Author: Michelle

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The Virginia Tea Company’s Chai

Chai by The Virginia Tea Company
Black Tea / Flavoured
$11.50USD for 2oz

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The Virginia Tea Company has provided me with Chai for the purposes of providing an honest review. I received this product at no charge to me and received no other compensation.

First Impressions

Without a doubt, I am a fan of The Virginia Tea Company’s choice of packaging. The card stock carton is nice in that when I’m done with the tea inside, I can put it into recycling (or reuse it for something else). As with Earl Grey and English Breakfast, Chai came with empty tea bags, a wooden spoon, and a tea infuser ball (I had a photo of these with my first review of The Virginia Tea Company’s teas – Earl Grey). Again, the loose tea came in a waxed paper bag, so as soon as I opened the carton I could smell the tea. The most prominent aromas in this tea come from the cinnamon, ginger, and cardamom. Like the other two teas I’ve reviewed for The Virginia Tea Company so far, the $11.50 option is just the loose leaf tea, while the $15.00 option has the tea with all the accessories needed for any new tea enthusiast (or as a gift option!).

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As per the packaging and their website, Chai is an “award winning organic blend”. The ingredients in Chai are: fair trade organic black tea, organic cinnamon, organic ginger, organic cardamom, and organic vanilla. I can’t really make out the vanilla in the dry leaf, but I can definitely make out the other ingredients in the aroma of the dry leaf and it has me excited. I’m generally a fan of Chai in general and the Chai latte at Starbucks is my go-to drink there when I’m not in the mood for something cold. It took me an embarrassingly long time to learn that ‘chai’ is another word for tea so when I went to Starbucks to order a Chai tea latte, I was essentially saying tea tea latte – can’t take me out anywhere!

Preparation

The Virginia Tea Company suggests steeping Chai for 2-3 minutes in boiling water, and that it can be resteeped an additional two times. I used my trusty Breville IQ Kettle’s black tea setting (100°C/212°F) for getting my water to the right temperature and my initial steep of Chai was for 2 minutes (click for my review of the Breville IQ Kettle).

First Taste

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Chai has a beautiful deep orange colour after steeping for two minutes. The aroma of the tea is like an amplified version of the dry leaf – I can make out the ginger and cinnamon the most. The taste of Chai has a nice warming sensation to it, which I contribute primarily to the ginger in the tea. The cardamom is a little bit lost, but the cinnamon and ginger are the stars in the first steep. The vanilla flavour is there at the end of each sip, but it can be a bit hard to taste from time to time. Because I do love my Chai as a latte, I added a bit of sugar and milk to it just to see how it would taste – I think it tastes perfect. The milk adds a layer of creaminess, but the warming sensation that the ginger provides is barely toned down so it’s still very much present.

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A Second Cup?

I resteeped Chai a total of three times (so four steeps overall). The second steep had the strongest ginger and cardamom flavour – it has a strong spice flavour profile than the first steep, and overall this steep was my favourite. The third steep was very similar to the first, a nice milder version of the second steep. The fourth steep was a bit watery, so The Virginia Tea Company was right on the button when it said to resteep two times.

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My Overall Impression

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I loved The Virginia Tea Company’s Chai. I love the flavours of all the ingredients that are in this tea blend. While I didn’t taste the vanilla too much, I don’t think it was really all that needed given the fact that it was competing with some very strong flavours – cinnamon and ginger. The warming sensation of the ginger is quite nice in this black tea blend, and I really enjoy Chai with some milk and sugar (although it doesn’t need the sugar like some other teas do). I made this one with water, as that’s how the steeping instructions went, but I think it would be really good as a proper latte (with a mound of foam on top) or even prepared steeped in milk. If you’re looking for a tutorial on how to make lattes at home without fancy equipment, I’ve got you covered.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.

