Bayswater Tea Co.

Sick tea of the evening….another one that was strong enough in some flavour to pick up. The strong coffee/burnt sugar notes came through, and it was a soothing and smooth brew. Sadly, it’s a sipdown, so I’ll have to get more again sometime. It’s tasty.

Backlog…had this yesterday…I pretty much stand by my initial tasting note on this one. It is good, though the burnt sugar tasting/smelling like coffee is a little odd..but it is a comforting cuppa on a dreary day.

Picked this one up in Vancouver last week for the Vancouver Meetup before Cavocorax moves to Toronto. We spent a long time in Baywater looking at tea and sniffing, and this one was one that a lot of us liked, so we shared some.

Anyway, so my day ended up a little frustrating, and I had a bit of anxiety toward the end. I made the Gui Fei Oolong from Butiki earlier, and while it was tasty, it was not the warm hug around my heart that I needed tonight, so I brewed up a cup of this.

The first thing I pick up with the smell is almost a coffee bean smell, but if I smell deeper, it isn’t coffee bean, it’s the burnt sugar topping from creme brûlée that I am smelling. There is a sweet vanilla undernote, but it’s not an artificial vanilla…it feels warm and earthy.

I added milk and sugar to this. The sugar was fine, but I’m not sure of the milk. I was hoping it would be an enhancement to the creme part of the title, but I don’t know. I think it may have muted it too much, though I can still detect the burnt sugar notes through it.

I don’t know if I will like this one as compared to Divine Temptation, but I did have a thought to mix the two to create Hazelnut Creme Brûlée. So this is a winner from Bayswater. The only one I did not like so far was the Lemon Basil Oolong.

That’s the end of this one! I knew it wouldn’t last long. This tea delivers exactly what you’d expect from the title, and I really enjoy it, even if it is straightforward. I oversteeped it a little this morning, but that just gave it a bit of cremainess that I wasn’t expecting.

I think I’d pick up a little bit more if given the chance, but I wouldn’t go too far out of my way to do so. Can’t wait to get Sil and Kittenna their samples so I can see what they think.

I’m hanging out at York University for about 5 hours today, just to explore etc., but I sure wish I’d brought more than this with me! I suppose I’ll end up getting Tim Hortons coffee since there are 3 of those on campus. :P #teatraitor

This is another one I picked up from the Steepster Meet-Up! I’m setting a bit aside for Sil and Kittenna as it’s pretty good, and I’m certain my 25g will not last long.

It’s Earl Grey, but not overwhelmingly so, and the grapefruit balances it out nicely. I… well, I guess I drank my cup too quickly to properly review it, but that’s not a bad sign is it?

I finished this up today, and I’m not surprised it didn’t last me until Christmas. This time it tasted really strongly of hibiscus. Not so great.

So, this is great when it’s good, bit it’s risky.

OMGsrsly drank this earlier so I thought I’d better open my pack up and have some too.

This is a greedy tea! It says “2 heaping tea measuring spoons for 1 cup of water”. Well, 50g will not last very long then! I am leaving at least a cup for Sil and Kittena to try so that we are prepared if we ever want to order any directly from the company.

And maybe we should? As a fruit tea, this is very good. I don’t really mind the hibiscus – as the tea cools a bit it fades into the background. I’m tasting apples and spices and a bit of tartness. And orange; there’s a bit of orange too. I’ve never had Christmas Stollen, but it does sorta remind me of glogg (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulled_wine#Nordic_gl.C3.B6gg). Like OMGsrsly says, this tea is a bit like fruity booze.

I don’t think I would drink this one too often – it’s not an everyday (every evening?) tea for me – but I could see it being a popular one around Christmas.

Apparently my bf has invited 4 people to have Christmas with us in Toronto since we’re away from our families, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this number grew. I could use this tea on hand as a refreshment for guests!

I tried this one again, and it was very very tart today. Not what I wanted at all, rather I was looking for the spices and almonds.

I dumped the mug and switched over to dilute lime and tonic. A good option when tea just isn’t working.

I was hoping for more almonds, less fruity booze, but I’ll go with the fruity booze. If you drink brandy, it might go well with this tea. :)

It’s kinda cherries, some apple, spices, IDK. It’s quite comforting at a barely sippable hotness. I hope it stays drinkable as it cools down.

(I did add sugar to it. It smelled like it could go rather sour. About 1/4 tsp for 16 oz, which isn’t much.)

I’m actually almost out of a lot of teas I really enjoy.

Having this with some milk, instead of having another coffee. It’s so good. Om nom nom.

After I finish, I’ll need to get ready and go out thrifting. I haven’t been for ages, and I need some blouses for work type situations. And I desperately need a jacket that isn’t my sporty raincoat. Heh.

I had this yesterday, because of Keychange. Yep, she totally made me! Haha. No, we were chatting and then I had to go dig around in my cupboard for some Bayswater teas.

Still so delicious. :)

Sipdown! Actually, it’s a double sipdown because I combined my last cup of this with my last cup of Creme Brulee. Mmmm….

Just a little creamer in there, and it’s delicious hazel nougat-y coffee-tea flavour with some burnt sugar on top. Mmm.

Sipping this one (also with real soy creamer instead of powdered milk) this evening. So delicious. A little sweet, nutty (but not bitter), etc. I’ll have to pick up more of this one. I can see why it’s the most popular tea the store does.

Maybe it’s because I’ve been drinking dessert teas all day, but I don’t find this one as rich as Crowkettle reported.

Either that, or the paper bag I used (too lazy right now to clean strainers) really makes a difference in the amount of sugar that makes it into the cup.

