Oh Canada!

I got this in a swap and there was only enough for a small mug.
The dry notes are deliciously maple scented. As it steeps I can smell maple and rooibos, I feared I would not like this because of the rooibos. And frankly I would jot he Canadian if i couldnt enjoy a tea that is our name sake.
So I’m guessing because its a blend of rooibos and honeybush I actually enjoy this, although I find it way too light. I think this is because of the lack of leaves. I do get a light taste of maple, but that could be from the syrop I added.
Puke Buttered rum I won’t give it a numerical rating until I can use the right amount of leaves.

So Allie reminded me I’d forgot about receiving her samples today. (woops! and thank you!)
Pulled this one out since it sounded strange. I’m not usually a maple fan, but I’m noticing a lot of things taste better when just in tea.
Anyway, the smell out of the bag is in your face Maple. No getting around that one.
The Taste, for me, it good. I love the taste of plain rooibos and the maple adds a kick but doesn’t overpower. Not 100% sure I’d order it myself, but I do enjoy it.

Beginning of sip has bare, slightly bitter and almost salty taste. A taste that I can only describe as the scent from a blown out candle leads into the end of the sip. I’m guessing that this must be the earthiness of the rooibos coming through. Strong, authentic maple syrup flavour near the end of the sip and on the aftertaste. Honeybush is detectable in this brew. It would be nice if the maple syrup taste could carry through the entire sip.

Oh, my does this smell awesome or what? I am pretty enthusiastic about maple syrup. But I am also very unfamiliar with maple syrup, so feel free to disregard my impressions.

This tastes nearly as awesome as it smells. I can not really tell apart the caramel from the toffee taste and those two tastes from the maple syrup. To me, maple syrup taste is wonderfully exotic and plain wonderful, full stop. But and there is a but, there was something a bit artificial, a bit cloying about the scent, it lingered and lingered and seemed one-note rather than complex.

The tea base underneath is green rooibos with honeybush and just does not have the same strength, depth than red rooibos. It might be a better base for non-rooibos fans.

Lovely idea, a good tea, though it somehow misses being a perfect hit with me. Perhaps my opinion will change as I brew the rest of the package and I am sure I will and won´t take too long about it.

Felt like something super sweet and mapley this morning, without the caffeine as I wanted to be able to go back to sleep after. It was between this and Gingerbread and seeing how what I have of Gingerbread is probably all I’ll ever have of it, I went with this.

I think I may have underleafed it (oops) because it wasn’t as flavourful as it was before. To try and make up for this, I steeped it longer…I think it helped a little. As always, it tastes like liquid maple syrup with a little bit of butteryness. Truly a delicious tea if you like sweet.

Drank this to welcome myself back to Canada and back to my tea stash! And OH MY GOSH YOU GUYS I came home to a giant order from Verdant and another order from Camellia Sinensis including my first gaiwan and tons of new teas to try!! I CANT EVEN HANDLE IT. I’m readying myself for some gaiwan beginner fails but I’m super excited!!

When I visited a sugarbush (which didn’t yet have any maple syrup!) a couple weekends ago, I realized I hadn’t tried Oh Canada. What was with that? I have tried most or all of the flavoured DT teas that appeal to me, so I knew I had to get on this.

Opening the bag is just like opening a bottle of maple syrup. Same scent, same colour. Although there are candies. As wonderful as maple syrup is, it doesn’t have colourful candies. I would like to be ashamed of getting excited at candies in tea, but why wouldn’t something like a maple-flavoured rooibos have candies?

Anyway, I deeply and sincerely love maple syrup. But, it’s not exactly compatible with my attempted lowish-carb diet. I have some artifically sweetened maple(-flavoured?) syrup, but I have to try pretty hard to convince myself it’s anywhere close to the real thing. This tea does taste seriously mapley, so it’s great to have in my arsenal of craving-killing teas. I’ll need to get more than the small amount I picked up, as I’ve already had three cups of it. I prefer it with a little milk, I think, but definitely feel no need to sweeten it. I also clearly need to use this the next time I make pancakes!

Oh yay for a great big mug of Oh Canada!

This is my second favourite tea (a very close second to Coco Chai Rooibos), and it always makes be very happy when I choose to make this. I steep it for the maximum amount of time to really get that maple flavour going, then I add a teaspoon of maple sugar and a splash of milk. Oh, heaven! It’s all about the maple flavour in this tea.

I may be ambivalent about my current Midsummer Night’s Dream iced tea, but I absolutely love Oh Canada!

Time for dessert! I finally got my order in from David’s Tea. This tea smells fantaaaaaaastic. Mapley mapley goodness, plus adorable little maple leaf sprinkles and chunks of caramel and toffee. I love tea that’s tasty and fun.

When I visited Canada with my French class way back in high school we visited a maple syrup shop/diner where before dinner they (jokingly) told us to try maple syrup on everything. I did (and I mean everything) and never looked back.

The maple carries into the steeped tea with notes of caramel. The rooibos isn’t overpowering, the maple really stands out (which is what I was hoping for!) but doesn’t punch you in the face. This is super yummy and I can’t wait to try it iced with a bit of sugar added.

Edit:
Successful second steep, less maple this time and more rooibos. Still has that rich sweetness from the toffee and caramel though.

So, how do you order from David’s Tea and not get the one named “Oh, Canada”? I didn’t know how, so of course it goes in my cart.

I’m actually a fan of rooibos blends (okay, I’ll admit, I’m a fan of just about anything that you steep in hot water and drink), so I was really excited to try this one. I’m always on the lookout for rooibos/honeybush/herbal blends that are awesome.

So, the scent of this tea has me nervous. Want to know what it smells like? Do you have a bottle of real maple syrup handy? Open it and sniff. That is what this tea smells like. Exactly what this tea smells like. Sweet, maply syrup. It smells so overwhelmingly sweet that I was very concerned about the first sip…

But I shouldn’t have been!! Yes, it tastes like maple syrup, but it’s not syrupy-sweet. In fact, it’s got a bitter-burnt-bakey edge to it that makes me think of pancakes flavored with maple syrup. Oh, Canada…you are a fine tea indeed.

ETA: Second steep is a bit weaker than the first, but by no means has it diminished in flavor. In fact, it might be better.