Elegant, sustainably-minded, and great-tasting are only a few adjectives to describe Bisou Bar, a Toronto-based tea company founded in 2020. With a goal to redefine the tea experience, Bisou Bar emphasizes high-quality and ethical production in every beautifully-packaged tea they produce.
Commitment to Sustainability
Bisou Bar is dedicated to transparent and responsible tea production, and holds sustainability as one of the business’ pillars. With this focus, Bisou Bar emphasizes recyclable and compostable items. Their packaging is made with recycled, recyclable, and biodegradable materials. This not only applies to their boxes and tins, but also their tea bags which are made with non-GMO corn fibre: making it 100% compostable and plastic-free.
Behind the scenes, when it comes to packing, all of Bisou Bar’s whole leaf teas are blended and packed locally in organic and kosher certified facilities. Plus, their shipment filling materials are waste-free, made with biodegradable starch that dissolves in water.
Bisou Bar is also a part of The Ethical Tea Partnership (ETP). ETP is a not-for-profit organization which advocates to create a fairer, better, and more sustainable tea industry; helping improve the lives of tea workers and farmers, along with the environment. Bisou Bar is “committed to working with suppliers and manufacturers who have demonstrated sustained commitment to environmental, social and ethical standards”. For more information on their sustainability initiatives, visit their website.
Large Tea Selection
Tea lovers can rejoice at the large selection of teas Bisou Bar offers. Varietals include black, green, oolong, herbal, fruit, rooibos, white, chai, amongst others. When searching for your favourite online, their menu is divided by tea type, flavour, or collection. You can browse them here.
Bisou Bar carries both loose leaf tea and tea bags. Loose leaf tea is sold in pouches or tins; tea bags are sold in boxes of 15. Teaware like filters are also available for purchase.
Favourite Teas + Ways to Steep
I’ve only tried three out of the 30+ teas Bisou Bar offers, but I couldn’t recommend them more. Note: I was gifted these teas, but the opinions expressed are my own.
Premium Ceremonial Matcha: In the cutest baby pink tin packaging, this vibrant-coloured and flavourful matcha comes from Shizuoka, Japan. It has a velvety smooth texture, and it’s great to drink on its own or in the form of a matcha latte.
A 70-gram tin will cost you $36, which is very in-line for what you’ll pay for a high-quality matcha across the city. Anything much cheaper than this is probably not real matcha, and definitely not imported from Japan like Bisou Bar’s. If you love matcha, I’d also recommend investing in a matcha set (i.e. whisk, spoon & bowl): Bisou Bar sells a cute one for $32.
Royal Cream: This Earl Grey tea incorporates notes of vanilla, creating an elevated creamy and sweet flavour. If you love tea lattes, this tea would be perfect for you. Like most of the teas at Bisou Bar, you can purchase the tea loose leaf or in bags. P.S. The aroma of this tea is amazing.
Milk Oolong Tea: This is my probably my favourite tea out of the three. Bisou Bar’s milk oolong tea has a natural creamy flavour so it’s perfect to drink plain on its own. I especially love to steep a whole pot and refrigerate it overnight; I love drinking the tea cold the next day and pairing it with meals.
Oolong tea is known for its many health benefits (talked about on the Tea Allure blog) so I am going to be incorporating this tea into my daily routine.
Try It Yourself
Want to try Bisou Bar out for yourself? You can use discount code COFFEEDATE10 at checkout for 10% off you order. Happy steeping!