Tea Time at the Archives

Not too long ago I volunteered at the local archives. I moved items from moldy boxes, to nice, fresh boxes. It was quite fun though that I think is a matter of personal preference.
Right next door was the local museum, and our Archivist also acted as the museum curator. For five blissful months I felt submerged in both the museum and archives daily life, and I loved the Archivist/Museum Curator to pieces!

He was the nicest gentleman I ever did meet, and he also loved tea as much as I (possibly more, since he did come straight from Britain.) Because he was in charge, and because he was British and loved tea, the Archives was a bit unique: there was tea time at 3:00 pm sharp every day.

The first day I volunteered and found out about this tea schedule, I was ecstatic. Mandatory tea? My goodness, that is the perfect workplace. It didn't cut into the day, as their union stated there needed to be two 15 minute breaks in afternoon and morning, or at the manager's discretion. So two 15 minutes put together at 3:00 meant everyone sat down for a half hour tea break. Everyone mostly showed up for tea, so there was a large relaxed gathering that typically wouldn't have happened. The camaraderie and the closeness between staff is still the best example I have seen or been privileged to partake in. It leads me to believe that all workplaces should have designated tea breaks, and in future careers I might just insist on it (as long as it doesn't get me fired.) I learned some things about tea there, mostly from the Archivist. Heat your teapot with hot tap water, before you put the boiled kettle water in.
That way the cold clay/porcelain doesn't suck the heat out of the boiled water, and your tea will remain hot longer. The first time I tried to help and put boiled water into the pot without warming it up first, I got an earful! I also learned that some people like to steep their tea so dark, it could be taken for coffee at a quick glance. I loved this place, and I was sad to end my volunteering to go back to library school.

Now I was recently in the area at the local tea house “The China Cup Tea Company” (which I personally quite recommend) and I was surprised and delighted to see a unique blend on the shelves: The Surrey Museum Heritage blend.
Now each time someone buys a bag of this tea, three dollars are donated to the Museum. Of course I knew I had to buy a bag, I would have bought the tea even if it tasted like dishwater. But it doesn't, it certainly doesn't!

The area the Archives is in is Cloverdale, and each year Cloverdale does a big festival with blueberries. Blueberry pie, pancakes, milkshakes, and more. So it makes sense for the China Cup to have blueberries in this tea. Now I have tried it and can't taste them. In fact, I can't taste any single ingredient other than the black tea base. It all mixes so well together, it makes up another flavour entirely: delicious.
This is a perfect afternoon tea, not too fruity, or dessert-like. Add milk or cream, sugar or honey. Or let is steep until it looks like coffee. It is a strong, wake up and get back to work tea. You can have this at breakfast, at tea time and with dessert. It is versatile, and did I mention delicious? This tea, I would guess, would also be the perfect tea to serve at the afternoon mandatory tea in the Archives.


Located at: The China Cup tea company, as far as I can tell. But give them a ring and they might be willing to ship some tea to a tea lover out there!

Peaches vs Dairy

On the Vancouver wet west coast, there is a lot of rain. One might saw you could also go to a beach, and say there is a lot of sand. The first probably being truer.
Oh....I wish I could go to that beach. A sunny beach. A sunny warm beach with none of this whishy washy rain that might turn to snow but just remains cold and slushy.

So, what do you do when it is cold and miserable and you are craving the warm days of summer? Well, try drinking a summery tea for one thing! My boyfriend and I were at a small grocery store, and saw this lovely peach of a tea: Stash's Peach Black Tea!
Upon finding this tea, I was intrigued. It is a black tea, and you can add dairy and sugar to black tea. Could it be added to this tea?

Any tea drinker out there has added milk/cream to a nice cup of tea, and found it curdled up at the top at least once in their life. I personally had this experience with a blueberry herbal tea, and my mother made me drink it anyways. Even as a young girl I knew you could never put dairy in a citrus tea/tisane as that was just asking for it to chunk up, but blueberries?
(just a refresher, herbal teas aren't actually teas because they don't include the plant camellia sinensis—or tea. They should be called tisanes.)
Now I am no science teacher, and neither will I give you a science lesson, but I will say milk curdles because of the acidity in the blueberries, and that changes the pH in the milk/cream and causes it to coagulate.
In fact, all these fruits are acidic, and will most likely cause you milk/cream to curdle: apples, blueberries, cherries, grapes, grapefruit, nectarines, peaches, pears, pineapple, plums, and raspberries.

Another thing will cause dairy to curdle is pouring it right into boiling water. The heat will do the trick, even if you have a regular old black tea. If you find this a problem, add your milk/cream first, and add the boiling water slowly to gradually warm it up.
If you aren't putting milk into boiling water, you are drinking a regular old black tea, and it is still lumpy, then your milk/cream is bad. For goodness sake, throw that dairy out!

