Blog | tasting

Last week, Josie invited the interns over to meet with Cake & Loaf's tea supplier, Raelene Gannon, of tea and all its splendour. With her extensive collection of loose leaf teas, Cake & Loaf began the daunting process of choosing just a few to start out with at the bakery. It was important to Josie and Nickey to have teas to suit all tastes- a simple black, a green, a distinctive herbal tisane, a rooibos, and a white.

Raelene brought more teas than any of us could imagine, and took us through the basics of understanding what tea is and how it becomes what we love to start our mornings (and end our days) with. 

Something fundamental to our understanding of tea was a fact that few of us were aware of; all "proper" tea comes from an evergreen bush known as Camellia Sinensis.  More surprising yet, herbal teas are not actually "teas" at all. Herbal teas, more correctly referred to as "tisanes", are composed of dried fruits or flowers, herbs, spices, seeds, roots, or barks and do not contain any part of Camellia Sinensis in their blend. (For more information, check out Raelene's All About Tea page or her tea dictionary.)

After our history lesson, we got a chance to smell the teas.  It was fascinating to smell all the different types, and to be able to notice the difference between similar teas, such as distinguishing one Chai from another.  We smelled Pumpkin Creme Rooibos, Bora Bora, Sangria Wine, Butternut Spice, Organic Blueberry, and many, many more.  Needless to say, our mouths were watering from the all the wonderful, exotic smells.  Visually these teas impressed as well; we were stunned by the bright colours of teas like Candied Pomegranate and the golden tips in Gannon Irish Breakfast. 

The next day I brewed a cup of the Irish Breakfast and it did not disappoint. The notes of caramel gave me a welcomed sweetness, and almost a maple taste that allowed me to forgo my usual two sugars (yeah, I like my drinks sweet!).  Raelene also pointed out that certain teas and tisanes need to be brewed at different temperatures and steeped for varying times.  Over-steeping a tea can actually create a bitter taste, and using water that is too hot can burn the leaves.  

Now that I've become a tea connoisseur (of sorts), I'm even more excited to try all the teas that will be coming to the bakery. We'll be serving tea you can buy "to go", as well as packaged tea you can purchase. Prepare yourself for a Tast-tea experience! 

You can also find Raelene on Twitter - @teasplendour