King's Zen Tea Osmanthus Fragrance Flower

I love the smell of this tea - ripe peaches.

Osmanthus is an evergreen shrub native to Asia, with golden flowers that give off the scent of ripe peaches or apricots. In China, they infuse these flowers with water, green tea or black tea, the resulting golden coloured drink is called gui hua cha. Osmanthus also has health properties, with benefits for oral health and skin rashes, alleviating headaches and lowering blood pressure, among others. Lately, I've found that Chinese supermarkets around my area have come out with osmanthus-flavoured jellies, made from osmanthus flowers, an idea I'd like to try myself. Above all, this makes a great tasting, and wonderful smelling, cup of tea that you can enjoy while it's brewing, and as you drink it.

Herbaria Wild-Crafted Herbal Tea - Rosehip

Herbaria makes teas from wild-crafted herbs in Hungary, I've enjoyed their Linden Flowers, their Elder Flowers and their Fennel Seed. This is a tea made of one of my favourites, rosehips. Not only tasty, but good for you too, lots of Vitamin C in rosehips. Another tea to enjoy.

King's Zen Tea King's Jasmine Pearls

King's Zen Tea has a number of very interesting teas, this one is a green tea that is scented with jasmine blossoms, using a 9 century old technique for tea scenting. The tender green tea leaves and buds (these come from Fujian Province in China) are then hand rolled. The jasmine smell of this is quite strong and intoxicating, the green tea is quite good as well, yielding a good cup of tea to enjoy.

Crudessence Passion

This is my favourite of the four kombuchas I recently discovered from the Montreal, Quebec company Crudessence.This one features rosehip and hibiscus, two flavours I really enjoy, also ginger. Some of their ingredients (cane sugar, black tea and ginger) are Fair Trade. This one I could drink again and again.

Crudessence Symbiose Kombucha

I do like kombucha, and was pleased to find this one at Whole Life Expo. Crudessence is from Montreal, Quebec, they make a number of different flavoured kombucha drinks. This one features white tea (kombucha is a brew made from tea and a combination of yeast and bacteria) and ginger (fresh ginger and ginger juice). Some of their ingredients (cane sugar and white tea) are Fair Trade. This one I liked very much, very ginger-y, one I hope to find a source for. They make it with lots of Love!

Crudessence Éternité Kombucha

Crudessence is from Montreal, Quebec, they make a number of different flavoured kombucha drinks. I do like kombucha, the bubbly brewed tea. This one features blueberry and maple; the tea of the kombucha (kombucha is brewed from sugar, tea and a combination of yeast and bacteria) is black tea. Some of their ingredients (cane sugar and black tea) are Fair Trade. This one I did not care for, perhaps because of the black tea flavour, perhaps because of the maple flavour; I also did not taste any blueberry. When I sampled it at Whole Life Expo, I knew I didn't like it, but just bought it for the sake of trying more than a mouthful.

Traditional Medicinals Organic Lemon Yerba Maté

I’ve enjoyed this tea from Traditional Medicinals for a long while now, for the most part in order to get a jolt of caffeine on those mornings after late nights (and now with a toddler, there are more of those). Yerba Mate is similar to green tea in its range of antioxidants and health benefits, it also has theobromine (what is found in chocolate, what gives it its “kick”). I’ve read now that it has a darker side, down in South America, where they consume yerba mate in large quantities, more than a liter a day, there is a larger risk for certain cancers. The taste of yerba mate is supposed to be smoky, woody, bitter, but I find that the lemony flavour of this (which comes from West Indian lemongrass leaf and lemon myrtle leaf) combines and mutes the earthiness of the yerba mate. I quite enjoy the flavour of this tea (and they have a version that uses ginger, which I don’t like as much, which is odd, as I enjoy ginger), and find it does provide energy (given that it has about the same amount of caffeine as green tea), without any side effects of drinking too much coffee or soda. And, I only need to drink one large cup with one tea bag when I feel the need.

