Banff Tea Co

Tea number two in my lucky dip bag from Banff Tea Co. I brewed this one up this morning and stuck it in my tumbler to take to work not realizing it was a rooibos… I need caffeine on Monday morning!!!! Anyways this is quite tasty – I get a cinnamon raisin flavor from the tea which is very enjoyable even in the warmer weather of Southern California in May! And as an added bonus… one more cup and this will be a sip down!! Yay!!

This is a really tasty herbal. I really appreciated the lemongrass – it added a nice sweetness. I can’t say I went right to sleep after drinking it, but I did sleep well. :)

I’m loving the fruity and floral smell. It’s almost like sniffing a fresh bouquet of flowers. I didn’t even add sugar to this /gasp and it’s still yummy. The orange peels add a tinge of citrus notes but do it without adding any extra astringency. This is a pleasant, smooth, floral, and slightly fruity green tea.

Thank you for another yummy sample moraiwe

I’ve always thought plastic Easter grass smelled sweet and yummy, that is what this tea reminds me of. Maybe it’s the lily that I have never tried in a tea. I’ve been hesitant on trying teas that are floral but I tried this before looking at the ingredients. I’m curious about other floral teas now.

It taste pretty, I know it can’t really I just don’t know how to describe it; light, orange peel is not over powering, spring, may be nice with a little honey. I’m still not sure if it is Easter grass, maybe it is just memories I associate with it.
Thank you moraiwe for the sample, I’m glad I have more for Spring/Easter.

There’s a strong nutty element (which I suppose you’d expect with something named Walnut Truffle), but it has a similar astringency to actual walnuts which I found more interesting. There is no oily residue from the nuts either. The apple pieces lend a very subtle sweetness, but impart no actual apple flavor, and the rose petals add a perfumed quality that’s actually quite evocative of French teas. Overall a very satisfying cup.

First tea tried from *Dexter3657*’s box of goodies! I was a little flummoxed by “hot water” as a brewing instruction, but hoped it was implying “but not boiling” as I assumed and proceeded with water several minutes off the boil. Whether or not the water was right temperature, the tea came out very tasty! Had never heard of maple tea before Steepster, but as maple syrup is right up there on my list of necessary luxuries, knew I wanted to try one. Odd thing is that this smells almost exactly like Betjeman & Barton’s Luxury tea, but tastes more muted. Which is not a bad thing, as I found the Luxury a bit overpoweringly flavoured. I didn’t send you a sample of that, did I? I’d be very interested to see if you found the similarities I did between the two. Thanks for this & the many other teas yet to be tasted!

It has been brutal cold here today. Wind chill warnings for most of the day, was -50 C earlier. The wind has gone down and it’s now a balmy -36C.
I’m still not feeling 100% and from the sounds of it there are lots of us suffering from colds and flues – hope everyone is feeling better soon.
I was suppose to go out for dinner/drinks with friends, but based on sick and weather, I bailed on those plans. Snuggled in at home with a blankie, the cat, and the hockey game (winning 2-0 after 2nd).

In the spirit of the evening, it’s out with the old. This is by far the oldest tea I have in my house. Well over a year old, so that’s what I’m drinking tonight. It’s some sort of de-stress wellness herbal something. I don’t really like it, but maybe will get some benefits from it.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year – wishing you all the best in 2014!!

This has been kicking around in my cupboard for quite a while. A friend gave it to me when my life was falling apart. Was a really sweet gesture, but I’m not really into “wellness” teas. I fell that any good tea is a stress reliever for me, I don’t need a tea specifically for that.
In the spirit of not wanting it to go to waste, and I don’t really like it hot. I tossed some in the fridge to cold steep. Not bad, much better than it is hot. It’s still a little too “floral, weird” for me, but there is hope yet that I will drink the last of it. Next time I’m tossing in some fruit tisane to take the edge off.

I had a cup of this 17 days ago according to tea log. Don’t worry, I don’t have a spreadsheet or anything. Can you imagine?!?

I didn’t like it then but I thought it was because of the Rooibos. I have since made good friends with Rooibos so I decided to try it again as this is my first honest to goodness sipdown weekend. I placed a rather large DT order last night — large quantity-wise not necessarily price. I basically bought 650 grams of tea, the most I ever bought in one shot so I’m freaking out a little.

