Janet's Special Teas

Definitely a fruity tea…oversteeped so I will probably adjust the rating on a later steep. There is a more prominent citrus note, I think, with the spice in the background. It sort of reminds me of orange spice. I find the black base to be smooth with this one, as I did with the dolce orange, so that was nice. Even the oversteeping didn’t make it too bitter or astringent. I think this one may turn out to be a nice tea to cold steep or have iced, but it is quite nice as is hot. The owner of the shop said it was one of the top selling teas. It is quite nice.

Quick sip down. I wanted to finish this off because the sample bags aren’t resealable. No cherry again. Oh well.

All in all a very mild chocolate tea.

Thanks to Ceylon Star who drove both Amariel and me to Sidney the other day, I was finally able to visit Janet’s to see what she has in store. I grabbed this one as an afterthought because I’ve been on the quest for a good cherry tea. The funny part is I’m not even a fan of Black Forest cake, since chocolate cake has always been underwhelmingly meh to me.

The dry leaf smells promising. A prominent cherry with a milk chocolate lingering behind.

I’m not really getting the cherry in the taste, though. And the chocolate is extremely subtle. Luckily I have a little more to experiment with, and at least the base isn’t astringent.

I added some half and half and it reminded me of drinking a plain chocolate tea. It’s good but I was hoping for more cherry.

Pulled this one out for my first cup of the day, partly because it called to me, and partly because in approximately one hour, the Netherlands plays against Costa Rica in the 2014 FIFA world cup.

I spent 3.5 years of my life in the Netherlands, and they were the best years of my life. Amazing people, amazing food (ohemgee the CHEESE!!!!), beautiful architecture and landscapes, and sooooooo much acceptance.

The Dutch national colour, for those who don’t know, is Orange, so an orange tea felt like a good hat-tip to the country I called home for a few years (and a country I’d love to return to someday and see it from an adult’s perspective as I was a kid when I lived there).

This tea definitely reminds me of the Netherlands. The brightness of the orange with the sweetness of the vanilla gives me the sense of being back there, where I felt so at home.

It’s a welcome comfort in the midst of an emotional shitstorm of epic proportions. Even though the moment of comfort and contentment is coming to an end as I finish my cup, I’m glad to have had a chance to simply breathe.

As always, a visit to Janet’s left me with a grin on my face and a slightly lighter wallet. If you’re in Victoria and haven’t stopped in to Janet’s Special Teas in Sidney (on Beacon Ave), you don’t know what you’re missing! Janet, the owner, is a total hoot, and treats everyone like family. She’s truly passionate about the tea she sells and offers generous sample pouches for $1 (with enough leaf for at LEAST 3 cups). She’s even been known to bring in teas that she wouldn’t normally carry for customers who request it, so don’t be afraid to ask if you don’t see what you’re looking for.

But on to the tea itself. I LOVE orange teas, and orange juice. Which is funny because I can’t stand oranges (but I’ll happily eat a whole grapefruit) or creamsicles. But I do make my own “creamsicles” every summer, using tea and condensed milk. And that’s actually the main reason I picked up 50g of this tea.

I generally make my creamsicles out of DAVIDs Orange Blossom rooibos, but after experimenting last year, I found that rooibos just doesn’t make the nicest popsicles, it’s just not strong enough. So when my lovely hostages, I mean tea companions, asked to sniff the Dolce Orange, I couldn’t resist grabbing some to play around with. I brewed up some double strength when I got home, then split it into two parts. I added 2 TBSP of condensed milk to one part, and 2 TBSP of vanilla simple syrup to the other (when making popsicles you really do need to add sweetener. The extreme cold of freezing the tea cuts a lot of the flavour, and the sweetener helps to highlight the flavour of the tea and make it pop despite the coldness, without being overwhelmingly sweet). Poured into popsicle molds and put them in the deep freeze overnight. Wehn I finally crawled out of bed at 2pm, and despite the below freezing temperatures outside, I grabbed one of each pops and tested them. The creaminess of the vanilla in the tea, mixed with the smoothness of the black base, the pops really didn’t need the condensed milk! I prefer them with just the vanilla syrup, actually. In fact, next time I’ll cut the syrup in half and do just 1 TBSP.

