Bampi’s Tea and Books

As I’ve moved to a new city that is ‘fuelled on caffeine’, I had to try and fit in and try the Canadian famous Tim Horton’s coffee. I’ve never been a big coffee drinker until now. I have to say, with the amount of coffee I have drank instant Nescafe just doesn’t do it for me anymore! I went and got a coffee maker and have so far had my own home brewed Timmy’s, Starbucks Breakfast Blend, Hazelnut Coffee and French Vanilla. I was spending so much money on buying coffee when I was out and about I brought myself a coffee thermos at the same time, well, everyone seems to have out here!

The caffeine hit was a bit too much to handle at first. I couldn’t sit still; I could feel my heart palpitating and wanted more and more coffee. It’s only been about a month of daily drinking and the caffeine hit is starting to wear off a little, but none the less it still keeps me awake on the way to work in the morning!

So far I have to say my favourite blend is a French Vanilla ground by myself in the local store. I know there maybe better beans out there, but I’m still exploring blends and beans.

In most of the supermarkets you can choose and grind your own beans and they weigh your coffee at the checkout and charge you by weight. This coffee lasts about 2 weeks once ground but it doesn’t last that long in my house!

As the run up to Christmas is upon us it is only right that I join the ‘red cup brigade’ and get some Christmas Blend from Starbucks for my new coffee machine.

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I've just finished reading the latest book in the Thursday Next series by Jasper Fforde. In my opinion it is not his best book, but none the less it is good. It kind of dragged on, some aspects of the story weren't resolved by the end, I hope Shades of Grey has these answers!
 
Anyway, I visited Chinatown the other day in the search for blooming tea. I thought if I'm going to find it anywhere, here would be the place. I first came across Beijing Trading Company on Pender Street. They had jars of tea in their window, but when I went inside I saw that there was a lot of dried herbs and other things on the wall. They did have a small amount of tea, but they were all in tea bag form and packaged in boxes. The store person was brilliant when I asked her if they stocked it. She told me that they didn't but she did sell me some Green Tea called Noble Gunpowder. It was only $1.50 for a box, so I thought 'What the Hey'.
 
I was told that I would be able to get blooming tea in Chinatown, so I carried on my search. I came across Ten Ren's tea shop on Main Street and went in to ask. As soon as I walked in a shop assistant handed me and my fiance a sample of a green tea with.....I can't remember, I took one look at the price tag of $79.00 for a box and tried to make my excuses for not buying some! Everything in the store was quite pricey, but looked like it was good quality. I did however ask if they stocked blooming tea and THEY DID! My search was over! Two choices of colour, yellow or red flower. I chose red and brought a jar as they didn't come as singles. This tea was called Li Chi Jasmine Tea a green tea with a slight hint of Jasmine. I couldn't wait to get home and try it out. I did take a video of the steep and as soon as I have edited it I will post it.
 
That was not the only experience with tea of the day. I don't know if it does count to others, but I grabbed a Lychee Green Bubble Tea on the way home! For those who don't know what bubble tea is it is a cold tea drink mixed with tapioca pearls (bubble). Mmmmmmm......I heart bubble tea!

     

Click here to download:

Blooming_Thursday.zip (3279 KB)

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After looking around the internet for any ideas on what tea to try I stumbled across Blooming Tea. I am amazed at how they are put together and how pretty they are when they unfold. I have no idea what they will taste like, but I'm sure once I find some to try I will find out.

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Back in October I wrote about the need for a new book to read and after everyone's suggestions I had a friend suggest the Thursday Next series by Jasper Ffforde to me. I was told it was this surreal story set in the 80's where people can time travel and shift in and out of books. 

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After looking into different teas on the internet and where I can go to buy and try in Vancouver I found Granville Island Tea Company, so we decided to take a trip there to check out what tea they had in. They are based in the Granville Island Market and have such a wide selection of tea. The menu was so vast to a novice like me that I didn't know where to start. Lucky a very nice member of staff, whose name I didn't get sorry, put together a three tea sampler for me. This had their Granville Island Blend, a Provence Rooibos and Andy pointed out to me the Japanese Cherry Green Tea which was added to the sampler pack.
 
As soon as we got home I poured some fresh filtered water in to the kettle. I heard that filtered water was better to use for a better tasting tea. I put one tea spoon of tea which smelt exactly like fresh cherries, kind of like the smell of the taste if that makes any sense! I was advised to let it steep for only 2 minutes and not to use boiling water as it spoils the tea. So I waited for the kettle to cool, poured the water, waited again. This time when I took the leaves out instead of waiting longer for it to cool, those of you who know me know that I can have a tendency not to be very patient, I poured some cool filtered water into the cup. Ahhh, that was cleaver of me I could drink the tea straight away! Yay! This tea is by far the nicest and most refreshing I have tried yet. I was told that you can steep more than once and the second steep was better than the first. The lady at Granville Island was not wrong. I poured Andy a cup and it tasted good and had a less bitter taste to it.
 