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Tea Experience: Little White House

Little White House
Fort Langley, British Columbia
$30 for Valentine’s Day High Tea

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I must confess, this is not the first time that I’ve been to the Little White House in Fort Langley. I’ve been there a handful of times with parties as large as 8-10 and as small as 2. Last week on Valentine’s Day, I went with a friend and we opted for the special Valentine’s Day High Tea.

As per their Salon Cafe menu, there are three options for afternoon tea. The standard with their Crème de la Earl Grey tea is $22, with champagne (along with the tea) is $30, and the Alice in Wonderland tea (for children) is $12. Along with afternoon tea, there’s also options for brunch, lunch, and to buy sweets separately. I’ve always opted for the afternoon tea. There’s just something about having afternoon tea that makes me feel like I’m living a decadent lifestyle.

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Little White House is a historical building that was built in 1910. The house itself consists of the salon cafe, and boutique shopping on the main and upper levels of the heritage building. Parking can be a bit difficult to find in the area, as there’s limited street parking and limited parking in the Little White House parking lot.

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Oollo Tea’s Oriental Beauty

Oriental Beauty by Oollo Tea
Oolong Tea / Straight
$10.00 for 25g

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First Impressions

I bought Oriental Beauty at Oollo Tea’s booth at the 2016 Vancouver Tea Festival, back in November. This was one of the teas that they were sampling at their booth and I pretty much fell in love with it. The packaging that Oollo Tea uses is simple and effective – a textured card stock box with information on either end about the company is printed in metallic silver.

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The front has basic information about the tea, along with a circular sticker that lets me know that it is a dark oolong, direct trade and single origin from Pinglin, New Taipei, Taiwan. The back of the box has a sticker that tells me the name of the grower (the Zhen family), as well as when it was harvested (May 2016) and steeping instructions. The tea itself is contained in a resealable white, foil lined bag. The packaging overall from Oollo Tea is nothing short of beautiful – I quite like it as it is simple, pretty and (most importantly) functional.

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Oriental Beauty has dark wiry leaves, I love that I can see the soft downy feathers on the leaves. This is always a sign to me that there’s a lovely cup of tea waiting for me. There’s very subtle fruity fragrances in the dry leaf. It reminds me a lot of stone fruit – plums, apricots, with just a smidgen that reminds me of peaches.

Preparation

Oollo Tea recommends steeping Oriental Beauty for 2-4 minutes in 95°C (203°F) water, and suggests that it can be steeped five times. My initial steep of Oriental Beauty was for 2 minutes.

First Taste

After the two minute steep, Oriental Beauty is a nice light yellow. It has a fruity smell to it, which was expected based on the dry leaf smell. My first taste of this tea and I note the stone fruit flavours in it – plums, apricots, peaches. There’s a sweet vanilla taste to the tea that I wasn’t expecting, but it’s quite welcome. The vanilla flavour adds a nice creaminess to the tea. The tea itself is quite smooth and easy to drink, with zero bitterness when steeped for two minutes. I found that the leaves opened up a little bit, but not quite all the way.

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A Second Cup?

The second steep (2 mins, 30 secs) had the addition of floral notes, the same stone fruits, and apple. The packaging suggests that there are grape flavours, but I don’t taste them in the second steep. Overall, I did a total of 7 steeps (6 resteeps) of Oriental Beauty. I found the third steep had the richest, deepest flavours with the apple and stone fruits, the sweetness of the vanilla flavours mingles well with the floral. After the third steep, I lost the apple flavours first (in the fifth steep), and by the seventh steep I was left with primarily flavours of vanilla and plum in my mouth.

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My Overall Impression

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I loved Oollo Tea’s Oriental Beauty. I really enjoyed steeping the leaves again and again to discover changes in the flavour profile. From the unexpected creaminess of vanilla to the addition of apple and floral notes, I think this tea does incredibly well with being resteeped and it is definitely a tea to sit down and savour each sip because of the complexity and ever-changing flavours with each steep.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.