Of course, after testing the popsicles, I had to warm up, so I made a cup of this hot. And by cup I mean my 750ml teapot-sized-mug, haha! 2 heaping tsp (so close to 1 TBSP I guess?) to 750ml of water, steeped for 2.5minutes at 175F. Beautiful orange liquor with a sweet and creamy scent very much like melted creamsicles. First sip was pure orange goodness with a bit of vanilla left on my breath at the end of the sip. As it cooled I got more vanilla notes, and a slightly malty black note as well. Janet mentioned Sri Lanka, but I don’t remember if she was referring to this or to the back based Sidney Sunrise (which I also picked up even though I have a bit of the rooibos base left. The black base just smells nicer, though I’ll keep the roobios based blend on hand for the sake of having a tasty caffeine free option. but I digress.), but I almost wonder if the base to this one is an assam?

I’ll definitely be popping over to the shop on Friday on my way to see the pony (since he’s boarded literally across the highway from Janet’s shop, so when he’s going good and steady in the cart I want to attempt to drive him over and tie him to a post outside her shop, haha) to get more, both for drinking and for popsicle making. This may be my favourite non-spiced orange tea, very slightly beating out the blood orange pu’erh I keep on hand.

I got this tea yesterday, on a pilgrimage to Janet’s out in Sidney…I got four little $1 sample pouches, and this was one. Her words were like it is orange creamsicle flavoured….so orange and vanilla. It did, indeed, smell like a creamsicle, and very much like DAVIDs Orange Blossom tea, minus the rooibos base and currants.

I did a full boil steep, but only for a few minutes. This tea, to me, is fine on it’s own with a little sweetener and no milk, though I may try it with milk one day to see how the creaminess plays in.

I did not find the base bitter or astringent at all, with this steeping, and the follow up steep I did later. I’ll see how the rest of my pouch goes, but I think that this is something I could keep regularly, or semi-regularly. Curious to see how it cold steeps with the warmer weather. I think it could be good.

This tea is up for a swap, as it is not my fave and I would hate for it to go to waste.

It was purchased early July 2011 and is stored in a well sealed tea tin. This is a delightful tea; I am just not a fan of all the licorice flavour in this tea.

First off, this is not the tea to drink when you have even a hint of the flu! I had this last weekend while I was sick and took one wiff of the anaise and thought I was going to die! Licorice NOT tasty and does NOT smell delicious when one is ill.

Also why are all the teas with Anaise or licorice of some sort so… so… UNappealing?! BLECK!

4th Steeping… GROSS!! I took one sip and could not get to the bathroom fast enough to bush my teeth, definanly pungent, and indiscribeably terrible! I will NOT be steeping this tea more that three times! EVER!

3rd steeping

Only half of the leaves are fully open, and the flowers that are wrapped inside the leaves are starting to float around and changing the flavour of the tea slightly. Athough the colour is not as intense the flavour still is. I can’t describe it other than to say it is becoming more of a creamy green tea in flavour.

Second steeping

I am going to forgo the milk as this is more green tea in taste than black. There is quite the kick of caffine and I am buzing around the house getting little things done. I definantly like this tea and despite the apparent expense, it is really cost effective!

This is my first jump into oolongs that are not flavoured with fruit or chocolate or vanilla beans and… WOW!

When I walked into Janet’s Special Teas, I noticed that she only had 4 oolongs on her tea list. I explained that I was new to loose tea and wanted to know which oolong was best to try; she instantly without hesitation told me that she had just opened a fresh bag of Osmanthus and that I should try this first. She was also very careful to explain how long to steep it and how hot the water should be. She was so careful with her instructions that I will be going back when I want to try burgamonts or straight black or the like!

First Steep was for only 1 minute, and at only 87C and I found the tea had a slight peppery taste, and the original “mouldy grass” smell to the leaves was tough to over look but once steeped all I can smell is the Osmanthus flower that give this tea it’s name.

I think that I might try a touch of milk for the second steeping.

This tea was a successful first leap into the world of Oolongs, and I am not looking back!

This tea is up for a swap because I do not want it to go to waste

It was purchased early July 2011, and is being stored in a well sealed tea tin.

Still a medicinal scent to the leaves that is almost a turn off, but once steeped…. SO GOOD! I am packing cream with me today because when I go back to my site to get it ready for Summer I will be brewing a HUGE pot of this for me!!! hahaha It will keep me from going crazy while I re-paper bulitin boards and clean tables and all that other fun stuff involved in getting my site Summer Camp ready.

The leaves smell rather medicinally cherry at first, but once steeped there is a distinct honey scent. Sweet to taste, but not overly so, and I am glad I purchased this tea dispite how medincial the leaves smelled.