A gourd life

As soon as the calendar flipped to September, I was all about the cute pumpkins and autumn decor!

 

My stack of vintage Johnson Brothers brown transferware teacups. My brown betty teapot is covered by a handmade owl tea cozy (a gift from a co-worker).

I'm really into the plaid and velvet pumpkins this year.

 

 

My small glass teapot filled with miniature white velvet pumpkins.

 

My pumpkin teapot (Kaldun & Bogle) paired beautifully with my new pumpkin mug (Chapters Indigo has the cutest seasonal mugs!).

 

I rescued this "Keep Calm and Drink Tea" two-cup teapot from my office.

 

Autumn gold: a vintage yellow tea set and teacup

 

My orange lusterwares

 

 

Other autumn staples: apple cider teas...

 

....and chais galore!

 (The autumn teas will get their own posts over the next few months.)

 

Have you started decorating for autumn?

Fall Teas: Apples, chais, cinnamon buns, and more!

I've been drinking up my fall teas!

Apple Teas: 

Geek+Tea's One Apple a Day Keeps the Dark Lord Away is an apple black chai (left); Dessert by Deb's Cranberry Crabapple Jam herbal tea (right).

DavidsTea's caffeine-free chais: 

Butterscotch rooibos chai (left) and Coco Mango Chai fruit infusion (right).

Cinnamon bun-inspired teas: 

Dessert by Deb's Caramel Apple Cinnamon Bun black tea (left); DavidsTea's Cinnamon Bun Chai (right).

 

 

Some unique dessert teas: 

 

Dessert by Deb's Hojicha (roasted green tea) Cinnamon Raisin Bread Pudding (left); DavidsTea's Sweet Potato Pie black tea (right).

 

 

In a few weeks, I'll be transitioning to the holiday teas!

Pumpkin teas in October

Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian friends!

Every tea company offers their own version of a pumpkin spice tea. Because I'm SUPER picky about my pumpkin teas, I scrutinize the ingredients to confirm that the blend actually includes real pumpkin pieces, and not just the spices for pumpkins.

I managed to restrain myself so I only have six (6) pumpkin blends in my tea collection!

Pumpkin Tea #1: Monarch Tea Co.'s Pumpkin Spice black tea is a classic pumpkin spice blend with nutty undertones. 

 

 

Pumpkin Tea #2: Monarch Tea Co.'s Pumpkin Cream black tea has a sweet taste because it includes real maple syrup!

 

Pumpkin Tea #3 (photos taken in 2019): Geek+Tea's Pumpkin Juice Chai is a black tea with a nice balance of vanilla and spices (cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, clove, allspice). I love this tea so much that I stocked up on this back in spring!

Pumpkin Tea #4: DavidsTea's Pumpkin Crème Brûlée intrigued me because: 1) it was a herbal infusion, and 2) it was a rare pumpkin blend that was not spiced! I was happy that I found a caffeine-free pumpkin blend that wasn't a rooibos.

Pumpkin Tea #5: Clearview Tea Co.'s tasty Pumpkin Spice Rooibos was a free sample.

Pumpkin Tea #6: Dessert by Deb's Pumpkin Pie Tart green tea is the only tea in my stash that doesn't contain real pumpkins. This blend actually contains apple so it tasted more like an apple cinnamon tea.

What's your favourite pumpkin tea?

Chai in my cup

 Hello, chai season!

 Chai #1: Organic Black Chai with Ginger and Elderberries from Ikea

Chai #2: Spiced Chai by Crabtree & Evelyn

Chai #3: S'mores chai pu-erh by Davids Tea

Chai #4: Coconut Cream Pie Chai from Dessert by Deb

This was my favourite and I've already ordered a larger (75g) bag!

EDITED TO ADD: It turns out that Sept 21 is National Chai Day so Happy National Chai Day!

Cozy chais

In addition to the Pumpkin Juice Chai that's on my fall tea rotation, I've also tried some interesting chais this month.

This smoked chocolate chai by Mad Hatter Tea Co. was delicious!

This is the first time I've seen this sampler tin--you press down on the middle and the top pops open.

I also enjoyed this Organic Saigon Chai by Davids Tea.

Stash's Chai Green was my least favourite tea. I've liked the other Stash chais, so I think I prefer my chais as a black tea!

What is your favourite chai?

A pop-up tea with macarons

Happy Victoria Day to my Canadian friends!

I love this charming British-themed melamine tray which I found at a local store a few weeks ago.

At our most recent pop-up tea at work, I served the ginger papaya and peach chai tea.

One of my colleague generously shared this box of Ladurée macarons that her sister brought back from France! Last year, Ladurée opened up a store in Toronto. I hope to visit its Tea Salon one day.

We also enjoyed lemon cranberry loaf and banana bread. Gotta love leftovers from a meeting!

Our next tea social will be held the last week of May. I can't wait!

Ginger, Papaya and Peach Chai

Chai tea is one of my favourite teas so I'm always on the lookout for interesting blends.

Victoria Road Chai Co.'s Ginger, Papaya and Peach Chai drew my attention because of its exotic ingredients: black tea, papaya pieces, peach pieces, ginger, blackberry leaves, calendula petals, sunflower petals, natural flavours.

The tea smelled sooooo good and tasted delicious. The papaya and peach were the dominant flavours so it tasted more like a fruity black tea than a chai to me. But I still enjoyed it!

I couldn't resist getting more of these cute teapot cookies from my local bakery. The blue and white polkadot motif reminded me of...

...Royal Albert's polka blue pattern!

Cha-Cha-Chai!

When I was younger, I did not like tea. It was during my early 20s that I developed a preference for tea after I dined with a friend at The Bombay Grill.

In addition to its tasty Indian food, the restaurant also served a delicious masala chai--this spiced, sweetened, milky beverage was the tea that launched a thousand sips!

In the afternoons and evenings, I drink caffeine-free teas such as Clipper's herbal chai infusion which I'm enjoying here with gulab jamun, brown milk balls covered with sweet syrup.

I love all things coconut so of course, I had to try Zhena's coconut chai green tea...but the "sweet hint of tropical coconut" was too subtle for this gal to detect!

I've tried variations of chai tea over the years but the chai black tea is still my favourite.

Namaste

I'm joining the following parties this week:
 Tea Time Tuesday
Friends Sharing Tea
Tuesday Cuppa Tea