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Tea Farm’s Cowichan Caravan

Cowichan Caravan by Tea Farm
Black Tea / Flavoured
$15.00 for 125g

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First Impressions

Tea Farm sparked my interest when I first read about them in local-ish news. Tea Farm is a Canadian tea company that is locate on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. They are growing tea plants and waiting for the plants to be mature enough prior to harvesting and creating their own teas. Until then, they source teas from elsewhere in the world for their organic loose leaf teas. I came across their tea for sale at a winery during this past summer (Tea? At a winery? Don’t mind if I do!) and I couldn’t resist buying some, as a tea enthusiast does. Cowichan Caravan is a black tea blend, made up of: Assam, Ceylon, Keemun, oolong, Lapsang, and lavender.

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The dry leaf of Cowichan Caravan has an incredibly strong smokey smell to it, the lapsang is obvious when it comes to the aroma that comes out of the tin. There are lavender buds in the tea that are visible, but I cannot pick out any floral aromas from the tea at all. The label wasn’t lying when it stated that it is “perfectly smokey”.

Preparation

Tea Farm recommends using boiling water for each 2g of tea and to steep for 3 to 5 minutes. I opted for the black tea function of my variable temperature kettle (one of my utmost favourite purchases), and steeped the tea for about 3 minutes for the first steep.

First Taste

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As the tea begins to steep, it is pretty much an instant golden red in my tea pot. The smokey flavour wafts up me as the tea steeps, right before I pop the lid of the teapot on. I first poured a little bit of the tea into a sampling cup and it is just this beautiful golden yellow colour that reminds me of marigolds. The tea itself has this smooth texture to it, there’s a light smokiness that isn’t unappealing, and there is just this slight floral sweetness to the tea. While I know that the only floral component is the lavender, I can’t make it out as being specifically lavender, just a nice overall floral sweetness to the tea. Steeping for the recommended time results in tea that isn’t bitter, which I can always appreciate.

A Second Cup?

Cowichan Caravan resteeps well, I found that the smokiness is lighter and there is a stronger malty flavour to the tea (likely from the Assam). The sweet floral notes in the first steep are very much present and lovely on the palate. Cowichan Caravan steeps to a more bright yellow for the subsequent steeps with less of an orange hue to it. I enjoyed the second steep better than the first. I did do a few more subsequent steeps, and found that the flavour really begins to fade by the fifth steep.

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My Overall Impression

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I liked Tea Farm’s Cowichan Caravan. I really enjoyed Cowichan Caravan, and always appreciate a tea that can be resteeped over and over again. Smokey flavours aren’t generally my favourite, but I think that the second steep was the best steep out of all five that I did. The smokey flavour with the malty Assam base go very well together and it makes for an enjoyable cup of tea. It is quite the savory tea, despite the addition of the lavender buds, I think it would be a lovely tea to have with a meal instead of a tea that you have for an afternoon tea.

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

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DavidsTea’s Movie Night

Movie Night by DavidsTea
Green Tea / Flavoured
$7.98 for 50g

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First Impressions

Movie Night came recommended to me by someone who works at a DavidsTea when I said I was open to “trying anything” (that wasn’t made with a rooibos base). The name intrigued me, the concept intrigued me, the idea of popcorn in my tea wasn’t actually off putting enough to stop me from buying a small bag to try this one out. If you’re wanting to try small amounts of a tea, I’d highly recommend going into a store if you’re able to have them weigh the tea out for you. I always get small amounts when I’m first trying out a tea. There is nothing worst than getting a full 50g (2oz) and realizing you wouldn’t wish it on your worst enemy. I got 14g of Movie Night to try.

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The ingredients of Movie Night are: apple pieces, green tea, popcorn, and flavouring. As you can tell in the above photo, it looks like it is all apple pieces and popcorn. Green tea really takes a back seat in terms of being prevalent in this tea. The dry tea has a strong popcorn smell to it that mingles well with the apple. It feels like it would be a good tea to have in the autumn if you’re wanting an alternative to apple cider. The order of the ingredients is highly reflected in the actual tea itself as typically the ingredient in the greatest abundance is listed first – apple is definitely the star when it comes to quantity. I cannot make out the green tea base at all when it comes to smelling the dry leaf.

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Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Movie Night in hot water (167-176°F or 75-80°C) for 3-5 minutes. I used my Breville IQ Kettle for heating up the water to the ideal temperature, and steeped for about 4 minutes.

First Taste

Movie Night steeps to a light yellow, and there’s a beautiful buttery popcorn scent that mingles well with the apple. Still evokes thoughts of autumn for me (it’s probably because of the apple). The tea itself is very sweet, I’d say it’s because of the natural sweetness of the apple, along with whatever flavourings had been added to the tea itself. There’s more of a buttery apple taste to the tea than there is any popcorn (aside from the butter). The popcorn is a little bit lost in this one. Apples all the way in this steeped tea, which is odd to me because I feel like the popcorn should be the front runner in terms of the flavour profile due to the name of the tea.

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A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Movie Night, it did not go well as the tea itself had a lost a lot of the flavouring with the first steep. I would not recommend resteeping Movie Night.

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My Overall Impression

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I thought that DavidsTea’s Movie night was just okay. This was a tea that just did not meet my expectations. With a name like Movie Night, it makes me think of hot buttery popcorn not apples, which was the predominant flavour in the steeped tea. That said, Movie Night was tasty and makes a nice sweet treat and makes a good apple flavoured tea. The flavours need to be changed to better mimic popcorn in the actual steeped tea (although the dry leaf does an excellent job with the butter popcorn smell).

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

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Lattes at Home (Without the Fancy Equipment)

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Whenever I’m feeling particularly fancy, I like to make myself a tea latte at home. There’s all sorts of fancy equipment that you can buy to make this easier, but what I use is a small mason jar with a lid. Seems deceivingly simple? Well, it is! Fancy drink made with not-so-fancy tools? An overall win, I’d say!

I have my tea steeping before I start on the milk. In the photos, this was a latte made with DavidsTea’s Pumpkin Chai. You can use any kind of tea to make your own latte! It works best if you mix in your sweetener prior to the addition of milk.

Pour milk into a microwaveable jar. I filled a 250ml (1 cup) mason jar approximately 1/3 of the way filled, and then screw on a lid.

Shake, shake, shake! As the milk becomes frothy, there will be less sloshing sounds from the jar. You’ll be able to tell when it’s done when the sloshing sound is pretty much gone. When you take off the lid, you’ll find that it’s filled with foam.

With the lid off, microwave the frothy milk for about 30 seconds. The microwave helps to set the foam so it won’t disappear as quickly.

I use a spoon to hold back the foam as I pour the milk into my tea, and then I use the same spoon to push all the foamy goodness onto the top of my tea.

Bonus Tip: Take a photo and share your fancy tea latte with your friends! Homemade lattes always seem to elicit positive feedback, they’ll never have to know you didn’t buy a milk frother!

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