Tea art and Lovejoy's Tea Room in San Francisco

Hi tea lovers!


This weekend my boyfriend and I went to Lovejoy's Tea Room in San Francisco for a rare treat. I discovered the tea room online by accident a few weeks ago  and wanted to go, but noticed there were no open reservations for 3 weeks. We put our names in and the day finally arrived, we drove up to the city from the peninsula and got really lucky with the parking and walked right into a tea wonderland. Every space in the building was decorated with tea related items. I must have seen 300 teacups in that room. The decor was amazing, but the best was yet to come!!

I ordered vanilla lavender black tea and oh my goodness it was amazing. In fact, I can't stop thinking about it. As well as the tea I had the "savory tea" which includes two finger sandwiches and a scone with cream and jam, the good ole English way. My boyfriend was not impressed when I put cream on both sides. Apparently, in England you only put cream on one side, then jam on the other and you put the two halves together like a sandwich.

The sandwiches I ordered were probably the best sandwiches I've ever had in my life. I'm not exaggerating, either. I had coronation chicken- which is also a common British sandwich made of chicken in mild curry mayo. If you're American and reading this you probably just thought "gross." That's what I thought too, until I tried it when I was living in Wales and I became slightly obsessed. The combination of that, lettuce and soft bread is absolutely delicious!

I also had a salmon, cream cheese and caper finger sandwich and those were really excellent as well. My boyfriend had horseradish and roast beef and turkey with English mustard. I didn't try the turkey, but the roast beef and horseradish was pretty good.

After we came home from the tea room I felt really inspired so I decided to paint a tea pot. It turned out so well that I think I'm going to put it on my etsy store. After I painted this I decided that I wanted to do more tea related art in the future. What is something you'd like to be painted? Let me know what you think of my painting!! PS if you like the painting below, you can buy it Here!!

Tea Review: Canton Tea's Green Dragon + Discount

Hello tea friends!

If you haven't already noticed, during the month of May I've been absent. My graduate degree is almost coming to an end and I had 3 papers to write, totaling at 12,000 words. You can bet that I devoted all my time to my studies. Although my blog had to suffer, it's for a good cause. In the next couple months I'll be writing my dissertation, but since I'll be managing my time well, my blog will still be updated like it used to be. How about we review this amazing green tea blend from Canton Tea now.

I was really excited when I opened the bag, because so many amazing scents overwhelmed my senses. What really stood out to me was the citrus and I love citrusy tea. Now, this tea is sencha from Hunan, China and once I opened it I was really excited to see the giant pieces of lemongrass and lemon peels. Lemon + Green tea = love.

As you can see, all the individual ingredients in the blend are really big, generous helpings. You can clearly see the tea leaves, the lemongrass, licorice root, lemon peel and little bits of ginger. I was hesitant because I despise ginger, but I honestly was willing to give it a try. If it was just ginger and green tea I would have had serious reservations about it.

As you can see, in the photos above you can see the tea steeping and then the tea steeped and ready to drink. It's important not to use just boiled water, because with green tea it's really delicate and if you use water that's too hot, it will compromise the taste. I usually boil my kettle and let the water sit for a few minutes so it can cool. It only needs 2-3 minutes of steeping time. This was a 2 minute steep.

Like I said, I was nervous about the ginger in the tea, but it was extremely complementary to the other ingredients in the tea. It worked in harmony with the licorice root, (another thing I don't care for, but it worked well) lemongrass, lemon peel and lemon oil. Basically, a lemony goodness drink that is perfect for summer. It's a very light tea, which I appreciate because I love a light green tea, typically. I do like Matcha, but I struggled with the Matcha challenge because it's quite strong. This Sencha is very light and the citrus ingredients make the taste really lovely. It's also noteworthy that this tea is not astringent at all. It kind of reminds me of an oolong, which is great because oolong is my favorite. I rate this tea 5/5 stars because there's not a thing I would change. It's just so refreshing and well-made. 

If you remember, I do have a partnership with Canton Tea. If you use the 10% off discount: Leah2016 at checkout, I get 10% commission of your order and you get 10% off your order, which is win win. It's not much, but it helps. I'm happy I partnered with them because their tea has an ethnical certification and they get their tea straight from the source, making it socially and environmentally friendly. 

Thanks for reading. 

