Canadian Dream | Maple Tea

So, you guys are ALL going to think there’s something wrong with my tastebuds/nose, but this tea smelled funky to me too!! It smelled delicious in the package, all sweet mapley sugar and yum, but once I popped the infuser into the hot water, it smelled kind of weird. I probably should have let the water cool down a touch more, so it’s my fault.

Anyways, luckily weird smells are gone once the tea’s a bit cooler. Unfortunately… most of the maple smell is gone too! :( However, the flavour actually isn’t too bad. The black tea base is fairly prominent, but actually kind of tasty (argh, I wish I could identify it a bit better!) and there’s definitely some mapley sweetness in here, although not as much as I would like. I may be somewhat biased, though, by the two maple rooibos blends I’ve had, which are very much MAPLEINYOURFACE (Autumn Leaves/Della Terra and Oh Canada/DavidsTea). So really, this is actually a fairly decent maple black. I imagine if sweetened, it would probably taste even better, so I’ll have to give that a shot.

Oh, and as for the base tea – I think what I’m being reminded of is the base of either Butiki’s Tamarind Pop and/or Raspberry Truffle. I’m not sure why; those are just coming to mind.

Also as kind of an aside, I think it’s really hilarious how this tea is called “Canadian Dream” yet the source of the maple syrup used for it is New England…

ETA: Re-steep was weird. I dumped it.

I am not even kidding when I say this tea got a song in my head…and so then it was obviously changed to…you make me feel like I’m living a Canadian dream~

Nope. Honestly can’t even think of a Canadian beyond Ryan Gosling for this to apply to (says the person who is obsessed with hockey, all my favorites are American, oops JUST KIDDING I found one: http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m0sj8jJSO21qe46u5o1_500.gif how could I forget when he stared me down last February. Sigh. Now on a different team. Cries.) Also find it funny that the description says New England maple syrup.

I still have yet to find a maple tea I really like. This one is okay, definitely smells of maple syrup but I am starting to feel like maybe it just doesn’t translate well for me with black tea? Not that it could really go with any other tea but at least this one is definitely drinkable to me. I guess I could always up the maple syrup.

Thanks, Itachi!

Tealux.ca has THREE maple teas… maybe because Tealux is in Canada? The dry leaves and tea certainly SMELL like maple… very sweet. It looks like there are little rocks/crystals of maple in the blend, with nice black tea. Also some peppercorns, though those aren’t listed in the ingredients. The flavor is a bit odd at first. I’m not sure how to describe it. It’s not a flavor I’ve had before and I can’t tell if it is the tea leaves or the maple. But it has a maltiness to it. And somehow the maple isn’t very present until the tea isn’t burning hot. The top of the tea had a sparkly residue on the top that seemed to be in two layers. When I moved the cup, one of the layers would move right, and the layer underneath it would move left. Interesting! Otherwise it’s a very muddy colored tea. I like this one! I can’t wait to try the other Tealux samples…

Maple. Maple. Maple!!!
Yes, that is what this tastes like. Overwhelming much? ha!
With a good dollop of astringency on the side of course.
I also taste a hint of chicory, I think, but it isn’t overly strong like the creme brulee from yesterday. I added milk and some sugar, and had it with waffles this morning. Not bad!
One thing I didn’t like was the oily film on the surface of the tea. I could kinda sense the greasiness as well, in the mouthfeel. However I can deal with that, it wasn’t too offputting! In fact, I may grow to like it, I hope.
Thanks for hooking me up Kittenna :)

Tea #10 from the ‘Here’s Hoping’ teabox.

This was my first tea this morning. The tea was lighter than I expected, and there was an oily film on top of the tea once it steeped. I know it’s the oil from the flavoring, but it kind of grossed me out. Especially first thing in the morning. Once I moved past that and was able to taste the tea I was pleasantly surprised. Lots of maple flavor, but nothing over the top. There was a bready note form the base tea, and the combination of maple and bread reminded me of French toast. Strangely, I haven’t had French toast in years and years, but now it’s all I can think about. Maybe we’ll have breakfast for dinner tonight just so I can give in to my craving.

Sipdown! Thanks Starfevre! This one is quite enjoyable. It’s sweet and has a nice maple flavor. It’s a nice maple tea. I wanna add vanilla almond milk to it… But I don’t want to ruin it… Mmmmmmm

The package said to steep this tea for 3-5 minutes at boiling, so I steeped it for 3:30 minutes at that temperature, and I’m afraid I may have oversteeped it. I’m getting the maple flavour, it was strongly present in the scent of the dry tea and is much more muted in the brewed tea but I can still taste it. The tea base, however, is strangely bitter, even after I added a bit of sugar (which brought out the maple flavour like POW!). I hope I remember to read my own review of this the next time I make it so that I remember to steep this for less time, maybe a minute or half a minute less, to try to avoid the bitterness. Otherwise, this is pretty tasty, although I am also amused, like another reviewer, that the maple syrup comes from New England (Represent!) while the tea is called Canadian Dream.

Sweet! So sweet! Smells very powerfully maple-y. I thought I was a sweet-oriented person, but this might be a little dangerous…