The Secret Garden Tea Company, Anniversary Blend Black Tea

The Secret Garden Tea Company Description:
Bergamot, Jasmine and Vanilla: these are a few of our favorite things! We created this blend in celebration of the Secret Garden’s inception. Pairs perfectly with both sweet and savoury delicacies.

Ingredients: Black Tea, natural flavors.

Price: $11.25/100g

Sample provided by The Secret Garden Tea Company

My Review:
This is my last sample provided by The Secret Garden Tea. Since my first review, this new online shop, and established Vancouver tea room, have lowered their shipping to a flat $7. That is pretty much in line with what US shops are charging and very reasonable for Canada.

The sample bags make me think of chewing gum wrappers. They are paper covering an aluminum coating inside. The top is rolled down and fastened with a decorative seal. The name of the blend is handwritten on the label. There are no steeping instructions.

As I remove a scoop of leaf, I smell vanilla. It is a nice scent and not overpowering or medicinal.

The leaf is kind of pretty. There are blue cornflower petals and yellow petals, possibly marigold or jasmine petals.

Using my standard press method with 212 F water and a four minute steep produced a very dark ruby orange brew. It seems darker than in the picture. The scent is lightly vanilla.

I like this but I am not getting much bergamot or any jasmine. It is mainly a light vanilla and a pleasant black base that I am guessing is a Ceylon. It is not bitter. It is moderately drying. Pairing it with a nice snack would probably counter this. I did not feel a need for added sweetener.

I could only find one review of this blend online and it was more of a review of the tea room experience. They only commented it was tasty.

So, I am left trying to decide if what I got from my cup is what one should expect upon ordering. I appreciate the vanilla is kept light so as not to drown out the black tea. I also can appreciate the bergamot is a very light touch. This is not Earl Grey. The citrus is there just to round out the cup. I am disappointed not to be able to detect the jasmine. I guess my final conclusion is that had I not read the ingredient list I would have been quite happy with the cup.

You can find Anniversary Blend here.

The Secret Garden Tea Company, Wild Strawberry Green Tea

The Secret Garden Tea Company Description:
Sweet strawberries blended with green tea: the next best thing to enjoying sun-ripened berries fresh from the patch. Pairs wonderfully with mild dishes such as lemon-buttered halibut or berry muffins.

Ingredients: Green tea, strawberry pieces, safflower petals, natural flavors

Price: $10.95/100g

Sample provided by The Secret Garden Tea Company

My Review:
The Secret Garden Tea Company is the newly opened online store side of Vancouver BC's The Secret Garden Tea Room. They generously furnished several large samples of their tea for my honest review.

Today I am reviewing their Wild Strawberry. I have high hopes for this one. Removing the seal on the aluminum lined paper sample bag, I am met with strawberry. Duh, you say? You know it doesn't always turn out that way. Sometimes I really have to search for the expected aroma. Not so here, and it smells like the real deal.

Removing a scoop of leaf, there are a few small dried strawberry pieces here. This is a good thing. It gives enough visual image without becoming filler. The leaf is flat and dried grass in appearance. I am assuming it is sencha, though I see nothing in the description to confirm it.

The leaf was steeped with 180 F water for three minutes in my press.  A grassy leaf scent could be detected along side the wonderful strawberry aroma.

The liquor is honey yellow or maybe a little lighter. There is a lot of unexpected dust in the water that settles to the bottom after moments. I am not sure what this is from as the leaf itself is nice size pieces of broken leaf. The scent is again natural strawberry.

The taste is just what I wanted. Strawberry. Not just strawberry, real tasting strawberry. It is not puckering tart like the real thing. On the other hand it is very natural tasting. The green tea is present but stays far out of the limelight. Often I want more balance in my flavored teas. Not today. This is strawberry.

I have thought a couple of my reviews of The Secret Garden Tea Company products have been a bit harsh - but in my defense, as honest as I could make them. This tea however, I really do like. I have enjoyed it so much I am about to steep up another cup. I believe I will use more leaf and see if I can imagine the tartness of biting into a fresh ripe strawberry.  

You can find Wild Strawberry Green Tea here.