This tea is still not for me. The first steep of 1.5 tsp for 3 minutes was too strong. Not astringent, just strong and reminiscent of smoky bacon. Of course, maple at play. I don’t mind maple at all but there’s something weird about this. I left the first steep in the pot and put the second steep on top, and sweetened with maple syrup. Makes sense, right? It tastes better and I can finish the pot this way — I was worried I’d have to dump it and I hate doing that — but still there is something about it I do not like. And there’s just a touch of bitterness barely there but it’s there and I don’t dig it.

Thanks goes to Dexter3657 for this generous sample that is not yet a sipdown.

It’s amazing what you find when you delve way back into your tea cupboard. This was given to me as a gift several months ago, and has been shuffled around (and back into the far corner) since then. I found it tonight and decided to give it a try. Glad I did.
This is a fun little maple tea. It’s sweet, it’s mapley, it’s a bit creamy. I like it and am sorry that I hadn’t tried it until now.

If you are a fan of nuts and savory flavors like chocolate and cream, you will love this tea. It is one of my all-time favorites!

It basically tastes like a slightly chocolaty earl grey tea. It is very nice.

This tea tastes like one would expect a digestive tea to taste. It has all the flavours one associated with stomach-ache cures; for me, that’s ginger and mint. I’m not a huge fan of the flavour of herbal teas, so I marked it down for that reason, also it was one of the more expensive teas in the shop (still cheap compared to other fine tea retailers). However, I did drink some of this tea when a stomach ache hit after some enchiladas, and after a few sips all my discomfort was gone.

This is an amazing tea with a well suited name. I really believe that if Eros had a tea-form, it would definitely smell/taste like this. In fact, I think that this tea should count as aromatherapy on top of being a fantastic tea.
As it’s roobois, I tend to drink this in the evening and it is a fantastic way to relax. The caramel, chocolate, and flower all come together to make perfection. I don’t usually like caramel and chocolate flavoured teas, but here they are perfectly complementary with the other flavours that I can’t really imagine it without!
Another thing: I am a slow drinker, but this tea holds its flavours well without becoming bitter. Tea is higher priced for store, but overall a great bargain compared to some other higher end tea companies.
I definitely recommend this. Hands down my favorite tea!

De-cupboarding this tonight. I just wanted to note that I had it with a splash of milk for the first time, and it’s really fabulous that way. (For the longest time I had cut milk completely out of my tea on the basis of it negating so many health benefits to tea. Not that health benefits are the reason I drink tea, but if I’m going to drink so much of it, it would be best to maximize its benefits. Unfortunately, easy tea lattes from Teaopia near work got me re-hooked on tea with milk, so now I am always stuck bargaining with myself – 10 cups without, 1 cup with…)

Unfortunately, this is not an easy re-purchase, because the store it’s from is in Banff. I could order it through their website, and I might eventually do just that – but I’ll hold off for now. (I also asked about a chocolate Earl Grey on the DAVIDs Facebook page, as I’d be curious to see how DT did this idea.)

In the meantime, this one has really grown on me and I will miss it!

I tend to find that chocolate teas have something of an odd common…undertaste? No. Aftertaste? No. “Back” taste, is what I’d call it, as it’s a strangely dusty, somewhat bitter taste at the back of my tongue. Only really good chocolate teas don’t have it.

This tea smells like the backtaste of it would be strong. It’s an Earl Grey…with chocolate chips. My god, what an odd combination. And the smell is sort of icky. But I decided to steep it anyway, to try to use it up.

It’s not even mine, you see, it’s my mother’s. Evidently she and my aunt were in Banff for a knitter’s retreat (although why knitting requires retreating, I cannot figure – if they’re so pleased with themselves for knitting, why don’t they hold their ground?) and the two of them got excited looking around a local tea shop. She came home with three teas, but she was most excited about this one. You know. Because it has chocolate in it, and my mother is one of those people who likes chocolate brownie covered in chocolate icing and drowned in chocolate syrup and raspberries made out of chocolate and eaten off a chocolate plate with a chocolate spoon and spit on by a waiter with chocolate saliva.

But she hasn’t used up this tea (or the other two) in a year and a half. I don’t know – maybe there’s not enough chocolate in it.

So I steeped this up with some brown sugar, and it’s surprisingly good. I definitely understand the name; it certainly makes me think of kicking back in a warmly lit room and playing some jazz on the stereo. Hah, I don’t even own a stereo. It’s Earl Grey. With chocolate. It’s like a sophisticated, finely constructed armchair with well-worn cushions that have never been re-upholstered. It’s a bit bittersweet – which puts you in exactly that mood.

I think I’m going to go steep some more of this and listen to, “I Will Always Love You,” on repeat like I was last night. Not exactly jazz, but I think it will go.