Tasting Lab: Jane Austen Blend

Inspiration for tea blends can come from weird places. If you've ever had the pleasure of visiting one of the Murchie's locations in person, you'll find a constant rotation of lattes with interesting names and intriguing flavour combinations. We've had more than one request to be able to bring these teas home. Each latte is made up of a unique blend of several of our teas, so it's a reasonable request.

Our Jane Austen Latte was introduced just a few years back, and is still easily one of our most popular--we receive periodic requests for the recipe from out-of-province Murchie's fans, and the latte itself makes seasonal returns. So it seemed like a fantastic candidate to taste-test as part of the Tasting Lab, and to add to our Big Black Blend Book.

'Jane Austen Blend' makes sense--tea and books are practically made for each other. There's no better way to settle in for the evening than with a good book and a warm beverage. Over social media we have shared several of our favourite tea and book pairings, and you've shared many of yours with us. Our literary-inspired tea blends are much loved, and we're always looking to add more. This continues at our stores with mixed drinks. Highlights include our Great Gatsby, Irene Adler, Lady Whistledown, Agatha Christie Lattes, and of course our Jane Austen Latte. Each creation is thought up by one of our creative baristas, so with their permission, I wanted to immortalize some of our favourites.

The original latte mixes spring florals (jasmine green teas), with a good book--our classic Library blend--and tops it off with vanilla syrup. This blend brings all of that together, swapping out vanilla syrup for a gentler vanilla tea. Light, green, refreshing--like bringing your favourite book outside to enjoy in the good weather, a light breeze while you read, surrounded by the crisp smell of fresh blooms. It feels perfectly romantic.

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The premise for this blend sets it a bit apart from the others introduced as part of the Tasting Lab so far. Previously we've brought back discontinued teas, or revived near century-old Blend Book recipes, or tasted my own blends inspired by Victorian-style blending. But this tea takes on a more collaborative approach, reimagining beloved creations from our stores, and immortalizing them as blends anyone can enjoy. Once transcribed in our Blend Book, this tea can be re-blended by special request, instore or by phone!

Jane Austen, I'd say, is most similar to Symphony or Vanilla Jasmine. Almost a nice midpoint between the two; a very spring-summer kind of tea. It's light and floral, leaning more green than black, and as such necessitates a slightly cooler steeping temperature. I would recommend about 85°c.

As always, we love hearing from you regarding your thoughts on each Tasting Lab release. Your tasting notes and experiences, and of course your top picks so far. Do you like the idea of converting Murchie's lattes into custom recipes? Is there another latte you'd like to see?