Welcome Fall and the renewed tea spirit

So Fall started a few days ago and the tea spirit is revived. Not that summer is not conducive to tea drinking - but Fall makes you wanna go in a blanket and sip your comforting tea. David's tea will be (or has) bringing it's Autumn tea collection back (I think with some new additions). Also, David's tea has opened up a few new locations in the city like in the Eaton Centre (so now accessible downtown) and on Sherbrooke West (Westmount area). I've yet to check them out. I actually haven't been to any location other than Mont Royal E. 

Anyhow, lately I'm in a pure tea mood - as in unflavored. I've got nothing against flavored tea, but for some reason I've been really enjoying pure teas. The last few days have had massive tea concentrations. 

Thursday Paw and I made a visit to Camelia Sinensis. We decided to have the in-season teas that would likely soon be discontinued. She had a green tea and I had an oolong. I am terrible with remembering the names of teas at Camelia :( Both were very good. As we stayed till closing, we got some left over peppercorn and lemon scones. 

Friday, Captain Wildchild and I went to Cha Guan and had some old faves. I got jasmine dragon pearl green tea and he got ginseng oolong. 

Today, I had genmaicha - a tea I haven't had in over a year. Definitely missed the brown ricey taste of this tea!

I also had a battle with Kuding - bitter tea. In this match it was Kuding - 1, Njosnavelin - 0. It defeated me in bitterness. But Paw tells me I put too many leaves. So I will try again. I made my mom try it, too. She nearly died, lips curled - "It tastes worse than quinone!". 

I'll let you know how round two goes. 

Until the next tea tasting ;) For now, I'll continue on my pure tea trip. 

The Secret Weapon

Greetings tea lovers!

It has a been a long while since any of us have posted. It is summer time and while we do still drink tea, most tea parties and active degustations have been put on hold (naturally, of course :P). Today was a rather rainy and chilly day - definitely conducive to tea drinking! So after the Bubble Battle around Mont-Royal metro, we made our way to David's Tea for premium chillage and general tasting of new teas. They have some new teas for their summer collection. We didn't try any though. We were all enchanted to try some of the other flavors.

I will only cover the tea I had as I did not try the others. But, Captain Wildchild and Silvermaple had 3 wishes, another friend had Rooibos de Provence and Paw had one whose name I do not recall (wow my memory stinks today).

I have "The Secret Weapon", a white tea, described as follows by DT:

Kick-start your immune system

This blend just might give you the edge you need to stay healthy. It’s a white Bai Mu Dan, so it’s naturally high in immunity-enhancing antioxidants. Plus it contains licorice and goji berries, a Chinese wonderfood reputed to have 500 times more vitamin C than oranges. The best part? The almonds and cocoa nibs. They don’t fight colds, but they make this an amazingly tasty weapon of choice. 

When I smelled it, it was like awesome almond happiness with a hint of sweetness. I love almonds and I was sleepy. So I thought, hey, why not? Let's boost my immunity and have some yay. The smell is probably the best part of it. It was less nutty and definitely less sweet that I was expected. So, it was like a white tea with a hint of generally nondescript flavor. It lacked umph. Today, I am not impressed. But ah well. Not all teas can be winners. I give this one a 2/5.

As a side note, as the premium fall season full of crunchy leaves is approaching, tea parties should start up again! Next theme TBD. Woot woot.

Saigon Chai

Type: Black Assam Tea

Class: Flavored

Flavor: Chai (cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, cloves, rose pepper)

Intensity: More smell than taste

Mood: Creative

Perks: Looseleaf, organic, Saigon cinnamon

Source (in Montreal): DAVIDsTEA

A semi-accidental stop at David's Tea resulted in acquisition of this interesting specimen. The taste is not overpowering (read could be a bit more pronounced) but the smell fuels imagination. This tea has the warmth of pure chai, but being much milder does not monopolize your attention. An excellent complement for creative undertakings (so far tested in the domain of cooking and blog writing). 

