Banff Tea Co
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Another tea from the Banff Tea Co. that my coworker brought in to share with the staff!
We had this one hot, but we oversteeped it by a few minutes so we added some milk and agave to compensate for the bitterness that was drawn out from the extended steep time. I definitely didn’t like this one as much as the White Vanilla Coconut but it wasn’t bad either. Mostly I thought it just had a relatively generic chocolate and nutty profile. To really make me think of a turtle chocolate I would have wanted more creaminess and caramel notes.
Thanks for the share, regardless, Leah!
So one of my DAVIDsTEA coworkers recently got back from a road trip to Banff with a few friends, and of course she stopped and bought tea there because that’s just what tea people do. Very kindly, she brought in some of the teas for anyone working to try if they wanted to and I’m not gonna turn down free tea – especially free tea I’ve never tried before.
On her recommendation, I tried this one iced. It kind of blew my mind because it tasted almost exactly like a beloved, retired tea that DAVIDsTEA used to carry of which I was very fond. Which tea? Coconut Grove of course! Seriously – the delicious, sweet and smooth coconut notes were exactly like those in the DT blend, and the vanilla made it so smooth and silky. Plus the white base? YES! The only real difference was that this particular blend has some floral undertones to it. Specifically, it’s got lavender notes. I think there MIGHT be lavender actually in the blend but I’m not 100% on that because I never looked at an ingredients list.
Very, very good though! Thanks a bunch Leah!!!
See my full review on Sororitea Sisters:
http://sororiteasisters.com/2017/02/08/perfect-for-valentines-eve-an-evening-with-eros-from-banff-tea-co/
Flavors: Caramel, Chocolate, Nutty, Raisins
Rich cassis and berry goodness layered over a black tea base. No false notes detected.
Flavors: Berries, Black Currant
Preparation
After breaking this tea up I had some broken leaf and dust to brew up so I went online to see what others thought… nothing.
Well, just went with it. 100ml to 7g of leaf and 90c
First of all, the cake is really loose which I like : )
https://www.instagram.com/p/BKmOMgEAMcw/
What appeals to me is the lack of aroma and clean brew. The taste, smell, and feel is just… clean dry storage. Much different than your Taiwan stored pu’erh for sure. This is one that I put in the fridge after to brew the next day; pretty ugly looking dust in a bag :p
Very steady taste. Minor progression of taste. Reliable resteep. Low maintenance.
Yep, very delicious. Nothing new to add besides that it travels well. And that the fact that it contains rooibos comes as a surprise.
Today, I find myself wondering what a normal person spends on tea in a month. Nevermind.
You know half the answer to that question for me lol. “Oh, once I have my staple white, oolong, and black, I’ll be set-Oooh! Shang Tea has a scented white tea that ISNT JASMINE-GOING INTO CART NOW!”
Will this blasted humidity ever end?
I went out for a brief slow walk after brunch today and feel like I’ve been wrapped up in saran wrap after having taken a steam bath. I lie here sticky and prone in front of my fan and hope for rain. Soon.
The tea is a bright spark though. Berry goodness.
The ingredients are the following: Black tea, rooibos, orange peel, dried apple, strawberry and papaya pieces, coriander seeds, flower petals, blackberry leaves and natural flavours.
Good lord, this is good. All the dark luscious berry fruits in perfect harmony underscored by all the other ingredients. All the other flavours disappear into the deep natural berry taste and loveliness. Did I mention really lovely? I am drinking it hot and lukewarm and plain, with no additives. However, I imagine that sweetened and iced, it would be a real winner as well.
Flavors: Berries, Black Currant, Blackberry, Blueberry, Raspberry, Strawberry
Preparation
It’s starting to feel like we will have this horrid weather forever. It’s the humidity like this that makes me not complain about our winters. I will take the cold any day.
Where are you, Sil? And lucky you! Today seems to have lightened up a bit. Hope that it continues so.
We spent a week in Vermont and now we’re in New Hampshire in the white mountains. Tons of hiking and being in the forest.
I’m with you about the never ending heat and humidity. I’m dreading our hydro bill as the air conditioning has been running all summer long.
beelicious also sent this one my way. it’s actually a pretty good caramel cream..my only complaint is that the brew is a a little on the thin side. the rooibos isn’t that woody type – instead it blends nicely with the caramel and makes for a pleasant cup.
Final Count: 154
I was in Calgary almost a year ago doing a visa run and between the visa appointment and waiting for the processing and return of my passport I did what most people do when they find themselves in Calgary with spare time…. I jumped in the car and headed straight for the Rockies!!
Walking around Banff I discovered the cutest little tea shop with walls and walls of large glass jars containing some of the most insanely delicious smelling (and sounding) blends I had ever come across. After picking out a ridiculous number of teas to purchase, I realized I couldn’t take home everything and decided to throw a sample pack of their exclusive blends (5 small taster packs of some of their signature blended teas) in with my already ginormous purchase…
So fast forward to today and I’ve rediscovered this ‘lucky dip’ pack at the back of my cupboard and have decided today is the day I’m going to finally work my way through it!!
First on the list, Cougar Tea which is an orange, licorice, rooibos blend. So honestly, I’m not really a personal fan of orange teas and this one has a slightly weird aftertaste to it that reminds me of artificial sweetener and although the ingredients don’t list sweetener they do include ‘natural flavoring’ which could easily be stevia. The orange and licorice are well balanced and neither overpowers the other however that aftertaste kinda ruins it for me. Booo… 1 tea down, 4 to go….
