The Tea Emporium

Had this one in the morning, still really enjoying it! Should have been drinking this one sooner! :)

I could have sworn i’ve had this one before but steepster tells me otherwise. Either way i enjoyed this quite a bit this morning, which was slightly unexpected given my disappointments as of late with the tea emporium. That being said, it was with their flavoured teas so maybe i’m better off sticking to their unflavoured blacks. I’m not sure if i sent this to my tea sister but i think this might be one that both terri and nicole might enjoy. It’s malty, though not overly so and sort of a mid range black – not really a BOLD morning cup, but not yet the sort of cup i like in the afternoon either. Looking forward to having more of this since i should get around to drinking it up!

Sipping on this at Billy Bishop Airport while waiting for my flight to board. I noticed a Loblaws across the street from diner where I was having breakfast and thought I’d check it out. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they had a loose leaf tea section. After pestering the sales associate to smell a bunch of the teas, I picked four. This was one of them and I was really hesitant to try it because bergamot is really hit or miss with me.

I’m very happy that I picked this one up. I steeped it for about 2 minutes and added sugar. It is sooo creamy and has a buttery caramel taste. The grapefruit gives it a nice tangy flavour and the bergamot is there but tolerable. After reading the other reviews, I was expecting to be disappointed in this but oh my god, it’s delicious!

You make everything better. That is all.

Courtesy of Sil. Thanks for the sample!
eeeep, this one is not for me. I don’t know why but it was just not interesting for me. The peach was there… but somehow it fell flatter than the prairies for me. Oh well I was curious for a long time. Now I know :)
Rating: 63

I had this iced. Not bad. Better than the Darjeeling anyhow!
The lychee really works with the congou. Complimentary flavours to be sure. Just a little too sweet for my liking and I would have preferred it a little stronger.
No matter! it did the job… cooling me down on such a hot hot day fans self
and kept me awake while we waited for 2hrs to get into a club. We never made it… the venue was at capacity and there were still 200+ people behind us!
Ah well, we had fun hanging out.

This is an average oolong for me. Slightly roasted, requiring some sweetening, but with nothing special to make it stand out. Even a second steep did very little for me. I definitely prefer my greener oolongs to this one.

I’m still not getting any apple notes from this one. I think I’ve come down on the side of not liking it. It is a very very odd tea, and if anybody would like to try it, I’m more than willing to share!

This tea confuses me! It is a nice flavour, but I don’t get what I expect a baked apple to taste like from it. There are definitely notes of something similar, and the spices are lovely, but it isn’t what I expected. Perhaps I expected a different brand of apple and that is my issue. I grew up in apple country so baked apples to me are Spies and Empires, whereas this tea may be what a red delicious baked tastes like? I’m not sure.

The tea notes that are there are nice and fallish while being naturally sweet. There are hints of cinnamon but nothing overpowering. I think I’m going to have to try this one some more before I rate it because I really am confused still.

Oh man what a delicate tea. My first attempt at this one I steeped it for 3 minutes, and the leaves were definitely burnt. So the next time I didn’t even let the water come anywhere near a boil and did two minutes of a steep. My cup is still burnt! Sorry Sweet Lemon, but I don’t think you are for me.

I’m beginning to think that every hibiscus tea tastes the same. I did get some citrus notes here but I got mostly hibiscus. Maybe a five minute brew was too long? I’m also in a bit of a cranky slump today so that may have something to do with it. Not rating this one because it may be my crankiness. If you like citrus and hibiscus, definitely go for this one as it is lovely that way. I just feel like I’ve had the same flavour before in other teas and therefore this one didn’t whelm, either over or under.

