Paragon Tea Room

This is one of the teas I picked up in Vancouver. What I really wanted was Paragon’s Genmaicha powder, but every location I visited was sold out of it. I was still curious to try this one, though. I whisked up a hot cup of it yesterday and thought it was nice. Had a bit of a soft, powdery mouthfeel from the grind but definitely not anything I’d remotely call gritty in terms of texture. The taste was lightly roasty and nutty, with a bit of a mineral finish and some slight grassier undertones too. Smooth, and without off notes but also not something that I felt pulled towards either!? My gut feeling is that it would probably be very nice in a hot or iced latte, though.

The DAVIDsTEA in Vancouver is actually in the same mall as another Paragon location, so I stopped there next for my second Paragon drink of the day. It was actually incredibly funny because the casher who rang me in was the same person who’d rang me in at the first location – even though the two are not close together and it was hours apart. He clocked me too though, and we had a very good laugh about it.

The drink was also really good. It’s essentially a mixed drink of matcha and coconut water, and I thought the ratio of the two ingredients was significantly better than the black sesame matcha latte I’d had earlier in the day. The matcha that Paragon uses is very floral in its undertones and that worked so nicely with the fresh, slightly tropical and just a little sweet taste of the coconut water. So, so thirst quenching. One of my favourite drinks of the whole trip, I think!

On the Sunday I was in Vancouver I tried to stop at a bunch of tea shops and cafes, and in particular I was really focused on trying as many different matcha drinks as possible from some of the really popular/trendy locations that I see and follow so regularly on IG…

I’d actually been to Paragon before a few years ago, but it seems like their popularity has sky-rocketed since. This was my first tea after flying in and, honestly, maybe the most disappointing? The store location itself was very nice and quite busy/packed. And the matcha and black sesame paste used in the drink were very smooth, rich, and nutty tasting. But the ratio of milk to matcha seemed very high to me and I just felt like the drink was too light/mellow…

Cold Brew!

Mixed feelings on this cold brew. Firstly, the hojicha itself was super refreshing and delicious chilled. Brings out more of the coffee-like roast and flavours of different grains. Very, very much like a mugicha which is anothe highly delicious tea to drink chilled. Thick, full bodied. I could drink that by the pitcher.

It was the mango that was a little weird to me. I do usually love a mango with that sort of pine sap resin-y undertone to it and when I’ve had this tea hot that’s been a selling point for me personally. Cold it was a little intense. Almost too pine-like where it was right on the cusp of kind of giving Pinesol or other disinfectants. Not chemical or bad. But just… reminiscent. Will probably stick with other hojichas for my cold brew needs and just keep with enjoying this one hot.

The hojicha in this mug of tea was especially dark and toasty with coffee-like roasty edge to it, and the contrast between that and this super juicy ripe mango note had me hard-core salivating in between sips. I love hojicha blends in general, but this might be my go to for the summer because it is so unique yet simple and all the flavours are just on point.

Cuppa from yesterday! I really loved how this more medium/golden roasted hojicha base makes the mango notes come to life. The contrast of the slightly mineral/brassy base with it’s cozy coffee and caramelized nuts notes seems to bring out the ripe, juicy flavour of what I’d otherwise describe as a slightly green mango profile. It still has that hint of resinous pine to it, the top notes are just much sweeter. It’s really dynamic!

I was a little nervous with how the tropical flavour of the mango would work with the dark and toasty hojicha, but it’s honestly just an explosion of flavour in the best kind of way!! The hojicha is rich and earthy with a pleasant nuttiness and just a hint of coffee while the mango is bright, sweet and very fresh and juicy. The two contrast each other exceptionally well to create a very one of a kind feeling blend!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CuVCuuJOToa/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1hrCRH8vqM

Made this iced with a lot of powder, so it was very strong with an aggressively roasty profile that almost read as more coffee-like that hojicha. That mango is bright and has such vibrant contrast against the coffee and barley notes of the hojicha, and that juxtaposition makes it feel juicier and more tropical. Such a unique iced tea, but I found it really refreshing and bold.

As I mentioned in another tasting note tonight, I’ll be flying out to Vancouver for a few days starting tomorrow morning. I definitely have a lot of tea places on my list that I’m hoping to visit and Paragon is one of them! When I was there last time I focused a lot on their hojicha, so this time around I’d like to see some of their other microground powders.

