Category: Review

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Birch Moon Wellness Co.’s Sweet ZZZ’s

Sweet ZZZ’s by Birch Moon Wellness Co.
Herbal Tisane / Flavoured
$12.50 for 30g (20 sachets)

Birch Moon Wellness Co. has provided me with Sweet ZZZ’s for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Birch Moon Wellness Co. is a Canadian tea company located in Ottawa, Ontario with ingredients that are sourced from Siberia, Russia and the tisanes are blended in a Health Canada approved facility. Sweet ZZZ’s is one of their three tisanes found in the Wellness Trio – Discovery Bundle, which Birch Moon was so very kind to send my way to try (which means that this is the first of three tisane reviews for Birch Moon products!).

The packaging is pretty – I love the design on the boxes themselves. There was a plastic cellophane on the outside of the box that I removed prior to photographing the cartons. The boxes themselves are matte and cardstock  – so recyclable. The box easily opens on the side with a flap and the tea is prepackaged into square sachets – all inside of a resealable zip top bag for freshness.

Sweet ZZZ’s has an interesting smell because I really can’t place what it reminds me of. I definitely can smell the lemon balm though, and some of the thyme. I’m not familiar with all of the herbal ingredients, so it’s hard for me to determine what’s what. Sweet ZZZ’s contains: chamomile, lemon balm grass, thyme, kuril tea, and motherwort.

Preparation

Birch Moon recommends using boiling water (100°C/212°F) and to steep for 10 to 15 minutes. I opted to steep for 10 minutes.

First Taste

Sweet ZZZ’s steeps to a bright yellow that was surprising to me! I wish I knew more about some of the ingredients  so I knew which one was making it so bright. It reminds me a lot of sunshine in a cup. I can definitely smell the thyme and lemon balm, and something else. Flavour wise, I can taste the chamomile and thyme, and a hint of lemon balm in the background. I’m not sure what kuril tea or motherwort are supposed to taste or smell like, but there’s something in the tea that reminds me of a bit of ginseng – and not in a bad way. There is a nice pleasantness to it, with a hint of sweetness.

A Second Cup?

Birch Moon’s website suggests that their tisanes can be steeped 2-3 times. I did it twice, and found that the flavour does lessen considerably by the second resteep (third steep), so I might recommend just the one resteep (I did it for 15 minutes).

My Overall Impression

I loved Birch Moon’s Sweet ZZZ’s. The first time I tried out this tisane was when I was getting off a night shift and trying to sleep at about 8:30am. Just steeped a cup, sipped it down as I was puttering around before tucking myself in for a nap. It’s definitely more interesting for the taste buds than a plain chamomile, while still making me want to sleep. Nothing against a plain chamomile tisane, it’s just not my cup of tea.

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Dessert by Deb’s Cherry Berry Coffee Cake

Cherry Berry Coffee Cake by Dessert by Deb
Black Tea / Flavoured
$16.00 for 75g

Cherry Berry Coffee Cake is an exclusive blend for Dessert by Deb subscription subscribers and is available for purchase by subscribers only at this time.

First Impressions

Cherry Berry Coffee Cake would probably not have been my first pick if I had a choice in tea blends because, if you’ve been reading for a while, I’m just not a fan of coffee and this blend has coffee listed as an ingredient! Cherry Berry Coffee Cake comes in a sealed, resealable foil pouch with a familiar coloured label on the front. This is an exclusive blend for subscribers, so keep that in mind if you decide that you want to purchase some!

The tea itself looks really pretty. It smells like cherries and black forest cake. I don’t really smell the coffee at all, which is quite nice! Cherry Berry Coffee Cake contains: black tea, cherries, elderberries, currants, raisins, hibiscus, cinnamon, maple, brown sugar, palm sugar, espresso beans, and safflower.

Preparation

Dessert by Deb recommends steeping Cherry Berry Coffee Cake in 200°F (93°C) water for 4 to 6 minutes. I opted to do an initial steep for 5 minutes.