Leah

DeDe Instant Thai Tea: A Review

I first discovered Thai tea when I lived in San Francisco. I saw someone else order a Thai iced tea and was interested because of its vibrant orange color. This began my love for Thai tea as well as Thai food. I swear I could eat Thai food every single day!

First off, I'm not sure how new these are, but in college I looked to buy this kind of instant powder everywhere. When I was 19 (so 5 years ago), I bought Thai tea and condensed milk to make my own Thai tea. It never tasted quite right. Making proper Thai tea is a long process, nothing convenient like a tea bag or tea infuser. So finding these instant Thai Tea powder sachets got me really excited. Because I've never tried them, I also got Green Tea and Thai Coffee, but I'll save those to for another review.

If you're interested in buying this tea, if you click the graphic I designed above, it will lead you to the Amazon link where you can get it in the US. If you're outside the US, just Google it and you'll find it no problem. Alright, let's start with the little packet and what it looks like.

So, as you can see we are looking at the packet on the far right. When they say 3 in 1 it doesn't mean there are 3 servings in one packet, it means there are 3 packets, but you're only paying for 1. When it comes to Thai tea, I have really high expectations. Let's see what we're working with here..

Just warning you now, it will look like you took a handful of carrots and threw them in a blender or food processor with some water. This tea is bright orange. However, luckily for the consumers, it doesn't take away from the taste. I really did like the tea, however I wouldn't say it was authentic. It tasted like Thai Tea, but just very weak. Usually you'll order Thai tea in a restaurant and it will be very sweet, but the tea is so strong that it balances it out. I feel like this is weak and if you add too much sugar, it'll taste a bit like cotton candy. With that said, if you like weaker tea and you want to try this, you'll like it. Oh, almost forget. This tea is also amazing cold. So it's perfect for the spring or summer months!

For the rating I'd say about 3.5 out of 5. It was good, but I was hoping it would be even more amazing. 

Today I was walking around the town I live in and I saw this little card shop with a nice little tea themed window display. I thought you all would like it. 

Until next time,

Leah

Udyan Tea: Gomtee China Classic Black Tea

Tg Tea- a review of green tea

Hello fellow tea lovers! I recently met Hua and Sophia of Tg on Twitter and they offered to send some of their new products from their startup business. I was excited, because a lot of tea that I'm typically sent is black tea and a green tea company is a nice change of pace. That's exactly  why Hua and Sophia created their business, one day they went to a grocery store because they were thirsty, but didn't see anything that was refreshing as well as low calorie in the way of soft drinks. In the hot tea aisle of the food store, they were not impressed with the selection of green tea, either. None of it comes from the source. So Sophia and Hua teamed up with a great idea; to make low calorie iced tea as well as hot tea to the streets of Great Britain. If you look at the photo below, the packaging is quite artsy. The packaging of the tea is influenced by London street art.

Since Tg (pronounced Tea-G) is a start up business, I told Sophia and Hua that in my post about their tea, I'd try and get the word out in addition to the tea review. They're simply two tea lovers that took their passion for tea and put it into a bottle. Quite literally! When they got their packaging art and bottle art printed, they took to the streets to take some photographs. Here's one of my favorites:

Okay, let's get to the review. So the Tg I will be reviewing first is the Green Tea with Jujube and Osmanthus. Now, I don't know about you, but I'd never heard of Osmanthus the flower until I was sent some of this tea. I looked it up and it's a flower that's native to Asia and has a ton of health benefits. Most notably is: it relieves stomach pain, promotes lung health, moisturizes your skin, helps keep you hydrated as well as removes toxins from your body. In China, many people will put a handful of these beautiful leaves into a pot of boiling water to infuse with their tea. Here's what they look like in the wild:

I've heard of Jujube before, but I couldn't really figure out where from. It's a red date that adds sweetness to the green tea and it has many antioxidants. You can see the tea leaves, Osmanthus and Jujube in the actual teabags:

There's a healthy amount of tea in the pyramid tea bag. I'd say about 4 grams of tea. It's really important not to pour just boiled water over green tea, you need to wait a few minutes for the water to cool down. I'd suggest 2-3 minutes, or it can ruin the taste of the tea. Then, pour the hot water over the teabag and steep for about 3 minutes. Look how beautiful this is-mid steep:

Fully steeped it's even better/ The colors of the Osmanthus, green tea leaves and Jujube make a pretty sight:

I tried this tea with and without sugar. It tastes refreshing, earthy and crisp, but if you add sugar it really brings the flavor of the Jujube out as well as the tea. If I'm in a refreshing hot tea kind of mood, something that just truly goes down smooth and simple, I won't add any sugar. However if I'm in a mood where I want something sweet, I'll add sugar and it tastes really good.

