Each year, like wine and other highly sought-after indulgences, the new season offers up a rare chance to let your palate splurge on the best of the best. We have sourced some remarkable teas from top gardens around the globe and present them to you fresh, seasonal, and typically unavailable anywhere else in Canada. Within this curated selection, are rare gems that are sure to stimulate even the most discerning aficionados.
The Sava Region in Madagascar is home to a dense rainforest where thousands of smallholder farmers cultivate and care for their vanilla orchids in the wet & wild jungle. To obtain green vanilla beans they must pollinate the vanilla flower by hand, this orchid only opens for one day a year and ideally before noon on that day. Once the beans are mature, they are picked, then blanched, steamed, and dried/cured for a minimum of six months. The long curing process develops the rich bourbon notes that define these regions vanilla beans. Madagascar’s Bourbon Vanilla is considered the world’s best vanilla with its deep rich flavour, creamy texture and near liquor-like bourbon aroma. We have long been using this vanilla in many of our tea blends for over a decade and are now offering it here for vanilla loving customers to try for themselves.
Often, there is just way too much choice in life. With almost 80 teas on our site, how could you possibly know what great Aunt Bertha drinks? So rather than sneak into Auntie Bertha’s kitchen when she’s off having her afternoon nappies, we recommend getting Auntie a gift card and let her choose her own tea. Any size and use anytime. How simple is that?
Camellia Sinensis, the tea bush grows in well over 100 countries around the globe, with most centered close to the equator. The soil these tea bushes grow in differs from region to region. This has a noticeable effect on the resulting tea flavour made from the freshly plucked leaves. To highlight these regional differences, we import tea direct from gardens in some of the most prolific and not so prolific growing regions. These ‘single origin’ teas showcase the unique terroir that the bushes grow in. These are not blended teas, but simply one day’s pick, process, and finishing. It captures the beauty and fragrance of that moment.
Iced tea was an accidental invention. One would never guess considering how globally popular this refreshing beverage is. Our iced teas are no accident though. We have created and selected teas and infusions that have been summer favourites for over a decade. Fresh brewed and shaken over ice, these exemplify everything we think, feel and taste about those long, hot summer days.
So pure and simple, yet complex and varied, Fine White Tea is Truly a delicate treasure, like a dove wrapped in satin sheets, although we aren't sure how you would drink that.
Predominately made in Japan and China, Green teas refresh with summer cut grass, dried herbs, and brothy marine notes. Its like oceanic salt water on a crisp spring morning lapping against the hull of newly christened schooner.
Oolong. The teas in this category have inspired kingdoms to wage war, red robes to be given as presents, and scrappy tea bushes to cling to cliffs for a millennia. The beauty that is distilled in a cup of Oolong tea is the stuff of emperors and world builders, which means that it’s the perfect tea for you.
Black tea is enjoyed across the world. Taken with milk, or enjoyed straight, black teas flavour profile ranges from cocoa, malt, and fudge to dried fruits and smoke. Akin to walking across the production floor of an old chocolate factory.
With intoxicating blends of flower petals, bark, roots, herbs, spices and the whisperings of traditional remedies, herbal teas run the gamut of flavour profiles. The beauty is, there is no end to what we can create.
One of the most pure forms of energy on earth, Maccha dates back thousands of years to ancient Buddhist monks in Japan and China. Our stone-ground Japanese Maccha comes correct with a rich umami mouthfeel, and oceanic sweet tones of coastal Japan.
There are 2 types of Pu’Erh tea available on the market today. Sheng Pu’Erh or “raw” tea is the more traditional, longer production process involving microbial fermentation. The other is Shou Pu’erh which is a “ripe” tea and undergoes a similar microbial fermentation. Both of our Pu’Erh teas are of the Shou variety with length of fermentation time being the difference in the two we offer.
Yerba Maté is a beverage like no other. Light, grassy tones dance with telltale Yerba Maté astringency, the light of the fire writhing across their shadowy bodies. After a cup or a gourd of our Yerba Maté, the alertness you feel will be like the sun rising over the canopy of the Argentinean jungle.
Simple but robust, red bush tea from Africa belies it’s rich heritage, and equally lively liqueur. Rooibos surprises with stewed fruit, wet lumber, and a soothing smoothness that makes it a dream to blend with.
Tea Latte’s have become an incredibly popular item on cafe menus. Here at Denman Island Tea Company we blend teas specifically made for a milky tea Latte. In doing this we increase the strength of the tea and the flavor profile which makes a Latte unlike any you’ve had before.
