Tea Reviews | It's All About The Leaf

Posts Tagged ‘Stratford Ontario Canada’

Today I decided to review a herbal tea from Distinctly Tea, a new tea shop in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. The tea is Ginger-peach Supreme. To the eye, the tea contains black leaf tea with white tea buds, sunflower petals and some other white flower petal that I could not identify. Upon reading the ingredients I found out that the black leaf is Ceylon tea and the white flower petal is Calendula petal. You can definitely smell the spicyness of the ginger and the sweetness of the peach from the dried leaf.

This steeps quite a satisfying beverage that is easy to drink. It has a gingery spicy-ness to it, you know that sort of sting-y feeling you get from ginger, so there was something to hold on to, yet it was smooth enough to go down easily. The initial sting-yness sort of dissipates as the tea cools but the gingery taste is still always there. I think the peach and Ceylon tea acts as a good counter-balance to soften the taste of the ginger.

It can withstand a second steeping, although a little less sweet. I taste less of the peach and more of the ginger this time around. The taste of the Ceylon is also more apparent. As I reach the bottom of my gaiwan, the dregs make the liquor taste very, very gingery but I notice that even with extended steeping although the infusion gets dark orange it does not get too overly bitter. This is a very nice tea, I’m glad I chose it.

You can purchase the Ginger Peach Supreme directly from the Distinctly Tea website.

Recently we received a shipment of teas from Distinctly Tea, a company in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. I exchanged several emails with Distinctly Tea, the net effect being a very interesting assortment of samples being sent for review. Among these, one caught my eye personally – the Lapacho Vanilla Chai.

We are always asking the tea companies to send something different – there are only so many “Silver Needle” teas that you can review, and Distinctly Tea has definitely come through on that front. The Lapacho tea was something that I have never before seen, and I have seen a LOT of teas! So I decided to give this one a try.

The primary ingredient (base) is Lapacho Bark – something I have not encountered before. Usually that leads me to do a quick bit of research – but I was looking for something to go with my morning eggs so I grabbed this to try. The scent was distinctly cinnamon and vanilla – two things I enjoy. The sweet vanilla scent was so subtle as to almost not being detectable, but that made it more intriguing, so I brewed up a quick cup using boiling water, and steeped it for 6 minutes.

The liquor was a clear golden flavour, and the scent of the brewed cup was subtly spicy, with no hint of the vanilla after brewing. It smelled vaguely like a spiced indian chai, and indeed, most of the ingredients reflected this, but it was not an overly strong smell, which I believe is a reflection of using the Lapacho Bark as a base.

The taste was very pleasant. Not a hint of bitterness anywhere, and a sweetness from the spicing. Anise stood out to me, with a sweet black licorice undertone, but not so present to turn off anyone that does not like black licorice. All in all, the cup was very enjoyable, and I found myself relaxing into it, and enjoying every drop. I could not identify anything that I could particularly attribute to being the taste of Lapacho Bark, so I got curious and decided to check out exactly what it is.

It turns out it is the inner bark of a tree used by Incas for many different types of ailments. It is used as an antibacterial, antiviral, anti-fungal and anti-many other things. It seems that in great quantities it may have some undesirable side effects, however, in small tea quantities, no problem.

All in all, this was a very enjoyable tea, and I would recommend it to someone that is looking for a alternative to a black tea chai – it is subtle and relaxing with no bitterness or drying in the mouth – I would imagine it would be a great finisher to a Yoga session or Meditation!

You can purchase the Lapacho Vanilla Chai directly from the Distinctly Tea website.