The Secret Garden Tea Company, French Earl Grey

 The Secret Garden Tea Company Description:
Classic bergamot-infused Earl Grey tea layered with the gentle scent of rose petals.

Ingredients:
Black tea, bergamot, mallow flower, hibiscus, rose petals, and sunflower petals

Sample provided by The Secret Garden Tea Company

My Review:
Today we are reviewing another offering from the newly opened webstore, The Secret Garden Tea Company. As you can see, handwriting the tea name on the label sounds like a great personal touch. In practice, a little moisture on the tea drinker's fingers can turn it into a smeary mess.

The sample bag has a paper exterior with an aluminum interior. The top is folded over and secured on the back with a sticker seal. This will work short term but longer storage will require something more substantial to maintain freshness.

The name to me suggests an Earl Grey Creme, but that is not what this blend contains. Opening the bag reveals the scent of rose. It is not really a fresh rose fragrance. To me it is more of a strong rose powder.

The leaf is pretty to look at. The black tea is surrounded by rose, mallow, sunflower, and hibiscus petals. Bergamot is listed as the second ingredient after black tea, however I can't detect it in the scent.

I used boiling water today and a 3 minute steep. The result is an orange cup that is shiny and clear. The wet leaf has an interesting aroma that suggests mango. That is not a listed ingredient, so I am not sure where that is coming from.

The taste is mainly dusty rose with a lighter note that still reminds me of mango or peach and apricot. Could it be the bergamot and hibiscus interacting? There is a slight tartness that is not offensive, present in the sip, as well as a bit of bite. I find this to be kind of drying. It does feel sort of thick like cream. I suspect the mallow is bringing that to the cup.

The black tea base is hard to single out at first. It reminds me of the Ceylon I reviewed yesterday. When it comes out of hiding it has a woodsy taste that is quite mellow.

I have to admit to being disappointed that I can't detect the bergamot. As an Earl Grey addict of many decades, having Earl Grey in the name brings certain expectations. I would have named this French Rose or something similar. On the plus side, wherever the tropical flavor is coming from, it raises this up a notch for me.

This tea is not something I am likely to crave but it is interesting.

You can find French Earl Grey here

The Secret Garden Tea Company, Buckingham Palace

The Secret Garden Tea Company Description:
One of our bestsellers! Earl Grey (citrusy bergamot and black tea), paired with fragrant Jasmine flowers. The result is divine. We offer this blend in honor of Henry McLaren.

Ingredients: Black tea, green tea, cornflower and jasmine petals, natural flavors.

100g (3.5 oz.): $10.25

Sample provided by The Secret Garden Tea Company

My Review:
This is an interesting idea, combining Earl Grey black tea with Jasmine green tea. I love them both when they are well executed. Putting them together could be exciting. I can't wait to get a cup brewing and see what happens.

The sample bag looks like paper but it has an aluminum interior. The top of the sample does not have a ziploc seal. Instead it is folded over and secured with a decorative seal. I have tea from many companies that have a similar system. For samples and larger quantities that you know you will use quickly, this works fine. If, like me, you have a hundred different teas, you will want to move larger quantities to a tin for proper storage.

Opening the bag, I  can smell Earl Grey - a combination of black tea and bergamot. At this point I am not detecting the jasmine. The black tea leaf dominates the mix but the eye is drawn to the pretty blue cornflower petals. Looking closer I notice the green tea leaf pieces and even some white petals that I assume are jasmine.

I put the sample in the press and debated what to do with the water. There are no steeping instructions on the label. Generally, I find black tea works well from 195 F to boiling. Green tea usually requires cooler water. I often use 185 F. So, I decided to shoot for the middle at 190 F. I steeped for 2 1/2 minutes.

The result is an orange/red cup of tea. It is clear and bright. The wet leaf has gorged itself. The green leaf really stands out now. The cornflower and jasmine disappear and you have to search for them.

This has nothing to do with the tea but I finally realized the darker shadow in my cup pictures is a shadow reflection of my hands holding the camera. I am going to have to work on the lighting.

