Author: Michelle

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The Secret Garden Tea Company’s Buckingham Palace Tea

Buckingham Palace Tea by The Secret Garden Tea Company
Black Tea & Green Tea / Flavoured
$13.00 for 100g

First Impressions

Buckingham Palace Tea is one of the teas that I picked up back in March when I went to The Secret Garden Tea Company for afternoon tea with my friend (review here). This black and green tea blend comes in a paper pouch that is plastic lined with a tabbed closure. It isn’t air tight, so it doesn’t make for the best tea storing method – but that is easily remedied with a spare tea tin. Buckingham Palace Tea is described by The Secret Garden Tea Company as one of their best selling teas. The packaging only mentions the name of the tea and weight – there are no ingredients or steeping recommendations listed on the packaging.

As per the product page on The Secret Garden Tea Company’s website, Buckingham Palace Tea consists of: black tea, green tea, cornflower and jasmine petals, and natural flavouring. Bergamot is mentioned in the description, so my assumption is that bergamot is one of the natural flavourings. The tea itself is beautiful, with the obvious vibrant cornflower petals. I didn’t see many jasmine petals throughout the tea. The aroma of tea is a mix of citrus and floral. The aroma of tea base reminds me a lot of a strong black breakfast tea.

Preparation

As mentioned, there were no steeping instructions for Buckingham Palace Tea. As it does contain a green tea, I opted to use a lower water temperature (175°F/79°C) for 2 minutes.

If you find yourself making a tea that is a blend, it’s always a good idea to try steeping it according to the tea that uses a lower temperature water.

First Taste

Buckingham Palace Tea steeps to a beautiful reddish orange. It has a strong citrus aroma and really does remind me of the smell of an Assam black tea. I found that this tea had light citrus/bergamot flavour, with a touch of astringency despite the short steep. There was a mild bitterness noted at the tail end of each sip that I wasn’t too big of a fan of. I didn’t really taste the green tea or the jasmine, I think the flavour of the black tea and bergamot was a bit overwhelming for those more delicate flavours.

I did add a bit of white sugar and some evaporated milk. I found it helped with the astringency and bitterness, making the tea more palatable for my taste buds.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Buckingham Palace Tea once, adding 30 seconds for the resteep. I found that the flavour was primarily of the black tea base – it really does remind me of a strong breakfast tea. There’s still the astringency present, and that bitterness.

My Overall Impression

I thought that The Secret Garden Tea Company’s Buckingham Palace Tea was just okay. I think this tea is really tasty when it has some sweetener and milk added to it, which makes it a nice option for afternoon tea. By itself, I’m not really a fan. I did a relatively short steep and found it to be astringent and bitter – perhaps the green tea is a touch too delicate and requires an even shorter steeping time, but then the black tea doesn’t really get to shine. I didn’t taste the green tea or jasmine at all, which was disappointing for me. I found it to be very similar to an Earl Grey with the bergamot and black tea base.

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Snapdragon & Thistle’s Pomegranate Green

Pomegranate Green by Snapdragon & Thistle
Green Tea / Flavoured
$8.00USD for 2oz

Snapdragon & Thistle has provided me with Pomegranate Green for the purposes of providing an honest review.

Use coupon code INSTA01 for 10% off your order of Pomegranate Green from Snapdragon & Thistle! Coupon code valid for May 2019.

First Impressions

Snapdragon & Thistle’s Pomegranate Green came to me in a sealed, resealable kraft paper pouch that is plastic lined. The front label identifies the tea, while there was a label on the back hat told me how to steep the tea, the ingredients, and the web and retail addresses for Snapdragon & Thistle.

The first thing I noted when I opened the packaging was how fruity the tea smells! There’s a strong fruity fragrance that does remind me of pomegranates with a floral sweetness in the background. Pomegranate Green consists of: Chinese sencha green tea, pomegranate flavouring, and rose petals. The rose petals are very light in the aroma of the dry leaf, which is nice because I never want to anticipate drinking a bouquet of flowers.