A colorful blend with blue petals and bits of leaves (which I thought were mint but apparently are blackberry leaves) mixed in with black tea. The dry blend has a distinct blackcurrant aroma. I initially tried this as a cold brew yesterday. The brew turned reddish-pink, so I may have gotten a few pieces of hibiscus in there, but it wasn’t too tart. The predominant flavor from the cold brew was blackcurrant, and it was crisp and fruity, but not heavy on the tea. I tried it again as a hot brew today, with more tea leaves and fewer flowers in the mix. The liquid turned out a dark, green-tinged amber this time. The blackcurrant was still strong, but there was a sense of a smooth, malty tea base as well. Overall, this is fairly light as far as black teas goes, and reminds me of a lighter version of Lupicia’s Cassis Blueberry. The fresh, fruity aspect makes it seem like a good tea for summer—it does sound like a combination of things a black bear would love to dig into in the woods! Thanks beelicious for the sample!
Just want to reiterate how much I love this tea. I’m going through it at an alarming rate.
Guess I’ll have to make a trip to Banff sometime in the near future to restock. How terrible… ;)
Preparation
Maybe I’ll actually buy something next time I’m there rather than continuously passing it up. The glass jars always turned me off.
A friend very generously brought me a bag of this from the little tea store in Canmore, where he lives. It’s absolutely delightful. I’ve never tasted a blend that contains both black tea and rooibos before, but it works amazingly well. The subtle fruitiness adds just the right amount of sweetness to get me completely hooked on this tea. The base tea is high quality, and the fruit flavour is natural and in no way overwhelming. It’s the perfect balance between the comforting and subtle black teas I’ve been so in love with all winter and the juicy, fruity blends I tend to fall for every summer. This was a new and wonderful experience that I would recommend 100%.
Flavors: Fruit Punch, Fruity, Orange, Smooth, Sweet
Preparation
Thank you beelicious for another sample from Banff Tea Co which I would otherwise never have heard of! This one consists of tightly wound pearls of dark green oolong, and pieces of coconut. The coconut has been tinted green from storage with the oolong, which scared me a little at first. But upon checking the description, there were no other ingredients or additives, so it’s just… chlorophyll? Probably wouldn’t hurt.
The aroma of this one, both before and after brewing, is fresh, sweet coconut. It reminds me more of coconut milk or coconut water, instead of preserved pieces! The tea brews up to be very light in color. Upon tasting, the coconut note floats to the top, almost light and airy. The oolong base is excellent; I haven’t had much experience with milk oolongs but this must be one. It’s naturally creamy in a way that complements the coconut perfectly. A little leafy, and definitely fragrant, but not at all floral unlike other green oolongs. Very happy to have tried this one!
HAH, the name of this company always makes me think of BAMF. Not sure that’s what they were going for. :P
Probably not; Banff is a Canadian town located within Banff National Park in Alberta ;) It’s sorta like a tourist town?
If my Tea Company was Bamf Tea all my blends would have names like “Chris Hemsworth”, “Benedict Cumberbatch”, “William Fitchner”…
Looks like such a beautiful place! I have one more Banff Tea Co sample that is forest/wildlife-inspired, I’ll have to try that one soon :)
Not really my thing :P My teas would be more Chris Pratt, Russel Brand, Maggie Grace, Olivia Wilde, Andrew Garfield, Kerry James, Rami Malik, Bob Morley, Dominic Monaghan, Lee Pace, Elden Hensen… Basically just listed off the bulk of my celeb crushes for you.
Today being (supposedly) the last day of a warm spell we’ve been having, I couldn’t resist cold brewing this. I know it’s the last sachet I have, but I just had to try it!
As an iced tea, this one is delectably smooth, with a creamy strawberry undertone. The geen tea itself has a fresh, almost grassy quality to it, in the good sense of the word. There’s a very sunny-afternoon feel to it, I should have brought it to a picnic!
(Increased rating)
I thought I’d try one more tea before heading out today, so I picked a lighter, fruity green one. (I’ve finished my degree, but still have some labwork to wrap up before the holidays—and if I’m going to work through a Saturday I’ll bring more tea!)
The sachet is plump with green tea and smells like fresh strawberries. The instructions said to use boiling water, and in spite of that, the green tea didn’t turn bitter. It’s nicely smooth, the tea is not masked by the fruit flavors, and the strawberry is creamy and sweet. There’s a touch of other fruit in the background as well (the ingredients say papaya). I think this would make a fantastic, fruity, but still tea-like iced tea in warmer weather. Thanks beelicious!
I think I bought this just because it smelled sooo good in the store. It smells just like it sounds – lots of lychee and jasmine. I decided to use this to test out the iced tea infusion pitcher my mom bought me. I brewed the tea hot, added a couple tablespoons of honey, and then put the pitcher in the fridge to cool. This made a really delicious iced tea! The sweetness from the honey really complements the lychee flavour, and it balances well with the jasmine. I suspect it’s also relatively high in caffeine, because it definitely perks me up!
Flavors: Jasmine, Lychee
Preparation
Looking at the dry tea, I was surprised that the black tea was in the form of little nuggets, rather than rolled leaves like I’m used to. Upon further reading, I think this is probably due to CTC processing (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crush,Tear,Curl).
The scent of the dry tea is VERY spicy and rich. I think the most prominent note is cloves? Once brewed, the scent mellows out quite a bit. I don’t appreciate any chocolatey scents either dry or brewed, it’s all just spicy to me. Also, for a chai tea, the spice blend really says “Christmas!” to me, not “India!”.
The taste is enjoyable – I had this cup without any sweetener or milk and it was entirely drinkable that way. The black tea base is smooth with just a bit of astringency. I could swear there’s some sort of orange flavour in this tea, blending with cinnamon and cloves. I don’t really appreciate any of the chocolate or the chili, unfortunately.
I like this tea, but to me it tastes more like a “Christmas Blend” than a “Chocolate Chilli Chai”. Your mileage may vary. :)
Flavors: Cinnamon, Citrus, Cloves