Surprise packages are the best!
And those containing a tin of tea—a blend created by friends—even better!!
My dear friend Susan and her son David recently visited TeaPort, “Home of the Original Nanaimo Bar Tea Blend,” and sent me the results of their personal experiment in tea blending.
Gather the troops and break out the teapot—
My family promptly agreed to taste test this intriguing—and very pretty—blend of black tea from Sri Lanka, calendula, jasmine and sunflower petals, coconut flakes, real maple syrup, butterscotch pieces, and natural flavors.
and first consider the leaves and make some speculations
We wondered how on earth Susan and David came up with this combination! When we read the ingredient list, we didn’t think any of us would really care for this tea. I thought the blend smelled too much of butterscotch (not a favorite flavor of mine) while others picked up fruity and caramel. The choice of both butterscotch and maple syrup was a bit baffling.
And all of us believed that the tea would be very sweet!
On to brewing—
We measured out 5 teaspoons of the tea into a one-quart teapot, added boiling water, and brewed for 2 minutes (no specific directions were provided by TeaPort so we used standard brewing for black aroma teas).
and then tasting—and describing—the brew
First off, we nailed the amount of tea and brew time!
However, predictions of flavor don’t make something true. We all agreed that we could taste a sweetness but the tea was not sweet! Rather, it was smooth.
And with five of us, we came up with different descriptions of the same tea:
- No one flavor dominates; more astringent, like a second flush, than full bodied. A bit of floral with creaminess behind the floral.
- Smooth, creamy, balanced.
- Fruity, toasty, and creamy.
- Caramel and smoky.
- Caramel with very smooth aftertaste.
Well, we learned several things:
- our predictions were very unreliable
- each of us picked up different flavor nuances
- this is FUN!!!
- and we love the tea!
THANK YOU, SUSAN AND DAVID!
