Author: Michelle

Posted on

Trudy Ann’s Apple Pie Chai

Apple Pie Chai by Trudy Ann’s
Rooibos / Flavoured
$14.99 for 100g

First Impressions

Trudy Ann’s Apple Pie Chai is another tea that I got at the 2018 Vancouver Tea Festival (oh yes, I spent a lot of time at her booth!). Surprisingly, this is a rooibos blend. I know what you’re all thinking, “But Michelle, you don’t like rooibos blends”. That’s right, traditionally I don’t. There’s just something not tasty about the medicinal-like base that straight rooibos has, and there are some rooibos blends that I enjoy. Apple Pie Chai smells pretty much like apple pie, and I can’t smell the rooibos blend – so I consider that a win overall and it makes me willing to give it a try.

Apple Pie Chai consists of: rooibos, apple, cinnamon, and cloves. I think it’s the combination of the cinnamon and cloves that really makes me think about apple pie. They’re just such classic ingredients that it makes me think of that warm, autumn dessert. The ingredients are fairly easy to pick out, especially the very generous amount of dried apple pieces.

Preparation

Trudy Ann’s recommends steeping Apple Pie Chai in hot water for 5 to 10 minutes. I opted to steep with 100°C (212°F) water for 7 minutes.

First Taste

Apple Pie Chai steeps to a deep reddish orange. My initial steep of Apple Pie Chai was with a stainless steel infuser, and I found that a lot of the little ‘bits’ came out into the tea. If this bothers you, I’d recommend using a filter bag to steep your Apple Pie Chai for a clearer steep. I can smell the rooibos base in the steeped tea, but I can also smell the apple and cinnamon. The cloves aren’t as strong compared to the dry base. Apple Pie Chai has a thickened mouthfeel to it, and I can taste the apple and the cinnamon. A pleasant surprise I found with the Apple Pie Chai is that I cannot taste the rooibos blend – win!

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep of Apple Pie Chai and steeped it for 10 minutes. I found that a lot of the flavours that I loved in the initial steep were quite muted, and the rooibos base is quite pronounced. So if you love the taste of rooibos, I would recommend resteeping Apple Pie Chai. If you’re like me and enjoy the other flavours more, I would stick to one steep.

My Overall Impression

I loved Trudy Ann’s Apple Pie Chai. I love that the dry leaf and the steeped tea smells just like apple pie, it definitely makes me think of the dessert. The flavour of this rooibos base are delicious, and it makes for a great caffeine-free dessert tea. If you’re not a fan of the flavour of rooibos, I would highly recommend just sticking to the initial steep.

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

Posted on

Oollo Tea’s Honey Scented Black Tea

Honey Scented Black Tea by Oollo Tea
Black Tea / Straight
$8.00 for 25g

First Impressions

Oollo Tea was a vendor at the 2018 Vancouver Tea Festival, and I’m always pleased to sample teas at their booth because oolong is one of my favourites. And then there’s this tea, which is not quite an oolong. Honey Scented Black Tea is described by Oollo Tea as a “secret hybrid tea” as a mix between a black tea and an oolong tea. Either way, it was delicious when I sampled it which just meant that I had to try it.

The tea itself comes in a silver package – it was actually part of a ‘mystery’ grab bag that was available at the Tea Festival (I love grab bags, I don’t know why – I just like the surprise aspect of it, I think). The packaging is not resealable, which was okay because I do have extra tea tins around. If you lack a tea tin, you can put the packaging into a glass jar or a resealable bag – the important thing is to keep tea from going stale by keeping it away from light, air, and moisture.

Besides the stamped information on the front of the packaging, there wasn’t any other information regarding this tea. Luckily, Oollo Tea keeps information up on their website. The leaves themselves are dark, long, and wiry. The aroma from the dry leaf is primarily sweet like honey, with a hint of honey dew and flowers. Honey Scented Black Tea is from a Qingxin Oolong varietal, which was grown by the Fu family in Pingling, New Taipei, Taiwan at 400m elevation above sea level and harvested during the winter of 2017 – in case you wanted to ever pin point exactly when your tea was harvested.