Ginseng Achtung (special herbal edition)

Type: Herbal (not tea, just grass)
Class: N/A
Flavor: Ginseng, chyeah-duh!
Intensity: BOOM!
Mood: Relaxed
Perks: Looseleaf, bulk, cheap
Source (in Montreal): La Compagnie Foung Tak Canada ltee (not sure of the name of the store, but it's a bit south of the St. Laurent and Rene-Levesque intersection, on the west side of St. Laurent)

About a month ago I tried the Ginseng Oolong at Cha Guan and liked it quite a bit. Since then I kept on planning to return there an buy some for home, but just never got around doing it. Today while searching for sushi supplies around Chinatown I came across the the dry ginseng flowers in bulk, for about 6$/100g. I must admit, there's somewhat of a fetish of making things as much from scratch as possible, so of course it was impossible to just walk by.
All my previous flower tea experience screamed that it the taste of flowers infused solo is rather delicate. Was I ever wrong! The smell of ginseng itself, and especially the look for some reason reminded me of broccoli; no sweat, I actually happen to like it. So hoping to get a better taste I packed the strainer half way up with these dried mini-broccoli wannabes, and let them soak in hot water for a half a dozen of minutes. This resulted in a mild green liquid, reminiscent of the water left after steaming the said broccoli (again, maudit broccoli!). A good swig demolished the illusion: the only thing that I ever tried that was more bitter was an occasional bad almond (those who experienced it will know what I'm talking about). After massive watering down it became drinkable, but the taste in itself still kept some vegetable hints in it.
The original plan was to mix it with oolong (also bought in the same store) but the lady there suggested to try them individually. Verdict: mixed is way better. With a bunch of water and oolong the drink is actually very relaxing, with the tastes blending nicely (so far the proportions still need working out, but there is a lot of potential).
So it goes, gotta know your herbs before trying to be all zen...

Une grenouille dans la théière

On Tuesday, Ranitaloca and I headed over to Une grenouille dans la théière following a most awesome lunch at Ramen-Ya. It was our first time checking the place out, but figured why not? We have our conscience verte coupons, so let's do it (you buy a piece of pie or cake and get free tea - so a total cost of $3.50 - awesome deal). 

The place is located on 5940 St-hubert, close to Beaubien metro station and starts just after Plaza St-hubert ends. It's a rather nice location - slightly out of the way and quiet. It's small and has nice decor - turquoise, gold and red fill the room. I guess it can fit about 15 people comfortably. 

Ranita got cranberry almond pie with a Jasmine Dragon Pearl tea and I got apricot almond pie with Da hong pao oolong tea (something new!). 

Da hong pao

As is customary with tea outings, we shared our teas. I am an absolute fan of Jasmine Dragon Pearl tea - classic and you can't really go wrong with jasmine. It also smells amazing. Da hong pao is something new - at Grenouille they said there's actually some debate as to whether it is an oolong or red tea. On wikipedia, it says it's an artisanal tea and as such, the crops are very small, giving it quite the price tag (I think it was 8$ or more for 25 g, which is about 5 cups of tea, albeit multiple infusions). In addition it has a rich history, which you can read on Wiki.  The tea itself is really good, it's not too strong and is slightly fruity. I probably should've written about it on Tuesday, because I don't remember the exact taste, just that it was good and Ranita really loved it and wanted to buy it. 

Overall, Grenouille is a great tea place and I would definitely go back to drink tea. It's excellent for chilling given it's slightly secluded location and has some original decor (china hats with fringe for light covers!). On the other hand, I probably wouldn't buy tea because they are rather pricy and for good reason - their teas are organic. But, it's not always affordable. One interesting thing is their pie is rather cheap and tasty, too. Most times cakes cost more than tea, but tis not the case here. So if you happen to have the conscience verte coupon, use it! But even if not, the place is worth a visit for sure. 

Spring cleaning for your body

So spring is among us Montrealers. As usual with extreme fluctuations in temperature - the weather can never make up its mind. Regardless, many of us feel the need to do some spring cleaning, whether it be your environment (as in your house) or even yourself and get ready to enjoy the new season. This brings me to the subject of detox teas. Most teas have some form of health benefit (just go to Cha Guan and each tea has a list of what it does).

What i'll cover in this post is any tea that's called a detox tea or any tea that is associated with helping your digestive system (and I'll include another little extra bit to talk about my stomach power pack)!

Green Tea Kombucha Lime

This is a green tea (in case you didn't guess from the name) that has pieces of lime and kombucha interspersed. I bought this tea earlier this year at the Tea Emporium in Toronto while visiting a friend. 

Why detox: Kombucha is a symbiotic culture of yeasts and other micro-organisms that acts as purifier to the blood and organs. 

