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Of the three in the Wine Collection this is my favourite…

But that’s not saying much considering that it’s still not that great. Just better than the other two. A agree with Eisenherz, the smell is lovely both dry and brewed, but once you take a sip it falls rather flat. To me it comes off as rather soapy and slightly bitter, which is unfortunate because from the smell it had potential. I’m not sure where they went wrong… it’s quite bland for a black tea, with nothing to really give it oomph. So sad, not what I was expecting at all.

Oh. My. Gosh.

First I will start by telling you that I bought this for my mom as a birthday gift. She flippin’ loves teas like this; the more Canadian the better! What could be more Canadian than this: wintergreen leaves, cedar green, white pine needles, and red sumac berries. She was so excited about it she had to brew up a pot right away…

It’s like someone took the forest, steeped it, and made tea! Takes me to Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park straight away, like I am smelling the pine in the air—only instead of just smelling I am drinking it as well. You definitely taste the wintergreen first, but there’s depth added with the pine, spruce, and berries. Light, refreshing, crisp perfection.

First one to review this tea, oh yeah!

Alright, let’s get down to business (to defeat… the Huns! Sorry, Mulan moment). The initial smell of the steeped tea is quite lovely: cloves, rosehips, with hints of orange and berries. The first taste is initially the same, but there’s a lingering aftertaste of wine, which I assume is from the “flavouring” in the ingredients. It’s not horrible, but it does linger for a long time and it gives the other flavours a roundness… if you could call it that. It’s not enough of a unique tea to differentiate it from other fruity + spice blends, I’m pretty sure I have tasted this same tea dozens of times, but not spent so much on the tea. Kind of disappointing considering the size of the tins and the amount one pays for them.

Overall: alright for a fruity, spicy tea. Nice for the evening since it’s caffeine-free and tastes like mulled cider, but not special enough to distinguish itself from the dozens of other spicy fruit teas on the market. I’d rather spend my money on Kanpe, it has nearly the same fruity, hibiscus, cinnamon taste (minus the mistletoe, cloves, orange and marigold, but I’m not sure how much flavour they add anyways) and it’s for a good cause.

Straight: Not really feelin’ it…

Latte-d: Whole other story! Especially with the addition of spiced butter. Not quite what the doctor ordered (I currently have shingles, yay), but can’t really go wrong! Besides, I’m not supposed to take the pills on an empty stomach…

So, Doctor says I have shingles… which also means that I’m feeling pretty lousy. Hopefully the tea will help, even just a little.

Our landlords are useless. Mice in the walls? Nothing is done, so we have to buy traps and catch them. Stove blows up? Still waiting on that one. Front & back walkways need to be shoveled? They leave shovels here for us to do it. The worst part? They’re my best friends parents, which means that even if we find another place I will still probably see them around.

So, for the past 20 minutes I have been outside, shoveling the walkway to the apartment that I am paying to live in when they should be paying me to do their job. I came inside and decided to reward myself by brewing up a cup of this tea. Yeah, I deserve it.

I’m not familiar with pu’erhs, having never tried one before, so I’m not sure how this one rates on that scale. On my scale, this tea is pretty freakin’ amazing! I’m not really a fan of those chocolate oranges, but I’m a fan of this tea! One thing though, I tried this in-store and the chocolate came through much more, but now that I have it at home I find it’s more orange-y. Not a horrible thing, just wish I tasted more chocolate.

I’ve been drinking this almost every evening before bed… love that it’s so tasty AND caffine-free.