Category: Review

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kyth + kyn’s Digest

Digest by kyth + kyn
Herbal Infusion / Straight
$9.98 for 25g

First Impressions

Coming in a now-familiar kraft paper pouch is kyth + kyn’s Digest. The packaging is a plastic and foil lined kraft paper pouch that’s resealable – one of my favourite features in any good tea packaging. Digest is said to help with poor food decisions (on the front of the packaging, kyth + kyn wrote “For all those times when that extra slice of cake ended up being a terrible idea” – clearly they have never met me because an extra slice of cake is never a terrible idea).

The aroma of Digest is primarily that of peppermint, which isn’t surprising when you look at the blend itself. Digest consists of: peppermint, ginger root, and chen pi. For those who didn’t grow up in a Chinese household, chen pi is also known as sun-dried tangerine peels. They’re left to dry and are commonly used in eastern medicine.

Preparation

kyth + kyn recommends steeping Digest in hot water for 3 to 5 minutes. I opted to steep at 200°F (93°C) for 5 minutes.

First Taste

Digest steeps to a really pretty golden orange. The aroma is pretty much primarily the peppermint, which isn’t much of a surprise considering how prominent it was in the dry leaf. The flavour of Digest is a mix of citrus sweetness, peppermint, and the warming qualities of the ginger. It’s really quite pleasant, and does warm me from the inside out. I can see why this blend would be geared towards indigestion/stomach issues, since the peppermint and ginger are both quite known to help with those. The chen pi is an ingredient also used for enhancing digestion.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Digest once, and found that the peppermint was considerably weaker compared to the initial steep. The ginger and citrus notes from the chen pi were present and more noticeable. If you’re looking for the peppermint taste, I would say that Digest is good for just one steep. If you’re happy to drink an infusion of primarily ginger and chen pi, then do one more steep.

My Overall Impression

I liked kyth + kyn’s Digest. I tried this initially at the 2018 Vancouver Tea Festival, and more recently when I was feeling under the weather. While I didn’t have indigestion or stomach issues, I wasn’t feeling particularly hungry due to being sick and I think that having that peppermint and ginger infusion helped to settle my stomach a little bit. It’s definitely not a blend that I would have every day, because I tend to attribute those flavours to when I’m feeling sick. Digest is a blend that I’m going to keep in my ‘sick time’ tea blend stash because it definitely has a place there. I’d probably rate it higher if I was having bloating or indigestion, because then I would really be able to test the herbal qualities of the ingredients found in Digest.

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

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Annie’s Tea Treat’s Miss Autumn Black Tea

Miss Autumn Black Tea by Annie’s Tea Treat
Black Tea / Straight
$15.50USD for 50g

Annie’s Tea Treat has provided me with Miss Autumn Black Tea for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

Miss Autumn Black Tea came to me in a resealable black foil pouch. Not a whole lot of information is on the packaging, but that was easily remedied by going onto the Annie’s Tea Treat website (and with a little help from Google Translate). The tea itself consists of some beautiful large, wiry leaves.

The aroma of this black tea is a mix of plums and floral notes. These leaves were grown at a high altitude, in Nantou County of Taiwan. Miss Autumn Black Tea is a straight black tea. The aroma of the dry leaf is quite inviting because of the fruity notes.

Preparation

Annie’s Tea Treat recommends steeping Miss Autumn Black Tea in 100°C (212°F) water for 3-4 minutes. My initial step of Miss Autumn Black Tea was for 3 minutes with 5 teaspoons of leaves.

First Taste

Miss Autumn Black Tea steeps to a dark golden orange, with a really fruity aroma to it. I mostly smell plums and some apple notes, with a hint of flowery goodness in the background. The taste of this straight black tea is more complex than I anticipated. I get hints of plum, apple, and floral notes, as well as a honey sweetness that just plays very well with all of the flavours that I’m getting from this tea. I find that the honey notes linger at the end of each sip, which balances well with the initial burst of plum notes.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Miss Autumn Black Tea four times, adding an extra 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. I found that as I continued to steep these black tea leaves, the flavour became less sweet and more floral. The apple and plum notes stayed pretty consistent while the honey and floral flavours became to shift. Overall, the tea had a nice flavour balance to it and was tasty throughout.

Due to the natural sweetness in the leaves, I didn’t find that the tea require any sweetener. That said, it is a black tea so I think it would take to the addition of sweetener quite easily.

