Author: Michelle

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Oteas’s Green Tea with Peppermint

Green Tea with Peppermint by Oteas
Green Tea / Flavoured
$6.95 for 30g (12 sachets)

Oteas has provided me with Green Tea with Peppermint for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

Green Tea with Peppermint came in what is now a very familiar to me cardstock box. This one was plastic shrink-wrapped, which meant not plastic bag inside holding the tea bags. The tea bags are, again, biodegradable – which I think is so great because every little bit helps when it comes to the environment!

The first thing I smelled when opening up this box was the peppermint (and more peppermint). I can’t really smell the green tea base, but that’s not too surprising given how strong of an ingredient peppermint (and any other mint) can be. Green Tea with Peppermint consists of: green tea and peppermint.

Preparation

Oteas recommends steeping Green Tea with Peppermint in 85-90°C (185-194°F) water for 2 to 3 minutes. My initial steep was in 85°C water for 2 minutes.

First Taste

Green Tea with Peppermint steeps to a dark golden yellow. There’s a very obvious peppermint aroma from the tea, it’s very pleasant – although also makes me feel like I should be going to sleep soon because I do sometimes associate peppermint and other similar herbal infusions to be more of a sleepy time/bedtime tea than anything else. There’s a nice freshness to the blend that I found pleasant – there’s the brightness from the peppermint and it’s quite strong. The green tea base is considerably lighter in flavour compared to the peppermint, but the mint is such strong aroma and flavour that I’m not overly surprised by that.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Green Tea with Peppermint once and found that the flavour was very similar to the initial steep, just not as strong in peppermint, which is to be expected. It was pleasant and tasty.

My Overall Impression

I liked OTeas’s Green Tea with Peppermint. I think if you’re a fan of peppermint tea, you’ll be really pleased with this one. The peppermint flavour is really strong throughout and it does well for a resteep to get that extra flavour and value out of your tea sachet. I’m not a huge fan of peppermint usually, so it’s not likely to be a tea that I’m wind up stocking in my tea stash (and that’s the primarily reason for a lower score). I still think it’s really tasty and tastes as I had expected it to. I think if I was a fan of peppermint, it’d definitely be blend that I’d want to keep on hand.

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Murchie’s Earl’s Garden

Earl’s Garden by Murchie’s
Green Tea & Oolong Tea / Flavoured
$7.95 for 2oz (56g)

Murchie’s has provided me with Earl’s Garden for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

I was very excited and eager to try this tea when I opened my package from Murchie’s. Any tea name with the word “Earl” in the title makes me think of Earl Grey – which is a lovely classic black tea blend that I love and also have really high standards for. Earl’s Garden came in a plastic sealed, resealable bag with some information on the front of it.

The label calls it a green tea, but there were was clearly some oolong in that blend there – along with some jasmine. Which basically made me think that I’m in for a real treat! The first thing I noticed is the strong aroma of the jasmine and a hint of citrus from the bergamot. The green tea and oolong tea are both present, I’d hazard a guess that it’s maybe a 50-50 blend (or possibly just leaning a bit more towards the green tea). Earl’s Garden consists of: Chinese green tea, oolong tea, natural and artificial flavouring, jasmine flowers, and bergamot oil.

Preparation

Murchie’s recommends steeping Earl’s Garden in 175-180°F (79-82°C) water for 2 to 3 minutes. My initial steep was in 175°F water for 2 minutes.

First Taste

Earl’s Garden steeps to a beautiful golden yellow with a very fragrant floral aroma from the tea itself. I found that the flavour of jasmine is the most obvious, followed by the floral and creamy notes from the green and oolong tea base. There’s a light hint of citrus notes in the background of the tea, which is strong enough for me to know that it is bergamot. It does remind me of being in garden, because the jasmine is very present.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Earl’s Garden twice, adding an additional 30 seconds for each steep. On the first resteep, I noticed that the jasmine flavour was considerably less, along with the bergamot and both flavours were virtually gone by the second resteep. The base teas – green tea and oolong tea – do resteep quite well. There’s still that natural floral and creamy flavours that I noticed in the initial steep that are very much present throughout each steep.

If you’re a fan of the jasmine and bergamot, I would do at least one more steep. If you’re a fan of the green tea and oolong base, continue steeping until you exhaust the flavours.

My Overall Impression

I loved Murchie’s Earl’s Garden. I think it’s a clever spin on a popular classic. While I had initially hoped that the bergamot would have been added in with a heavier hand, I found it to be quite pleasant. Present in the flavour profile, but not overpowering the flavours of the green tea, oolong tea, or the jasmine flowers. I think that the tea was very well balanced between each ingredient, and found that the flavour to very pleasant. I never once found that the tea was overly perfumed with the floral notes, which is always a risk when using any sort of floral ingredient. This tea definitely feels a bit delicate tasting though, and would be a lovely tea option to have with a spring or summer tea party.

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DavidsTea’s Honey Ginseng Defence

Honey Ginseng Defence by DavidsTea
Oolong Tea / Flavoured
$12.98 for 50g

First Impressions

Honey Ginseng Defence is actually a tea that I picked up in January of this year when it first came out. I got to try a little bit in store and decided it was interesting enough to buy a little bit to steep at home. As always, DavidsTea’s loose leaf tea comes in silver foil bags that are resealable. If you buy the tea online, they come in heat-sealed, resealable bags but if you buy it in store, the bags aren’t heat sealed. Makes for easier opening, in my opinion.

The aroma of Honey Ginseng Defence is primarily that of a berry fragrance, with some floral and honey notes. Honey Ginseng Defence consists of oolong tea, goji berries, ginger, marigold blossoms, ginseng, natural honey and goji berry flavouring.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Honey Ginseng Defence in 90°C (195°F) water for 4 to 5 minutes. I followed the steeping instructions and my initial steep of Honey Ginseng Defence was for 4 minutes.

First Taste

Honey Ginseng Defence steeps to a light yellow (honey yellow…?). There’s some sweet floral fragrance notes, and a hint of fruitiness. The flavour is primarily floral and honey sweetness, although I can taste a bit of the ginseng, a hint of ginger, and the creamy oolong base. While I do know what goji berries smell and taste like, I don’t really get a goji berry flavour from the tea – the fruitiness that I do find reminds me more of mixed berries (raspberries, blueberries, etc.).

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Honey Ginseng Defence twice, adding an extra 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. I found by the second resteep, the flavour of the tea was primarily that of the oolong base – which has some great buttery and creamy qualities to it. If you love oolong, you’ll probably enjoy resteeping this blend. If you were more of a fan of the tea as a blend, you may find it to be a bit more ‘meh’ to your liking.

My Overall Impression

I liked DavidsTea’s Honey Ginseng Defence. I thought that the blend was really pleasant and was quite tasty. I’m a bit disappointed that the tea as a blend didn’t resteep that well, but I’m glad that the oolong had some nice quality to it and it allowed for a tasty steep. I wish that the tea had more of a goji berry flavour to it, despite having both goji berries and the flavouring of goji berries, I found it to be on the lacking side. That said, the ginseng was noticeable, as was the honey, so it still made for a nice cup of tea.

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