So, every year my city has this giant cultural festival/celebration called ‘Mosaic’.

I didn’t go last year, and the two years prior to that I was living in Saskatoon so this was the first time I had been in a while. I used to go every year growing up, though. There were four of us in total for the group I was going with, so we decided to each pick a ‘pavilion’ to attend and that’s how we’d decided which places to go to. Basically, each pavilion represents a different culture/country – usually they have performances, art, food, and music and sometimes other things specific to the country.

We decided on Korean, Greek, Caribbean, and Indian – my pick was Indian.

The Indian pavilion was great; they had Bollywood style dance performances all weekend and you could buy jewelry or get henna done. My favourite thing about that pavilion though is the food! I stuffed my fat, greedy face with veggie samosas, chutney, lentil dishes, and mango lassi and ice cream. Of course, it felt incredibly wrong to go to that pavilion and not grab a cup of Chai – so I did that too.

When Western people say ‘Chai’ they generally use it in the sense of ‘spiced tea’ but many Indian people I know use Chai as just a catch all term for tea in general, usually with milk. If you wanted spiced tea you have to specify that by asking for something like Kashmiri or Marsala Chai. The tea they served was Chai in the sense that it was a straight black tea made in milk. It was good though; I have no clue what kind of tea they used both in the sense of which brand and which type of tea. My guess, though, would be that is was an Assam as it had that malty sweetness that I generally associate with Assam. Plus an Indian black tea would only seem to make sense…

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Hello! My name is Kelly, though many people in the tea community call me Ros or Roswell.

I am a mid-twenties tea addict, blogger, and all around nerd. I grew up in the Prairies, but a few years ago I relocated to Quebec to pursue a career with DAVIDsTEA in the tea industry! I’m still working on getting my French language skills down…

My first introduction to tea, in any form outside of instant and bottled iced tea, was about seven years ago when I happened to stumble upon DAVIDsTEA while looking for a birthday present for a friend! I tried their Birthday Cake rooibos blend, and I’ve been hooked on tea ever since! In those seven years; I was introduced to the online tea community, expanded my interest in flavoured teas to include a deep love and appreciation for straight teas and traditional brewing methods, got a tea themed tattoo, started reviewing teas, amassed a sizable tea and teaware collection, became a TAC certified Tea Sommelier, & even came full circle by beginning a career in the tea industry with DAVIDsTEA!

I consider myself a Jack of all Teas, and strive to have a knowledge and appreciation of all tea types, formats, and styles of drinking. I don’t like to feel boxed in to just being a “flavoured tea” or “straight tea” drinker – my expectations may vary depending on the type of tea or how it’s been processed/prepared but if it’s good tea, it’s good tea no matter how it’s been made!

You name it, I probably drink it- and I’ll absolutely try anything at least once.

My default method of preparation is hot, Western style, and straight – but I’m not opposed to additions if I’m in the right mood. If I ever add something to a tea or use a different method of preparation I will ALWAYS call it out in the tasting note though.

I like to listen to music when drinking tea, especially when I’m brewing a large pot at a time or steeping Gongfu. Often I curate very intentional tea and music pairings, and sometimes I share them here in my tasting reviews. Music is something that I find can deeply affect the experience of having tea.

I’m also one half of the “tea and fandom” podcast GeekSteep where, weekly, we discuss newly explored fandoms over tea as well as try to figure out the perfect tea to pair with each fandom. You can find us on Spotify and Apple & Google podcasts.

Favourite flavour notes/ingredients: Pear, lychee, cranberry, cream, melon, pineapple, malt, roasty, petrichor, sweet potato, heady florals like rose, hazelnut or walnut, sesame, honey (in moderation), and very woody shou.

Least favourite flavour notes/ingredients:
Lemongrass, ginger, strongly spiced profiles (and most Chai in general), mushrooms, seaweed, chamomile, stevia, saltiness or anything that reminds me too much of meat that isn’t supposed to taste like meat…

Currently exploring/obsessed with: Sheng from Yiwu, Yancha (Qilan in particular), anything with a strong sweet potato note. Also, I need to try ALL the root beer teas! Searching for a really good caramel flavoured blend, ideally with a black tea base.

Please contact me at the instagram account listed below if you would like me to review your teas.

Currently I’m employed in the tea department of the DAVIDsTEA head office. While I’m still sharing my own personal thoughts on new & existing DAVIDsTEA blends, I am no longer numerically rating them due to the obvious conflict of interest. Any comments expressed are a reflection of my own thoughts and opinions, and do not reflect the thoughts and opinions of the company. Any DAVIDsTEA blends you currently see with a numeric score were reviewed prior to my being hired there and have not been adjusted since becoming a DAVIDsTEA employee.

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Montreal, QC, CA

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https://www.instagram.com/ros...

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