The JusTeam is proud to announce Canadian Maple Tea, our newest blend. It has been in the works for a while, and we think it was worth the wait.
Canadian Maple Tea is what happens when two things JusTea already does well (whole-leaf Kenyan black tea and honest sourcing) meet real Quebec maple syrup flakes. No artificial flavouring, actual maple. The result is a cup that earns its name.
What is Canadian Maple Tea?
Canadian Maple Tea is JusTea's answer to a question worth asking: what would a genuinely Canadian tea taste like if every ingredient was the real thing?
Our maple tea blend starts with a Rainforest Alliance-certified Kenyan black tea base, grown on small-scale mashamba (family farms) in the Western Highlands of Kenya.
To that, JusTea adds real Quebec maple syrup flakes, hand-picked safflower petals, and natural maple flavour. No artificial maple extract, no concentrates, no shortcuts.
The result is smooth and velvety, with notes of cozy caramel and pure maple that balance the malty depth of the black tea base without tipping into sweetness. It is a Canadian tea.
What Does Canadian Maple Tea Taste Like?
The Kenyan black tea base is full-bodied and malty, with undertones of cocoa bean and dried fruit. That is the character you expect from a proper loose leaf tea grown at altitude in East Africa.
On its own, it is a bold, satisfying cup. The Quebec maple syrup flakes introduce a warm, natural sweetness that rounds out those malty notes without adding a sugary finish.
It is smooth enough to drink straight, strong enough to carry through milk, and holds its flavour well over ice. At 50mg of caffeine per cup (roughly half the caffeine of a standard black coffee), Canadian Maple Tea delivers the warmth and body of a real black tea without the intensity that sends some people back to coffee.
How to Brew Canadian Maple Tea
Add one teaspoon of loose leaf Canadian Maple Tea to a cup of boiling water at 175F. Steep for three minutes, then remove the leaves. The blend re-steeps well. For a second cup, steep for six minutes.
For iced tea and hot or iced latte recipes, click here. The maple notes carry through dairy and non-dairy milks equally well.
Real Maple Syrup Flakes, Not Artificially Flavoured
The difference between a tea made with real maple syrup flakes and one made with artificial maple flavouring shows up in the cup. Artificial maple flavouring delivers a sweet, one-dimensional hit that fades quickly. Real maple syrup flakes dissolve gradually as the tea steeps, releasing the sweetness and warmth of actual maple in layers. It is the same depth you find in maple syrup itself, now in a cup of loose leaf tea.
JusTea sources their maple syrup flakes directly from Quebec, keeping the supply chain as short and transparent on the Canadian side as it is on the Kenyan side. For a Canadian tea company that has built its whole model on knowing exactly where ingredients come from and who grew them, anything less would have been out of character.
From Nandi Hills, Kenya to Canadian Tea Cups
JusTea was founded in 2013 on a direct partnership with small-scale farming families in Kenya's Nandi Hills. The Kenyan black tea at the heart of Canadian Maple Tea is grown without pesticides on family farms and hand-picked by the farming families themselves. It is then processed at the region's first artisanal tea cottage factory, a facility owned and operated by the farmers themselves, not by a large commercial operation.
That supply chain matters because it determines who gets paid. JusTea's farmer-direct model means the farming families receive a fair price for their tea directly, with no brokers or sales agents extracting margin between the farm and the cup. JusTea is a verified member of the Fair Trade Federation, one of the few Canadian tea companies with full supply-chain fair trade certification across every blend they sell.
Canadian Maple Tea also arrives at a particular moment for this country. As global trade relationships shift and Canadians pay closer attention to who owns the brands on their shelves, being 100% Canadian-owned has taken on new weight.
JusTea has always been a small Canadian company building something real on both sides of the world. Canadian Maple Tea makes that identity tangible: real Quebec maple, real Kenyan black tea, made by a team that knows its farmers by name and its maple by province.
"Using real Canadian maple syrup flakes in a tea that's already farmer-direct from Kenya felt like the perfect expression of who we are," said Paul Bain, JusTea founder. "A small Canadian company that's built something meaningful on both sides of the world. And honestly, maple makes everything better."
About JusTea
JusTea is a 100% Canadian-owned and operated loose leaf tea company based in Vancouver, BC. Founded in 2013, JusTea was the first company in the world to offer farmer-direct Kenyan tea, the first North American partner for Kenya's first women's organic herb co-op, and the first to bring purple tea to the world. Every tin comes with a hand-carved wooden spoon and the photograph of the farmer who grew the tea inside.
Where to Find Canadian Maple Tea
Canadian Maple Tea is available online at https://justea.com/products/canadian-maple.