What's it like: The tea is generally light - it's especially good after a meal or even just during the afternoon. It has hints of lime (I'm not sure what kombucha tastes like, so I couldn't tell you if there's any hint of that). But, I guess you could say you feel really healthy after having it, but without an extremely strong tea taste and it's also not nasty. Tea Emporium says it also makes a good iced tea. I'll have to try it out and report back to you. 

Rating: 4/5 - It's nice and healthy, but it still wasn't a kablam, this is the most amazing tea I've ever had. 

David's Tea - Organic Detox

I bought this tea on a whim while visiting David's Tea with Paw and two of our other friends. I figured, why not? I had tried a tea at Cha Guan that had lemongrass and liked it. So, let's try this tea out. 

Why detox: From David's Tea: "Need a reboot? Try this traditional formula. The rooibos will restore your equilibrium with iron, potassium, zinc and manganese. The sencha will pump you full of antioxidants. The ginger’ll zap lethargy and headaches. The ginkgo will clear your mind. The lemongrass will detoxify your liver. And the juniper berries will flush out toxins and any lingering regrets. Not working? Just go back to bed."

What's it like: The lemongrass is strong in this tea - that was the very first thing I noticed. Secondly, the combination of flavors isn't so premium. They told me it tasted really healthy. I guess they're referring to the school of thought that healthy has to be nasty. It's drinkable, but pretty disappointing considering David's Tea has a lot of good stuff. I drink it now and then, mostly because I bought it. Luckily, I only got the small tin. I won't be buying it again though. 

Rating: 2/5 - 2 points for effort and I like the individual components of the tea, but don't enjoy this particular marriage of flavors.

Tou cha Bonbon

I went to David's Tea yesterday to check out some of their new spring collection. This includes some new Pu-erh teas. I was attracted to Tou cha Bonbon and its 2 other friends  because they're really cute! Individually wrapped little cakes. Of the three, this one smelled the best. The chrysanthemum one was really overpowering and I wasn't a big fan (not a big fan of that flower in tea generally - at least in big quantities). 

Why detox: In general, Pu-erh is known for helping the digestive system (in addition to reducing LDL cholesterol and boost your metabolism. What a superhero this tea is!). It helps to relieve constipation and just make sure everything is running smoothly (no pun intended). When visiting the shop, Thé Santé last year, the store clerk told me that it's best to drink pu-erh with a meal for maximum benefit. So yes, Pu-erh goes in the detox category for me. 

What's it like: Apparently, it's supposed to have hints of licorice when steeped (yay for that because licorice, also known as fennel is also great for digestion). It also claims to be 5 times steepable. Now, this tasted like any other standard pu-erh to me. No hint of licorice and it was also only about 3 times steepable. After that, it was just colored hot water.  

Rating: 3/5 - A really cute tea and I like pu-erh. On the other hand, there's nothing special about it apart from the fact that it's cute and portable. I won't it again, unless it's a gift and the person will go "aaaah, kawaii!!! ^_^". 

Organic Pu-erh Ginger

This was part of my David's Tea expedition yesterday. Lately, I'm on a big ginger kick. Combine that with pu-erh, and I'm sold. 

Why detox:  As I mentioned, Pu-erh has a bunch of health benefits - a tea superhero. Ginger is like root superhero. Ginger can do everything - drink it when you have a cold, when you have indigestion. You name your illness, ginger can help you. It also has the bite of a pepper without being one. So, check it out - you have stomach problems...

Pu-erh: I'm great at regulating digestion, but I need some help to chill out this person's stomach before I do my magic. 

Ginger: did someone call my name? 

And there you have it, the creation of the dynamic-duo. No stomach illness is safe. You also get the bonus benefits, in case you know...you have a cold at the same time and you're trying to reduce your cholesterol and generate awesome metabolism. 

What's it like: I really like this tea. You definitely taste the ginger a bit more, just because it has a rather strong flavor. Fear not though, you can still taste the pu-erh. You definitely feel great after it, too - slightly energized and also happy. You needn't only drink this when your stomach feels nasty of course. You can enjoy it at any time, as I intend to do (on a rotational basis, because I need to deplete my teas). 

Rating: 5/5 - Earthy pu-erh meets spicy ginger in perfect balance with sufficient bite. I think we have a winner. It's also organic! 

