Design A Tea – 3 Cups of Fabulously Yummy Tea

The slogan at Design A Tea is where Tea Leaves Dream.  How cute is that?  It’s actually very fitting because the man who found this tea company opened it based on a dream!  Brian used to be a paramedic until one night he had a dream in 2006.  This is how the dream goes

I was walking down the rural road I grew up on. I passed an elderly lady who was cooking something on a small fire in the ditch. As I approached her she asked me if I wanted some apple tea. An odd question I recalled, because I seldom drank coffee let alone tea, but being polite I reached down and took the cup. I drank it and told her, “This is great tea.” She replied with, “Of course it is, you created it.” Thinking she was a crazy old lady, I handed her the cup back. As I did this the dream slowly started to turn from black & white to color. I turned and continued to walk down the dirt road. Soon after I awoke.

I love this story because I’m always encouraging people to follow their dreams and this is a literal example!

The concept behind Design A Tea is very simple.  You choose your base tea, pick your favourite flavours and they send you your custom blend!  How cool is that!  Each person is entitled to 2 free tea samples as long as you pay the small ($1.00 or so) shipping cost.  Brian was kind enough to send me my two tea samples and a bonus sample that he concocted.  My two teas were A Rooibos Tea with Caramel & Pecan and a Rooibos tea with Zabaglione & Cassis.  The rooibos were organic grade from South Africa.  Bonus!  When I picked the second tea I had no idea what those things were at the time and I thought why not try the most outrageous thing possible and see if it can taste good.  We’ll shortly see.  Brian also sent me a Green tea with Pina Colada & Chocolate.  Dessert teas galore!

The first tea I tried was the rooibos with caramel pecan.  OMG it smells like sweet sugary caramel popcorn.  I wish the internet would hurry up and invent something that will transport smells from peoples computers.  Yum yum.  You can see the beautiful hue that came out after steeping it for about one minute.  Wow.  I’m speechless.  If candied popcorn was a tea this is it.  Holy crap.  I created candy caramel popcorn in a tea.  I should patent this and sell it to Kernels.  Anyways on to the next tea.

As you can see Brian packages the tea samples in individual tea pouches.  T-Sacs I’m assuming.  The next one I’m trying is the Zabaglione & Cassis.  Cassis as I explained in another post is the same as blackcurrant.  Which I am a huge fan of!  Okay this tea has completely different characteristics.  It smells like someone just crushed a bunch of berries with their fist.   I smell a bit of apples on the nose.  The color is a lot darker and redder in tone than the last tea.  Let’s try it.  I love it.  I can’t believe it.  It tastes even better than the last tea.  I wish everyone could taste and smell this.  It’s very fruity but not overpowering.  I can’t believe I made this!

last tea, Brian’s pick.  Green tea with Pina Colada & Chocolate.  The green tea is actually organic sencha from Japan.  The yellowy liquor smells like pineapple yogurt.  Holy crap.  This is good too.  The tastes soo much like pina colada.  I’m not picking up any chocolate notes in the nose, but when you drink the tea the chocolate follows the pineapple.   Wow.  How can something without any sugar in it taste sweet?  Think about that for a second!  I highly recommend these to people who enjoy strong dessert teas and like experimenting.  You definitely have to steep these teas for 5-7 minutes though to get the full flavouring.  Check out their website and Happy blending!  Oh FYI don’t copy me and let the TSac hang off the side, the tea will get on your table!  =)  Cheers.

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Go confidently in the direction of your dreams

Set a goal to follow at least one of your passions this year.

To kick start my blog I’m going to quote the Chapters tote bag that caught my eye the other day.

“Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve imagined.” – Henry David Thoreau

Translation.  Get up off your ass and do what you’re passionate about!  Is your job eating away at your soul?  Quit.  Hate your life?  Change it’s direction.  Life is way too short to be spent doing something you don’t like. No dream is too big or too small.  If you really want to do something and you’re passionate about it, go for it.  Don’t let age, finances, your job, someone or anything get in your way.

I’ve been searching for years trying to figure out what to do with my life.  The first “career” I remember wanting was to be a nun.  My parents weren’t too supportive when I told them.  I know i know me a nun?  But you have to understand what I was thinking.  Free food, housing and all expenses paid travelling when helping the sick and needy abroad!  I looked deeper into this and realized that the attraction was really because I liked listening to peoples problems.  Thus eventually majoring in psychology in university.  Long story short.  After graduation I have jumped everywhere trying to figure out what to do with my life and my passion.  I worked at a law firm, I got my real estate lisence, I attempted to buy a health food store among other things and on this long zen like journey I finally to discover my passions in life.  I know it sounds cliche but I think everyone goes through this, even if only for a day.  All this soul searching cost me more than $3000+ to date.  I can’t say it was worth every penny but I can say I’ve finally discovered that I am actually very passionate about tea.  Again, I know i know.  Seriously Diana tea?  You’re such an old lady!  But what better way to listen to someones problems, ponder existential issues and relax then over a nice cup of tea.  So my goal is this.  I am going to dedicate my life to tea.  Even if I eventually leave the tea industry, I am going to become a tea connoisseur.  This blog will document my start in the tea business, my trials, my tea trips, my tribulations and my success.

Stay tuned, it’s going to be a fun ride. ♥

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