Now if you do make the citrus tea mistake, and you see your tea curdled, you can do one of three things:
1) Throw it out and start again. And this time, don't add any milk! Or use whole milk/cream, as it has a higher threshold for clumping.
2) Scoop out all the curds you can see. The milk/cream hasn't gone bad, just changed consistency. Water still tastes the same frozen, doesn't it? You might have to keep scooping throughout your drinking experience.
3) Just drink it all. The texture will be off, you might have to chew your tea, and you might not want to drink blueberry tisane ever again, but it won't kill you.


Well you might have noticed peaches in the list of acidic fruits. If you had a herbal tisane full of peaches and added milk/cream, it would curdle. But a black tea is a different sort of beast. To a point, you can add dairy to black teas and not have to worry about the consequences. On the other hand, some very bitter teas, or a strong Earl Grey(with the bergamot oils) will curdle milk.
Indeed, I was very curious about this tea.

Upon opening the box, I grew concerned. Ever open a bag of peach candies? That overwhelming PEACH smell? That's what greeted my nose. The smell was strong, but would it curdle the cream?
I made two cups, added sugar, and poured the cream in. It swirled, and twirled and mixed perfectly. No curdling! Got to love the black teas!

As for the actual tea? Well, it wasn't nearly as strong tasting as it smelled (they never are). By the time I put cream and sugar in it, it smelled like a peach perfume. Depending on the person, I suppose that could or could not be appetizing, The peach taste was there, but on the whole I think it would have made a better tisane.
What I am absolutely sure about, is that this tea would make an amazing iced tea come summer time. Oy.
Maybe I just need to go to a warm sunny beach now, and bring some Stash's Peach Black Tea with me.

Tea available at most grocery stores!

The lemurs love vanilla

My mother came from a French Canadian catholic family, which means my family has a slightly different Christmas tradition than others. When the clock strikes 12, instead of seeing Jacob Marley, our family opens stockings and presents. And if there is one thing I really love about the 25th of December, is that I typically get a strange and wonderful black tea in my stocking.

Last year my brother gifted me with the maple tea, and another herbal tisane. This year, I got a lovely tea called Trader Joe's Vanilla & Cinnamon Black Tea.


As you probably assume, he got it from Trader Joe's, and I must say I have never seen the like before. The box has a Lemur drinking a cup of tea wrapped in Christmas lights. While lemurs are not at all a Christmas icon, the Christmas lights are, telling us that this is a limited holiday item. So if you would like a box of Trader Joe's Vanilla & Cinnamon Black Tea, you should head out now to the USA and pick some up before they are gone. And you really should, as you would probably like a box of this tea.

The ingredients are black tea, natural vanilla, natural flavours and cinnamon. At first I was worried that it would taste like a cinnamon death valentines heart candy (okay as a candy, but not as a tea of course.) But when I opened the box, the vanilla was the main star and a the smell of cinnamon was light and subtle. I could also tell, upon opening the box, that this would be a wonderful dessert tea.

My first cup of this tea was gone pretty quickly, on the account of how good it was. Again, it was the vanilla that was the star, making it smooth and creamy. The cinnamon, from what I tasted and that wasn't very much, was enough to make it seem like I was partaking in a sinful feast. Like the little bit of cinnamon sprinkled upon a latte or mocha to give it the extra kick into heaven, the cinnamon is a sidekick and not the hero. The vanilla flavouring, well, that's the Superman of this tea's Metropolis. The tea rivals a Earl Grey Cream, which means nothing to you if you haven't had that tea. But if you have, you know how smooth and creamy that tea is too.

If you want something delectable, and something akin to a vanilla cake or dessert, this tea is just what you need. It it is perfect around this time of year, when everyone is baking and being well fed by cookie platters and cakes. While not full of icing and maraschino cherries, this tea would be a good switch from a typical dessert – and you wouldn't feel like you were missing out on a treat. Unless you were like me, using cream and sugar, then this tea would be a much healthier substitute too. Now while this is a good after dinner tea, you might not want to drink this tea really late at night. Black tea is the first ingredient, and where there is black tea there is caffeine!

I don't see why they couldn't offer this tea all year round, and it is a shame that it will be disappear from shelves pretty quickly if not already. I personally could drink this tea all year round, and maybe eat a little less dessert because of it. Or perhaps eat more, since this would be a great pairing to any dessert (oh I am terrible!)

And with that, I'll leave you with the cute inscription that graces the side of the box:

“You've never seen a lemur drinking a cup of tea? Trust us; it happens all the time. But only if that tea is Trader Joe's Vanilla & Cinnamon Black Tea. You see, the vanilla in this tea makes our island friends – the lemurs & their chameleon chums – thirsty. The blend of vanilla, cinnamon & black tea will satisfy your thirst and put you in a festive mood. The lemur says so.”

Tea available at: Trader Joe's but only for a limited time!

For all who are keeping watch for this tea, it is in stores now for the 2011 Holiday season!