The Stomach Power Pack

A while ago while talking about some mint teas, I mentioned my 3 essential ingredients for stomach ailments. I have a bit of a sensitive stomach, so this is essential. Even if you don't and just happen to have occasional ailments, this can be useful. 

The magic three: Ginger, Mint and Fennel. Each of these has a special power. I never mix them though (maybe it'd be nasty, I have no idea). 

Ginger

I carry around a lot of stuff with me. On any given day, my friends know that in my bag I will probably have anything they need for a given situation (toilet paper, hand sanitizer, plastic bags (for carrying items or in case someone feels ill), advil, lactaid, hand cream, etc - you get the idea). I am sort of like a walking pharmacy - I inherited this wonderful quality from my dear mom. 

Among the things I carry are bags of tea - I usually will have about 2-3 bags of ginger tea, particularly by Yogi Tea (not a fan of other's I've tasted). In addition, for all their tea's, Yogi Tea has little I guess, fortunes on their labels - but they're more insightful than fortune cookies. It is also organic. You can get it from any health food store. 

If you want to make fresh ginger tisane, you can just cut it up and steep it in hot water for a while. Another thing I really like is Ginger-Lemon juice. They make this at l'Escalier, but it tends to be rather pricy. The raw materials are extra cheap (1 thing of ginger is less than a dollar and you can get 4-6 lemons for 2-3$, especially in the summer). It doesn't take long and you'll make about 1-1.5 litres of it, depending on how concentrated a taste you want. Add some honey to it and a bit of cinnamon. Refrigerate. Then you have a great cool and spicy drink. Don't let it sit too long though (I guess for a few days - week), apparently it ferments and you get an alcoholic drinks - or so my friend told me. 

It's also great in food (but you already knew that). 

Stomach benefits: Stop nausea in its tracks. Also helps with general indigestion and heart burn (which seems kind of counterintuitive since it's spicy, but hey it works). 

Mint

Mint tea is something else that I'll occasionally carry around - whether it be Moroccan mint or peppermint. Though, most times I just have mint gum and it does the trick.  I actually haven't bought any form of mint tea in a while. I've depleted my White Peony mint and gave away my intense "Folie Morocaine" because it scared me. What I love doing is buying fresh mint, steeping some green tea and putting a bunch of mint in there. Sometimes I'll add a bit of honey. It tastes great. Nothing beats fresh mint. I also like it in salads and various dishes, like this particular Mexican soup made with fava beans. 

Stomach benefits: It's great for digestion (especially in the form of gum). Like, generally, I'd have this after a meal for digestion. If my nausea were prolonged, I would take ginger tea. 

In addition to stomach benefits, it's a mild decongestant and helps chest pain (think of Vick's vaporub). 

Fennel

Ok, so check - I hate licorice (it's nasty!), but somehow I can handle fennel. Sometimes I buy fennel tea, but I actually discovered that fennel seeds are a lot cheaper (2$ for a bag at Asian or West Indian stores). All you do is take about a tea spoon and steep it in hot water. Fennel seeds are really prominent in Indian cooking (sometimes you'll find them in samosas and other times I've just seen them at the cash register in a bowl for people to take with a spoon). Fennel (has the consistently of celery) can be made into lots of things - awesome in soup. 

Stomach benefits: Reduces flatulence and helps associated gas cramps. 

It's also supposed to be a good diuretic and as such helps to reduce hypertension. 

In practice, my stomach power pack would be most useful in portable form. As such, you should either have tea bags, gum, fresh fennel seeds or licorice to chew on or if you like chewing on fresh ginger (I've seen it! and tried, dang it's spicy), do that. Whatever is most convenient for you. So far it has worked for me. 

That ends my lengthy post on spring cleaning for your body! Wishing you all great health for this season (and beyond of course). 

1st tea party

last weekend, our first ever 'official' tea party took place at fil's.

on the menu:
- 'oh canada' rooibos
- the earl's garden (earl grey w/ extra bergamot, strawberries, raspberries and black currants)
- masala chai

it was a success: warm drinks + delicious foods + friends = great way to spend a sunday afternoon/evening.



we expect to make these tea parties a regular event, so... until next time!

after midnight / oh canada

the last time i visited david's tea on mont-royal, i tried "after midnight", a flavoured black tea. from the description, it seems to have been released for valentine's day.



the tea leaves have an intense citrus aroma. once infused, the smell of chocolate is brought out. drinking this, the tea is very "warm", which is why this is part of the "winter collection". it tastes like those orange-flavoured dark chocolates.

at the time, it was during the winter olympics, so the tea shop was promoting "oh canada", a rooibos tea.



yes, those are colourful little maple-leaf candies.

i confess that i am not a big fan of rooibos in general, but i do like the maple sweetness with this "oh canada" mix.