First Taste

Cherry Berry Coffee Cake steeps to a lovely golden orange – which was a surprise for me. Usually when a blend contains hibiscus, I see something much more pink or berry red. The aroma of the blend is of cherries and chocolate, surprisingly. The taste is of cherries and chocolate as well, which continues to remind me of black forest cake. I do not smell or taste the coffee, which is nice since I’m not a big coffee fan at all. It’s quite sweet on its own, I think due to the maple, brown sugar, and palm sugar.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Cherry Berry Coffee Cake with an additional 30 seconds to the steep time and found that the flavour just wasn’t quite there. The cherry flavour wasn’t as strong as I would have liked.

My Overall Impression

I loved Dessert by Deb’s Cherry Berry Coffee Cake. I was quite apprehensive at first because I’m just not a fan of coffee, but I was pleasantly surprised at how lovely this blend tasted – and how much it reminded me of a dessert that I enjoy! If you’re a fan of black forest cake, I definitely think this would be a nice choice. Cherry Berry Coffee Cake is definitely a dessert tea that I could think would go well at the end of a meal or with an afternoon tea cake tier that’s more heavy on the desserts.

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Tea Experience: Indigo Age Cafe

Indigo Age Cafe
Vancouver, BC
Raw Vegan High Tea – $34 each

I went to Indigo Age Cafe for the first, and last, time back in late January. I had received a Groupon for the high tea for two for my birthday. Unfortunately, Indigo Age Cafe had closed the first of February this year, which is disappointing since it certainly looked like there were a lot of fans of this cafe both in person and online.

Indigo Age Cafe was located in Vancouver, BC and offered a very unique take on high tea by having a mostly raw vegan menu. The entire restaurant featured raw vegan and vegetarian foods, so it was really quite something to experience as it was literally like nothing I had experienced before – and nor do I think I’ll be able to experience again. The entrance was at street level, with some short steps to reach the entrance. The tables were wood slabs that featured the natural shape of the trees, which I thought was fascinating. The high tea was offered by reservation only.

The tea selection featured a few each of black tea, green tea, rooibos, herbal tisanes and yerba mate. I opted for a flavoured black tea, Wild Strawberry Cream (ingredients: India Ceylon, strawberry oil, cream aroma, rose petals – described as organic fair trade). My friend and I each received a tea-for-one set with our respective teas in it. I really enjoyed mine – it had a lovely strawberry flavour that wasn’t too coyingly sweet or artificial tasting.

The food arrived on a three-tier stand. No scones for this high tea set!

On the bottom, there was a waffle, a samosa, a cucumber wrap with a veggie slider patty, a spring roll in rice paper, and a mushroom cap with shredded carrots. A lot of avocado on this level, which was great because I love avocado as much as the next girl. My favourites were the cucumber wrap, although a bit messy to eat, and the samosa for having such brilliantly bright flavours.

On the second tier were stuffed cucumber and tomato. The ‘cheese’ used was cashew base and honestly if nobody told me that it wasn’t real cheese, I might not have believed them. The cucumber had some great dill notes, but wasn’t my favourite overall.

For desserts there was this lovely blueberry ‘cheese’ cake and a coconut cream panna cotta that was basically to die for. So light and airy, but so rich at the same time. I liked both desserts and thought that they were both really well done.

I found that Indigo Age Cafe definitely had a lighter feeling high tea menu set – I didn’t feel stuffed at the end of it, but I wasn’t hungry either. I think the lightness of the dessert certainly helped. The service was lovely and there was a lot of smart and creative culinary choices made with the menu. As someone who’s not vegan or vegetarian, it was all very pleasant and tasty.

I really did enjoy my visit to Indigo Age Cafe – and I’m really sad that I won’t be able to have a second visit. There were some really great decisions made with the menu that I enjoyed – from the avocado, to the little slider patty and that delicious panna cotta on top. As much more people strive towards a more plant-based diet, I do hope that more Vancouver-based tea salons opt to have a more vegetarian or vegan friendly menu set, even if it doesn’t involve all the avocado (which I wouldn’t say no to…).