Let's move onto the Iced Tea! So they sent me three of them, one with Ginseng, one with Ginseng and Jujube and finally one with Ginseng and Mandarin. Of the three, the iced tea with Mandarin was my favorite. There's something so refreshing about iced tea with a citrus fruit added to it. They only have 30 calories a bottle, so it's sweet, but not overly sweet like how Lipton Iced Tea is. The benefit of green iced tea is that it not only hydrates you, but is proven to be better for you than black iced tea, because of all the antioxidants in green tea. Here's a photo of the tea I drank today on my dining room table:

If you like green tea, you'll love their hot tea and their iced tea. If you've never had green tea, I'd suggest giving Tg a try. It's good to support local businesses. Great job, Sophia and Hua, I'd give your tea 5/5, it's the best green tea I've ever had. Get yours here!

Ahmad Tea's Fruit Selection Review (Fruit Infused Black Tea)

Black tea will always have a special place in my heart. It was the first tea I ever had and I always drink it once a day. I was really excited last week when I got a package from Ahmad Tea with a selection of fruit infused black tea.

Anyone who frequents my tea reviews knows that I'm a sucker for packaging. I love when companies take time to really think about the consumer and how the box of tea and the packaging of the wrapper need to look in order to appeal to the consumer. The packaging does effect our buying habits even if we don't realize it. Anyways, I love the box the tea came in. Here it is. It's a beauty!

Maybe it's because I'm a fan of minimalism, but I love how it's very concise. Here's our brand name, here's what you'll get inside. Of course there's directions on the box and ingredients, etc on the back, but I love how the front of the box is so simple. Anyways, this is a tea review site, not a packaging review site-so let's get to the good part!

As you can see, there are four varieties of flavored tea. My favorites are Strawberry Sensation and Apple Refresh, mainly because those are my favorite fruits. Ollie loves the Peach and Passionfruit because he loves anything peach related. We have yet to try the Lemon and Lime Twist, but I imagine it's good; a lot of folks put lemon in their black tea. The first time I tried this tea I was seriously intrigued by the apple because I'd never had any kind of apple tea. It was so good and I thought the strawberry wouldn't be able to compare, but I was wrong. Here's a photo of my Strawberry Sensation (it's a little bit edited to try and fix the lighting in my house) and then we'll get down to the review.

Check out that beautiful amber coloring. I added 2 sugars the first time and it was too sweet, so I suggest try it without any and if you want it sweeter than add a sugar or two, depending on how sweet you like your tea. I've had this tea with or without milk, honestly it doesn't *need* it, but if you want to add milk it won't take from the flavor. I give this tea 5/5 because there's nothing I can find wrong with the tea. It's delightful and I find myself craving it throughout the day. I've been using this tea as an alternative to eating sweets. I'll have a craving for sweets and then supplement this tea instead, it's amazing. Another good thing about this tea? It's super affordable at just under £2. Go to Ahmad Tea's website to check it out! 

Here's a bonus picture of the inside of the box

Happy sipping!

Leah

Tetley Dunk & Crunch Oat (Crunch) Biscuits!

I was at Poundland today (it's like the dollar store in the US, but with pounds instead!) and Ollie came across Tetley biscuits. At first I only saw the ginger flavored ones and I really don't like ginger, so I didn't really pay attention. Then at the back we found some Oat Crunch flavored ones and so we purchased them. I'm not really in the market for getting myself hooked to biscuits because they're typically high in calories and aren't exactly healthy. I mean, there are some fibrous biscuits, but overall they're just carbs.  I do indulge once in a while, but when we sat down for our second cup of tea tonight we decided to try them. See below for the packaging and then I'll get to the good stuff!

I don't typically drink Tetley tea, but I do have to say their mascot is really cute. It's typically just the man on the outside, but if you look on the side of the box it's the Tetley guy and I'm assuming his friends. Don't quote me on this, I'm an American who didn't grow up with Tetley, although I've seen boxes of Tetley in my hometown.  I didn't think I would find this biscuit much different to the bog standard biscuits you find in this country, but I was wrong. The texture of the biscuit is hard, so if you want to eat it without dunking it, you're going to have a bad time. This biscuit was made for dunking...and that's just what I'll do!

