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The first of my Black Friday orders is here!

Sadly, I don’t think I’ll be getting my second order (from Whispering Pines). I goofed when I placed it, and sent it to my old address in Saskatoon however I didn’t realize that until after Brenden had already shipped it out. I’ve scoured the Canada Post website, talked to them on the phone and on social media and frankly there’s just nothing they can do to get the order to my current address instead of my old one. As well, mail forwarding isn’t an option because it doesn’t extend to packages/parcels. Begrudgingly, I’ve contacted Tre to see if he’d send it to me or hold onto it until the next time I’m in Saskatoon but it’s been 48 hours with no reply; and with the way and reasons I moved out (and so suddenly) I’m pretty resolved in my belief that I just wont get a response from him. Basically, and sadly, that order is a write off. I’m just going to have to cut my loses and hopefully reorder when I can afford to.

In the mean time, I want to really make sure to enjoy this tea which was also a special treat for myself! It’s unique for a couple reasons: the first is that the company (Blue Hour Tea) is owned by one of my Tea Sommelier classmates named Sheldon! Admittedly, I don’t know him well at all outside of class but within class he seems to be a very interesting person, with some really interesting ideas to contribute in class. It’s also very cool to get to support a company owned by someone going through the same learning experience I am! I think my current class (Tea 107) is my final one with him though; after this one he takes the certification exam.

The second thing that makes this tea very unique is the overall idea of it. It’s not your conventional loose leaf; instead it’s a “sticky tea” which is something I’ve only ever seen done by Blue Hour Tea. And as you all know, I’ve reviewed a pretty sizable amount of tea (1000+). Essentially, what it is, is a Chai blend that’s been coated/glazed/whatever word you want to use in agave! Personally, I don’t tend to sweeten my teas but an idea so different had me interested. When my tea arrived and I cracked open the package this was indeed a giant lump of loose leaf coated in agave! I don’t know why, but it’s ‘dry’ look reminds me of oatmeal? In a weird way.

I picked out Egg Nog Chai to try because it seamed seasonally appropriate. I was very tempted to try the London Fog because it sounds amazing but since Chai is what they started with I ran with that. Besides, I was already stepping outside of my comfort zone due to the pre-added agave. I might as well run with that too, since Chai isn’t normally my thing either.

Since Sheldon/Blue Hour Tea recommend this as a latte (‘traditional’ Chai style) that’s how I made this one. I imagine I wont do it that way all the time, but it’s nice to try it ‘as intended’ the first time around. Overall, I think it was nice! I didn’t find it overwhelmingly sweet from the agave like I feared I would and I thought the base was prominent enough that I could actually tell it was an Assam from the medium body, molasses, nutty, and malty notes it gave off. The most noticeable ‘spice’ note was nutmeg; which is as it should be when it comes to an “Egg Nog” inspired blend. That said; my biggest complaint overall is that while the flavour was certainly enjoyable it didn’t remind me of eggnog…

Like, at all.

I’m excited to experiment with this tea though; it’s so incredibly unique and I think there’s a lot of potential to do some very interesting things with it. Perhaps if I try it again in just regular hot water I’ll taste more of that eggnog flavour I’m craving. It is a bit of a relief, though, to be able to say I like the blend created by my classmate.

And I’m not numerically scoring this for obvious reasons that I have a huge bias since I, in a way, actually know the owner of the company. In more so of a way than saying I know the company owners of other popular companies on Steepster.