[Product Review] David's Tea - David's Iced Teas

Company: David's Tea
Website: http://www.davidstea.com/

Review

Product: David's Iced Teas
Vegan/Vegetarian/Gluten-Free?: Yes to all (correct me please if I'm wrong)

I bought this tea set during the summer and I meant to have this post up three months ago. Oh well, better late than never! Although this tea set is no longer available for sale, I'm reviewing it because the individual teas you can still get in-stores.

The three teas in this set are: Goji Pop, Tropicalia, and Mango Madness. Originally, Tropicalia was my favourite. It's very sweet and has these cute sugar hearts in the tea. Out of my entire tea collection, Tropicalia is the only one I have finished thus far. Towards the end of finishing Tropicalia, I started to prefer Goji Pop because it's less sweet. Both of them are fruit infusion teas. Mango Madness is a white tea that is my least favourite. Smelling it now, I don't think I mind it as much as I did previously. It is great for the mango lovers out there. They do not do well in the iced tea version though because the teas aren't sweet enough.

I personally would not repurchase this set. They aren't bad since I bought them on sale and I'm glad to have tried them out. However, if you come across a sale with this set, it's a pretty good deal.

Note: I saved the empty Tropicalia tin to store my earrings. So definitely save the tins, they can be re-purposed!

Bicerin Coffee

Cafe: Bicerin Coffee
Address: 37 Baldwin St.
Phone: 647-352-8550
Store Hours: Mon-Fri 7:30 AM - 7 PM, Sat 9 AM - 7 PM, Sun 9 AM - 6 PM
Website: www.bicerincoffee.com

Wi-Fi?: Yes
Study Appropriate?: Yes
Stamp Cards?: Yes

Interior

Menu

- Same as from T.A.N. Coffee (Baldwin)
- Offers Red Eye
- Offers Bicerin

Review

Drink of Choice: Bicerin, $3.50

Regulars of T.A.N. Coffee in Baldwin Village already know that the cafe has changed ownership this past summer and is now operating under Bicerin Coffee. I won't go into much detail with the menu because operation-wise, everything is still the same. You can read more from my T.A.N. Coffee (Baldwin) post. However, they did add two new drink items, Bicerin and Red Eye, onto the menu.

Bicerin is an Italian drink that I got to try for the first time. It's an espresso with dark chocolate, similar to a mocha. The dark chocolate made the drink sweeter and I definitely liked it. Not to mention, the latte bird art was adorable on my drink! If you are a mocha fan, you should give Bicerin a go if you ever stop by the cafe.

I asked one of the owners why they decided to change the interior. She told me that from customer feedback, T.A.N. Coffee did not have that homey cafe feeling to it. So they repainted the walls and made sure to add a comfy couch near the counter for a bigger group of people. I thought T.A.N. Coffee previously was cafe-like in its own sense. However, I do think that Bicerin does seem cozier compared to its predecessor. I also learnt that the other T.A.N. Coffee location at Ossington closed down.

They have stamp cards available for drinks as well as coffee bag purchases! Buy 9 drinks and get one free, any kind and any size. Buy 10 coffee bags and get one free, any kind!

[Product Review] Sweets From the Earth - Peppermint Nanaimo Bar

Company: Sweets From the Earth
Website: www.sweetsfromtheearth.com

Review

Product: Peppermint Nanaimo Bar, $2
Vegan/Vegetarian/Gluten-Free?: Yes to all

This review is long overdue, but now it is finally up! I finished my last exam this past Wednesday and I have more time on my hands before the winter semester starts. I will try to tackle the posts that need to be done before I get busy again (fingers crossed)!

In the beginning of November, I was at Ryerson when I saw a sign for free snacks around the school. Being the kind of girl that stake out for free food, I obviously had to check out the event. To my surprise, there was a big booth set up for Sweets From the Earth (SFTE) where they were giving out free samples and selling individual snacks for $2. If you aren't familiar, all of their desserts are all natural and 100% vegan. Whilst I was piling on the samples, I introduced myself to one of the co-owners who was manning the booth. I told him that whenever a cafe sold their products, I always mentioned them in my review. As a thank you for spreading the word of SFTE, I was given a free Peppermint Nanaimo Bar! I was quite excited because I never tried anything from SFTE, despite seeing their products in 90% of the cafes I'd been to.

I decided not to eat the bar that day because I wanted to save it. So the next day, I went to The Abbott and thought it was perfect to have with my latte. When I took a bite out of the Peppermint Nanaimo Bar, it did not last five minutes before everything was consumed. It was my first nanaimo bar and it was absolutely delicious! To the point where I was scratching on the packaging to savour what was left! It was soft and chewy with just the right amount of chocolate and peppermint combined. I would not have realized it was vegan if I did not know beforehand. Combining it with the latte was perfection. This was the best nanaimo bar I had up to date and since I haven't had the chance to try anything else from SFTE (asides from the mini cookie samples, which were good as well), I definitely recommend picking up a Peppermint Nanaimo Bar the next time you see it in a cafe!

To read my interview with the founder and owner Ilana, check it out here: http://torontocafes.blogspot.ca/2013/12/interview-sweets-from-earth-with-ilana.html.