Traditional Medicinals Organic Rose Hips

Traditional Medicinals makes many different teas, mostly Organic, and, according to the box, they purchase and manufacture their herbs sustainably, buying from cooperatives of herb farmers, supporting Organic farmers, and using 100% Wind Power to offset their energy use. This one features rose hips, something that I see in many caffeine-free herbal teas, and in one of my favourite, but I have never tried them on their own (and the rosehip tea I like so much, I’ve discovered has the flavour of roselle). I must say, I like the flavour of this tea, fruity, tart and sweet at the same time, a pleasant tasting tea that tastes fresh too (some of the teas have been sitting on the shelf for a long while, and have lost a little, a lot, of their flavour). The tea itself is light red when brewed. This one cost $4, but I’ve seen it for much more.

Now I have another tea to enjoy.

Herbaria Fennel Seed

This is another tea from Herbaria, which makes what they call wild crafted herbal teas. This one features fennel seed, which has the scent (it fills my cabinet -wonderfully!) and taste of anise or liquorice, a flavour I enjoy. Quite good tasting.

It's also good for you. A natural diuretic and kidney tonic, helping to flush excess water and toxins from your body; can be used as gripe water for colicy babies; reduces stomach issues, such as flatulence, bloating, indigestion and stomach cramps; and is an appetite suppressant.

Nabisco Picola Matcha Azuki Green Tea Red Bean Roll

We picked these up in a Japanese gift store in Mississauga, really because my beautiful Bride likes green tea in baked goods, especially Japanese ones, as well as red bean. The roll is a cylinder of crispy wafer that is filled with various sweetened ingredients, in this case matcha green tea powder and powdered red azuki bean. The roll is crispy, and it definitely tastes of the green tea, but I didn't get much of anything in terms of the red bean. Not something I'd eat on a regular basis, but it's interesting to try.

Zen Tea San Qi Flower Tea

Oddly enough, I think that I have answered my own question, to this posting. It turns out that those were San Qui flowers, also called Notoginseng. The taste that I had gotten from that previous tea, was, of course, ginseng. It still tastes sweet and good. Notoginseng is a herb whose properties help invigorate and build blood. This tea comes from King's Zen Tea; they sell a number of green, white and black and herbal teas.

Chinese Green Tea - Moonlight of Spring River

I must admit, this gift box of Chinese Green Tea has been sitting on my shelf for a few months; I only recently opened it. At first, I thought there was a large bag of loose green tea, but opening the box revealed something quite different.

There were several small boxes, all the same.

Opening the small box revealed several bags of what felt like loose green tea.

Opening the bag reveals slivers of green tea, enough for a cup of tea.

The tea tasted very fresh, I think a measure of the individual packaging (with a large bag, it tends to go staler faster); on the other hand, there is a lot of packaging, not good for the environment (though some of it is recyclable). As always, the second steeping is sweet while the first is more bitter.

Herbaria Elder Flowers Tea

I bought and tried, and enjoyed, Herbaria's Linden Flowers Tea, but this is the tea that I was actually looking for and thought I had bought. I have enjoyed Elderflower champagne, and sugary Elderflower drink, so I was intrigued to try to see if this tea could extend my enjoyment of this flower. From what I've read, elderflowers are normally used to make cordials, the sugary drink I mentioned, so this might be an unusual way of using elderflowers. From what I've also read, using it as a tea could help boost your immune system, soothe the respiratory tract, reduce fever and stimulate circulation (perhaps all good things in this flu season). When I did come to tasting it, I must say I liked it, and continue to enjoy it, but it didn't remind me of any of the elderflower I had drunk before. Well, similar, but different than the rest.

Herbapol Raspberry with Rosehip Tea

I do like raspberry, especially in season, and like teas with rosehip in them. Picking up this offering from the Polish company Herbapol I also noticed that it contains hibiscus flower. Sold. Opening the package, it did smell very good, like raspberry (I was at first worried that it was raspberry aroma that made it, but it contains 40% raspberry fruit). And after steeping, it also smelled and tasted of raspberry. With the deep red colour of hibiscus. Quite refreshing. I don't know if this is a new company, or new to North America, but I'll be willing to try some of their other products.

