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I was getting to the end of my tin of matcha and I wanted to wash it out before I re-filled it again. So I used up what was left to make a matcha latte.

I did about 2 tsp matcha and 1 tsp sugar in 8 oz hot frothed 2% milk. I had a bit of a ginger root hanging around and starting to get old so I added a few slices of fresh ginger.

The latte turned out good. Smooth and sweet. My only complaint is I think the ginger root is enhancing a seaweed flavour in the matcha as I usually do not get that flavour with this matcha, either hot or cold.

The tin is now washed and will dry out for a few days before I refill it again.

So I did something I NEVER do. And I feel guilty, but not really.

I added milk to this tea.

I know most of you are thinking that adding milk is not really a mortal sin. But it kinda is for me. I drink almost all of my tea straight. Except for cold shaken matcha where I add a little bit of sugar. Chai only has milk if it is steeped in milk. And so on.

So I brewed this up this morning and there just wasn’t that magic that was there the first time. There was really not much citrus, there was no creaminess, and definitely no sparkle. It was still good enough to drink but it was not amazing like I remembered it to be.

So mostly because I was too lazy to carry the old tea leaves to the garbage I made a second steep, which is also unusual for me………what is up with me today?!?

And I added some milk…

It was definitely creamier with the milk. Still not much citrus. Better this steep then the first one. Not sure what I did to it for the first steep. Maybe the water was too hot, or too cool, who knows. Just an off tea day today I guess…

This was my favourite sample for A Quarter to Tea.

It smells like almonds, nuts, cinnamon and cloves. It reminds me of like a heavy spice cake.

The tea liquor is quite thick. It is also creamy. There are definitely notes of cake and bread. The black tea base is very smooth. No astringency at all. There are flavours of cinnamon and clove but they are not overpowering. I would have almost liked the clove to be a bit stronger. There is a strong nutty flavour to the tea. I am getting just the slightest hint of apple which works really well with the blend. It’s just enough, but not too much.

This tea really reminds me of Christmas/winter flavours, but I would totally drink it all the time.

This is my second free sample from A Quarter to Tea.

Unfortunately there was some scent contamination as this tea in dry form just smells like currants and almonds due to the other samples I also asked for.

I used the whole sample for one cup as the pieces were so large. There were large pieces of dried apple as well as some blueberries in my sample but I do not recall any cherries.

I obviously didn’t do this tea any favours by brewing it hot. I would guess that it would be a better cold brew but I tried hot anyway. Initially hot it tasted ok. It tasted more so like dry champagne that had lost all of the carbonation with a bit of slightly bitter white tea. No fruity flavour. As it cooled there was a bit more of an apple flavour. Like a non-sweet apple cider. It still retained the flat champagne flavour. I did not get much fruit other than hints of apple but that may be due to my sample. The bitterness from the white tea faded as it cooled. There was no taste contamination despite the smell.

I would say it was definitely better as it cooled. It tasted a bit more like a mimosa with not so much citrus in it. I think it would have been better with some kind of sweetener like maybe some honey, but I didn’t have anything at work to add in. But I can definitely see where the sangria part comes in.

I was super excited to get my Quater to Tea samples in the mail yesterday when I got home from work.

As everyone in my life knows, I am a slave to the Earl, so this is the first one I had to try.

The dry tea is small, broken pieces of black tea but there are some currants in it, even for the small sample that I received. There is enough in the sample package for two servings of tea.

The dry tea smells very strongly of artificial cherry candy flavour. Similar to black cherry nibs. The brewed tea does not smell artificial. It is a sweet black currant smell.

This is one of those teas that has a magic timeframe in which to drink it. It is not that it is finicky. But there is very little taste when it is really hot, there is a great taste for that moment it cools a bit, then once it starts to cool a lot it morphs into a bit of artificial tasting. It is also a little metallic tasting as it cools with a bit of an astringent tang. It loses the bergamot flavour and the currant flavour profile be comes quite strong.

While this tea is in its magic moment, there are sweet black and red currant flavours. The bergamot almost tastes like candy. The bergamot and currant flavours blend well together. This blend is quite sweet on its own. The black tea base is moderately bold. It hides underneath the currant flavours. It is smooth and the liquor feels thick. There is initially no bitterness or astringency.

This one is definitely not a traditional Earl Grey as I would say the currant flavours are the dominant flavour. It is still pretty good though. This would probably be a good tea for those bergamot-haters out there (cough, cough…Sil).

Thanks to A Quarter to Tea for the free samples.

Please note – I have never drank this tea, and it is not a review really, so just skip this note if that bothers you.

However reading the description of this tea, I am sure I would like it. Mmmmmm, bergamot.

Today is election day in Canada!

So everyone remember to go out and vote!

It doesn’t matter who you vote for, just go and vote!

Now I want to try this tea :(

But I did go and vote :)

Snazzy marketing, I am in.