My Overall Impression

I loved Annie’s Tea Treat’s Miss Autumn Black Tea. I really enjoyed this tea from dry leaf to resteeping. The flavour profile was well balanced between fruity, floral, and honey notes. I think this is a great tea to try straight, so you can experience the subtle changes in flavour with each steep. I really enjoyed the plum and honey notes the most with each steep.

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

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Tea Experience: Tracycakes Bakery Cafe

Tracycakes Bakery Cafe
Murrayville, Langley, BC
Signature High Tea – $25 each

I recently had the opportunity to have the Signature High Tea at Tracycakes Bakery Cafe, located in Murrayville, Langley. There is also another location of Tracycakes, which is located in Abbotsford, BC. Tracycakes is located in a quaint little building at 5 corners, which is a 5-way intersection with a roundabout in Langley, BC. The intersection is historic, with some of the buildings lovingly kept up for over 130 years.

Inside of Tracycakes, there’s cute table settings on each of the marble topped tables, with chalk artwork throughout. Copies of newsarticles about Tracycakes adorn the walls, with a long, comfy benchseat along one wall. There’s meal options, along with the Signature High Tea, on the menu – and you can also order food to-go. The dishes for our table settings were white and stood out nicely against the white and grey marble table top.

My friend and I both ordered the Signature High Tea, which came with a top of tea for each of us – she had the Cream of Earl Grey while I had the Earl Grey Lavender. Both of which are black teas and quite traditional for afternoon tea. There was also sugar bowls on the table with silver tongs, and a miniature pitcher of milk. The lavender aroma from the Earl Grey Lavender stood out quite nicely.

And then there was the food! There were two tiers -sandwiches and savouries on the bottom with the pastries and sweets on the top.

For the sandwiches, we each received a quarter-sandwich of egg salad, cucumber, tomato & basil, and turkey & cranberry. What I found interesting was that the egg salad had white bread on one side and whole wheat on the other, although it didn’t really affect the taste too much. My favourite of the four sandwich offerings was the tomato and basil because the basil was just so flavourful.

With the savouries was also a savoury palmier, which consisted of basil and cheese. This was really nice, had a nice crisp to it with a nice salty quality to it, thanks to the cheese.

And now… the sweets! Starting with the confectioner sugar dusted scone, the scone was loaded with poppyseed and cranberry. The cranberries themselves were a touch tart, but it balanced well with the sweetness of the confectioners sugar. To pair with the scone, Tracycakes included devonshire cream, raspberry jam, and lemon curd. I opted to pair my scone with devonshire cream and raspberry jam since I decided the lemon curd may be a bit much with the cranberries in the scone.

We each got a brownie square, which I found to be very sweet with the icing on top. For someone who loves sugar, I was just not feeling it that morning. There was also a variety of cupcakes. One of them was vanilla and coconut, while another was vanilla and lavender. My friend had the lavender cupcake but said she couldn’t really taste the lavender. I found the coconut one to be very rich in flavour for both the frosting and the cake itself, it was really tasty and I would go back for a cupcake.

There was a small triangle cookie, which I believe to have been a sugar cookie. Also had icing on top, very sweet – but had a great buttery flavour to it and was flakey, so I definitely enjoyed that cookie and it was one of my favourites of the sweets tier.

Throughout both tiers, we had some fresh fruit (primarily sliced strawberries, with a couple of blueberries), which was nice considering it can be hard to find nice fresh fruit with the current season. I really liked Tracycakes’ creative use of egg cups as containers to hold the lemon curd and one of the cupcakes, it just really added another level of whimsy to it.

Tracycakes wasn’t too busy when my friend and I first arrived, but the cafe was quite bustling with activity by the time we had left – with plenty of reserved signs on tables for people wanting their own high tea on a Wednesday. I really enjoyed the variety in food that was offered with the Signature High Tea, and found that the flavours were overall enjoyable. I really did like my tea selection (Earl Grey Lavender), and found that it worked well with a little bit of sugar and milk – although the lavender flavour and aroma was quite strong without any additives as well. For the price, I definitely think that Tracycakes puts on a good Signature High Tea and would go again. It seemed like quite a child-friendly location – there were a few tables that had babies and young children – so it’s an option for those who maybe don’t want to take their kids to a location with a lot of vintage tea cups everywhere.