Preparation

Snapdragon & Thistle recommends steeping Pomegranate Green in 170°F (77°C) water for 3 minutes. My variable temperature kettle’s lowest temperature setting is 175°F (79°C), so I allowed the water to cool for 5 minutes before steeping the green tea blend for 3 minutes.

First Taste

Pomegranate Green steeps to a light golden yellow colour. There’s a very fruity aroma from the steeped tea, and I do smell a hint of roses as well – but as with the dry leaf, the roses play second fiddle to the pomegranate. I did notice that there were some fine little tea bits that got out of my stainless steel infuser, which you can see below in the photo. The flavour of Pomegranate Green is sweet and fruity, with a hint of rose in the tail end of each sip. I found that there was a slight saltiness in the background of each sip, which I attribute to the sencha base but it isn’t off-putting at all. If anything, it highlights the floral notes somehow.

I think Pomegranate Green would make for a nice iced tea since it has those fruity notes that are so popular in cold drinks. If you’re concerned about oversteeping the green tea, I would recommend cold steeping the tea.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Pomegranate Green once, adding an additional 30 seconds to the steeping time. I found that with the resteep, the pomegranate fruitiness was considerably less while the sencha base and rose flavours were more pronounced. So if you’re not a fan of the fruitiness, be sure to keep steeping it!

My Overall Impression

I liked Snapdragon & Thistle’s Pomegranate Green. I found the flavours to be pleasant and flavourful in the initial steep. The pomegranate flavour plays really nicely with the sencha green tea, and the rose petals aren’t overwhelming at all – which is always a concern of mine since I’m not always a fan of drinking heavily floral teas. I do wish that the pomegranate flavour had sustained longer for a second steep of the same leaves because it was so tasty in the first steep.

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DavidsTea’s Wild Honey Matcha

Wild Honey Matcha by DavidsTea
Green Tea (Matcha) / Flavored
$9.98 for 50g

First Impressions

Wild Honey Matcha intrigued me enough to buy it because I have a huge sweet tooth and the idea of trying it seemed like a good idea. Wild Honey Matcha comes in a sealed, resealable foil pouch with a green and white label on the front. It’s considered to be a ‘drink mix’ because, yet again, it has cane sugar listed as the primary ingredient.

This grassy-green powder is easily sifted and has a slight sparkle to it – thanks to the cane sugar. It has an inviting sweet floral aroma to it. Wild Honey Matcha consists of: cane sugar, matcha green tea, and natural wildflower honey flavouring. I was hopeful for dehydrated honey in the blend.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends using 5 to 7 matcha spoonfuls per drink (16oz/475mL), whisked in 85°C (185°F) water. I opted to use 2 spoonfuls (1 matcha spoon = ½ teaspoon) in my matcha bowl, sifted, and whisked in the appropriate temperature water.

First Taste

Wild Honey Matcha has a dark green colour when whisked, but it doesn’t forth very easily when whisked. I found that Wild Honey Matcha has a very sweet, floral aroma to it. On first taste, I mostly taste the sweetness from the sugar. On further sips, I can find the floral flavour and a light grassy background to the matcha.

I think this would be a great matcha to have iced or as a latte (or an iced latte?) as the milk would help temper the sweetness a bit since it has plenty of sugar in it! I did pour some of it into a cup with milk and found it to be very pleasant as an iced latte, and the milk helped to cut the sweetness considerably while retaining the floral flavours.

A Second Cup?

As always, there was no second steep for matcha.

My Overall Impression

I thought that DavidsTea’s Wild Honey Matcha was just okay. I found it disappointing that a matcha blend called Wild Honey had cane sugar as the primary sweetening agent instead of dehydrated honey – which is a possibility. The floral flavouring from the natural wildflower honey flavouring was quite enjoyable, but I do think that it was overwhelmed by the cane sugar in the blend. I would recommend having this with milk to make it into a latte, it will help lessen the sweetness overall.

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