The flavour isn’t quite as strong as I thought it would be, but it’s pretty darn tasty. And if I was motivated enough to go put a little sugar in here, I bet it would taste just like the candy nougat it smells like…

Another Bayswater sample today…this one I picked because of the pizza that I made for dinner tonight. It was whole wheat crust, Classico vodka sauce with arugula, artichoke, and proscuitto. I thought with the basil note that it mught be a good match. And it is, only I guess I’m just not too fond of basil in my tea? I only got a small sample of this, but will likely pass it on to someone locally who didn’t make it to the meet up. I might just ice or cold steep the rest, though, if no one claims it.

I’ll add that this is a darker oolong base. which I think is good for this tea, as it is not too vegetal to compete with the basil.

I’m actually quite enjoying this one. I seriously overleafed it, then steeped for 3 minutes with a kettle I forgot about while I was eating my breakfast.

It’s good, but not strawberry enough. I can taste a tart bit of rhubarb, some berry, and it’s quite creamy (possibly due to the amount of cream I added…). I probably won’t get this one again, but I’ll happily finish the rest of the package.

I made this earlier, drank half the mug while I was packing up tea-care-packages for friends, and now I’m sipping on the rest cold.

I quite like this tea! It’s closer to my ideal strawberry tea, even with the slight tartness from the rhubarb flavour. I had this hot, with no sugar or milk. I’m drinking it cold the same way, and as it’s chilled it’s become a little astringent. Not much at all, though. I like this one better than Creme Brulee, and I’d definitely consider getting this one again.

Yeah, the flavour is strawberry, with a little lingering tartness. Yum. I can hardly wait to try it iced, or with some sugar to help boost the strawberry-ness.

Sipdown…It’s no Ruby Pie, but it is still tasty in it’s own way. Cooled, it is much juicier, and there is a note of cinnamon mixed with the base. I think I prefer Ruby Pie over this is that the strawberry taste is stronger, the base is smoother, and there are little bunny graham crackers. :P

Picked this up at the recent Vancouver meet up. OMGsrsly was wondering how this might compare to Butiki’s Ruby Pie, which she can’t have because of the graham crackers (ie gluten). Honestly, I don’t think this really compares. Now I cold steeped this today, so I might have a different flavour profile if I hot steep it.

My cold steep yielded a somewhat tart, and somewhat melon-y and juicy taste. I didn’t pick up any cinnamon or pie crust, though as cavo points out, there’s no pie in the name or description.

I’d like to see how this differs with a normal steep.

Sipdown…

So today, my co-worker decided to grab a grapefruit from the market near our store and have it on her lunch break, and the whole store just smelled like grapefruit. Even the phone smelled like that because she probably had grapefruit peel oil on her hands or something…

So that made me think of this tea, and my Grapefruit Dragon tea from Butiki…I opted for this as I knew I’d be finishing the last of it. Hooray for the sipdown! Boo for using the last bit.

I do like this tea…part of me thinks of it as a summer tea because of the citrus in it, and the floral earl grey base…but the other part of me thinks, wow, what a great tea to have in the morning on a foul grey day in fall or winter.

So I dunno…so it might be worth having some on hand, but I think I could probably manage the same feeling with another tea that I like better.

I’m glad I took a sample of this out from Shayne’s baggie to try, and later pinched a bit more out before giving the rest to him. It certainly exceeded my expectations.

Had this again today…double steeped for kid’s mug and timolino since it was cool and wet out this morning (though the sun did poke through eventually and warm up some). It was careful on my steep time, and I got a nice earl grey tea with a slight grapefruit taste at the end of the sip. With milk and sugar. I’m sure the milk makes the grapefruit a little less in your face.

I only have about one serving left, and I may bag it and have Starbucks or someone give it the London Fog treatment. :)

I got this tea as a last minute sample with our Vancouver meet up a few days ago. I’m a little hit or miss on Earl Grey tea. I like them, but sometimes the floral is too strong. This one is medium on the floral scent, but it is a strong smelling tea, which is actually ok with me, but proper storage would be better. I just have a small amount that was pilfered from ShayneBears sample.

Um, shifty eyes I might pilfer a little more of this before I give him the rest. It’s actually pretty good. At least with the steep I made this morning, I found that the predominant flavour profile was the bergamot, and the grapefruit gently mingled with but, but at the back. This could be because I added a little raw sugar and milk, so maybe the milk made the grapefruit less tart. I am gonna try this iced, and maybe in the style of a London Fog.

I don’t know if this is a repurchase or not yet, but we will see how the rest of my sample goes. It is very spring/summery, and as we head into cooler weather, this may not be on the top of my go to list.

When you search for ‘Lemon Basil Oolong’ on Steepster, there are 5 other versions of this that come up. So I’m guessing they’re either mostly purchased from the same supplier, or someone decided they liked the idea and made their own.

I cold steeped this one overnight, and am drinking it with lemonade syrup and ice today. I really enjoy it this way. Lots of fresh basil, but the lemonade syrup brings it more into sbux ‘lemonade iced tea’ territory rather than a potential savoury mess.

Yum.

This one is strange. Very strange. It’s an almost savory tea, and yet I can consider it iced with some honey or sugar syrup.

The basil is prominent. The tea is smooth, and even though I accidentally let it sit out and cool for an hour and a half, it still tastes nice. The lemon is more lemon oil or lemon zest, but I think with sugar added it’d turn more lemonade.

I’m not sure how frequently I’d ever drink this (I’ll have to try it iced… maybe I’d go through it faster!) but it’s definitely something to consider trying.

(I let the water cool while I washed my tea dishes. IDK what the temp was. I think it took about 10 minutes?)

Edit: It’s really good with my batch-cook of the day: ham, pea, roasted squash and goat cheese pasta… :) If I had added some basil to the food, it would have been perfect!