Tag: The Secret Garden Tea Company

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The Secret Garden Tea Company’s Buckingham Palace Tea

Buckingham Palace Tea by The Secret Garden Tea Company
Black Tea & Green Tea / Flavoured
$13.00 for 100g

First Impressions

Buckingham Palace Tea is one of the teas that I picked up back in March when I went to The Secret Garden Tea Company for afternoon tea with my friend (review here). This black and green tea blend comes in a paper pouch that is plastic lined with a tabbed closure. It isn’t air tight, so it doesn’t make for the best tea storing method – but that is easily remedied with a spare tea tin. Buckingham Palace Tea is described by The Secret Garden Tea Company as one of their best selling teas. The packaging only mentions the name of the tea and weight – there are no ingredients or steeping recommendations listed on the packaging.

As per the product page on The Secret Garden Tea Company’s website, Buckingham Palace Tea consists of: black tea, green tea, cornflower and jasmine petals, and natural flavouring. Bergamot is mentioned in the description, so my assumption is that bergamot is one of the natural flavourings. The tea itself is beautiful, with the obvious vibrant cornflower petals. I didn’t see many jasmine petals throughout the tea. The aroma of tea is a mix of citrus and floral. The aroma of tea base reminds me a lot of a strong black breakfast tea.

Preparation

As mentioned, there were no steeping instructions for Buckingham Palace Tea. As it does contain a green tea, I opted to use a lower water temperature (175°F/79°C) for 2 minutes.

If you find yourself making a tea that is a blend, it’s always a good idea to try steeping it according to the tea that uses a lower temperature water.

First Taste

Buckingham Palace Tea steeps to a beautiful reddish orange. It has a strong citrus aroma and really does remind me of the smell of an Assam black tea. I found that this tea had light citrus/bergamot flavour, with a touch of astringency despite the short steep. There was a mild bitterness noted at the tail end of each sip that I wasn’t too big of a fan of. I didn’t really taste the green tea or the jasmine, I think the flavour of the black tea and bergamot was a bit overwhelming for those more delicate flavours.

I did add a bit of white sugar and some evaporated milk. I found it helped with the astringency and bitterness, making the tea more palatable for my taste buds.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Buckingham Palace Tea once, adding 30 seconds for the resteep. I found that the flavour was primarily of the black tea base – it really does remind me of a strong breakfast tea. There’s still the astringency present, and that bitterness.

My Overall Impression

I thought that The Secret Garden Tea Company’s Buckingham Palace Tea was just okay. I think this tea is really tasty when it has some sweetener and milk added to it, which makes it a nice option for afternoon tea. By itself, I’m not really a fan. I did a relatively short steep and found it to be astringent and bitter – perhaps the green tea is a touch too delicate and requires an even shorter steeping time, but then the black tea doesn’t really get to shine. I didn’t taste the green tea or jasmine at all, which was disappointing for me. I found it to be very similar to an Earl Grey with the bergamot and black tea base.

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

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The Secret Garden Tea Company’s Organic Creamy Earl Grey Tea

Organic Creamy Earl Grey Tea by The Secret Garden Tea Company
Black Tea / Flavoured
$16.00 for 100g

First Impressions

I bought Organic Creamy Earl Grey Tea when I was at The Secret Garden Tea Company for afternoon tea back in March. The retail side of their shop was full of tea paraphernalia (teacups and tea pots everywhere!) and I couldn’t help but make a little purchase since I was already there. This was one of the teas that was recommended by the server that my friend and I had, and while I didn’t end up getting it as my tea choice, my friend had and said it was “Really, really good!” so I had to give it at try at home. Organic Creamy Earl Grey Tea comes in a plastic-lined paper pouch that closes with a metal band. It’s not air-tight, but it makes for a nice presentation. If you’re like me, you have a lot of extra glass mason jars or tea tins on hand, so it’s an easy issue to fix.

The loose leaf black has some nice citrus notes, with a hint of vanilla in the background. The packaging only mentions the name of the tea with no information regarding the ingredients or steeping instructions. I was able to find the ingredients list on the product page on The Secret Garden Tea Company’s website. Organic Creamy Earl Grey Tea consists of: organic black tea, osmanthus flowers, and organic natural flavouring. I can definitely smell the bergamot and vanilla, which are two flavours mentioned on the product page.

Preparation

There were no steeping instructions for Organic Creamy Earl Grey Tea on either the packaging itself or on the product page online. I opted to do an initial steep with 100°C (212°F) water for 3 minutes.

If you’re ever stuck on a tea because there’s no instructions included, you can check out my Steeping Times for Different Teas guide for suggestions on how to steep your tea.

First Taste

Organic Creamy Earl Grey Tea steeps to a nice golden orange colour. There’s a nice citrus aroma from the tea, with a hint of the vanilla in the background. I found the flavour to be quite pleasant – the bergamot is strong, and there’s a creamy vanilla flavour to it. The black tea flavour is strong, and it has a nice boldness to it that has a slight malty note to it. I found that with an initial steep of 3 minutes there was no astringency or bitterness that I could detect.

