David's Tea

Helloes!
Last Saturday (July 4) I went to David's Tea with Paw following the Carifiesta Parade. We went to the Mont-Royal location (it's about a 10 minute walk east of Mont-Royal metro).

It's a nice, smallish place with contemporary decor (the whole white walls/art deco thing going on). They have a wide selection of tea and tea accessories (pots, spoons, books, strainers, etc). You have the option of buying tea, taking tea to go, or sitting around and sipping your tea held in nifty little nylon leaf strainers (on the cup). Be warned though, there is not much seating space - there are only about 4 tables, each with 2-3 chairs. Luckily, we got a table and we able to sip our respective teas.

Pamela got the "White Tiger" tea (if I remember correctly). The description follows:

Look out for white fur, black stripes and ice-blue eyes. White tigers tend to be bigger and stronger than their orange cousins. This blend is just as powerful. It’s got the smooth, immune-building strength of organic white peony tea. Plus the additional antioxidants of pomegranate essence and whole blueberries. A real fighter! It’ll scare off every free radical in the area.

It smelled great, but unfortunately didn't taste like like blueberries or pomergrante, eventhough white tea is pretty mild. So a bit of a disappointment there.
I tried the Spicy Chocolate Rooibos, though I don't recall it being spicy. Anyways, here's their description:

What could be better than chocolate and pink peppercorn? How about chocolate, pink peppercorn and banana! With sweet bits of apple. This organic tea is absolutely incredible. It’s complex, comforting and rich. Satisfying, smooth and mysterious. With a light pique of peppers to keep your guests guessing. Try it hot or iced. And don’t worry, we can’t stop drinking it either.

Before getting it, I had no idea there were bananas in it. So when I was drinking it, I hardly tasted any chocolate and had a big dose of banana flavor. It was a banana tisane parading at chocolate! dun dun dun. It still tasted good, but I think the chocolate flavor should've been more pronounced or perhaps the name should be reconsidered ;)

After that, we perused around the store looking at all their products and trinkets. We stumbled upon a teastick, which is pretty cool. I've never seen anything like it before. However, 25$ is pretty steep.

We then decided to purchase some loose tea of our own.
Much to my surprise, I purchased two types of Rooibos (this coming from a previous Rooibos hater - but I guess my first experience with it just really sucked).
I got Creme Caramel Rooibos - which is one of their top sellers. It smells amazing and actually does taste caramelly. So definite props there.

There are few dessert teas more satisfying than Crème Caramel Rooibos. Smooth, sweet and creamy, it’s a taste sensation. And the best part is that it’s actually good for you. South African rooibos is caffeine-free and soothing, and it’s filled with antioxidants and essential minerals. So indulge in a caramel dream. It might be the healthiest thing you do all day.

Their blurbs are so descriptive. I imagine the writers must have a fun time with them. Especially with the one I got next (mostly for the name, but also it has guava in it and guava = win).
Swamp Water!!!!

For kids only

We called this tea Swampwater to keep adults away, but it doesn’t seem to work. Every time they taste it, they drink the whole thing down. Because the natural, tangy sweetness of green rooibos, guava, passionfruit and little candy sprinkles is just too irresistible. Even the murky green colour doesn’t scare them off. Maybe we should explain that it’s full of antioxidants. And caffeine-free. Reverse psychology…

When I first infused it, the color wasn't *that* disturbing. It smells a bit citrusy and generally pleasant. When I finished the first infusion though and prepared to pour more water in, there was a bit of concentrated liquid at the bottom that really did look like swampwater. Imagine the ooze in ninja turtles, but darker. Like jungle leaf green. I actually said "aaahhhh...." (not a scream, just a general exclamation of surprise and awe). So the name actually fits the tea. I also love the idea of asking people if they want Swampwater.

Paw got Sencha Pear and Coffee Pu-erh. I have not tried them myself, but from what she tells me the Sencha Pear is very good, it actually tastes like pear. The Coffee Puerh is supposedly a mix of Puerh, coffee and chocolate and smells great, but again, just tastes like Puerh. So sadness there.

All in all, a pretty good tea experience at David's Tea. To recap, here are the ratings for what I tried:

White Tiger (a sip):

Because it smells nice, but only tastes like white tea. Where's the blueberry goodness?!

Spicy Chocolate Rooibos:

Tastes good, but is banana tisane parading as chocolate with not much chocolate flavor. False advertising *shakes fist*

Creme Caramel Rooibos:

Tastes amazing, goes down smooth and great for falling asleep as it has no caffeine.
Swamp Water:

Tastes good. Props for Guava and the fact that I can go around asking people if they want Swampwater :)

I passed by their other location via automobile the other day, but haven't had the chance to pop in. They also offer tea samples of the day :)

Short tidbits:
I went back to Dervish that same day and tried the East African Chai and Paw had the Irish Creme Chai. Both very good. Mine had lotsa cinnamony flavor and hers very coffeeish. I would like to note that Dervish makes awesome chai, but a mug costs you about 5.50$. So I wouldn't go there all the time, as I consider that pretty expensive for a cup of tea.

