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Today was a fun day with regards to tea for my roommate and I. It all started when I got home and my roommate told me she wanted to go to Camellia Sinensis. This is unusual for her because typically I am the one dragging her to tea shops because I like to try all the fun and different flavored teas whereas she has a lot more plain teas that she buys in Asia. However, she told me that she is almost out of Genmaicha and she checked out Camellia’s website after I told her about it a couple days ago. She wanted to check out the store and pick up some of their Genmaicha with Matcha and Sencha and since I am always willing to visit a tea shop we decided to head out.

Unfortunately despite its close proximity to our apartment we got lost and ended up wandering until we were near a shop, NosThes, that according to my roommate makes “the best bubble tea in Montreal”. So we decided that once we were nearby we might as well pop in there and get some tea. Based on the recommendation of the waitress we both ended up getting a Vanilla and Nuts black tea. Mine was a hot latte with no sugar and no bubbles and my roommate got hers done as a hot latte with some sugar and bubbles. This tea done both ways was AMAZING! My roommate was still talking about her bubble tea hours later and as I said before, she does not usually like flavored teas.

Anyways, while we enjoyed our NosThes, we looked up the location for Camellia Sinensis and so we back tracked towards our apartment and finally found the shop. First of all, when you turn onto the street where the shop is, it looks like you teleported back in time. The shops have an old-timey look to them that is just super adorable. Inside, Camellia Sinensis, is quite lovely. Its walls are lined with silver tins filled with tea (although there are no labels – you have to look through a book to see the different types of tea they have) and different mugs and teapots they have for sale. I was tempted to buy some of their tins because they are really pretty however they were also quite expensive and I could not justify spending surplus amount of money on tins. However, while looking at tins, I noticed a small tin filled with Lichee (their spelling, not mine) and peony tea that my roommate and I both thought smelled amazing. Then I realized the small tin was actually one of many small tea-filled tins that were for sale so I picked on up and we headed over to the counter. My roommate had come prepared and knew what she wanted to buy so she ended up getting 50 g of the Genmaicha with Matcha and Sencha and a small tin of Matcha Uji that the salesman recommended for casual matcha drinking. I, on the other hand, had made the mistake of not checking out their teas beforehand and because their tea book was in French I got overwhelmed and intimidated and decided just to stick with my small tin of Lichee and Peony tea which my roommate ended up buying for me.

We left the shop with our new purchases and made the short walk home. When we got home, my roommate quickly started the kettle so that we could try her new teas. This was funny because usually I am the one who comes home with a million new teas and I make her drink them with me but today was her turn to brew cup after cup for us to try.

We started with the Genmaicha with Matcha and Sencha. I had never tried Genmaicha and I have only ever had flavored green teas so this was a brand new experience for me. Anyways, the first steep, though delicate, was definitely far more vegetal than any tea I would ever by however to my surprise, I quite enjoyed it. The second steep brought out more of the toasted rice flavors which I thought was quite delicious. However, my roommate, though she quite liked her new tea said that the Genmaicha she already had was better. She started to brew that so that I too could try both and compare. Her Genmaicha had more of a robust and roasted flavor to it upon the first steep. Similarly to the other Genmaicha, the second steep once again brought out the flavors of the rice. So basically from this tasting, I learned a couple of things – I no longer mind a vegetal tasting tea and apparently I prefer the second steep of a Genmaicha because I like the roasty-toasty rice flavoring.

Once we got the ball rolling on tea tasting, my roommate seemed to realize why I like sharing teas with her so often and so she decided we should switch things up and try the Lichee and Peony tea. This tea was delicate and floral but the lychee helps balance the floral taste so that it did not come off perfume-y. The second steep of this tea was quite similar to the first with the exception of the lychee flavor being a bit more pronounced. Our third steep lacked flavor so we both concluded this tea should only be steeped twice.

After all that, my roommate thought I needed to try a good Pu’erh tea she had from China. She got very excited and had me smell the dry leaf. She then poured boiling water over the leaves and dumped it out since apparently you should always rinse a good pu’erh to bring out the scent. So once she rinsed the leaves she made me smell them again and she was right as the scent was definitely more robust. She then informed me that a good pu’erh is always better after the second steep so we had our first steep and then a second. Since the tea was fermented I worried about the flavor but I was pleasantly surprised. The second steep was definitely more delicate than the first but both were delicious. Unfortunately, we then had to rush our last cup because we decided to go to a Body Pump class at the gym.

All in all it was nice exploring new flavors that I would not usually pick myself. I tend to go for bold flavors but more and more I realize the value of a simple yet delicious tea. That is not to say I plan on giving up my love of flavored teas anytime soon. In fact, arriving home from the gym I found a swap package from Courtney in my mail box filled with many new flavored teas that I can’t wait to try.