Preparation

Oollo Tea recommends steeping Honey Scented Black Tea in 90-95°C (194-203°F) water for 2 minutes, and suggests that it can be resteeped two additional times. My initial steep was with 93°C (200°F) water for 2 minutes.

First Taste

Honey Scented Black Tea steeps to a beautiful orange colour, with a lovely honey aroma to it. No surprise, given the name of the tea. On first taste, I can taste the honey sweetness, it has a thin textured mouthfeel to it that easily coats the mouth. I found the honey dew freshness at the end of each sip, which makes the tea all the more pleasant. There’s a touch of astringency at the end of each sip as well, but it isn’t too much to make the tea off-putting. Surprisingly, there is no floral flavours in the Honey Scented Black Tea, despite me initially tasting it.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Honey Scented Black Tea three times, adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. I found that the flavour stated pretty consistent as I drank each steep, I found that the flavour stayed pretty strong through each steep, although was a touch weaker for the third resteep (fourth steep total). I would say that Honey Scented Black Tea is good for at least two additional resteeps, as recommended by Oollo Tea, and I would push it for a third if you really want to get your money’s worth out of this tea!

My Overall Impression

I loved Oollo Tea’s Honey Scented Black Tea. It has a great honey flavour, with the crisp freshness from the honey dew flavours. If you don’t like astringency in your tea, I would suggest lowering the amount of time spent for each steep (perhaps 90 seconds instead of 2 minutes!), and definitely resteep this one to get all the flavour out of those leaves. It is a very enjoyable black tea, I think it’d be a great afternoon tea alternative from the classic Earl Grey because of the honey notes. That said, it’d probably take cream and sugar well since it is a black tea, but I don’t think you need to go too each on the sweetener!

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

Posted on

kyth + kyn’s Digest

Digest by kyth + kyn
Herbal Infusion / Straight
$9.98 for 25g

First Impressions

Coming in a now-familiar kraft paper pouch is kyth + kyn’s Digest. The packaging is a plastic and foil lined kraft paper pouch that’s resealable – one of my favourite features in any good tea packaging. Digest is said to help with poor food decisions (on the front of the packaging, kyth + kyn wrote “For all those times when that extra slice of cake ended up being a terrible idea” – clearly they have never met me because an extra slice of cake is never a terrible idea).

The aroma of Digest is primarily that of peppermint, which isn’t surprising when you look at the blend itself. Digest consists of: peppermint, ginger root, and chen pi. For those who didn’t grow up in a Chinese household, chen pi is also known as sun-dried tangerine peels. They’re left to dry and are commonly used in eastern medicine.

Preparation

kyth + kyn recommends steeping Digest in hot water for 3 to 5 minutes. I opted to steep at 200°F (93°C) for 5 minutes.

First Taste

Digest steeps to a really pretty golden orange. The aroma is pretty much primarily the peppermint, which isn’t much of a surprise considering how prominent it was in the dry leaf. The flavour of Digest is a mix of citrus sweetness, peppermint, and the warming qualities of the ginger. It’s really quite pleasant, and does warm me from the inside out. I can see why this blend would be geared towards indigestion/stomach issues, since the peppermint and ginger are both quite known to help with those. The chen pi is an ingredient also used for enhancing digestion.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Digest once, and found that the peppermint was considerably weaker compared to the initial steep. The ginger and citrus notes from the chen pi were present and more noticeable. If you’re looking for the peppermint taste, I would say that Digest is good for just one steep. If you’re happy to drink an infusion of primarily ginger and chen pi, then do one more steep.

My Overall Impression

I liked kyth + kyn’s Digest. I tried this initially at the 2018 Vancouver Tea Festival, and more recently when I was feeling under the weather. While I didn’t have indigestion or stomach issues, I wasn’t feeling particularly hungry due to being sick and I think that having that peppermint and ginger infusion helped to settle my stomach a little bit. It’s definitely not a blend that I would have every day, because I tend to attribute those flavours to when I’m feeling sick. Digest is a blend that I’m going to keep in my ‘sick time’ tea blend stash because it definitely has a place there. I’d probably rate it higher if I was having bloating or indigestion, because then I would really be able to test the herbal qualities of the ingredients found in Digest.

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