The Salon has moved and their teas will be sold in a store across the street from their previous location.

Byblos Le Petit Cafe serves great Iranian tea, but also great Iranian food. If you go, pass by on Sunday night for their traditional meal, "Le Dizzy". Included in the price is a tea :) It's lots of fun to eat the dish and one of the waiters gives you a crash course in how to eat it.

Next I hope to try Cha Noir in Verdun :)

Thé Santé and Café Dervish

Greetings tea drinkers! Tonight's post deals with two places I've been meaning to check out and happened to randomly go to last Sunday.

I recently discovered that there was a tea place not far from me (oh happy happy joy! :P). On top of that, they offer one of my favorite teas : Sencha Kyoto Cherry Rose
Once I run out, I can get The Sante (rather than run to The Salon on St-Denis).

Anyways, following the Filipino Independence Day celebrations at a nearby park, a friend and I decided to check the place out. It's located on Decarie, near the corner of Queen Mary on the western side, in a little basement space. They have quite a selection of tea (as can be seen on their site), as well as quite a bit of tea ware.

If you want to buy tea, you can browse through the catalague (available in both english and french). Each tea is described quite in-depth, making you want to try all of them. The store attendant was a man of eastern european descent (though, he may be the owner, I'm not sure) and he was very helpful letting us smell any of the teas we wanted and also giving suggestions about which tea to try.

My friend settled on 50 g of Young Pu-erh and also 50 g of a Oolong for her grandmother.
I got 50g Blue Mango Green tea, 50 g of Ti Kuan Yin Slimming, as well as one of those metallic tea "bags" so that I don't have to make a whole pot everytime I want to make loose leaf tea.

I would definitely suggest checking the place out and a good chunk of the teas are decently priced and won't set you back much. There were others I wanted to try, but my cupboard is already overpopulated by tea :P

Now, as for the teas I bought:
Blue Mango Green Tea: I had no idea there was such a thing as blue mangoes. But, I am a definite fan of mangoes. In fact, I'd say they are probably my favorite fruit of all time. So, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to 1) sniff it (it smells like awesome) and 2) buy it.
The tea definitely has a fruity flavor (doesn't only smell fruity, like some teas), and the green tea used with it is light enough and doesn't overpower the fruityness. They say it makes good iced tea. I'll have to try it out.
This tea gets:
out of 5
Because while I like it, it's not *the* best tea I've ever had, and not everything can get a 5 ;)

Organic Slimming Ti Kuan Yi: I generally like Oolong tea (though I generally like tea...so, not a big surprise). It has a very fresh scent and expands quite a bit (though, it does not compare to the amount of expansion created by an Oolong a friend brought for me from China). You can infuse it at least twice. It tastes like a standard oolong, but the reason I bought it is because it's supposed to be slimming :P
So, for taste, it's average. But, I can't give my full rating yet. I have yet to see its slimming effects :P
So let's say:

out of 5.
We'll see how this experiment turns out.

Now onto Café Dervish!
I've passed by this place a few times. It's located on St-Denis in between Sherbrooke and Ontario. They specialize in homemade Masala Chai (And apparently persian aphrodisiac tea? I just read that on the site, hah!). Anyways, I had been meaning to try it out for a while. After Tam Tams on this same Sunday, my friend and I were hungry and also had no actually had any tea to drink that day. This had to be remedied and so we headed to Dervish.

It's a cute, little place. It serves both tea and food, both of which were premium. We were greeted by a canadian lady who lived in Britain all her life, but studied french and german, too. So it was quite cool because first she says in french "would you like to try the tea of the day - it's a ginger chai, a bit spicy?" and then she heard us talking in english and she switched to english and there you hear the accent. We're like, oh :o Anyways, she was very nice and spoke to us about the advantages of couch surfing.

We both ordered their "famous" Jamaican sandwich. Now, let me say, I understand why it's famous. Imagine 2 pieces of Naan bread, with jerk spices spread on each side, plantains, fake turkey (the place is entirely vegetarian, by the way), lettuce and melted cheese (optional, for those who are vegan). Dude man, I've never had plantains in a sandwich before. After that, I started :D

In addition, the ginger chai was superb. It's just about the only tea I allow to have milk and some form of sweetener in (apart from Orange Pekoe - but that's because otherwise, it has a rather uninspiring taste). I look forward to going back there again and trying another one of their homemade creations :)

So, Cafe Dervish gets

out of 5
for their great sandwich and amazing tea!

In other news, Hour.ca did a review of a place called David's Tea located on Mont-Royal (about a 10 minute walk from the metro). There is another location on Pare. In addition, there are Toronto locations and one will soon be opening in Vancouver (huzzah - expanding in the 3 big Canadian cities)
It was given a good review and so I'll have to pay a visit sometime in the (hopefully) proximal future. Their site also provides health information about different types of teas.