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Tielka’s Jade Mist

Jade Mist by Tielka
Green Tea / Straight
$13.00 for 56g

Tielka has provided me with Jade Mist for the purposes of writing an honest review.

Until June 28th 2020, when you order a pouch of Jade Mist from Tielka, you’ll receive a free storage tin with your order when you mention One More Steep in the comments of your order!

First Impressions

Jade Mist comes in a white cardstock box with a printed the label (that has a handy dandy perforation that goes right over the box flap. The tea leaf itself comes in a vacuum sealed pouch that is not resealable (but I solved that easily with a zip top baggie). The leaves are Wulu green tea from Hubei Province, China. These leaves are harvest in the spring time (April to May) and are “hand harvested and crafted by organic artisan tea farmers”. Huge bonus, Tielka highlights that their tea is certified free trade and organic.

The leaves of Jade Mist are dark to light green, short and wiry. The aroma is really fresh – there’s some grassy and cucumber notes that are just really enticing and remind me of the crispness after a nice rainfall. Very much a light aroma, but it’s inviting.

Preparation

Tielka recommends steeping Jade Mist in 70°C (158°F) water for 3 minutes. My variable temperature kettle (Breville’s the IQ Kettle) doesn’t quite go down that low… So I heated my water up to the lowest setting 79°C (175°F) and allowed the water to cool for 5 minutes before steeping my tea.

First Taste

Jade Mist steeps to this brilliant yellow colour. The aroma of the tea is bright, grassy and fresh smelling. The tea itself is smooth with a very mild astringency and slight umami notes. I found the tea to have some cucumber notes n the flavour as well, which is really nice. It just had a nice freshness to it that makes it really tasty.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Jade Mist twice, adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. I found the flavour to be fairly similar throughout and it held up really well to resteeping. Plus it was just really fun to see the changes in the leaves as they opened up and revealed such a lovely olive green colour.

My Overall Impression

I loved Tielka’s Jade Mist. There was just something so pleasant and fresh about this green tea – from the dry leaf to steeped tea to admiring the spent leaves at the end. I would highly recommend making sure you follow the temperature suggestion so you don’t burn the leaves and end up with a bitter cup of tea, because it’s just so pleasant! I really enjoyed the crispness in this tea and the umami notes.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.

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Teakan’s Milan Xiang, Phoenix Dancong

Milan Xiang, Phoenix Dancong by Teakan
Oolong Tea / Straight
$25.00 for 70g

Milan Xiang, Phoenix Dancong is part of the Teakan’s Spring 2020 Exploration box, which I purchased at the 2020 Vancouver Tea Festival back in March. This Exploration Box consists of 5 teas and Milan Xiang, Phoenix Dancong was 10g of the 70g.

First Impressions

Milan Xiang, Phoenix Dancong comes in a sealed, resealable kraft paper pouch. Like the other teas that came in the Spring 2020 Exploration box, Milan Xiang has a minimalist white and black label on the packaging that provides all the information that I need about the tea. This oolong tea comes from Wudong, Guangdong, China and was harvested in spring 2019.

The leaves themselves are long and wiry, in dark brown and reddish brown colours. There is a beautiful fragrance from the leaves – it reminds me of floral and buttery aromas. It’s so inviting and smells sweet, which is nice. And look at those beautiful leaves! So gorgeous and just makes me want to dive right in.

Preparation

Teakan recommends steeping Milan Xiang in 95°C (203°F) water for 2 minutes (western steeping style) or 5 seconds (gongfu method). 5 seconds was much too quick for me, so I opted to use 93°C (200°F) water and do an initial steep for 2 minutes.

First Taste

Milan Xiang steeps to a light golden yellow colour. The flavour of Milan Xiang is primarily that of buttery cream and floral sweetness. It’s really nice, and has a thickened texture for the mouthfeel, which is nice. It reminds me a lot of a milk oolong, and just has those buttery cream qualities that I enjoy in an oolong. There just the perfect level of sweetness in the tea that makes it really delicious and would likely go well with a lot of dishes.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Milan Xiang a total of five times (six steeps total), adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. I found that the flavour to be strongest for the first and second resteeps, while slowly waning for the steeps after that. I do think I could have gotten a few more steeps out of these leaves, as it was still quite flavourful by the end of the sixth steep of these leaves. The buttery cream flavour was just so tasty and made me want to drink more and more.

My Overall Impression

I loved Teakan’s Milan Xiang, Phoenix Dancong. I really enjoyed the whole process of drinking this tea – from admiring the dry leaf, to the fragrance of the steeped tea, to just resteeping it over and over again. Definitely resteep these leaves to get all the flavour out of them – it’s just so good! The buttery cream flavours would balance well against a savoury meal, or just add a little something something to a dessert.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.

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Tielka’s Tielka Breakfast

Tielka Breakfast by Tielka
Black Tea / Straight
$13.00 for 65g

Tielka has provided me with Tielka Breakfast for the purposes of writing an honest review.

Until June 21st 2020, when you order a pouch of Tielka Breakfast from Tielka, you’ll receive a free storage tin with your order when you mention One More Steep in the comments of your order!

First Impressions

Tielka Breakfast comes in a printed white cardstock box that has a printed label on it. The label has a perforation right where the flap closes, which is a nice feature because you don’t have to peel it up to open the box. The tea itself comes in a vacuum sealed pouch that is not resealable, but that’s nothing that a plastic zip top bag won’t fix (I like to keep my tea in original packaging when possible, and using a baggie helps keep the tea longer since exposure to air, light, and moisture is usually what gets the tea stale, or moldy if it’s water exposure).

Tielka Breakfast is a Dianhong black tea from Yunnan Province, China. It’s a black tea that’s harvested in the May to August season (so summer), and Tielka describes it as being “hand harvested and crafted by organic artisan tea farmers”. This tea is certified organic and fair trade, which I think is awesome because it means that the workers on tea farms are being paid fair wages for their labour. The tea leaves themselves are a lovely dark brown with some golden pops throughout. There’s a rich aroma to the tea leaves – a mix of yeast that reminds me of baked goods, with some caramel notes.

Preparation

Tielka recommends steeping Tielka Breakfast in 100°C (212°F) water for 3 minutes. I followed the steeping instructions to a tee (to a tea?).

First Taste

Tielka Breakfast steeps to a dark reddish brown colour, and it has a caramel aroma to it. The tea itself is smooth with a mild astringency. I notice that there’s some yeasty notes again, it still reminds me of freshly baked bread, as well as some caramel flavours. There’s a slight sweetness to it, which I think could be easily boosted with some sweetener if that’s your norm for a breakfast tea.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Tielka Breakfast twice, adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. I found that the flavour was fairly strong still for the first resteep but was a bit weak for more with the second resteep. I would recommend experimenting a bit, if you’re not that picky you can definitely get three steeps out of the same leaves.

My Overall Impression

I loved Tielka’s Tiekla Breakfast. I really enjoyed the flavour of this straight black tea, it had some nice caramel notes and bread-y/yeasty flavours to it. It kind of lends itself to an almost malty flavour, like what you usually find in Assam black teas. It’s not as in-your-face as a traditional breakfast blend would be, there’s definitely some milder flavours in there, but I think it’s really well balanced. This tea would take to sweetener and creamer really nicely, in my opinion, so it’s a great option for afternoon tea if you’re setting something up at home.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.