The leaves are different for this blend than the Earl Grey, when they are wet they do look like leaves, well broken up leaves. I always took for granted the crushed up tea in a tea bag I had been so used to. However I had noticed that the slits in my cup Andy had brought me for my birthday was very good, but, they were letting bits of leaves into the tea and were I think that is what was making the tea slightly bitter, but still good.
 
My hunt for a teapot was on!

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For my birthday Andy brought me a tea infuser cup, you can see it in the picture below. For those who don't know what one is there is a glass mug with a glass container where you put the loose tea and a lid. Once the tea is in the infuser, pour water over and there are little slits in the glass on the bottom let the water and steeped tea through to the mug. After the tea has steeped for the required time you lift the infuser out of the cup and enjoy your tea. It's a lot more simple than what I have made it out to be!
 
So with my new cup and loose leaf Earl Grey tea Andy brought to go along with cup I poured water in to my kettle and waited for it to boil. I opened the tin of tea and the smell of Earl Grey hit me. This tea reminds me of Sunday afternoons, a time for recovery after a busy weekend, it's also a good hangover helper! Twinnings Earl Grey smells lovely when you open the box, but the smell from this tin felt like it was a cool sumer afternoon. The tea looks not like the tea you would get in tea bags. It's dried leaves about 1 centimeter long. I followed the instructions and put 1 teaspoon in the cup and poured water on. I then left it to steep for 4 minutes, took out the infuser then waited for it too cool to drink. Some of you may be thinking 'Why didn't you put milk in it?', I had heard that Earl Grey is better enjoyed without milk and as it was loose leaf tea I never thought of adding milk as I didn't think it was done! I soon changed my mind on that one!
 
So I drank the tea without milk and it was quite refreshing if not a bit strong.
 
Perhaps next time I'll add milk!

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I have always drank tea, well, from a very early age anyway. I remember my first cup; I was at my Grandma's house and she made me a cup of PG tips with a ton of milk and 4 sugars. I fell in love with the taste and from then on I have always drank PG tips with milk slowly reducing my sugar intake to nil. My only experience with a different kinds of teas was every time I went to the supermarket to the tea isle and would be enticed by the thought of the brightly packaged fruit tea boxes actually tasting nice. Sometimes they did, Peppermint tea and, Camomile and Honey tea were my favorites, but I always made the mistake of leaving the tea bags in for too long and often would have to add sugar. I love Earl Grey tea, Twinnings being the best in my opinion but I found I cannot drink it all the time, just every couple of days.
About 6 weeks ago now me and my fiancé Andy moved from Coventry, England to Vancouver, Canada. I soon discovered that Vancouver survives on coffee, Tim Hortons is by far my favorite, how ever I struggled to find a good cup of tea that us Brits quite often look for. As I had discovered Tim Hortons, I didn't mind the switch from tea to coffee. I kept my eye out for tea when ever we would go into a supermarket, Tetley's was easy to find, PG tips was a bit harder, but both were expensive! PG tips have not yet released the pyramid bags in Canada, so they are still in the rectangular bags, but that didn't matter. I could now make a good cup of tea.
 
For my birthday this year Andy brought me a tea infuser mug with a tin of Rishi Earl Grey Loose Leaf Tea. The smell of the tea as soon as I opened the tin hit me. The citrus aroma of the orange bergamot was heaven. I followed the instructions on the side of the tin and steeped my first cup of 'proper tea'. I always thought that any 'proper tea' should be drank without milk, I don't know where that idea came from! So I drank my first cup without milk or sugar. It tasted good don't get me wrong, but I didn't know if I could see me drinking it all the time. I did know however, that loose leaf teas and me seem to go together and I wanted to try more. I looked on the internet for anywhere that I could get to to try teas and to speak to someone about tea. I didn't have a clue where to start when trying new teas, so I wanted help. After a bit of searching I stumbled across the Granville Island Tea Company and thought it might be worth a visit.
 
Since moving here I had been drinking a lot of green tea drinks such as Arizona Green Tea (only 99c a can, perfect thirst quencher) and Tao Ti. So thought it was only natural that I would probably enjoy loose leaf green tea. After looking at the menu at Granville Island Tea Company I was slightly confused and needed help. They lady who served me was realy nice (sorry I didn't get her name). She put together a three sample pack of teas for me. Andy did see the Japanese Cherry Green Tea and she added that to the pack along with the Granville Island Blend and Provence Rooibos. I will write a separate post for my opinion of these teas.
 
A few days later we visited North Vancouver and found a shop called Blue Teapot where I brought a teapot for $3.99 and some Japanese Treasures Green Tea after smelling several different teas, that was the one that stood out to me. I seem to like strong smelling, sweet perfumed and fruity green teas, but I could be wrong!
 
If you have any suggestions of teas to try, different ways of brewing or places to buy and drink tea please let me know! I will try anything!

   

Click here to download:

My_First_Fresh_Brew.zip (58 KB)

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