The aroma is strong. I may have overdone the leaf. Yeah, this is really strong and kind of bitter. One tsp per 8 oz would have been enough. I may have used closer to 2 tsp (who am I kidding, 'may have', I definitely over-leafed!).

I believe this to be a blend of Ceylon, Assam, and Kenyan teas. It is earthy, and woodsy, with a solid bite. I am really not tasting much else, except the faintest hints of bergamot. I kind of sense the jasmine in the aftertaste.

I prepared a second cup with way less leaf and 200 F water. This took away the bitterness. It still seems I am tasting the black teas with only slight hints of flavor from the citrus and jasmine. The more the cup cools, the stronger the hints.

Other reviews I've read comment on how floral this tea tastes. Either, my sample is faulty or my expectation of floral is too high.

As a black tea blend with undertones of citrus and floral, this is a nice morning wake up tea. I personally was left craving a stronger presence of both to meet my preconceived image of this blend.

As I was writing this review I got word that The Secret Garden Tea Company has just lowered its shipping to a $7 flat rate. That is a reasonable fee, especially in Canada, and similar to what I pay for other companies in the US.

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Update: I purposely set a half mug aside until it was stone cold. It was really tasty this way. The notes of bergamot and jasmine were still light but much more noticeable. Very much my preferred method of sipping this one at the moment.

You can find Buckingham Palace here.

The Secret Garden Tea Company, Children's Hospital Vanilla Black Tea

Sample Packaging

The Secret Garden Tea Company Description:
A playful blend of  baby rosebuds, vanilla, and bergamot that reminds us of childhood tea parties. Proceeds go to BC Children’s Hospital.

Ingredients:
Black tea, rosehip pieces, rose petals, blackberry leaves, natural flavors.

Sample provided by The Secret Garden Tea Company

My Review:
The Secret Garden Tea Company is located in Vancouver Canada. Having successfully run a small tearoom since 1995, they have just ventured into online tea sales. That's where The Everyday Tea Blog comes in. I was asked if I would like to review samples of their offerings. Well, of course I would!

Pretty Leaf

The samples are of very generous size. The bag is a paper exterior with an aluminum interior. To close you fold over the top and restick the seal. The label as you can see has the tea type handwritten. There are no steeping instructions. These can be found in their FAQ section on the website.

The leaf itself is quite colorful and highly aromatic. Rose petals, rosehip, and blue cornflower petals are mixed with the black tea leaves. The aroma is unmistakably rose with less obvious bergamot notes underneath. I am note really able to pick out the vanilla at this time.

Dark spot in the center is a reflection

I used about 3 g (1 1/2 tsp) of leaf with 10 oz of water heated to 205 F. The website calls for boiling. I let it steep for 4 minutes. The result is a bright red/orange cup. The liquor is nicely clear. The aroma is much like the scent of the dry leaf. I am impressed by how much the wet leaf has expanded. I never expected it, so this is a happy surprise.

Taking my first sip, I can tell you, if you don't like rose this may not be the cup for you. It is not perfume water but it is definitely rose.

I can also not so much taste the vanilla as feel its affect on the cup. It just feels creamy. By the name I expected vanilla to be the primary note. I am not too upset that it is not. I quite like it when the vanilla stays back out of the spotlight.

The bergamot is very hard to detect. It comes under the rose to give it fullness. I have never thought of bergamot being used in a support role. It handles the chore well.

The black tea base only makes its presence certain occasionally, and then for mere brief moments. I think I can detect it all the time but at the same time I'm never really sure. It is smooth with no bitterness. This is slightly drying, yet not in a bad way.

Wet Leaf

This was the first tea that I chose from their varied webstore selections. What caught my eye, and makes this blend special, is stated in their product description. All the proceeds from sales go to the BC Children’s Hospital.

Canadian shipping rates are pretty outrageous and that may make it difficult for The Secret Garden Tea Company to develop a big web presence. If the shipping doesn't scare you off, then pick up some of this, if for no other reason than because the cause it supports is worthy.

I have only recently begun to appreciate rose scented teas. I had several cups of this one and enjoyed them all.

You can find Children's Hospital Vanilla Black Tea here.