Ollie and I are both drinking Twinings vanilla black tea and it made it the perfect beverage for dunking. This biscuit is no fool either, you can dunk it 4 times and it still won't crumble into your tea. In fact, there were no crumbs in my tea at the bottom. I was amazed! The taste of the biscuit was delightful, too. It was sweet and oaty and had a light honey finish. In the land of biscuits made for tea, I'd say it was perfect. 5/5

Dobashien Kuradashi Aged Japanese Aracha Green Tea by Tea Leaf Plus

Recently I crossed paths with Tea Leaf Plus on Twitter. They asked me if I'd ever had traditional Japanese tea. I hadn't, so delightfully I was given some to try. I've been on a green tea kick lately, so I was thrilled to see my package from California in the post. Now, they are based in California but their tea is imported from Japan.

To start off, let me show this video of me in my kitchen talking about the tea!


Okay, so it is very important you don't make green tea with boiling hot water right out of the kettle. If the water is too hot, the tea will be too bitter and I know this from a first hand experience. What I did was boil the water and then pour it into a glass pyrex jug and let it set for about 3 minutes until it cools down. So after letting the water cool, I poured it over the tea leaves in my infuser mug. The result was beautiful:

Right after pouring the water over the tea I could smell the aroma. So sweet and delicate. I know little to nothing about Japanese tea, but what I call those mini looking bamboo pieces in the tea looked so awesome floating around in the tea. It's like a tropical vacation in a mug. It's important to note you don't want the tea to steep for too long. 2-3 minutes is all you need. Here's a photo of the tea while it was steeping.

If you've noticed that I always put my tea near the window while it steeps it's because the lighting in my home isn't very natural looking. By putting it near the window I get the best results when taking a photo due to the natural light. I'll show you how the leaves looked after steeping and we will get down to business.

I had heard from people in the past that Japanese green tea, unlike Chinese tea, had a more grassy taste. Well, I would say that definitely rings true. It was very grassy tasting and I would say it was earthy. The reason for this is that it's a raw tea, so it has the leaf blade, the leaf and the stem and it is only steamed, rolled and dried, making it a less bitter tea. Note: if you don't like green tea, this is not for you, however if you do like green tea, you'll love this. I really did enjoy it and it helps that it's gorgeous in color and its leaves are so aromatic. If you're looking to try Japanese tea, I'd go to Tea Leaf Plus. Another thing I liked about it was that I felt it was easier on my stomach than, let's say, black tea. Sometimes black tea can irritate my stomach. Drinking this was simply put: lovely.


Leah

Matcha Kit Kat Review

Today I decided I would have a Japanese theme on my blog. First off, I'm reviewing a matcha green tea flavored Kit Kat and I also try a strawberry Kit Kit flown all the way in from Japan. Due to the Matcha craze, I thought my readers would be interested in whether or not it's worth it to indulge in a chocolate that is Matcha infused. Later on I'll be reviewing a Japanese tea that was sent to me from Tea Leaf Plus that is also all the way from Japan; traditional tea enjoyed for centuries!  I'll show you the lovely packaging of the Kit Kat to begin.

Despite the fact this little guy (it's a mini sized Kit Kat) is from Japan, there's still English on the wrapper. Nice touch, Kit Kat. Okay, enough of me enjoying the wrapper-it is a nice wrapper though, isn't it?

I took it out of the wrapper and I was really excited. I haven't had my cup of Matcha yet for the #Matcha14daychallenge so I was craving that heavenly matcha taste. Please ignore the slightest piece of nail polish that's on my thumb. It was a lovely pink color and now I need to repaint them. So I took a bite and...

Sorry to dissapoint you, but these Matcha Kit Kats were not the cat's meow. In fact, they didn't really taste of anything, they just had that normal crunchy texture. I guess if you're into texture and not into flavor with texture, they might be your thing. Or, if you're throwing a St. Patrick's Day party and you're looking for green items to spice up your party. However, if you're looking for candy that tastes like Matcha-well, don't go for these. I'd rate these a sad 1.5/5 stars. They get 1.5 stars because texturally they were sound and the packaging was nice, but the flavor just wasn't there.
For fun I also ordered some Strawberry Kit Kats from Japan. They kind of tasted of strawberry banana though, so unless you're into that sort of thing, I'd advise against it. This is coming from someone who loves strawberries, too!

Tune in later for my tea review!

Leah