We’ve spent most of the past 20 years sourcing the best loose tea we can find.
Many times, we were approached by groups to offer our exquisite blends in tea bags. We always avoided that path due to the excessive packaging and the fact that tea bags are made with polypropylene – two huge strikes against those convenient little sacks. Then, a few years back, along came a tea bag made from corn cellulose. As well, they could also accommodate filling with full loose-leaf tea and not ground up bits & pieces. With that revelation, we moved forward with launching our top 15 teas into our new bio-mesh tea sachets. Packed with the same tea as our loose leaf, they are also 2-cup size, so you don’t need two tea bags for your travel mug.
We have been selling tea for over 20 years. With this long history, we can look back on all the numbers and data we have compiled and can share with you our top sellers from our masterfully crafted selection. These teas are sure to find a place amongst your all-time top favorite beverages – regardless of the category.
When I was asked to move to Toronto and join Teaopia a little less then two years ago, it gave me great pause for thought. I hemmed and hawed and after several months of this and much discussion with the owner, my belongings and I left BC (British Columbia), and shared a U-Haul across several time zones to Canada’s largest city.
So, here I am now, finishing my tenure at Teaopia and contemplating my next step in tea, my passion and chosen vocation.
It was a whirlwind ride here in TO. Eight store openings in 16 months. It’s hard to believe we pulled it off, but the stores are open, staffed, and running well.
My immediate co-worker, Frank, became a good friend and trusted comrade. Teaopia is thriving and on a solid track for consistent growth. I am elated and happy that I was a part of it.
Ultimately though, my spirit lies in the west. It calls me all the time and near the end, it has been like a slow creep, poking its head up everywhere, reminding me to go west again, to go back to where it all started for me in tea.
In the meantime, though, there is so much to see. So many new openings, so many new tea concepts have sprung up and are springing up. Creativity in this sector is infectious right now -and so it should be. We must think outside the box, challenge the status quo, and present tea to the masses in all its forms – wild, hip, trendy, stoic, traditional, healthful, relaxing, contemplative, and tasty. The world is catching on to tea and as retailers, we must be ready to offer up the best concoctions we can. Now look across the street. See those long lineups at Starbucks in the morning? How many times have you wished you had just 10% of that business? But why just 10%? Why not 50%? Is it achievable people? Can we do it? I believe we can, and the way it is achievable is by recreating what it was that brought those salivating regulars across the street in the first place, the beverage.
So, as I tour around the next month or so on my move back west, I am hoping to visit as many tea bars as I can. I want to taste your best. I want you to pull out all the stops and go create something fabulous. This is my challenge to you.
It is the peak of the iced tea season, nothing can fail now! Call me if you need some help.
When I was asked to move to Toronto and join Teaopia a little less then two years ago, it gave me great pause for thought. I hemmed and hawed and after several months of this and much discussion with the owner, my belongings and I left BC (British Columbia), and shared a U-Haul across several time zones to Canada’s largest city.
So, here I am now, finishing my tenure at Teaopia and contemplating my next step in tea, my passion and chosen vocation.
It was a whirlwind ride here in TO. Eight store openings in 16 months. It’s hard to believe we pulled it off, but the stores are open, staffed, and running well.
My immediate co-worker, Frank, became a good friend and trusted comrade. Teaopia is thriving and on a solid track for consistent growth. I am elated and happy that I was a part of it.
Ultimately though, my spirit lies in the west. It calls me all the time and near the end, it has been like a slow creep, poking its head up everywhere, reminding me to go west again, to go back to where it all started for me in tea.
In the meantime, though, there is so much to see. So many new openings, so many new tea concepts have sprung up and are springing up. Creativity in this sector is infectious right now -and so it should be. We must think outside the box, challenge the status quo, and present tea to the masses in all its forms – wild, hip, trendy, stoic, traditional, healthful, relaxing, contemplative, and tasty. The world is catching on to tea and as retailers, we must be ready to offer up the best concoctions we can. 
Now look across the street. See those long lineups at Starbucks in the morning? How many times have you wished you had just 10% of that business? But why just 10%? Why not 50%? Is it achievable people? Can we do it? I believe we can, and the way it is achievable is by recreating what it was that brought those salivating regulars across the street in the first place, the beverage.
So, as I tour around the next month or so on my move back west, I am hoping to visit as many tea bars as I can. I want to taste your best. I want you to pull out all the stops and go create something fabulous. This is my challenge to you.
It is the peak of the iced tea season, nothing can fail now! Call me if you need some help.