Citron Oolong

Type: Oolong

Class: Flavored

Flavor: Citrus essences, lemon myrtle, jasmine

Intensity: Quite a blast

Mood: Techno-zen

Perks: Looseleaf

Source (in Montreal): DAVIDsTEA

I only really got into oolong after trying this one. Prior to it, oolong's signature aftertaste was consistently a turnoff. This one is a different matter entirely. It's intensely citrusy, but somehow not overwehlming; makes for a great entry level oolong, after which you are ready to wander into more traditional kinds. I had hard time coming up with the mood description for this one, because while it has rich and distinct flavor it also has a strong relaxing effect. If the word “confident” can be used to describe tea, that would be the case. A not-to-miss when checking out David's Tea

Comparison with relatives:

It is rather hard to compare this one, since it stands out from both oolongs and citrus-flavored teas; it has too much personality of its own. Personally it did inspire me to try other types of oolong, and so far ginseng wulong from Cha Guan was an awesome discovery.  

Wild Cherry

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.

White Tiger

Type: White peony tea
Class: Flavored
Flavor: Blueberry, pomegranate essence
Intensity: Mild
Mood: Pensive
Perks: Looseleaf, bulk, organic
Source (in Montreal): DAVIDsTEA

This tea does not suffer from low intensity; it enjoys every moment of it. The blueberries and pomegranate are very subtle, and don't overpower the taste of the actual tea. It has great refreshing potential, with the sour notes of blueberries, but overall taste is tiger-tread light. 

While I did expect the Tiger to be a bit more aggressive, it is a rather nice discovery as is - a good white tea with a hint of sourness, which will most likely be a remarkable drink during the summer heat.

Comparison with other relatives:

Tiger's randy cousin, the Lipton nylon bag kind of white blueberry-pomegranate  has a distinctly fruity component, overshadowing the taste of tea, and essentially shifting the balance into the herbal/pure fruit infusion territory.

Things a changin'

Howdy,

So, Tasty Hot Water shall be changing slightly (for the better). I'll be adding authors such that more tea reviewing is possible!

I shall also try to centralize tea resources/places in and around Montreal (and maybe a bit of Toronto) into one page to make it easier for people to get their tea fixes.

More to come later.
Until next time!

A Nice Cup of Tea

A friend of mine posted this essay by George Orwell on facebook the other day. As it talks about tea, I thought I should post it here :)

If you look up 'tea' in the first cookery book that comes to hand you will probably find that it is unmentioned; or at most you will find a few lines of sketchy instructions which give no ruling on several of the most important points.

This is curious, not only because tea is one of the main stays of civilization in this country, as well as in Eire, Australia and New Zealand, but because the best manner of making it is the subject of violent disputes.

When I look through my own recipe for the perfect cup of tea, I find no fewer than eleven outstanding points. On perhaps two of them there would be pretty general agreement, but at least four others are acutely controversial. Here are my own eleven rules, every one of which I regard as golden:

* First of all, one should use Indian or Ceylonese tea. China tea has virtues which are not to be despised nowadays — it is economical, and one can drink it without milk — but there is not much stimulation in it. One does not feel wiser, braver or more optimistic after drinking it. Anyone who has used that comforting phrase 'a nice cup of tea' invariably means Indian tea.

* Secondly, tea should be made in small quantities — that is, in a teapot. Tea out of an urn is always tasteless, while army tea, made in a cauldron, tastes of grease and whitewash. The teapot should be made of china or earthenware. Silver or Britanniaware teapots produce inferior tea and enamel pots are worse; though curiously enough a pewter teapot (a rarity nowadays) is not so bad.

* Thirdly, the pot should be warmed beforehand. This is better done by placing it on the hob than by the usual method of swilling it out with hot water.

