Author: Michelle

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Palate Tea’s Glenburn Monsoon

Glenburn Monsoon by Palate Tea
Black Tea / Straight
$7.00 for 100g

First Impressions

I first tried Glenburn Monsoon at the 2018 Vancouver Tea Festival, where Palate Tea had this tea available for sampling and sale. The tea gets its name from the time of year that it is harvested – not spring, not autumn, but during monsoon season (which occurs during late summer), as well as from the estate/tea farm that it was harvested at (Glenburn, in India).

This black tea has a lovely mix of leaves – mostly short dark leaves with some lighter leaves mixed in. The aroma of Glenburn Monsoon is slightly salty, with a grassy aroma. It reminds me a lot of the aroma of some green teas.

Preparation

I opted to steep Glenburn Monsoon in 100°C (212°F) water for 3 minutes. If you ever come across a tea without instructions, you can see my steeping guide.

First Taste

Glenburn Monsoon steeps to a beautiful orange colour. There’s a lovely aroma that smells grassy. The tea itslf has a slightly thickened mouthfeel, which leads to a nice coating in my mouth as I sip it. The flavour is a mix of fruity and toasted nuts, which is a pleasant surprise compared to the grassy notes from the dry leaf. For a straight tea, it’s pleasantly complex and lovely to drink. There is a grassy aftertaste with each sip.

I did pour a second cup from my tea pot, and had it with a little bit of locally harvested honey and some evaporated milk. I found that the honey brought out more of the fruity flavour from the tea.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Glenburn Monsoon four times (five steeps total), and added an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. The flavour of the tea became more fruity and less nutty with each steep, which was pleasant to drink.

My Overall Impression

I loved Palate Tea’s Glenburn Monsoon. I found this black tea to be wonderfully complex from the dry leaf and through each steep. While I liked the mix of fruit and nuts flavour of the straight tea, I found it to be even better for me with a bit of honey and evaporated milk. It has a great flavour, and I really liked the mouthfeel of this tea. I think it’d be a great addition to my afternoon tea line-up since I often like teas that take well with cream and sugar.

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Aroma Tea House’s Phoenix Dancong

Phoenix Dancong by Aroma Tea House
Oolong Tea / Straight
$8.00 for 20g

First Impressions

Phoenix Dancong came to me in a foil and plastic resealable bag. The name of the tea appears on a bright, printed label with little other information. The back has the address for Aroma Tea House. The aroma of this tea reminds of roasted nuts – a mix of cashews and chestnuts come to mind. It has a deep, roasted aroma that is quite pleasant.

The leaves of Phoenix Dancong are beautiful – there are some beautiful long, wiry leaves that are reddish-black in colour. Phoenix Dancong is a straight oolong tea. I wasn’t able to find it on the Aroma Tea House website, but this tea comes from Guangdong Province, China.

Preparation

I opted to do an initial steep of Phoenix Dancong at 195°F (90°C) for 2 minutes. If you ever get a tea and you’re not sure about steeping times and temperature, or this information isn’t provided, you can use my steeping guide.

First Taste

Phoenix Dancong steeps to a golden orange. The aroma of the tea has a slight nuttiness that reminds me a lot of the dry leaf. The flavour of nut with a mild sweetness, it does continue to remind me of having a bit of toasted flavour. I found with a 2 minute steep, there is a slight astringnecy that is at the tail end of each steep. The astringency isn’t off-putting though, and gives it a layer of complexity that works well with the toasted flavours.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Phoenix Dancong six times (seven steeps total), adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. The flavour stayed fairly consistent throughout with the toasted nuts flavour, and the sweetness did disappear by the second resteep. The astringency did get a little bit more pronounced with each steep, but it was still tasty.

My Overall Impression

I resteeped Phoenix Dancong six times (seven steeps total), adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. The flavour stayed fairly consistent throughout with the toasted nuts flavour, and the sweetness did disappear by the second resteep. The astringency did get a little bit more pronounced with each steep, but it was still tasty.

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DavidsTea’s Grand Cru Matcha

Grand Cru Matcha by DavidsTea
Green Tea (Matcha) / Straight
$24.98 for 50g

First Impressions

Sometimes I like to pat myself on the back for actually remembering to post about matcha on a Monday for #matchamonday – although I am aware that I may be the only one who cares about this. Grand Cru Matcha from DavidsTea is one of the pricier matcha options from this Canadian tea company, I actually got mine through the Frequent Steeper program ($100 in purchases → 100 points → 50g of any one tea, with some exceptions).

Grand Cru Matcha comes in a sealed, resealable foil bag. Because it came with an online order, instead of me going out to the closest local retail location, it came with a coloured printed label. Grand Cru Matcha is a lovely bright green powder, it has a strong grassy aroma to it. This straight matcha consists only of matcha green tea from Nishio, Japan. A little internet search tells me that Nishio is the largest producer of matcha in Japan.

Preparation

The packaging for Grand Cru Matcha recommends steeping tin hot water, and preparing with a whisk. On the product page of DavidsTea’s website, the recommendation is to whisk the matcha with 75°C (170°F) water. The lowest temperature my Breville IQ Kettle goes to is 175ºF, so I allowed the water to cool for approximately 5 minutes before whisking.

First Taste

How I typically prepare matcha is to sift the powder, and then whisk with a small amount of water. After it’s well whisked with a frothy top, I add water to thin it out since I don’t like my matcha too thick tasting. When photographing for this review, I forgot to take a photo of the matcha when it still had to froth, so instead I have a photo of after adding water to thin it out.

Grand Cru Matcha is a darker green once whisked. The aroma from the matcha is mostly grass with some vegetal notes. The flavour of Grand Cru Matcha is a mix of salty, grassy, vegetal flavours (reminds of me spinach, to be honest!), with some umami notes. There’s a pleasant smoothness to this matcha that makes it goes down easy.

If you’re not a fan of the umami/salty notes, you can always add a bit of sweetener when turning this into a matcha latte. I’ve also seen some posts online about mixing Grand Cru Matcha with some lemonade for a bit of a summery drink!

A Second Cup?

Grand Cru Matcha, like other matcha, is a suspension, so there are no repeat steeps!

My Overall Impression

I loved DavidsTea’s Grand Cru Matcha. There was something zen-like about the process of me preparing this matcha, and then drinking it was a little adventure in itself. I love the act of sifting and whisking matcha, it’s just a lot more involved than simply steeping a cup of tea – although there’s nothing wrong with that either. Grand Cru Matcha has a lovely flavour balance of grassy, umami, and vegetal notes that I think a lot of people who enjoy matcha would like. It is on the pricier end of DavidsTea’s tea selection, so it may be a good idea to get to a store to get a smaller amount or use a redemption reward on it!

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