Victoria Epicure/Epicure Selections

A Christmas present from my aunt! I LOVED this blend – black tea, spicy, a faint taste of orange and cranberry… absolutely delightful for Christmas morning. Definitely going to have to look into more blends by this company.

I’m all irritated again. (I also have a tummyache, and I’m sure this is contributing to my unhappiness.) This is another tea that was on Steepster, and appears to no longer exist. And I know it was here, because I gave samples of this tea to Sil, etc., and they tried it too. SO ANNOYING.

Anyways. Fairly basic-tasting loose leaf black blend. Can’t do a proper review because I drank it as a pro-tea-n latte today with chocolate protein powder, which kind of made it like a tea hot chocolate. It was interesting, but I think I brewed the tea a little strong. Oh well. It seems like a decent enough tea for me to start throwing in my travel mug when I want a straight black – I have a bunch of it (something my mom was given that she didn’t want), and no particular fondness for it, so sipping it down would be just fine by me.

Brrrr good morning Steepster..it has stopped snowing/raining here, unlike in the southern part of the province (I don’t envy those Calgarians lol) but it’s still icy cool out here and chilly in the office as usual. I wanted a chai today but am trying to cut back my caffeine again, I started a different inhaler for whatever is up with my lungs and I’m worried it interacts strangely with caffeine lol. So this tea was the one, decaf, so a teensy bit of caffeine, but not bad. It seems to get more perfumey tasting with age though :( might have to whip it into a coconut latte tonight to enjoy it more lol. I’m actually really craving Second Breakfast due to Cameron B.’s note haha but that is definitely not low in the caffeine side of things. Le sigh. Ah well, I have a few herbals for now at least. See previous notes on this tea!

Andd last tea of the day right here. The weather went from bright, beautiful and sunny with clear blue skies to cloudy, dark and grey in a few hours..and it’s right at that point where it’s not raining, it’s just grey and miserable looking outside. My mood dipped right with the weather, and probably the fact that I’m trying to finish up the second online course for work (doing work related things on the weekend = sadface). So I needed a pick me up, and this tea, brewed up with some honey added, is hitting the spot. I will also be doing my nightly yoga soon, and that’s always a mood lifter :) anyways, this tea is spicy and lovely as usual, and love that it’s decaf. I might actually have to always have this in my cupboard lol. See previous notes!

Oh, and I’m probably also feeling down as it’s day 13/14 of the bf being away for work (2 weeks on, 1 week off) and I found out this pattern is lasting until at least Sept. It’s not the worst as I actually know his schedule now and we can plan things for his week off, but 2 weeks is a long time to be at home with just the cat. Lol :( but at least he’s back tomorrow! I will have someone to drink tea with every day for a week! :D

Ugh it is a miserable, depressing Monday. It’s rainy out, it’s freezing in my office, it’s not the weekend so I’m not at home, and my bf leaves for another 2 week shift up north for work. Le sigh. Oh, and I forgot my daily work tea selection at home, so I just have this tea in my travel mug and a tin of chrysanthemum flowers for the afternoon. I want cozy teas!! :( anyways, enough woes..at least this tea is tasty this morning. A bit perfumey for some reason though, and a bit drying. And it’s cooling off far too quickly lol. Well, at least the cold rain outside is good for the newly planted garden and the lawn. See previous notes on this tea!

Note to self: no matter how tempting haagen dazs ice cream is, no matter how delicious the matcha honey ice cream is, you are lactose intolerant, and when the first ingredient is cream, you are not going to have a fun time after eating it. I should have known that last night lol…my stomach still hasn’t fully recovered lol. Never again!!

So I made this tea as it’s decaf and not hard on the stomach but warming in the chilly office. The cinnamon is tasty, I’m quite enjoying this and wishing the day would go faster, not many projects this week so things are slowww and boring. Le sigh. See previous notes on this tea!

Oops, I haven’t reviewed this yet, and I’ve drank a fair few cups of this one..tonight, I made it with unsweetened vanilla almond milk.

Aside – Now that I found out I can have the original Silk almond milk, I am branching off to the flavors and unsweetened, still a bit worrying for me to have it, but I will get over it soon considering I drank a carton of the other one, and they both have almonds. Settle down paranoid brain. LOL. Anyways, tea review.

Tea Review

So this tea is pretty good on it’s own, or in a latte with almond milk, I had it with the regular almond milk and it really was epic. Tonight, it’s not quite as sweet as no sugar in it, but the flavors mesh nicely with the nuttiness and make for a smooth, spicy little chai. And the vanilla at the end..mmmmm. This is one of the rare decaf chais I have found, and it’s actually not bad at all! The main flavors are probably cardamom and black pepper as it’s pretty spicy, but rich enough to hold its own without caffeine. It might help that the recommended steeping time is 5-6 minutes lol and I did the full 6 today. Quite tasty.

Overall, a tasty decaf black tea option for before bed. I also like the name, and it makes a good latte and is also decent straight up. I will have to write a note when I have it straight next. Hmm, and I bet it’s pretty good with honey too haha. Happy to have ordered it in my Epicure order!

This was a gift from my mom.

After trying this tea tonight, I vaguely recall trying this tea, or something similar, a long, long time ago.

The smell of the dried tea is very similar to Christmas cake. It is kind of orange-y and cranberry-y in a dried fruit kind of way. The smell of the brewing tea is very similar with a health dose of cinnamon added in. Makes it more like a cinnamon cranberry muffin or something like that.

The brewed tea is quite a disappointment to me. It is basically black tea with dry cinnamon. I am not getting much orange or cranberry although there is the slightest hint of sweetness. The tea is very dry, like how ground cinnamon would make your mouth feel dry. Maybe I will try some sugar or make it as a latte next time. The tin also suggests directions for making iced tea, however I am suspicious these are generic instructions on all of the tea tins. I have a whole 1.66g to experiment with.

The first time I tried this tea, I’ll admit I was slightly disappointed. When you open the tin, it’s got a fantastic (if slightly strong) fruity smell.

Once brewed, it loses a lot of that fragrance and comes up a bit short on flavor.

It does make a nice, light green iced tea in the summer.

Before I discovered the wider world of loose leaf teas available to me, it was always on my shelf. Now I’m trying to use up the tin I have so I can experiment with other options.

Tasty, standard chai tea. Nothing really outstanding, but nothing bad about it either.

This one is actually one of my summer time must-haves. I enjoy it hot as well as iced.

It can have a fairly strong lemon flavor to it if steeped too long, but I love lemon so that isn’t a big problem for me.

I’ve also enjoyed just picking bits of fruit from the tin while I wait for my water to boil.

Delicious as usual

This tea smells almost overpoweringly fruity in the tin. When brewed, it has the taste and smell of a floral green tea – I almost completely lose the cherry taste/smell. This isn’t a bad thing as I quite enjoy this as a green tea. I just think the initial smell is a bit misleading.

I typically make my own chai, but this is a great substitute on those days I don’t have the time to do it the long way.