I tried the Life Long Oolong today. It's got hints of peach which just make it even more yummy! The containers hold about two teaspoon of tea, so it's good as a sampler, but could possibly do with two portions so you can try again to make sure you like it. Sometimes a double steep just doesn't work out.
After looking into different teas on the internet and where I can go to buy and try in Vancouver I found Granville Island Tea Company, so we decided to take a trip there to check out what tea they had in. They are based in the Granville Island Market and have such a wide selection of tea. The menu was so vast to a novice like me that I didn't know where to start. Lucky a very nice member of staff, whose name I didn't get sorry, put together a three tea sampler for me. This had their Granville Island Blend, a Provence Rooibos and Andy pointed out to me the Japanese Cherry Green Tea which was added to the sampler pack.
As soon as we got home I poured some fresh filtered water in to the kettle. I heard that filtered water was better to use for a better tasting tea. I put one tea spoon of tea which smelt exactly like fresh cherries, kind of like the smell of the taste if that makes any sense! I was advised to let it steep for only 2 minutes and not to use boiling water as it spoils the tea. So I waited for the kettle to cool, poured the water, waited again. This time when I took the leaves out instead of waiting longer for it to cool, those of you who know me know that I can have a tendency not to be very patient, I poured some cool filtered water into the cup. Ahhh, that was cleaver of me I could drink the tea straight away! Yay! This tea is by far the nicest and most refreshing I have tried yet. I was told that you can steep more than once and the second steep was better than the first. The lady at Granville Island was not wrong. I poured Andy a cup and it tasted good and had a less bitter taste to it.
The leaves are different for this blend than the Earl Grey, when they are wet they do look like leaves, well broken up leaves. I always took for granted the crushed up tea in a tea bag I had been so used to. However I had noticed that the slits in my cup Andy had brought me for my birthday was very good, but, they were letting bits of leaves into the tea and were I think that is what was making the tea slightly bitter, but still good.
My hunt for a teapot was on!
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!
