Tea Time - Northern Delights Inuit Tea!

When traveling I like to try a local tea or something that is generally related to the area.  For example, in Utah I found Prickly Pear Cactus Ceylon Tea.  In Key West I found both Key Lime Black Tea and a fruit blend key lime tea.  And in Alaska... well, I got tea imported from AK's former owner, Russia. :) Anyway, tea is awesome, and when I was in Ottawa recently I came across some tea that I found intriguing...

Inuit Tea!
Keeping with my fascination of far-off lands, the Canadian Arctic completely fascinates me.  Until I can afford one of those awesome looking arctic exploration cruises, I'll have to settle for quasi-traveling via Wikipedia and Flickr.  And drinking tea!

I came across a variety of Inuit tea while looking around an awesome tea shop in Ottawa, ON.  Yay!  I opted for the variety box, which contains each of the five flavors.  What are the flavors, you ask?  They are:

• Arctic Blend (Ukiurtatuq)
• Cloudberry (Arpiqutik)
• Ground juniper (Qisiqtutauyak)
• Crowberry (Paurngaqutik)
• Labrador (Mamaittuqutik)

The website goes into great detail about the teas, noting the ingredients as well as a bit about each tea.  Other pages on the site provide information about each plant and details about the harvest.  Their dedication to keeping the tea traditional, from the use of traditional plants to hand-picked ingredients ("No mechanical equipment is employed at any phase of production.") is quite impressive!

As for how the teas actually taste, they're great!  Very earthy, and an interesting blends of flavors.

Ground Juniper Tea

Now for the sad part: the website only offers help for finding this tea in Canada. :(  You can always email them suggestions!

Other Awesome Teas
For the heck of it, here are photos of some of the other location-related teas I've found.

Prickly Pear Cactus Tea

Virgin, UT

Fruitblend Key Lime Tea

Key West, FL

Maps
You didn't expect me to blog about something like this without creating a related Google Map, did you?!

View Location-Related Tea in a larger map

Tea Time: Aloe Vera with Cactus

On a recent trip to a corner grocery store in CA I purchased some generic anise tea (mmmmmmm) as well as Tadin's Aloe Vera with Cactus Tea. Cacti are cool, and I had prickly pear tea once, so I was excited about this purchase!

dun-dun-DUN!!!


It tasted like chemicals! I had made it in a styrofoam cup [silly hotels], so I assumed that was the problem. Wrong-o. I made the tea in a real mug upon my return home, and it was just as bad.

If only I had seen this review before purchasing the stuff! Tea Amigos gave it an F and an F+. Yikes!

Steer clear of this one!

If you want to try it for yourself, let me know! I'll share!

Tea Time: Blueberry Lemon Black Tea

I drink way too much tea to not have a recurring category about it in this blog. I have creatively decided to name it "Tea Time".
[Why don't I get paid to blog, again??]

The tea aisle in The Weg is quite a magnificent place. They have a great selection of prepackaged and loose tea, and if you get there early enough, they even have some samples!

One day, while lost in said aisle, I came across their selection of Eastern Shore Teas. After much deliberation, I opted for black tea with blueberry and lemon. It is AMAZING. Usually blueberry teas are too blueberry-ful for me, but the lemon in here balances it out nicely.


I've tried various other Eastern Shore Teas, and they've all been good, but this one ranks among my favorite teas ever. Though sometimes hard to find, it's definitely worth the wait. And if there isn't a Wegmans near you, then maybe you should just buy it online?