four and Newly-Regenerated-Five, as well as “Rassilon” (I ought to punch RTD) and the freaky-faced robotics from series five’s second episode. I thought for sure they’d have a 11-Doctors-Hundred-Dollar-Set stashed away, but alas. No Pertwee action figures for me.

Sitting at home drawing the Shalka Doctor comic, and contemplating my Oz and ComLit projects.

Backlogging from this morning:
The vendor told me what’s in this tea blend but unfortunately I see to have forgotten it all. I’m catching a slight vanilla scent in the dry leaves mixed with what I think of as the standard tea smell.

Taste-wise it was light but at the same time rather astringent, so I’m thinking maybe darjeeling or a nepalese tea might be involved. I’ll experiment with it, but so far I’m feel rather ‘meh’ about it.