Cha Guan

Ok, I lied ? This post will not be about mint tea, but perhaps the next one!

Anyways, on Sunday I went to a free tea tasting at Cha Guan with Paw and OfIceandAshes. It is located at 5756 Monkland on the corner of Wilson.
We were greeted with cute brown gift bags filled with goodies from them and their sponsors (rasberry flowers to put in tea, a free sachet of a dill/garlicy sauce from epicure selections, moroccan oil, coupons and pretty postcards).

We also had the option of signing up for the tea appreciation club (Paw and I noted that while we are clearly tea appreciators, this just made it official) and to enter a draw to win a tea set. So we did both.

Among one of the first things we tried was their iced tea. They have 5 flavors now available for 'take out': Magnolia red iced tea, jasmine green, mint and lemongrass, fresh strawberries red and fresh lychee red.
Paw and I tried the fresh strawberry and OfIceandAshes tried the Mint and Lemongrass, which I also sipped.
I absolutely loved the strawberry iced tea. Probably one of the best iced teas I've ever tried. They had the perfect amount of sweetness and was equally refreshing. The Mint and Lemongrass one - the only way I can describe it: it's like pouring coldness down your esophagus. Good stuff...but I prefer the strawberry.

They had 12 teas out for people to try. Of these I think I tried 10...based on the health benefits we wanted to receive (which I discovered were historically documented). They used 3 of those teas for a tea demonstration - this was also quite cool :D It tempted me to join one of their workshops ( there are 2 - one which teaches you how to serve the top 10 chinese teas with information about their history/origins. The other uses the three teas used in the demonstration, but varies in terms of the grade of tea).

Here are the teas:
Fu Ann Bai Yu Ya (White tea) for anxiety relief
Bai Mu Dan (White tea) for Detoxification
Tai Ping Hao Hui (Green) High vitamin C content
Jian Tan Qiao She (Green) Prevents cardiovascular illness
Ping Shui Zhu Cha (Green) Eliminates bad cholesterol
Lin Hao Luo Hao (Green) Prevents cardiovascular illness
Anxi Ti Guan Yi (Green Wulong) Heals colds and eliminates bad cholestorol
Yu Shan Wulong Cha (Wulong) Heals colds and prevents cardiovascular illness
Osmanthus (Wulong) Helps to prevent cancer
Jin Hao Din Hong (Red) Helps to regulate the digestive system
Bada Shan Sheng Cha (Puerh) Increases energy, burns body fat
Ker Yi Xing Shou Cha (Puerh) Helps to regulate the digestive system

Most of them were really good. :)
It was particularly interesting to try the Bada Shan which I think was the "Green puerh" tea (I might be wrong and I switched the two up). Anyways, it has a REALLY different flavor from cooked puerh. A bit more sour and grassy tasting. He did say that there are only certain types of green puerh you can have because you have to thoroughly wash it and only after a certain number of infusions can you drink it.

I stumbled upon the green tea that tastes like corn on the cob again! Except it wasn't japanese. I guess they're somehow related (the two teas, since they taste similarly).

In anycase, I would definitely like to go back. The place is small and cute. They also have a glass wall that has water flowing down :) Not the type of place you'd bring 10 people to (not enough space). But definitely a quiet afternoon with 4...some nice tea and they do have some dessert which I have yet to try.

As for their prices - they are quiet pricy...of course depending on the tea. But some of their extremely premium teas are 40$/100 grams. So, I'm gonna wait till I'm rich to buy that :P maybe they'll just let me sample.