Review: Oolong Supreme

So a few weeks back I purchased Modern Tea from Chapters, written by Lisa Boalt Richardson. I have been reading it through section by section and while I already had a pretty good knowledge about tea production, I learned quite a few new things from Richardson. For example, I learned more about oolong tea and that there is so many different ways to process it. In fact, it's the type of tea that has the most variation in its process which yields that widest range of flavours.

With this in mind, I purchased Oolong Supreme from David's Tea. My last David's review wasn't so positive, and in general I'm biased against their flavoured teas. Their straight teas, however, I'm very eager to try and on this trip, I made the girl pull down all four of their oolongs. While they were all very tempting, I of course had to take home the most expensive of the bunch.

Type: Oolong

Ingredients: Dang Cong Oolong

Brewing Time: 2 minutes for the first steep and 3 minutes for the second steep

Brewing Method: Cast iron

Smell: Complex, rich

Flavour: Complex and beautiful, the first steep is so light and ever so slightly astringent. The best way I can describe it is a roasted-floral tone.

(My brand new bun mug! Thanks Teavana)

Overall rating: 1 2 3 4 5

My first sip was just such a wonderful experience. I think I'm going to try all my first sips from glass to allow for a pure flavour because doing so this time around did the tea such justice. It was amazingly refreshing, gorgeous, and so damn good. When I finished its first steep, I noticed the leaves had more to give, so I resteeped them a second time, adding another minute. I'm so glad I did, it yielded another beautiful pot of tea which I enjoyed for the rest of the night. The other thing I loved about this tea is, while it is $19.50 per 50g, it's so fluffy so 50 grams of this tea looks like 100 grams of most other teas. The person helping me actually grabbed the next bag size up to get the tea to fit. The volume of the tea, its quality, and its ability for resteeps make this tea such a winner value-wise. So far, this is my favourite oolong, and I can't wait to try their others!

Review: Apple Custard

David's Tea, for me, is a bit hit and miss. The straight teas they carry are pretty spot-on, but a lot of their flavoured teas come up short. That said, I'm not planning on writing them off completely, and I'm always willing to try a new tea. So today when I was stocking-stuffer-shopping, I decided to pick up their Apple Custard for myself as it had caught my eye before.

Type: Herbal Tea

Ingredients: apples, golden raisins, coriander, chamomile, natural and artificial vanilla flavouring

Brewing Time: 5 minutes

Brewing Method: I used David's handled tea ball. Big mistake, I had to run it through a teamaker from Teavana to get all the debris out of the tea... 

Smell: When brewed, it has a very strong vanilla scent.

Flavour: Fruity top-notes, vanilla body, light-bodied. Not as vanilla-y as I had anticipated, but I would have liked it to be a bit more apple-y as the apple flavour gets a bit lost. Very smooth.

(In my onesie, excuse the cracked post-Black Friday polish)

Overall rating: 1 2 3 4 5

Pretty nice, I think it's a nice calming concoction. Glad to have it on hand, but it'll probably take me a while to get through the miniscule amount I have as there are plenty of teas I'd rather have.

Introduction!

My name is Breena and I`m an avid tea drinker. I have been ever since I was little, but only for the last year or so did I become interested in the vast world of loose leaf tea!

I live in Surrey, British Columbia and I work at a local tea shop. You could say I've learned a few things about tea, though I am by no means any sort of expert. In a way, I guess that's part of the reason I want to begin this blog. I want to explore the wide world of teas and herbs and their benefits on our health. I also want to experiment with storage, tea blending and any food recipes I can find that involve tea!

So, for my inaugural post, I'll answer the Tea Ask!

earl grey: how do you take your tea?
Usually with honey, usually without milk unless it's a black tea.

lady grey: favorite outfit?
One of my most flamboyant dresses! Pink, pink, pink!

irish breakfast: what country do you want to visit?
I'd love to visit the Netherlands, Britain, France (again), and Japan.

chamomile: comfort movie?
Anything Jane Austen.

peppermint: what's your favorite holiday and why?
Christmas because I get to celebrate for a month and a half and also I get to spend money on my friends and family.

milk: do you have any allergies?
I have a fairly severe nut allergy.

sugar: tell me about your first crush
I was in preschool and he was cute. That's all I remember.

honey: type out the last text you sent
To my sweetie: "I guess, just try to not be home toooo late okay?"

green tea: where do you feel most at peace?
Home.

bubble tea: what ride would you pick at an amusement park?
One of those spinny-ridey things that whip you around! :D

mug: when/where do you normally drink tea?
Living room at home, or at work.

chai: what do you order at starbucks?
Roasted ham and swiss sandwich and a peppermint hot chocolate.

oolong: what are you hoping to be doing in ten years?
Painting professionally

herbal: post a selfie

This is a more recent photo of me and my cat, Clara!

coffee: surprise coffee ask! how do you take your coffee?
I hate coffee... so not at all! :D