It’s a Monday and I never could get the hang of Mondays. Perhaps it’s the break in the routine but Mondays just always seem a bit frantic. Maybe it’s that everyone, wholesale and retail customers alike run out of tea over the weekend and show up in a panic on Monday. More likely it is just that despite my best intentions of “catching-up” on Sundays fun things get in the way of chores so I try to get everything done first thing Monday morning. It slowed down just long enough today for me to get a bowl of ham and split pea soup, a spoon and a napkin and put it on the table before all hell broke loose again. By the time we got to all the call in orders, bubble teas, lunches and assorted small crises I realized that one of our customers was polishing off my bowl of split pea soup. Oh well, plenty where that came from.

Valentine’s day teas: As promised I’m taking a short break from y black tea tasting and checking out the Valentine’s day teas and the new oolong samples, before continuing on. The four Valentines teas are all rooibos and honeybush based so they are all caffeine free, no astringency teas and they are good hot or iced. These teas are grown in South Africa and the disadvantage of “skipping the order” is that more info on this type of tea will become available later on. Here are my notes.

White Chocolate Rooibos: Distinct, sweet white chocolate aroma follows right through each sip with the flavour. Mellow, smooth and sweet. Creamy, without being cloying.

Chocolate-Strawberry Love Affair: Chocolate: Strawberry scent up front. Bright, fruity, fresh strawberry flavour with a low, supporting note of chocolate smoothing out the end. No doubt about who wears the pants in this love affair!

Chocolate Cake Honeybush: The honeybush scent is prominent and closely followed by a caramely/bisquity note. The flavour is surprisingly cake-y, but not very chocolaty, with a fruity ending.

Red Hot Love: Very fruity and floral, with the chili pepper lingering on. Strong cherry note, perfumy. Be warned that this gets spicier the longer you step and it can get downright hot. Randy claims that a bit of sugar brings out the flavours.

We are clearing out the winter seasonals this month to make room for the Valentine’s seasonal. All that is left is at 50% off, a great opportunity for the Northerners to stock up. In addition to this you can se coupon code “seasonals” during checkout to receive $5 off any order of $35 or more that includes any of our seasonal teas. Next update will be on the new oolong samples so check in again soon.

Oh, and did I mention that if you stop by Tea and Chi on Wednesday between 4-6 pm we are having a Valentine’s Tea tasting?