I have always drank tea, well, from a very early age anyway. I remember my first cup; I was at my Grandma's house and she made me a cup of PG tips with a ton of milk and 4 sugars. I fell in love with the taste and from then on I have always drank PG tips with milk slowly reducing my sugar intake to nil. My only experience with a different kinds of teas was every time I went to the supermarket to the tea isle and would be enticed by the thought of the brightly packaged fruit tea boxes actually tasting nice. Sometimes they did, Peppermint tea and, Camomile and Honey tea were my favorites, but I always made the mistake of leaving the tea bags in for too long and often would have to add sugar. I love Earl Grey tea, Twinnings being the best in my opinion but I found I cannot drink it all the time, just every couple of days.
About 6 weeks ago now me and my fiancé Andy moved from Coventry, England to Vancouver, Canada. I soon discovered that Vancouver survives on coffee, Tim Hortons is by far my favorite, how ever I struggled to find a good cup of tea that us Brits quite often look for. As I had discovered Tim Hortons, I didn't mind the switch from tea to coffee. I kept my eye out for tea when ever we would go into a supermarket, Tetley's was easy to find, PG tips was a bit harder, but both were expensive! PG tips have not yet released the pyramid bags in Canada, so they are still in the rectangular bags, but that didn't matter. I could now make a good cup of tea.
For my birthday this year Andy brought me a tea infuser mug with a tin of Rishi Earl Grey Loose Leaf Tea. The smell of the tea as soon as I opened the tin hit me. The citrus aroma of the orange bergamot was heaven. I followed the instructions on the side of the tin and steeped my first cup of 'proper tea'. I always thought that any 'proper tea' should be drank without milk, I don't know where that idea came from! So I drank my first cup without milk or sugar. It tasted good don't get me wrong, but I didn't know if I could see me drinking it all the time. I did know however, that loose leaf teas and me seem to go together and I wanted to try more. I looked on the internet for anywhere that I could get to to try teas and to speak to someone about tea. I didn't have a clue where to start when trying new teas, so I wanted help. After a bit of searching I stumbled across the Granville Island Tea Company and thought it might be worth a visit.
Since moving here I had been drinking a lot of green tea drinks such as Arizona Green Tea (only 99c a can, perfect thirst quencher) and Tao Ti. So thought it was only natural that I would probably enjoy loose leaf green tea. After looking at the menu at Granville Island Tea Company I was slightly confused and needed help. They lady who served me was realy nice (sorry I didn't get her name). She put together a three sample pack of teas for me. Andy did see the Japanese Cherry Green Tea and she added that to the pack along with the Granville Island Blend and Provence Rooibos. I will write a separate post for my opinion of these teas.
A few days later we visited North Vancouver and found a shop called Blue Teapot where I brought a teapot for $3.99 and some Japanese Treasures Green Tea after smelling several different teas, that was the one that stood out to me. I seem to like strong smelling, sweet perfumed and fruity green teas, but I could be wrong!
If you have any suggestions of teas to try, different ways of brewing or places to buy and drink tea please let me know! I will try anything!