Herbaria Linden Flowers Tea

I grew up with a Linden tree in my backyard, for years it flowered in July, filling the area with the wonderful scent that I've grown more to appreciate in the past few years. Certainly, there are several linden trees growing where I live now, even some right outside my condo. But, little did I realize that the linden flowers could be useful in other ways, many ways. Linden flowers, called lime-flower in Britain, can be used to make honey; they can be also used to make perfume; they have medicinal properties, and can be used to treat restlessness, hysteria, and headaches; they can be eaten raw; lastly, they can be used to make herbal tea. Linden Flowers tea is very popular in Europe. Herbaria has been growing plants, what they call wild-crafting, for herbal teas for 60 years in Hungary. This is a herbal tea and, as such, is caffeine-free. Certainly, it is good tasting, a pleasant flavour that, though it didn't evoke the smell of linden flowers that I so enjoy, certainly might now that I can associate the two. Sipping this tea while sitting under a flowering linden tree just might be a very enjoyable pastime.

Le Palais des Thés - Thé Des Moines

Certainly I was allured by the scent coming from this large cardboard box from Le Palais des Thés at Winners, a spicy, floral heady aroma. Looking at the literature attached, it talks about the romantic notion of a Tibetan mystery, a community of monks who soak a combination of tea and flowers in utmost secrecy for several days, then plucked out and dried.

This fragrant tea was then sealed in sand, brown or black little clay pots (the tea comes in an authentic version), which preserves its flavour and scent,

and tied with the string that a monk would use to tie their habit (again, which this tea does).

This tea is a combination of green and black teas, with flowers.

The tea, when steeped, becomes a sort of reddy brown colour. Each pot contains 125 g of the tea combination; use 10 g per steeping.

Certainly, it has an intriguing scent, which remains after several days of being open. The taste is interesting, sort of a mellower black tea, with hints of flowers. I don't know how I could ever find this again, but I will enjoy it as I still have some, another different tea in my varied collection.

Taiwan High Mountain Tea

I snagged these from work, the President of the company I work for had got it from one of his business trips (and perhaps didn't quite realize how good a green tea this is). I have talked about High Mountain Tea or Jin Xuan Oolong before (though that one was not so good), having enjoyed the gift of such I got from my sister and brother-in-law a few years ago.

This is a good version of High Mountain Tea, certainly the leaves are whole (and unfurl into long leaves when placed in hot water). The taste that you look for, a tingling in the back of the mouth, is there. I gifted some of the large bag to my sister and brother-in-law, coming full circle, and they both agreed that this is good tasting tea.

The leaves are rolled into little balls.

Jhihuo Rose Oolong Tea

The idea of rose and tea is not new, and is one I have enjoyed before (there is a certain tea that I got from China as a gift, that has rose leaves in it, that I really enjoyed, and am still searching for). This tea from Taiwan features dried rose petals from Europe and oolong tea. I like the smell of the rose that comes out when steeped, the petals seem very fresh. The tea is quite good as well.

Jin Xuan Oolong

Jin Xuan Oolong, or High Mountain Tea, is a special variety of Camellia Sinesis (tea) that can grow at very high elevations, the fog or clouds present high in the mountains make for excellent growing conditions for oolong, producing a fragrant and light creamy tea. Oolong is tea that is between green and black, closer to green, though it lacks the grassiness of green tea, nor does it have the rosy, sweet aroma of black tea. Some of the best comes from Taiwan. I remember being gifted with a quantity of special 'High Mountain Tea', from Taiwan, very good, with a very sweet flavour, you got a kind of 'numbness' at the back of the teeth when you drank it. Now, this is definitely high mountain tea, and very flavourful, but not the same quality of that wonderful tea. And where did I get it? At Zen Gardens, an excellent vegetarian restaurant, specifically at their Mississauga location, which I find not so good as their Cambridge location.

Japanese Green Tea Genmaicha

This is the Genmaicha that I normally drink, while it is good tasting, I find the green tea to be of less than superior quality, too, there are sticks that float to the top which I have to pick out. Still, the combination of green tea and roasted brown rice is very good.

You can find this particular Genmaicha in most Asian Supermarkets.