Type: Black tea
Class: Flavored
Flavor: Cherry
Intensity: Medium
Mood: Spaced out
Perks: Looseleaf, bulk, cheap ($2.39 for 100g)
Source (in Montreal): La Vieille Europe (3855 St-Laurent)
Client in the resto: Do you have wild duck?
Waiter: No, but we can piss off a domestic one.
-- Russian joke
We discovered this one some time around 2004-2005, and it has become a staple tea, imbibed two cups for each one of other teas. The black tea gives cherry flavor a bitter twist, reminiscent of the dark ripe fruit itself; once brewed, the drink is of dark red-orange hue. Despite being a black tea, our subjective non-scientific testing demonstrated great relaxing and spacing out potential, as well as an impressive sensory compatibility with the band Sigur Ros.
About a year ago, wild cherry disappeared from La Vieille Europe, to be replaced(?) with cherry flavored green tea. While still tasty, it lacked the bitterness of black tea, making for lighter, but less complex pattern. The beginning of 2010 was marked by the return of the wild cherry on the shelves of La Vieille, and tasting confirmed that it is indeed the real thing, and not cheese.
Comparison with other relatives:
Most of the cherry flavored teas I came across so far were green teas. A very tasty variation, Kyoto cherry, can be tried at L'Escalier (ex-Utopic-ex-Ludic) near Berri-UQAM metro. It has a pronounced fruity taste, balancing out the classic green tea taste. Another variation is the cherry and rose green tea from Camelia Senensis, similar to Kyoto cherry.
