Oh Canada!

See how interesting Canada is in one stock photo

The amazingly evil kitchen renos are done. Finally. Three months of being miserable, over. Three months of not being able to drink my favorite teas whenever I wanted, over. Being able to eat well and do what I want...I could cry!  (this was the only part I pre-typed and now I regret it because the renos still aren't done)

What a perfect thing to have for Canada Day! Not to mention, this was NOT scheduled ahead of time. Hell yeah. YESSSS. But, I did plan to do this tea on this day months ago. (I mean, I did it on the 27th because I have long weekend stuff to do. Sue me.)

What is this tea you ask? Oh Canada! by DavidsTea. I also have some Maple Flavored Agave Nectar, also from DavidsTea, just in case it's not quite Canadian enough!
I've only tried this once before, and it was along time ago in a baby sample. So now I need to perfect it. Because IT'S CANADA DAY.

Let's get a move on with the review!

So, it's an okay tea. Which is disappointing because Canada is awesome and it could have been just more. I just found that, even with some maple agave (which taste just like maple syrup), it was kinda boring. By itself, the tea didn't even taste super maple-y or toffee-ish. Just kinda...flat.


I dunno, maybe I'm being too picky, but they could have literally done so much more. Like a maple, apple (can anyone say Okanagan Valley?), caramel, mate with some honeybush (and the maple candy)! That is the one I'd gun for. You know what, I may try to make that one day. Maybe next Canada Day I'll make a tea like that.

It's good but not great. I'm not buying more because I'd rather spend my money on something else.



Happy Canada Day!

-L

June 27th

Lavender Faery Tea

This 'wine' is normally supposed to be for the first of February, but screw that I wanted to match it up with the Spring Equinox (which is on March 20th). Also, it's a fucking tea not a wine because fucking hell this isn't even close to a wine. Any people upset by the change can come yell at me I guess.

Let's usher in Spring, shall we!







Lavender Faery Wine Tea for Imbolc
(better late than never, Sort of)

You can use the recipe I used as inspiration, which I found here. You can totally use the one here, that this one was based on. Or mine, which is below.

• 1 cup of milk per serving. (Soy/almond/coconut optional)
• 1 tsp honey
• 1/4 tsp of vanilla extract (Optional. I used about the same amount of vanilla agave)
• 2 scoops of lavender tea
• Lavender buds or cinnamon (I used cinnamon)

Warm a cup milk on the stove (Or microwave, who am I to judge); be careful not to burn it. It will taste like shit if you do. 
Once warmed, steep the tea, honey, and vanilla extract (or whatever you used).
Serve in a teacup and sprinkle lavender buds or cinnamon on top. 

No dogs. We cannot share.

Okay, so if you like warm milk and honey you will like this. Because that's exactly what it tastes like.  You can sorta taste the lavender, and sorta taste the cinnamon, but it's fairly yummy. It left me relaxed, warm and happy. Like Spring does.

Feeling optimistic about the warmth, and bitter about the cold,

Laura

Santa's Secret

The weather today

So I'm going to start with how I like to make this tea, because it's my review, and I'm an adult who can do what I want!

Today's tea is Santa's Secret.

I steeped the tea with 2 tablespoons PER FOUR CUP POT, and steep it 5 minutes. So it's pretty strong. I also stir the leaves while it steeps so all of the candy cane sprinkles dissolve.



Then I add 1/3 cup skim milk (use whatever milk you have), heat that fucker up. I microwaved it on high I think for 54 seconds. Specifically 54 because I stopped it when it started to bubble.

To that, I add 2 teaspoons of vanilla agave, stirred it around.


Then  poured that awesome hot milk and agave mixture directly into my pot of hot freshly brewed tea, gave it a quick stir.






Then I drank it. All of it. Because it was yummy and I put effort into making it  however little effort is actually was I don't know because I am lazy today

It tasted creamy, vanilla-y, with tiny peppermint afternote. If I had plain peppermint tea, I'd add just a sprinkle more. Like a literal pinch. Just so the afternote becomes a bit stronger.
It inspired me to try this with a bunch of my other black teas, but switch to my maple agave when appropriate.

SO IT WAS DELIGHTFUL. Which actually made it taste a lot like White Chocolate Frost shhhhhhhhhh

But, having it plain...it didn't really make me go "this is a delight yum yum" it made me more think of "did someone add Pure Vanilla to Orange Pekoe?

Kayla's post describes it pretty good actually. So...read that, and take this as evidence that this tea needs extra to taste special so you may as well just get White Chocolate Frost

I can't go to the gym today like I wanted to because of the first blizzard of the year and all the lights need to be on otherwise it's dark inside, so I ARE GRUMP.


Keep on drinking* and stay warm,
Love your grump,

L

*Whether or not you turn it into a Hot Toddy is up to you. Wiki defines it not how I was taught; tea with booze. Not this. Ignore wiki.

Gingerbread

My backyard

Moghrey mie! ('Good morning' in Gaelg, which is Manx Gaelic. It's pronounced "more-a-my")

It's time to review DavidsTea gingerbread tea!

I steeped one tablespoon for five minutes, in my handly beige, four cup teapot.  It smells amazing, but it doesn't smell like gingerbread. More like a mix of molasses and vanilla, which is kinda weird for a tea which is called fucking GINGERBREAD.
Seriously, the site claims you can smell a whole bunch of spices, INCLUDING GINGER. But, maybe my nose is broken because I literally can ONLY smell the rooibos, vanilla, and the molasses. Nothing else.



I am honestly not the biggest fan on this tea (if that wasn't already fairly obvious). I mean, I like it, but I'm not getting GINGERBREAD from this tea. I'm getting molasses. I even tried adding vanilla agave, and then maple agave to different glasses (which are amazingly delicious by the way) to see if it would boost the ginger flavor in any way, it didn't.

It tastes like a rooibos with molasses. Not something that is supposed to make me think of gingerbread or fill that craving. I honestly can't even place this as a flavor that makes me think of the winter season. Sugar and Spice does a better job of making me think of Christmas, which is sad because it's a fall tea!

In summary, if you're expecting a gingerbread party with this tea, you will probably be disappointed. But, if you are wanting something more molasses-y than ginger-y, then you will love it. I for one, wanted the gingerbread experience. It tasted good, but not great. Kind of one noted and bland.

I think it may have a bit too much honeybush, and not enough ginger, cinnamon, or cardamom. But, not every tea can be a hit I guess.

Stay warm!

Laura