I tried it both straight and with a bit of added cream, which I found helped amplify the creamy vanilla flavour and didn’t temper the bergamot too much so it was still quite tasty.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Organic Creamy Earl Grey Tea twice, adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. I found that the first resteep was quite similar to the initial steep – with less bergamot and vanilla. For the second steep, I found very little bergamot and vanilla flavour. I would recommend Organic Creamy Earl Grey Tea for just one more steep.

My Overall Impression

I loved The Secret Garden Tea Company’s Organic Creamy Earl Grey Tea. I can see why the server had made a recommendation for this tea as it’s quite delicious. I normally don’t find creamy Earl Grey teas to be that good, since I like to add my own cream/milk to it, but this one had a great vanilla flavour to it that really added to the overall creaminess and smoothness to the tea. It had a great mouthfeel texture to it, and it did great for resteep which is always important in my opinion!

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

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Tea Experience: The Secret Garden Tea Company

The Secret Garden Tea Company
Kerrisdale, Vancouver, BC
High Tea – $35 each

I recently went to High Tea at The Secret Garden Tea Company, which is located in the Kerrisdale neighbourhood of Vancouver, BC. This lovely location boasts both of a shop section and a dining section, with seasoning high tea menus that change every couple of months. I went in March 2019, so the food selection is different now. There are also vegan and gluten-free high tea options, at $40 per person, as well as a children’s menu at $25 per person.

Both my friend and I selected different teas  – we each got our own teapot that came nestled in a tea cosy that had The Secret Garden Tea Company’s logo and name embroidered on it. The place settings were tea cups and saucers that differed from each person, which added a sense of whimsy to it. The sugar cubes came in a tea cup with a pair of silver tongs – which I found to be just darling.

For our tea selections, there was an extensive list of variations of Earl Grey, along with some non-Earl Grey tea choices.My friend opted for the Organic Creamy Earl Grey (black tea, bergamot, vanilla), which she told me was delicious. I had the Lavender Earl Grey (black tea, lavender from Provence, France, cornflower petals, and natural flavouring) because I’m just all about the lavender these days.

The food arrived in a three-tier stand. The bottom being savouries, then the scones, and finally dessert.

For the savouries, we had the Secret Garden Egg Pinwheels, Chicken Caesar Sandwiches on Butter Biscuits, and the New York Pastrami and Avocado on Mini Croissants. I found the Egg Pinwheels to be a bit low on flavour, I think it might have been better with some pepper. The open-faced Chicken Caesar Sandwiches on Butter Biscuits had some great flavours, but I think the star of this tier would have to be the New York Pastrami and Avocado on Mini Croissants. Mostly because the kitchen selected some perfectly ripe avocado to go into those delicious little sandwiches, the balance between the pastrami and the other ingredients was just perfect. I felt that the savoury tier was quite generous – for each of us there were 3 Pinwheels, 2 Butter Biscuits, and 2 Mini Croissants.

The scones tier was quite fun. There was the Petite Fruit Scone, which was paired with the Raspberry Jam and Devonshire Cream, and a Savoury Chedder Cheese and Chive Scone. I thought that the Petite Fruit Scone was delicious with the sugar crystals baked into the top. But my favourite would have to be the Savoury Cheddar Cheese and Chive Scone. It was heavenly and I’m still surprised at the fact that I enjoyed it more than the sweet option since I’m normally all about the sweets.

Finally – the sweets! There was the Tangy Mini Lemon Tart – I had this one first and was a bit let down by it. I’m a huge fan of lemon curd, but I found that the ratio of lemon curd to tart crust was just a little bit off for me. I think a thinner crust would have suited me better, but that’s one non-foodie’s opinion! Then there was the Chocolate Coconut and Mandarin Roulade Cake which I found to be rich and delicious. The toasted coconut on the outside provided a light crunch, while the chocolate cake was just oh-so-rich. I definitely made happy noises when eating it because it was just that good. Last, but not least, was the Maple Pie with Vanilla Chantilly Cream. While I was a little bit confused by the blue-grey colour of the vanilla chantilly cream, the Maple Pie itself was tasty. It had a great maple flavour without being overly sweet, which is probably no easy feat since maple syrup is practically pure sugar. My favourites from the sweets tier would have to be the Roulade Cake and the Maple Pie.

I had a wonderful time at The Secret Garden Tea Company, and I can see why it’s a favourite for afternoon tea in Kerrisdale. Their branding is on-point and well represented throughout the darling shop and dining area, and I love the fact that they offer seasonal menus to change it up and allow patrons to read over the varying menus on their website. The service from the ladies working at The Secret Garden Tea Company on the Monday that my friend and I went was top notch – starting from the hostess who greeted us at the door to the knowledgeable server who was able to offer her thoughts on the different Earl Grey options. It’s a lovely spot in Kerrisdale to go in for tea, and they even offer High Tea daily at three different serving times! I would definitely go back for tea the next time that I’m in the neighbourhood.