I am a sucker for visually pleasing tea packaging. Bright colours on the box, I will buy the tea.

This tea is billed to be a citrus black tea. On opening the package there is a strong citrus scent, orange and grapefruit. The dry tea itself is also very visually pleasing. It is black tea with bright blue cornflowers, straw coloured cornflowers and burgundy petals/leaves. The colours of the tea kind of mimic the colours on the packaging. I am getting quite excited to try this tea.

The black tea is bold, slightly malty. It smells roasty but does not taste roasty. There is a very strong citrus flavour. It is hard to distinguish what type of citrus, does citrus flavoured chewing gum count as a flavour, because that is what it tastes like. Citrus-y and tart. There is definitely a blackberry leaf type flavour. The tea is bold but it is also very smooth. Minimal aftertaste.

I quite like this one. It might be the snazzy colours biasing my opinion, but this is a good one.

Today is Canadian Thanksgiving. Today (and every day) I am thankful to live in a country and society where I am free to be a woman, to be able to freely practise my religion, and to be safe. I am also very thankful for great friends and family. And also for tea. And internet :)

Happy Turkey day to everyone!

I found this by surprise at Musee de l’Orangerie in Paris. Which BTW, everyone should go and see. It is a really small museum of impressionist and post-impressionist modern art. It is quite expensive to get in, compared to the not too much you get to look at, 9 euros. But, it houses Monet’s Waterlillies (AKA Nympheas). They are absolutely amazing to just sit and gaze at. Even if you are not an impressionist fan, I am not, but these are just a beautiful art peices.

Anyway, there is a little café/gift shop and they sell this tea! I totally stumbled on it by accident. I can’t find any history on this tea on any of the Nina’s Paris websites, US or EU, but it appears that this tea would have been created specifically for these paintings. As any one that has followed me for a while, you all know I am a big lover of Nina’s Paris. I was kind of disappointed I did not know about it before, this is something I totally would have picked up from Nina’s. It feels like it is this secret tea that only a select few know about. Kind of like Fete de Versailles (which is super delish).

Anyway, enough gushing and moving on to the tea. The ingredients list Sri Lankan black tea, apricot flavours and cornflowers.

The tea smells strongly of black tea with apricot perfume/scent. The tea brews up dark red-brown. It has the same apricot perfume/scent. The tea tastes like a moderate to strong bold black tea. There is a flavour of apricot. It is initially quite natural tasting but then if does fade into a bit of artificial flavour. It is also quite strong. The corn flowers make the tea taste quite thick but they are also quite strong in flavour. But I am wondering if that is just due to what got scooped up to brew.

I rarely do a second steep but I was too lazy to do a “new” steep, so I re-steeped this one. The second steep is actually better the first. The flavours just all blend together better.

I quite like apricot teas and have been on a quest to find the best black tea with apricot. Many of them come off just so artificial, or bitter, or the flavour doesn’t blend well with the tea. I think this blend does a good job.

This is a good blend. Not my absolute Nina’s favourite but I am still quite happy to have found it and to have tried it. Totally makes me feel like I am a member of the secret tea blend society :P

So for the last three days I keep forgetting to bring tea to work. So now I am stuck with work tea today. That is the tea in the drawer of the staff room at work, that people just bring in because they don’t want it. Most of it was herbal blends, this was one of the few that had actual tea in it so that is what I grabbed. We also have some keurig tea at work. But the keurig has never been cleaned, and is mostly used for coffee, I don’t think I can stomach tea laced with coffee, this morning anyway.

This was is ok. It is quite light, bland would be a good word. There are light hints of spearmint, a bit of lemon verbena type flavour. The green tea is very light but also slightly atringent in the aftertaste.

I wasn’t expecting much from this one due to the fact it is an old bagged tea from the work cupboard, but also. Being a blend called Zen, I don’t think it is supposed to pack any type of punch.

It will do for now.

I have all this delicious tea at home just waiting for me….. :(

So I spent like hours in the Mariage Freres store in Paris. I think I smelled every tea, twice. And trust me, they have LOTS of teas. This one really struck me. It was definitely the bright citrus notes in the scent that caught me.

I was a little worried because when I opened the tin there was green tea in there. The tin and the box only list black tea. But reading the description I found on the MF website, it now makes sense, there is actually some green tea in the blend.

This tea is very decadent. The black tea base is very light, but it is thick. A lot of creamy flavour as well as texture to the tea. It is very smooth. The citrus flavours are actually quite light as compared to the smell but they are very definitive, which I think is what the “sparkling” means. There is a slight flavour profile of sencha, which I assume is coming from the green tea.

This tea reminds me of of very strong black tea, diluted with milk. Like a perfect lazy breakfast tea.

Definitely another one of my fav teas that I bought. However, I have only tried two so far… 2 for 2!