The Capilano

Sipdown! 142/365!

Woo, sipdown progress! Anyhow, I suspected this tea wouldn’t be overly appealing to me, due to the rose, but it was actually gentler than I expected, making it palatable. The base, too, was better than I expected – malty and delicious – but I think that since this was the end of the bag, some crushed leaves were present and caused a decent amount of astringency to creep in, despite a timed infusion of ~2.5 minutes. Might have actually been a pretty decent rose black otherwise; I’ll rate it assuming the astringency is primarily from tea dust.

I don’t recall if this was from a subscription box of mine, or if I got this from someone else (I have no recollection of drinking this prior, but there was only a single cup remaining), so thanks to whoever this is from, if indeed it was from someone!

also lost this note. one from omgsrsly happy to have tried it…fluffy tea is fluffy! was hoping for a bit more sage but on the whole a really enjoyable brew.

Yum!

Standard steep with milk. I still really like this tea.

I’m drinking it with the Shutterbean earl grey chocolate cake. I haven’t made it for a couple years but it’s delicious as ever.

This tea is incredibly fluffy due to the blackberry leaves and sage.

Dry, and steeping, it smells intensely sweet due to the blackberry. Upon drinking, the sage is very present.

I quite like the tea, but then, I like sage tea. It would be really good with honey as well.

I grabbed this because it’s a berry tea with no apple! Apples and me aren’t getting along so much lately, but so many herbal/berry teas are full of it. Makes me sad.

This is pretty darn tasty. I accidentally steeped it for about 10 minutes instead of my usual 4-5 minutes, but it’s still nice and berry-y. Probably more hibiscus flavour than usual, but that’s ok. I just added a spoon of honey.

They’re mostly selling via their website, but will have their teas in a couple galleries in Vancouver, and possibly in some shops in the States… Very exciting.

Finished this one off today because i have 5 more sipdowns to try and get through before the end of the month. Still not sure if i’ll be able to do it, but i’ll get pretty close. Steeped this one a little hotter and for a little longer and now this is a much better cup. Lemony and tart and delicious. Don’t feel the need to keep this one in my cupboard but i’m really happy that i managed to get it to work :) thanks omgsrsly!

sample from omgsrsly trying to get through a few of my smaller quantities since i’ve only got a week left and have 7 teas to go for my monthly sipdown goal (numbers) thankfully i’ve already reached my weight goal for the month even with the teas my office colleague gave me :) Not sure how i feel about this one. I think i need to try steeping it for longer since the taste is largely mellow and not very strong one way or the other. hints of tangy-ness are there….as well as a sort of herbal like taste..but nothing very distinct yet. 185 @4.5mins

Still super sad that it looks like The Capilano is closed.

Having this one iced today, with a bit of honey. I still love this tea – it’s one of my favourites. Vegetal from the nettle, sour from the hibiscus and rosehip, citrus from the sumac and peels… just a really nice tea.

I think I prefer it hot, but I’m definitely not mad that I decided to ice it. It’s one herbal tea I can drink with abandon (no apples!).

Huh. I swear I’ve written a note about this already.

Sweet. Lemony. Tart. Berries. Delicious.

Really really tasty, and good for me because of the stinging nettles and sumac.

This tea is a blend of Chinese Mao Jian and elderberries.

The scent of the steeped tea is green and lovely. There is the vaguest suggestion of pepper and fruit, but just the slightest bit.

An enjoyable cup of green tea.

This was probably the wrong day for me to drink this tea: after a full day of mild and gentle Autumn Harvest Laoshan Green, six steepings worth.

And then, BAM, a very assertive Roots and Chai. Dandelion root in tea tends to rub me the wrong way. I had given the bag a good shake, but still.

I steeped it the recommended 8 minutes.

The smell of this tea is vile.

The taste is deep and spicy chai-like with this odd mint-like bite at the end. Perhaps it is the ginger. Though I like ginger and I don’t usually find that it comes as an aftertaste. And then, there’s this odd tongue-tingle effect like one gets from mint sometimes. Though I know that mint is not listed as one of the ingredients.

This is my first cup of this, and I will attempt a second steeping. And then, I will probably try this another time to see whether it was completely unfair of me to drink this after a day of a most lovely and gentle green.

thanks again omgsrsly. Finished this one off at some point today in my stupidly busy day.

Final Count: 87

Thanks for sending more of this my way omgsrsly still a tea i enjoy :) it’s still berry delicious ha!

i figured i should knock two of the capilano teas off my list tonight since they’re herbals so i drank this one as well. it’s pretty much a typical herbal “berry” tea. Not overly hibiscus for those who care about that, and the lemon grass softens the berry-ness a little as well. Not too shabby, though i don’t know if i need this one in my cupboard again since i like my berry herbals to have distinct flavours instead of just “berry” :) thanks variaTEA!

Final Count: 164 (14 more to go i hope this weekend!)

too much cinnamon and chicory root. I couldn’t finish this one tonight because i was just wrong. wrong taste, wrong thing paired with dinner. wrong wrong wrong. but, as always, glad to try new things and thankful for tea sharing friends like variaTEA :)

This is a beautiful blend – all different shades of reds and pinks. It smells fruity but also mentholated, maybe like Robitussin? There is a bubble gum smell too. This steeps up to be a bright berry pink. The longer it steeps, the darker it becomes. I can smell the hibiscus now. This is better sweetened; it tames the hibiscus in a way. It’s much better than I expected. The most prominent flavor is still the hibiscus but I can taste the berry flavors too. It’s the tiniest bit tart and astringent, but neither is unpleasant.

I’m unfamiliar with the elderberry so I’m not sure if it is meant to taste fruity or herbaceous. I can taste the roastiness of the green tea, slightly tannic, but not much else. No fruitiness or anything extra. Again, green teas are not my favorite so I’m sure I’m not the best judge.

I received this as part of Amoda’s September tea box along with three other teas from The Capilano. The flavors are strong. I can taste the chicory and the ginger and also something artificial that reminds me of the cloying sweetness of licorice. The ingredients don’t list licorice in this blend so I’m not sure what I’m tasting here. There’s a slight bitterness too, probably from the chicory.

I’m so excited about today’s’ sipdown theme, National Red Rose Day, because floral teas are some of my very favorites. I only wish I had started drinking earlier because now it’s already mid-afternoon and I’ll probably need to switch to something with lower caffeine soon.

This is an older tea that I got in an Amoda subscription several years back. There was just enough left for one small cup. I don’t think The Capilano is around anymore. In fact, I looked up the website just to check and the domain now serves as a blog with one how-to entry about purchasing sex toys. So there’s that. This might be the last bit of this tea lying around on planet Earth, but I can’t say I’m too sad about it. It’s floral, yes, but not as much as I’d like. Not when it’s meant specifically to be a rose tea. Though the description does say it’s supposed to be subtle, so maybe that’s the intended effect. The black tea base is fine as well, though not extraordinary. I think I felt this way even when I first tried it, so there are better options out there.

I’m glad, at least, that I’ve cleared another tea from my cabinet from so long ago. It’s a slow process but a fun one. I’m not sure how I would make a decision on which tea to drink if there weren’t a spreadsheet guiding my way.

I don’t really smell any rose in the dry tea – just fresh black tea. I’m not tasting anything particularly floral at all actually, but it is still a solid tea. Another cup of this would have been a welcome addition to my afternoon, but I wasn’t thinking and tossed my tea leaves.