The Tea Place

The blueberry black I tried from the same company wasn’t so hot, but this one from the Traveling Tea Box smelled a lot better! Well, that makes it seem like the blueberry black was gross or something—it wasn’t, perfectly palatable, just not blueberry at all.

This one is a lot better! The blueberry still is not that strong, but subtlety is nice in a green blend. It’s a little floral as well, just like the blueberry black. For some reason there are no real floral blueberry blends, but I think it’s a flavor that would go well with rose! Perhaps I should try mixing some of my own, hmm.

Anyway, this is a nice blueberry tea. Not too strong but not weak either. It seems like one of the harder tastes to get just right for some reason, often it’s just not quite as strong as I’d like!

So I went to pick up my Verdant from my friend and stopped at the local tea store The Tea Place today, as I looked online and gasp THEY SELL HARNEY & SONS!! I have been wanting to try their teas for ages but have held off due to their apparent Canadian customer service. So I picked up 15 satchets of Paris, came REALLY close to buying a tin of Tower of London, but held off. Also got 50 g of my favorite pear rooibos that the store carries, I’ll have to look for it on Steepster. Oh, and they also have Sloane Tea Company tea, was very tempted by that as well but I will wait a bit, I’ve gone tea crazy today!

Anyways, onto this tea…I looked for it online but could not find the right one I don’t think, so it’s going under unknown, I just got a to go cup of it, and it strangely tastes like a milk oolong, although it’s apparently a Ceylon? And it got massively oversteeped in the to go, but it is still tasty, albeit not as strawberry flavored. And I burnt my tongue miserable on it when I tried to taste it before it got oversteeped :( but overall a tasty cup! Might pick up 50 g at some point! So yes, a very good tea day! This store has a pretty large selection, so I will have to try a bunch more from there!

Went to The Tea Place this to pick up more of this lovely tea and found out that the shop is being sold. I’m so sad because it is a great little store/tea house. I wish I could buy it myself, but there’s no way that’s going to happen. Hopefully another tea aficionado will take care of this little gem and keep selling me my favorite vanilla tea. Fingers crossed that good things will happen!

This has become my favorite vanilla tea. It is delicious, and with a little cream and sugar it is a great before bed treat.

Backlogging.

I made a trip back to my local(ish) tea house to pick up a few new teas. My main goal was to find some non-hibiscus, non-rooibos herbals, but when I was reading through their tea menu I saw this and knew I had to try it. Vanilla flavored black tea with white tea stars added… cute!

After getting home with my purchases I decided to give this one a try. While I was putting water in the kettle the water temperature issue hit me. If I boil the water I’ll burn the white tea. If I don’t boil the water the black tea will be gross. Sigh. So I took all of the tea stars out of the package and made myself a cup of vanilla black tea. I’ll save the white tea for another day. Two teas for the price of one! What could be better?

The tea is good. Really good. In fact, it’s my new favorite vanilla tea. The Assam brews up very dark and has a full flavor. The vanilla is wonderful. No artificial taste. No weird lingering scent. The two are well blended so it is easy to taste the tea and the vanilla throughout the cup. This tea is simple but so, so good. I could drink this morning, noon, and night and be a happy girl.

I’m curious about the tea stars and will be giving them a try soon. I’ll probably wait until next week when everyone else is out of the house and I can stop and really enjoy them.

I should just accept that I’m not a rooibos person. The only reason I keep trying rooibos is that I am already anti-hibiscus, and avoiding both would seriously limit the tisanes available to me. Who needs limits?

So, I don’t hate this blend, but I don’t love it either. There is a caramel like sweetness, but I’m not tasting the pear. The rooibos is heavy enough that distracts from the other flavors. So what I’m left with is a really sweet rooibos. If I were more of a rooibos person this would probably be very nice.

This one is easy enough to sip. Unfortunately, it’s also easy enough to forget. So the hunt for great herbals and tisanes continues….

I’ve been using the tea randomizer (jaydeee.net) to pick my morning tea. It’s fun, and I’ve been drinking teas that have been lingering in the back of my cupboard. Sometimes I get so focused on my newest teas that I forget that I have a bunch of other tasty options that also deserve to be drunk.

Today’s choice was blueberry green. I really do like this tea. It’s still one of my daughter’s favorites, so I’ve been leaving it for her, but I should drink this more often. It’s a really lovely green tea with a great blueberry/floral flavor. Nothing overwhelming, just a nice light cuppa.

I had a (really good) citrusy IPA earlier, and it’s stuck in my brain. I was getting ready to make myself some lemon jasmine tea when I remembered that I had put this in the refrigerator to cold brew last night. It isn’t citrus, but it is fruity and delicious. Cold brewing makes this almost delicate. It’s soft with the flavors of the green tea, blueberry and mallow flower blending beautifully. The only thing I don’t like is a hint of bitterness I get at the end of the sip. Other than that it’s wonderful.

If I were to line up all of my favorite teas there would be a row of black teas and then this little gem. I love the blueberry flavor, and I love the sweet grassy note of the green tea. It’s so light and refreshing. This will definitely be one of my go-to iced teas this summer. For now though I am enjoying it hot with a little sugar added to bring the blueberry flavor out even more. Good stuff.

I am apparently in a fruity green tea mood today. This is wonderful. The blueberry is sweet but not at all artificial. The green tea has a creamy buttery note that blends so well with the fruit flavor. A 90 second steep is about all these leaves can take. Any longer and the bitterness begins to appear. It does resteep well, which I like.

When I first bought this tea I regretted buying four ounces, but now I can see myself using it in a relatively short amount of time. This is a tea that’s begging to be cold steeped. I’m thinking that will bring the blueberry flavor out even more. I’m also looking forward to comparing this to the Harney and Sons Blueberry Green. A side by side of the two will be fun!

A friend told me about a tea house not too far from me (close enough for the occasional visit at least). It’s an adorable little shop called The Tea Place, and after trying several of their teas I can say I will be a regular customer.

This blueberry green is my daughter’s current favorite, and I must agree that it’s really good. The tea is slightly sweet with a mellow blueberry flavor. The taste is of fresh blueberries, not an artificial flavor or blueberry muffins. There is also a grassy note from the green tea which mixes really well with the blueberry. The flavors definitely compliment each other. I do like this tea more when it is hot than as it cools, but that could be because it’s so cold here right now.

Anyway, this is good. Sure to be a pantry staple.

This is really lovely. The smell and taste is mainly jasmine, but there is a crisp, fresh bite from the green tea that keeps the tea from being only floral. I’ve never had a jasmine tea quite like this, but I’m loving it.