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Seriously, the best tea ever. EVER. I can’t believe I didn’t grab more. So ridiculously, bloody good.

I forgot to label it when I packed it up from Montreal. Still, drank some yesterday and was all, “What IS this?! It’s amazing..” gulp gulp gulp. Then I come on here today to log my tea drinking, and I remember. Yes. Chaga. Mushrooms. Chocolate.

Best tea ever.

I loved it in-store and the first time I brewed it for myself. Now? Now it gives me a stomach ache every time I drink it. Sort of like oolongs used to.

I used to get violently ill and nauseous every time I drank an oolong tea. I kept on trying… sick.. no go. I missed out on so much good tea, I’m sure, by this weird issue. I’ve asked numerous tea lovers, peddlers and experts why this might be. The only reason that’s made sense to me was that my stomach was “getting used to” it, and to drink more.

Eventually, I found out I had that icky stomach thing that’s eradicated by oregano oil. Now, I can drink oolong no problem.

This tea? Dunno why, but it upsets my stomach. So, no more for me. Anyone in Toronto want the last of it? I’m here until January 2nd.

Gosh I love this tea. I’ve yet to find another coconut puer anywhere else in the world. (I’ve looked. I’ll keep on looking).

The last of it tasted a bit more perfume-y than I like, and a re-steep didn’t do well. Still, it was delicious. I might even venture back into Teaja just to grab more when I’m in Vancouver again.

Now, I love this tea. Truly. But I had such a distasteful experience with (I think) one of the owners last time I was in Teaja, even this amazing tea can’t make up for it. We’ll see.

Hm. I love my first tasting note for this tea, didn’t love it quite so… eloquently… when I drank it last night. Perhaps just not in the mood? Dunno. I think I over-steeped it though, and thus the grassy bits of the green turned astringent and sour. I’m sure it’s user error, so leaving everything else as-is.

Let’s start this off with: I love chaga tea. I first discovered it in Jasper, Alberta, via a company that sold their version of a powdered chaga Mexican hot chocolate. DIVINE.

So you betcha I grabbed some wildcrafted, locally sourced (Quebec) chaga tea, with “natural chocolate flavoring”. This is that tea.

I’ll admit, the flavoring isn’t awesome. I kind of wish they’d used cacao or something else for the chocolate. Still, with sweetener – with zero exaggeration – this tastes like a super junky chocolate cupcake, with the horribly sweet frosting that you KNOW is bad for you.

Yet, this isn’t. Chaga tea is antiviral, a known cancer fighter, and even helps with colds, flu and weight loss.

Am I complaining? No.

I just wanted this less junky tasting, and more.. earthy tasting. Like the chocolate Mexican awesomeness from up above.

Still, it’s pretty tasty. If you like junky, oversweet cupcakes with way too much frosting…

Oh yea, and you can re-steep this forever (it seems). “Until the water turns clear,” is what most chaga tea websites say.

Yep, I’ll do that. :)

One more thing – steep this at lower temperatures. It both tastes better, and, kills off less of the yummy good-for-you antioxidant benefits.

I wish I understood what this tea was made of, or, even how to describe it.

Bought it in the Bahamas while there for 10 weeks. Recommended to me by a butcher on Exuma as a “local tea”, and I thought – awesome! They grow tea here? How cool is that?

Now, I’m not entirely sure they grow the tea on Exuma, in the Bahamas, or wherever this is produced. Honestly? I couldn’t find anything, anywhere. It’s par for the course there, so I just accepted I had this weird, tea with no ingredient list and perhaps would make me really, uh, excited. (Yep, that was on the box, as was that it’s a diuretic and stomach soother).

So. The flavor. On Exuma, I HATED this. Couldn’t drink it. So foul.

Now, that might have been the quality of the water (salty, “brackish”).. so I had to try it when I was back to my somewhat normal life. Read: where the water is palatable.

The Montreal version of this tea is… calming. Bland. No real flavor. I steeped it for quite a while – if it’s actual tea, I thought it would get bitter. It didn’t, although I do taste tannin.

Does my stomach still hurt? Well… it’s a bit upset now (after drinking it). Do I fell… uh… energized in the adult way? Sure. A bit? Maybe. Diuretic? Yea, but no more than any other tea.

So, do I recommend? A novelty, perhaps. Maybe I didn’t make it right – although there were no instructions. Maybe I don’t understand. Or maybe, like the rest of the Bahamas, I just need to take a chill pill and stop complaining. Slow down.

Okay, I can do that.

Smallest amount I could grab was a 40g tin. Will have to pitch the tin, sadly… but wow this is a lovely cup.

Smells sweet, tastes sweeter, thick and rich, creamy from the coconut, with a hint of green grassy to offset the fullness. I’m surprised by this, especially after the coconut from yesterday.

Had this in-store, and enjoyed it over a few hours. Immediately bought 100g (the smallest I could, phooey) and will savor it.

One of the stores in the City of Westminster (London) gave me a small tester of this.

It was disgusting.

I’m not sure if there was a cleaning agent still on the cup or strainer, but, all I tasted was chemicals. I couldn’t do more than one sip.

This tea helped create the perfect circumstances to purge.

I wasn’t expecting it, at all. My first tea of the day, my first anything of the day, I thought ginger lime would really hit the spot. I’ve been drinking hot water and lemon every morning (powerful, simple stuff!), so it just made sense to me that this might be a good way to complement it.

Well, let’s just say it’s allowed me to really sit and see where I’m needing to love myself, slow down, and just be.

Within a few minutes of drinking this tea, I was sweating, shaking, tension behind my eyes, nausea, you name it.

So, this is powerful stuff. Or, it just launched me into a mindset that I needed to purge – both of which I’m grateful for.

Taste-wise, this is strongly lime-y, almost overwhelmingly so with some sips. Very little ginger. A lot of vegetal green, but not consistently with every sip.

Will I drink it again? Definitely. Would I recommend it? Only to those who REALLY love lime and green tea.