Creamy Earl Grey Competition...And the Winner Is....

I recently had my first Teavana experience. 

I only bought Earl Grey Creme at Teavana. My tea stash is large enough and I wanted to compare it to my other favourite Creamy Earl Greys: one by DAVIDsTEA and one by T by Daniel.

So let me start the comparison and then announce which is my favourite! It might surprise you!

Firstly, I was really pleased with the price point of Earl Grey Creme at Teavana. It was $4.50 for 50g. I thought, hey, if I could get behind this tea I'd be saving a pretty penny! It smells nice, but the "creamy vanilla finish" promised didn't really come through the nose. 

I steeped it as recommended, at 96 degrees C for 3 minutes. It made a very pleasant black tea but I was underwhelmed with the whole experience. One might even say disappointed. My husband really liked it as a simple black tea. 

The next one I will talk about is Organic Cream of Earl Grey by DAVIDsTEA! My traditional favourite! This was my first foray into Creamy Earl Greys and has absolutely blown my mind. It has prominent sweet vanilla notes and does not disappoint. It's $6.98 per 50 g, but you can stock up when you belong to the Summer Steeper club and save 20%, bringing it down to $5.58 per 50g. 

This tea is delicious, smooth and, when steeped properly (yes, I will ALWAYS preach about that!) is never astringent or tart). 

Although I had been drinking Organic Cream of Earl Grey for months, after discovering T by Daniel I decided to try THEIR version of Creamy Earl Grey, aptly called Canadian Eh. This tea promises a maple flavouring, along with the traditional vanilla and bergamot. It's $7.00 per 50 g, and they often have sales, sometimes even 40-50% off. (Join the T by Daniel Fan page on FB for more information on upcoming sales!)

HOLD. THE. PHONE. 

This one has CHANGED MY LIFE. I don't know how they did it but it really DOES have maple notes in it. And vanilla. And bergamot. And yet, it's beautifully simple. I iced it the other day for the first time and squealed. Yes, I actually squealed. It's just that good. 

Keep in mind, I drink my hot teas plain - no milk or sugar. So they have to be very impressive. THIS ONE IS IMPRESSIVE.  

CANADIAN EH IS THE WINNER!!!!!!

Clockwise from Top Left: Canadian Eh, Organic Cream of Earl Grey, Earl Grey Creme

Congratulations, T by Daniel, on putting out yet another mind-blowing tea. (SLURRRRRRRP). Not only is it smooth and delicious, living up to the description, it's patriotic. I love it. 

How Expensive Is This Habit?

I was sipping my iced tea the other day...Forever Nuts by DAVIDsTEA,and I got to wondering how much I was actually using this summer. I love it. Between that and BFF from T by Daniel I'm going through a LOT of Iced Tea.

How much is this habit?? Especially with a heavier tea like Forever Nuts??

So I thought it would be fun to do a few calculations. Out came the kitchen scale, my perfect spoon and a few of my favourite DAVIDsTEAs. (For this experiment I only used my DAVIDsTEAs.)

Please note: I use two rather heaping PS for iced tea OR a pot of tea. So the cost associated with an iced tea is the SAME as for a pot of tea. I use a level PS for a cup of tea, that's why they're not perfectly halved all the time. Hope that makes sense.

Here are the results:

The moral of the story is this is not a cheap habit, but nor is it as expensive as getting a Starbuck's everyday, or even a Timmy's (if you were like me and got 1-2 a day). 

Sharing a pot of tea with a loved one keeps the cost down, too! 

Other ways to keep the costs down, if that's what you're looking to do, are to drink less dense teas. Forever Nuts is a very dense tea, making it very costly per spoonful, whereas White Nectarine, although more costly per gram, is actually less per serving since you use fewer grams in that serving. And...resteep your teas! Black teas cannot be resteeped due to the tannic acids released but other teas can. In fact, many teas, particularly oolongs, release a lovely new flavour upon resteeping. This could cut your cost in half, or thirds, or less, depending on how much you resteep.

Keep in mind this is only comparing one BRAND of tea, and one type of tea: looseleaf. This doesn't include grocery store bagged tea, etc. 

HOWEVER...because I'm dense (lol) I love my dense tea Forever Nuts and I will keep drinking it!

So for something luxurious, and wonderful, and healthy, I say, "Sign me up!!!" It's a vice I don't mind having. What are your thoughts?

Happy Steeping!