* Fourthly, the tea should be strong. For a pot holding a quart, if you are going to fill it nearly to the brim, six heaped teaspoons would be about right. In a time of rationing, this is not an idea that can be realized on every day of the week, but I maintain that one strong cup of tea is better than twenty weak ones. All true tea lovers not only like their tea strong, but like it a little stronger with each year that passes — a fact which is recognized in the extra ration issued to old-age pensioners.

* Fifthly, the tea should be put straight into the pot. No strainers, muslin bags or other devices to imprison the tea. In some countries teapots are fitted with little dangling baskets under the spout to catch the stray leaves, which are supposed to be harmful. Actually one can swallow tea-leaves in considerable quantities without ill effect, and if the tea is not loose in the pot it never infuses properly.

* Sixthly, one should take the teapot to the kettle and not the other way about. The water should be actually boiling at the moment of impact, which means that one should keep it on the flame while one pours. Some people add that one should only use water that has been freshly brought to the boil, but I have never noticed that it makes any difference.

* Seventhly, after making the tea, one should stir it, or better, give the pot a good shake, afterwards allowing the leaves to settle.

* Eighthly, one should drink out of a good breakfast cup — that is, the cylindrical type of cup, not the flat, shallow type. The breakfast cup holds more, and with the other kind one's tea is always half cold before one has well started on it.

* Ninthly, one should pour the cream off the milk before using it for tea. Milk that is too creamy always gives tea a sickly taste.

* Tenthly, one should pour tea into the cup first. This is one of the most controversial points of all; indeed in every family in Britain there are probably two schools of thought on the subject. The milk-first school can bring forward some fairly strong arguments, but I maintain that my own argument is unanswerable. This is that, by putting the tea in first and stirring as one pours, one can exactly regulate the amount of milk whereas one is liable to put in too much milk if one does it the other way round.

* Lastly, tea — unless one is drinking it in the Russian style — should be drunk without sugar. I know very well that I am in a minority here. But still, how can you call yourself a true tealover if you destroy the flavour of your tea by putting sugar in it? It would be equally reasonable to put in pepper or salt. Tea is meant to be bitter, just as beer is meant to be bitter. If you sweeten it, you are no longer tasting the tea, you are merely tasting the sugar; you could make a very similar drink by dissolving sugar in plain hot water.

Some people would answer that they don't like tea in itself, that they only drink it in order to be warmed and stimulated, and they need sugar to take the taste away. To those misguided people I would say: Try drinking tea without sugar for, say, a fortnight and it is very unlikely that you will ever want to ruin your tea by sweetening it again.

These are not the only controversial points to arise in connexion with tea drinking, but they are sufficient to show how subtilized the whole business has become. There is also the mysterious social etiquette surrounding the teapot (why is it considered vulgar to drink out of your saucer, for instance?) and much might be written about the subsidiary uses of tealeaves, such as telling fortunes, predicting the arrival of visitors, feeding rabbits, healing burns and sweeping the carpet. It is worth paying attention to such details as warming the pot and using water that is really boiling, so as to make quite sure of wringing out of one's ration the twenty good, strong cups of that two ounces, properly handled, ought to represent.

(taken from The Collected Essays, Journalism and Letters of George Orwell, Volume 3, 1943-45, Penguin ISBN, 0-14-00-3153-7)

Kusmi Tea

Kusmi Tea opened its first store in North America about a month and a half ago. Montreal happens to be the lucky city :)
The shop is on St Denis in between Roy and Duluth.

In terms of decor, the place is very Ikea - white walls, white tables, white shelves, white floors. Pretty much like David's tea, though the layout is different.
The lady was very nice and helpful. You are allowed to help yourself to the canteens to smell the teas and pick whichever ones you want. So you can both sit & drink tea and buy tea. They also have some little snacks if you want.

I had the Christmas tea and Paw had a different one (the name of which, unfortunately I forgot. We went two tuesday's ago). I just remember hers was a green tea.

Now, I haven't really had much Kusmi Tea in the past (I don't buy it, though it is available in some stores like La Vielle Europe and Exofruits).
I tried both my tea and Pamela's tea. I would say they were generally okay. They definitely have a very strong tea taste with only a hint of additional flavoring. But, in a way, because it's so expensive, I guess I was expecting it to be better.

