Teaberry's Fine Teas

GCTTBR6

Finished this off being I’m so tired today and need caffeine. Hopefully this contains a good dose of caffeine so I can survive the rest of the (very long) day. I spend 14 hours on campus today, on top of studying for a midterm tomorrow. No rest for the weary. :/

Strong bergamot flavour, nice rose floral taste. The rose is quite aromatic and the black base is a bit sweet. The liquor is thick and flavourful.

GCTTB DAY 6

Second tea that I had neglected to write notes for on Monday. I remember rather enjoying this one. I agree with the observation that Jillian made a out it being a very dainty old-fashioned tea. It really does seem like that. The rose scent was surprisingly well blended with the bergamot (furthermore, I just realized that I’ve been spelling bergamot wrong every single time for the past year… Just wow…) and wasn’t overpowering. However, I don’t enjoy the very floral note that rose petals typically add to a tea, so I couldn’t love it. Though the rose notes weren’t too strong, they were a very specific type of rose scent that makes me think of those fake dried rose petals (I would sometimes find them in little bowls in bathrooms?) that were scented and typically smelled like old lady perfume. Maybe that’s why this tea seems so old fashioned. Honestly though it wasn’t bad and I didn’t mind drinking it, but again just not for me.

This is a light earl grey, the bergamot flavour is middling to strong depending on whether you add milk and how much (for the record I do recommend taking it with milk). The rose flavour is light and delicate, a pleasent complimentary note that isn’t cloying. This feels like a very dainty tea, the sort you would have at an old fashioned English tea party outside in a garden.

GCTTB V1

So this isn’t awful but it isn’t great either. I mean, I’m well aware of the fact I’m not a huge fan of milk oolong but continued experimentation doesn’t really hurt. You never know if your tastes are gonna change.

The dry leaf smell is so strong, and it reminds me exactly of buttered toast. I definitely was hoping that wouldn’t translate so clearly in the flavour: honestly butter is like the ONE typical toast topping that I hate. However, this does indeed taste like liquefied buttery toast. The vegetal/floral flavour of the oolong is fine, but that’s just too much butter flavour. Ick.

This sample is a blend made with a dark oolong and lots of other interesting bits. There are big whole rosebud, pieces of candied fruit and citrus peel and slivers of coconut. The rose notes seem to dominate though there are hint of the other ingredients as well and the base has a mild woodsy flavour. Interesting but maybe a little ‘busy’ – I’d almost say this tea would be better as a straight rose oolong.

I steeped this blend more like a Darjeeling – with a lower temperature and shorter steeping time – than most black teas. And indeed it does have some of those astringent, muscatel notes though the body of the tea is more robust with distinct notes of bitter cacao, so I’m thinking that there’s maybe Assam in there too. Not a tea I’d drink with milk but it’s certainly nice enough plain.

You know, I don’t think I’ve ever drank an earl grey with lavender before – it’s strange because it’s not that unusual a blend. Lavender as a food ingredient is something that I’ve noticed slowly gaining popularity recently and I recently tried out a recipe for lavender shortbread that was totally delish. With such a strong herb though it’s easy to go overboard but this blend manages to get just the right amount so that it’s strong enough to be detectable through the bergamot but subtle enough that I don’t feel like I’m drinking perfume. Taken with milk it makes a great morning tea to go with my breakfast.

The last time I was at Teaberry’s in Kelowna I decided to try their diverse collection of earl grey blends (seriously they have at least half a dozen) so I purchased a bunch of 4-cup samplers. I wasn’t able to get all the earl grey ones but this way I’ve at least got the majority covered. I decided to start with this one as it’s the only non-black tea of the lot. The first thing I taste is the smooth, ever-so-slightly sweet cream flavours which fade into the nutty-vegetal flavours of the pai mu dan base and the tang of the bergamot. The flavouring isn’t too heavy on the bergamot thankfully as it could have easily overwhelmed a lighter base like this. The base is maybe a bit too much on the vegetal side for my personal preferences but it’s not bad.

GCTTB
I wasn’t quite sure what this was when I took it out of the box. Based on the name I figured it had to be some sort of fruit something. Didn’t realize that it had black and rooibos as a base – just looking at it I thought it would be a tisane. That’s ok I’ll try almost anything.
This is fruity, but a little medicinal. It seems more like a fruit herbal that a black or rooibos. It’s a fun little fruit tea. None of the individual fruits really stand out to me – just generic fruit rather than anything specific.

