The Contents of a Tea Cupboard

Apr 28, 2010 by Nelly

- Hi, my name is Nelly and I’m a Tea-aholic.
- Hi Nelly…

It’s quite true. Not one day goes by without me having a form of tea, whether caffeinated, flavoured or herbal. Sometimes, I experiment and create my own blend from dried berries and herbal leaves, other times I combine ready-made teas to create a hybrid of flavours. Ninety-five percent of the time my tea comes in the “loose leaf” form, with very few instances of tea-bag produced brews and mostly in instances where it cannot be helped.

For years now, I’ve been going to the Tea Store in the Byward Market. It has a wide assortments of teas from different regions, and continuously blends new flavours – much to my delight. The service has always been great, the atmosphere pleasant and the prices are reasonable. There’s also a loyalty program in place, rewarding those who purchase often. The staff is generous with samples, giving 15gms of loose leaves to try at home and see if you like the blend before purchasing more.

There are several teas I keep stocked at my house for personal use, or to serve my guests. I often start offering them different types of tea that appeal to their personal palettes, and in doing so end up brewing three or four pots of different blends. My cupboard is usually stocked with these varieties:

Black Teas
- Irish Breakfast Tea: strong and great for the morning.
- Earl Grey Tea: Ceylon with bergamot, for the traditional types.
- Courtlodge Estate: orange pekoe, not very strong and goes well with people that don’t enjoy overflavoured teas.
- Star of India: Neither strong, nor weak. It’s a good tea to serve those not too keen on intricate blends.

Greens
- Japanese Sencha: really pleasant, not too strong and goes well with guests that aren’t too sure about their interest in green tea.
- Jasmine Dragon Tea: the hand-rolled tea unfolds and open up in hot water, and the smell of jasmine is strong. For people that enjoy jasmine, this is great. But for the herbally-reluctant crew, skip this.

Herbal
- Organic Peppermint: My go-to herbal tea after a busy or lousy day. Also helpful with tummy aches, days of over-eating, days of hang-overs and the like.
- Rosehip Tea: A good tea if you’re cold, have the flu or feeling under the weather.
- Egyptian Chamomile: Very soothing tea, helps you relax and ladies, good for PMS.
- Lemon Verbena: The relaxation tea. Verbena helps the nervous system, with lemons adding a really good aromatic element to it.
- Love Potion: Strawberries, mint and citrus. Very soft, and delicious.

Flavoured Teas & Blends
- Icewine Tea: The most popular tea at my house, and personal export to friends in Europe and Asia. It’s unique because dessert wines aren’t popular everywhere, so having little ice-wine grapes dried off and stores with the tea keeps the flavour fresh. Definietly give this tea a try.
- Black Currant Tea: Second most widely consumed at my house, and very popular. It’s a strong tea with a nice undertones of black currants. Eastern European sweeten their teas with preserves, so if you have a black currant preserve this tea becomes a dessert all on its own.
- Kencha Kyoto Cherry Rose Festival: Soft green tea with rose petals infused in, I really like it but find it’s on the sweet end.
- White Swiss Truffle Rooibos: Dessert in cup, that’s really all I can say about it.
- Chocolate Mint Tea: This is one of the most consumed teas I have. Guests love it, and my family keeps asking for it. The name is quite descriptive of the flavour too.
- Christmas Tea: Apple, cranberry and a bit of cinnamon. Honestly, they’ve named it well. I like these types of blends when it’s cold outside.

Rooibos
Bourbon Street Vanilla : Rooibos tea by itself is a risky option to serve, but of the various brands I’ve tried, this was most popular.

Teas I seem to enjoy by myself
- Lapsang Zhivago: Chinese black tea, with a strong smokey undertone. This is one of those really like or strongly dislike types of teas, so try a sample first.
- Organic Osprey: Chinese green tea, strong and smokey.
- Kenyan Nandi Safari: White tea, and very light. Try it first, and I don’t recommend buying it in large quantities. I find it’s a mood-tea.

The store also stocks dried flowers to blend into your tea, including calendula, lavender, Linden, Yerba Mate and the like.

In the end, you can try the many options the store offers and find the teas you like. They have most flavours and strengths covered, so be sure to allot 15 minutes on your next trip to go through and smell or taste the blends.

A gift certificate also makes a good present for a friend that enjoys tea-drinking. Now you know what to send me on my birthday *wink*.

Note: We’ve just had a couple of new tea stores open in Ottawa. I’ve only bought a few teas from “Teaopia”, so I won’t be reviewing their products until I’ve tried enough.