Eggnogg'n it

I love this time of year, and all that it entails.
The lights are pretty, yes yes.
The tree is magical, of course of course.
The burning yule log on TV is a must watch, certainly certainly.
Food wise, well it is absolutely delicious. Come on ladies, what's the one time of the year where it is nearly impossible to say no to baking? Especially when your friend bakes you a Christmas cookie care package present. You aren't going to say no, you are going to bring them back home and eat them all in one sitting. Probably while watching the yule log and waiting for the big beefy lumberjack hand to put more wood on the fire.
The cookies, cakes, custards, and the Chinese oranges that are actually good for you unless you eat multiples in one sitting. How about the turkey dinners that are on the corporate dinner horizon? But the best beverage for the holidays? Eggnog.

Oh yeah.

I know some of you out there are making faces your mother would scold you for. Some might be making the face due to the fact that traditional eggnog is made with raw eggs. But did you know the commercial type eggnog you find at Safeway doesn't have raw eggs? So stop making that ridiculous face, and go drink some nog. Or better yet, go put some eggnog in your tea!

Goodness, don't look surprised! This isn't a new idea, Starbucks has had this idea for sometime, using it to make eggnog latte's. You also might remember seeing the additive of eggnog in my Holiday overload concoction.
For those of you that aren't surprised, you are my fellow noggian drinkers. Cheers! By the way, you have a nog mustache you really should wipe off.

So while it is not only is it a delicious cold and thick drink, it is also a great additive to tea. In terms of consistency, a light eggnog will lighten the tea like milk and a normal (and thick) eggnog will lighten the tea like a cream. So flavour accordingly to your tastes!

But, of course, I won't stop there. I found this little gem in the grocery store before December rolled around. I also picked it up then because I figured it wouldn't be in stock later (and I was right.)
Eggnog tea by Bigelows!



This is a relatively unknown brand to me, and I am always hesitant about teas with 'charming' box designs. They can't be all that good of a quality, right? Well, don't go judging a book by its cover. Or a tea by it's box design. I did some research on Bigelows, and I haven't seen it around because it is only America. Phooey. The company looks quaint, and I am interested in the fact that they strive to make a more zestfully flavored tea.
I do like the fact that they seal each tea packet, so it remains fresh.


Now I  guessed it would be either tasty, or terrible. It wasn't terrible. But I think it was because Iwas cheating-- I added eggnog to the eggnog tea. So I really couldn't tell if it was -and I am going to make up a word here- eggnoggy. It was darn good though.

I took a pack home, and had it a few days later without the extra eggnog.
There was certainly a difference.
While it smelled like potent eggnog, it tasted only mildly like eggnog. That is, it had the creamy taste, and only a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg (that's what is in eggnog you know).

So, here is my thoughts on the whole eggnog in tea matter. If you made a face at the thought of putting eggnog in your tea, then don't put eggnog in your tea. Just -buy- Bigelow's Eggnogg'n Tea.
If you like eggnog, then put lots of eggnog in your tea. If you love eggnog, buy the eggnog tea, and add eggnog to it like a alcoholic putting vodka in their morning cup of orange juice. Mmm.

Maple Tea

The temperature has dipped to a new local record for cold, at least on this particular day. So cold, in fact, the snow hasn't left us though it has been a few days since the last snow fall. The wind is biting, and the condensation is freezing inside on my windows. This is unusual weather for the west coast, but it is not so unusual for the french speaking province of which my relatives live. The weather is actually bring back warm memories of when I was a little girl and went on a cold winter trip to Montreal with my mother.

The snow there is not the same as west coast snow, wet, heavy and compacting. You can make good snowmen out here. Instead, it was wispy, dry, and flew from your hands like sand if you scooped some up. Not a good plan if the wind was blowing towards your unprotected face. I remember walking through a blizzard to get to the grocery store across my Grandmother's apartment, and I certainly and distinctly remember the visit to the Maple Syrup Farm.

We went on a cold windy day, much like the weather we are having here. We rode in a carriage pulled by a horse through a grove of maple trees. We puffed into our hands, while we toured the replicas of historic maple tree farming. And at the end, we ate bowl after bowl of pea soup in a large common room on large tables and benches. We ate next to strangers, and people I couldn't understand.

Good memories both chilly and warm. And though I wish I could re-visit that Montreal maple tree farm, I will cozy up with my memories instead. And the best way to remember that maple tree farm, is to drink a very special black tea called Maple Tea. I drank this many times during the Vancouver Olympics to show and enjoy my Canadian heritage.

The tea has a nice black tea base and is flavoured with, surprise surprise, maple syrup. The actual maple syrup flavouring, to be honest, is a little disappointing. It is not nearly strong enough, though the potential is there. While I find it a little too weak, I am certainly glad it isn't too strong. Too sugary and it wouldn't be a treat at all. So, while the tea has potential, it isn't grand. In fact, I would recommend simply adding some maple syrup instead of sugar to your plain black tea instead of purchasing a Maple Tea.
And that's REAL maple syrup, not the sugar table syrup stuff.

Seriously though, try a little maple syrup in your tea next time. It makes a normal tea into a special one. And it makes you feel really Canadian.