GCTTB
I wasn’t quite sure what this was when I took it out of the box. Based on the name I figured it had to be some sort of fruit something. Didn’t realize that it had black and rooibos as a base – just looking at it I thought it would be a tisane. That’s ok I’ll try almost anything.
This is fruity, but a little medicinal. It seems more like a fruit herbal that a black or rooibos. It’s a fun little fruit tea. None of the individual fruits really stand out to me – just generic fruit rather than anything specific.

Another tea sample (I basically bought like 10 samples from the store when I was last there). This one had a rather pungent pu-erh smell – I know it doesn’t bother some people but I don’t like having to hold my breath when I take a sip, so I ended up giving this one a 30 second rinse even though I usually skip that step with flavoured pu-erhs.

The flavour is distinctly toffee-like with a hint of sweetness, something about it reminds me a bit of a caramel macchiato. The pu-erh base has a rather peat-y
flavour that oddly enough seems to work well with the caramel. Overall it’s a little bit weak/thin tasting, perhaps because of the rinse or it might need a bit more steeping time.

I made a up a big pitcher of iced tea with what was left of my sample – I didn’t have quite enough for the quantity I wanted to make so I added a couple scoops of Davids Tea Luscious Watermelon to make up the difference. Sweetened with a bit of honey it was soooooo good.

I had this recommended to me as a good iced tea blend so even though hibiscus was one of the ingredients I bought a sample to try out. It turned out quite nice – it’s mildly tangy but in a way that said ‘citrus’ to me instead of ‘evil hibiscus masquerading as citrus’. The other fruits in the mix help balance it out I think, and give it a bit of sweetness that doesn’t feel artificial or overdone. Would definitely consider buying more.

For the curious, the Ogopogo is a mythical (as far as anyone can prove) sea serpent very similar in description to the Loch Ness monster that folklore and First Nations legends theorize lives at the bottom of Okanagan Lake. At this point it’s become the semi-official symbol of the city of Kelowna (where this tea is from) and people are still reporting sightings to this day.

This sample is labeled as a black tea but it’s pretty obvious that it’s mixed with white tea leaves (and oolong according to the description) so I gave it a lower steeping temp than I would most blacks. Maybe the greenish tea leaves in the blend are supposed to mimic the monster which is supposedly a mix of brown and green in colour..?

The primary component of this blend seems to be Darjeeling – it has that slightly wine-like fruity scent and flavour. It’s less astringent than most Darjeelings though, which might be the white and oolong teas coming into play. I’d describe this as more of an afternoon tea as it’s relatively light and doesn’t pack the caffeine punch of a breakfast blend.

Drinking the last of the sample with some milk. Surprisingly, especially given the rooibos in this blend, it works quite well and takes a bit of the edge off the strong yerba maté flavour.

I picked up a sample of this tea on my last trip to Kelowna. It tastes a fair bit like Adagio’s Choconut Mate, in my opinion. The roasted mate goes well with the cocoa and the overall result is almost malty with a bit of bitterness. I’m not sure why they bothered to add rooibos to this blend as it doesn’t really do much for it except give it a bit of a woody flavour. It’s an okay tea, but not great.

Nothing really special I’ve got to say. It’s a nice enough blend but I’m pretty sure I’ve drank at least three or four teas that tasted very much like it. It’s light, sweet and fruity and sort of peachy-tropicaly in flavour and….that’s about it.

I picked this tea up when I was in Kelowna a few weeks ago and looking for a good decaf fruit blend to turn into iced tea. Unfortunately most fruit teas have a ton of hibiscus in them as a cheap way to replicate raspberry/pomegranate/cherry/random-tart-fruit-of-choice and while I’ll admit it’s more agreeable iced, I’d prefer to do without it altogether. So I was pretty pleased to score this tea.

Like I usually do with a new tea even if it’s destined to become iced tea I’ll try it hot first. The strongest flavour in this blend is the peach but I can also easily pick out apple and apricot as well. The honeybush mixed with the fruit gives the tea its own natural sweetness, and the decaf black tea gives this blend some substance but its subtle enough not to take over. I can already tell this is going to be a hit iced.

I would like to apologize to Jillian for not tasting and logged sooner! WOWZA! I have had this one for a while and just realized it! Eeek!

This smells like a ‘dusty’ green tea with blueberry.

It has a creamy green tea flavor with a hint of flower and blueberry that are quite faint but welcomed! This isn’t too shabby!

One of my favorite flavoured green teas of all time!

I added milk to the tea this morning for my breakfast cuppa and found that it really improved things. So I’ve decided to up its rating by a few points.