The shop is a great place for gifts, being that the tea is so pricy. The canisters are very decorative, as are the teacups and tea sets. There are also coffrets available with an assortment of various teas, including their exclusive blends (of which the Christmas Tea was a part of). In addition, they have some other tea accessories, like fillable fabric tea bags (unfortunately, one use only - well multiple infusions, but you can't use it again). What's cool is that the price for their bags is cheaper than at David's tea, which is suprising considering that everything else is so expensive.

Anyways, I'm glad I tried out Kusmi Tea. I'm not sure I'll go and buy tea there for myself, as it's not my favorite thus far, but I'd definitely go back when gift shopping :)

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 :)

What's your Dosha? + Boosting your "Immunitea"

Greetings Tea drinkers :)

I went on a trip to Toronto last weekend with a friend. Naturally, I had to head to the Tea Emporium (a friend here requested the "Garden of Eden" tea, which is a green tea with lots of berries in it. Really tasty and fragrant).

Anyways, my friend, her cousin and I perused the tea catalog for other interesting looking teas/tisanes after picking up "The Garden of Eden". We were all curious about the Ayurvedic Teas - first because we weren't sure what ayurvedic medicine consisted of and second, well, how does the tea help? :)

Trusty Wiki says:

Ayurveda (Devanāgarī: आयुर्वेद, the 'science of life') is a system of traditional medicine native to India,[1] and practiced in other parts of the world as a form of alternative medicine.[2] In Sanskrit, the word Ayurveda[3] comprises the words āyus, meaning 'life' and veda, meaning 'science'

Ayurveda stresses a balance of three substances: wind/spirit/air, phlegm, and bile, each representing divine forces.[7] According to Ayurveda, these three regulatory principles--Doshas (Devanāgarī: त्रिदॊश्)—vata (wind/spirit/air), pitta (bile) and kapha (phlegm)—are important. It is believed that building a healthy metabolic system, attaining good digestion, and proper excretion leads to vitality.[9] Ayurveda also focuses on exercise, yoga, meditation, and massage.[10]Thus, body, mind, and spirit/consciousness need to be addressed both individually and in unison for health to ensue.

So, we were all given a quiz to determine what our Dosha was and the Dosha with the least "points" was the tea that we had to drink to balance everything out.
If you want, you can take a quiz here:

I ended up being Pitta deficient, so bought that herbal infusion which is a mixture of: fennel, licorice, cardamom, cloves, orange zest, ginger, cinnamon, cocoa, linden, raspberry leaf, hibiscus, chomomile, pepper, alfalfa and rosehip.
It has a mild taste and is not disagreeable in the least :) As a bonus, it has no caffeine if you want to fall asleep.
I also tried the Kapha infusion (which was what my friend's cousin was deficient in). It had a bit of a stronger cinnamon taste, if I remember correctly. The only one I haven't tried is Vata.

In addition, these Ayurvedic infusions aren't very expensive. It's about 7$/50 g, which will last you a while. Each teaspoon is good for 2 infusions. We'll see how balanced I am after a while, I guess. Regardless, it tastes good, so I'm not complaining.

Ayurvedic tisanes Kapha and Pitta get 4 teacups out of 5 :D

Another interesting tisane I tried was something called Lapacho. It was in the same section as the Mate - and happens to also be grown in South America.

Here's what wiki has to say (i'm wiking tonight it seems):

Lapacho or Taheebo is a herbal tea made from the inner bark of Pink Ipê, Tabebuia impetiginosa.

Lapacho is used in the herbal medicine of several South and Central American indigenous peoples. It appears to have antimicrobial, antiviral, and antifungal properties, and is used topically to treat minor skin injuries, such as insect bites, as well as for other conditions such as psoriasis. Lapacho is used by herbalists as a putative treatment for cancer, HIV, candida and numerous other maladies. Studies by the U.S. National Cancer Institute showed that lapacho may prevent, delay, or treat cancer; but the oral doses needed to reach useful levels in the blood may also cause side effects such as anemia, diarrhea, dizziness, nausea, and vomiting.[1] The active ingredients such as lapachol have been found to possess significant toxicity.[2][3][4]

Taheebo is the common name for the inner bark of the Red or Purple Lapacho tree. This tree grows high in the Andes of the South American rainforest. The Red Lapacho's purple-colored inner bark was one of the main medicines used by the Incas and has been used for over 1,000 years by the Callawaya tribe, descendants of the Incas

What the lady at the store told us was that it increases your immunity, is high in minerals such as calcium and is generally good for your health. Now, I'm not certain considering what is quoted above. It seems that the verdict is somewhat ambiguous. Though, I guess in small doses it can't be all that bad. She also said it's an acquired taste. I agree there. It tasted like what I imagined brewed twigs to taste like. Not old twigs though...young, fresh twigs? It wasn't gross, just interesting. My friend was quite taken with it and so I think she'll be buying some. I'm not sure I'm sold on the tisane, but I'd probably have some if it's there.