Enjoyed this powder whisked up and paired with some super sweet, ripe, and melt-in-your-mouth fresh mango. I’ve been on such a mango kick the last two weeks (specifically Altaufo mangoes), and only in the last few days has that fruit fixation started to bleed over into my tea selections, too. I adore both the loose leaf and powdered versions of Paragon’s Mango Hojicha – when I visited Vancouver this past Summer I was skeptical the pairing of such a juicy tropical fruit would work with the roast, but both of these teas have ended up being some of my favourites I brought home with me from that trip. The darker, deep notes of roasted grains, coffee and nuts really emphasize the sweetness of the mango, and the almost pine-like undertones act as a sort of bridge with the woodiness which keeps the whole combo from feeling too disconnected!!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/C8cdZDsuOmW/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMRyBsw08Ag

Iced Tea!

Whisked this up at work this morning but just as a straight iced tea – no milk since I found it so weird last time when I went the latte route. Thankfully that seemed to be a good choice! The hojicha was pretty dark and roasty but ultimately refreshing and almost like an iced coffee in some of its flavours. The mango was bright and contrasted really sharply against the darker toasty grain and espresso notes. Almost had that very slight pine-y note that I associate with mangoes that are just under ripe, but not in a bad way. The whole drink was dynamic and refreshing and all the flavours just really sprang to life.

Iced Oat Milk Latte!

So I picked this up, along with the LLT version, while in BC last week. When I was putting together a list of where I wanted to shop I actually had to narrow it down because there’s just so many stores in Vancouver and we didn’t have nearly as many days there.

Because Paragon isn’t one of those big “infamous” stores in the area I nearly cut it out, but when I was “preshopping” on their website to narrow my list I saw this tea and it was the sole reason this one ended up included in our trip. Why? Well other than the fact I’m a huge hojicha fan, I just haven’t seen flavoured hojicha offered from places other than 3 Leaf Tea before so that was exciting to me!

I don’t know why I felt so compelled to have this as a latte. Specifically an iced latte too. Mango and milk don’t sound like they should get a long. However, there’s always stuff like Mango Lassi out there that break those rule so y’never know.

It was weird, though.

That said, the mango taste itself wasn’t unpleasant nor was the hojicha! I thought the grind on the hojicha was very smooth so there were no unpleasant textural issues and the roast was nice and golden with these deep, rich nutty notes and a pleasant caramel-like tinge to elements of coffee or roasted grains. The mango? Erring just a little bit on that more pine-y green mango type note but still with a ripeness to it. Actually, I found myself thinking a lot of the mango matcha from Chamberlain Coffee which (from my memory) was pretty similar. The contrast with the hojicha made it pop a lot more, and I thought almost made it feel sweet in a way that it might not have on a matcha base.

I’m excited to revisit this one, just minus the oat milk.

The first tea shop we visited was a small tea room and bubble tea spot called Paragon. Though I hadn’t heard of them prior, I found them when doing my before-trip research and building a list of shops to visit. The space was really cool! Very modern with lush green and gold colour scheme, and a wall of loose leaf teas available for purchase in addition to their drink menu!

What I found interesting was that, with about three exceptions, all of the teas that they carried in loose leaf for purchase were very traditional straight teas – a lot of Japanese green teas and Chinese black teas, with a few oddities mixed in. Pretty specific region information, and honestly just way more focused around origin than you might assume based on their drink menu – which skewed a lot more towards lattes, boba, and other more ‘novelty’ flavours. I did pick up a couple teas from them, so I’ll get around to those reviews eventually.

Aside from my shopping, I did grab an iced latte to go! Their whole menu is vegan, with oat milk as the default alternative milk of choice. I picked the “Pu’erh Oat Chocolate” as my drink and, to my surprise, it came with a bit of a cautionary statement from the barista that “pu’erh is a very acquired taste – are you sure you want this?”. After assuring her that I did like pu’erh, my drink was made. I’m sure the statement came from past experiences of people not liking their drinks, but I did find it strange to be forewarned given that the bulk of teas they sold were things like Gyokuro, Keemun, and other straight teas that the “baseline” consumer would probably be as equally unfamiliar about as a pu’erh…

The drink was actually very good, though much more overtly chocolate than I had expected and it kind of made me requestion the warning I’d been given seeing as this was basically just a deeper and richer chocolate milk. Subtle earthy kind of undertone, but nothing offensively pu’erh forward. So strange.