Erm. Okay so if I had a good tea tasting weekend, today must have been miserable. So don’t stay away from this one cuz of my review, k folks???
Anyhow, I made it through four steeps. The first was incredible.
Flowers drizzled in honey having a party on my tongue. Oh yes, I was mightily impressed!
but then the second steep had a distinct and sharp bitterness about it that took me very much by surprise. The orchid honey note was still present, but hugged on both ends by a sharp vegetal bite. (I don’t think I burnt it, but I suppose it’s possible. I remember waiting atleast one minute, more likely three, before dunking my ceramic tea filter with the leaves in it)
Oh maybe I used too much leaf? I used my perfect tea spoon, and it was just slightly below the full mark. Except even after my last infusion, the leaves didn’t fully expand. Almost as if they didn’t have enough room?
Bah.
The third and fourth steeps were unremarkable, pretty standard for a greenish oolong… and touched by that sweet round aftertaste I find in later infusions of tea. I used to get it on the fifth or sixth steep, but now with my issues it seems to creep up earlier. I can’t say I like it, in fact I really can’t stand it. but then I can’t mention it either in a review because I doubt that it’s a true feature of the tea…
Anyone have any similar experiences? or not? I know it’s likely just me but I though I’d check!

So I thought that with my new love of Darjeeling and this being from the region right next to Darjeeling, that maybe this one would fall in under that love umbrella.
It isn’t terrible. but I can tell that there are some things in here I am missing. I mean, it’s certainly a Darjeeling hybrid of sorts. I can taste the influence of both regions… except the Illam part is sort of blank for me.
I made it all the way to four steeps and the first was definitely best. The last one required some honey for me to get through it and even then it was barely saved.
Maybe some milk will help. I’m curious though, what other people think of this one. I’m positive there are notes that I just cannot taste.
Anyone up for a sample?

I tried this in the shop this morning. It was interesting.
The dreaded Berg, as always, threw me off so I won’t rate it… that wouldn’t be fair to those who enjoy it the way I so dearly wish I could :)
Kinda reminds me of Monks blend, only less intense and perfumey and without any grenadine, more vanilla.
It was surprisingly smooth for a tea I dislike!

SIPDOWN!

Had a small cup of this in the morning with breakfast though i’m sorry to say it’s not up my alley. I appreciate Indigobloom passing along a small sample to try though. I’m pretty sure i’m a flavoured matcha kinda girl, though i might find straight green matcha to my liking if i ever get a whishk, et and learn to whisk it properly. lol

Backlog -

Made some of this for dad tonight as he wanted to try something different. It was a pretty decent cup but I’m ok to leave it to my other half as this is the only tea in the house he’ll claim as his own lol

I keep meaning to try this tea cold but I guess that will have to come another day! I’m not a great fan of this tea. It’s not a terrible tea but there’s something about this blend that just doesn’t quite tickle my fancy. I’m sure it has a home with someone out there who will appreciate it, but I won’t be picking it up again unless I manage to get around to brewing it cold and love it heh

thanks to indigobloom for a sample of this one. Once again i am underwhelmed by another tea emporium selection. they just don’t seem to have it going on for my tastebuds. At least this one doesn’t taste BAD but it’s very much an average cup of tea. There’s a sweetness to this one along with a roastiness.

I’m pretty sure i got this one from indigobloom so thank you! SIPDOWN! as well! today i’m working from home so here’s to some sipdowns and work on others teas so sipdowns will happen sooner with those. Gotta keep on track lol

I don’t hate this one, but i don’t love it. It does have a very pleasant citrusy flavour initially but then the after taste kicks in and i dislike that a lot. However, that being said, I’m not a big fan of mate anyway, so this is likely a pretty good tea haha

Another sample from Sil!
I enjoyed this one, it was pretty good. I made it at work so possibly my water was too hot. (Boy I sure rely on my temperature controlled kettle at home! Spoiled!)

It was peachy. Pleasant enough. Slightly bitter, hence the possibly too hot water or maybe oversteeped, it’s easy to get distracted at work! I wouldn’t buy this one but I am glad to have tried it anyhow! It was just a bit blah to me, nothing wrong with it but nothing mindblowing either! I’m not the biggest fan of greens so take that with a big grain of salt :)

Apparently i’ve never bother to log this. I’m over this tea. Actually for the most part i’m over the tea emporium as i always find that there’s a strange taste in most of their blends. Take the roooibod for example. I actually enjoy rooibos, but theirs? it’s got this weird taste that overpowers nearly every other flavour that’s going on in the cup. Soooo thanks, but no thanks. this is like drinking a cup of rooibos.