Lapacho gets 2.5 teacups out of 5 because it tastes like twigs and has sketchy benefits :P

Finally, my friend's cousin bought Wintermelon Rooibos tisane from the Tea Emporium. Rooibos generally has a light flavor and is easily mixed with other things to give it an interesting taste. I'll probably do a more extensive Rooibos text some time later. Her cousin is big on non caffeine stuff, so this works.
This dude gets 4/5.

I'm slightly lazy and so did not include the tea cup pics. They'll come later :) (or not).

Anyways, if you happen to be in the Toronto area, The Tea Emporium is a great place to check out. The location near Bernard is in a mall and is really just a boutique with teas and tea accessories. You can also have tea to go.
If you want to sit down, drink tea and maybe have some treats, the location on Eglinton avenue is bigger and lets you do that.

There is also Davids Tea in Toronto, but I didn't check it out over there.

Happy Tea Drinking,
Until next time :)

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.

What, mint?

Alright, here comes the Mint post :)

I'm going to cover 3 mint teas/tisane's that I enjoy.

1) White Peony Mint Tea
2) Morrocan Mint Tea
3) Peppermint tisane

1) I bought this tea from "The Salon" on St-Denis near Mont-Royal metro. It's an excellent place because they let you taste the tea before you buy it.
Often, mint tea is usually green tea mixed with mint, so this is definitely a different taste. If you're familiar with white tea in general, the taste is milder. So, this tea has the mildness of white tea with mint, which produces an subtle and clean taste in your mouth, as opposed to just being attacked with a mint bomb. It also smells quite nice.
It's definitely good for when you don't want intense mint.

So I give it

out of 5

Here's the address of The Salon: 4586 St.-Denis

2) Moroccan Mint Tea

Like I mentioned before, as far as I know, this tea is green tea mixed with mint. However, methods of preparation do differ.
You can purchase this tea from many places. Many companies have it in tea bag form, such as Mighty Leaf (they are expensive, but it's because of the packaging, they use real tea leaves in the nylon bags and there's honestly quite a bit of tea in each bag). You can also buy it from La Vielle Europe on St Laurent near des Pins under the name "Folie Marocaine" for about 2.50$ for 50 g - which I have. Folie Marocaine is incredibly intense. I made the mistake of putting too many tea leaves in my cup the first time and was attacked with mint from all angles, which made it a little hard to drink towards the end. So make sure you just put a bit, because a little goes a long way.

However, my favorite preparation by far is I guess what you would call the "traditional" way in the awesome metal tea pot with the glass cups. They typically put sugar in it, though I think it is optional.

The tea is quite strong and has a bit of a bitter after taste, especially without sugar. I've had this method of preparation at many places, including teh Faubourg (there is a moroccan resto in there), Cafe Gitana, one of the shisha places on Guy near Ste Catherine...basically restaurants and shisha places have it. So it's not hard to find :)

I give it


out of 5 too

3) Peppermint Tisane

I consider this tisane to be part of my stomach problem power pack.

Aside - in case you wanna know: Stomach problem power pack = 3 tisanes I consider to help stomach problems and I carry them around with me.

Mint = digestion
Ginger = queasiness
Fennel = gas/cramps

Now you know, you can try them out if you ever have those problems :P

Back to the tisane. You can get it at an grocery store. I don't stick to one particular brand, because truth be told, most of them taste similar and produce the same outcome for me :) While the other two mint teas do help with digestion too, if I intend to sleep or don't feel like having anything with caffeine or don't want the tea taste, I'll have this. It's a nice and smooth taste and not really intense at all.

So, this is predictable, but I give this



out of 5 if only because it helps with digestion.

That ends mint, at least for now (unless I find more mint later).

On side note, there are some places I'd like to try sometime:
Cha Noir
Espirt The
Cafe Dervish