Author: Michelle

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Trader Joe’s Organic Pomegranate White Tea

Organic Pomegranate White Tea by Trader Joe’s
White Tea / Flavoured
$2.49USD for 30g (1oz), 20 sachets

First Impressions

Organic Pomegranate White Tea was one of my purchases from my cross-border tea haul trip back in September (I’m almost done reviewing those teas, I swear). Organic Pomegranate White Tea is one of my Trader Joe’s finds, and came in a cardstock box. Each tea bag comes individually wrapped in clear plastic and there’s two staples with each sachet – one on the bag itself and the other on the tag. Not impressed.

Update! Sarah [in the comments below] mentions that this tea no longer comes with staples as of October 2021.

That said, the tea itself smells lovely. I can smell hibiscus, lemongrass, and pomegranate – all very nice fragrances. The ingredients in Organic Pomegranate White Tea are: white tea, hibiscus flowers, lemongrass, natural flavours, pomegranate extract, natural orange flavour, natural lemon flavour, and other natural flavours (all organic). Fun fact, Organic Pomegranate White Tea is sold in Trader Joe’s (American company) but is a product of Canada (where I live).

Preparation

Trader Joe’s recommends steeping Organic Pomegranate White Tea in boiling water (100°C/212°F) for 3 to 5 minutes. My initial steep of Organic Pomegranate White Tea was for 5 minutes.

First Taste

Organic Pomegranate White Tea steeps to a beautiful dark pink, many thanks to the hibiscus in the blend. The first thing I notice about this white tea blend is the tartness. I think we can thank the hibiscus for that. Other flavours that I can make out is sweetness, floral notes, and a fruity flavour that does remind me of pomegranate (perhaps suggested since it’s in the name?). I find myself searching for the white tea base, I can’t taste white tea because the other flavours are quite overwhelming and powerful in comparison.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Organic Pomegranate White Tea and found that the flavour was very poor compared to the initial steep. I would recommend steeping Organic Pomegranate White Tea just the one time.

My Overall Impression

I thought that Trader Joe’s Organic Pomegranate White Tea was just okay. The thing that really bothers me the most about Organic Pomegranate White Tea is the sheer amount of packaging. The cardstock box is okay, because that will go in recycling, but the individual clear plastic packaging around each tea bag is unnecessary – along with those staples! Staples aren’t biodegradable, so if you’re looking to pop the tea into your green waste bin when you’re done, there’s an extra step to remove the staples in order to be environmentally friendly. That said, the flavour of the tea is really nice and I think its great – it’d be fantastic as an iced tea because of the fruity tartness, but Organic Pomegranate White Tea does fail from an environmental standpoint.

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

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How to Make Shaped Sugar Cubes

I have made it no secret that I love afternoon tea. There’s something decadent about having three tiers of petite savories and sweets, freshly made Devonshire cream in little pots just waiting to go onto a warm scone, and those little bowls of sugar cubes. I love popping one into my cup and watching it dissolve before adding a touch of cream to a nice cup of Earl Grey.

The frugal girl in me hates the idea of both buying regular white sugar and sugar cubes when it’s all the same thing (right?), and then there’s the lack of organic cane sugar or golden sugar that comes in cube form – at least at my local grocery stores. Which really begs the question: is there a way to DIY it? You bet there is!

Ingredients:

½ cup white granulated sugar (or the sugar of your choice)
1½ to 2 tsp water
Gel food colouring (optional)

You’ll need a bowl and a spoon for mixing, and some kind of silicone mold. A regular ice cube tray has cavities that are much too large. I’d suggest looking at candy molds if your local kitchen supply or big box arts & crafts store carries them (I’ve also had luck finding cute candy molds in some dollar stores). The number of sugar ‘cubes’ you’ll wind up really depend on the size of your molds.

Directions:

Mix the sugar and water (and food colouring) until it clumps together like wet sand.
Press the sugar into the silicone mold.
Set the mold aside to dry overnight or for a day. If the mold has very deep cavities, it will take longer for each cavity to fully dry.
Once dry, you can push the shaped sugar cubes out of each cavity one by one.

If kept in a dry container, these sugar ‘cubes’ should be essentially shelf stable indefinitely (but you probably won’t keep it around for that long). If you are making them for a tea party and you are planning to travel with them, I would recommend nestling them in a paper towel in a small container so they don’t move around as much (less potential for breakage!).

Feel free to colour these sugar shapes for your events! You can easily customize them to be pink for Valentine’s, red & green for the holidays, orange & black for Halloween, and whatever colour you want for a bestie’s bridal shower. As long as you can find it as a food colouring option, it’s a possibility. Custom shaped sugar cubes can be just really darling and really make an even all that more special. Or you can just make your Saturday afternoon tea all that more special for yourself, because why not?

 

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Plus Rigina’s Green Tea Milk Spread

Green Tea Milk Spread by Plus Rigina
Green Tea / Flavoured
250g Jar

I received Plus Rigina’s Green Tea Milk Spread as a gift earlier this year because, as rumour has it, I really like tea and people tend to think I want to try tea things (spoiler: the rumour is true).

First Impressions

Green Tea Milk Spread comes in a glass jar, it’s an imported product from Taiwan. I’ve never seen it in a store in the Metropolitan Vancouver area, and a quick Google search turned up nothing for the brand or product so I’m not entirely sure where you can find it (sorry?). But it’s tea related, and I’m a fan of potential bagel spreads, so I did have to give it a try.

The ingredients in Green Tea Milk Spread are full cream milk powder, sunflower oil, sugar, water, green tea powder, and whey protein. After opening and popping the seal on the lid, I found that the spread has a thick consistency. It’s a bit softer than commercially produced peanut butter, perhaps it’s similar to Nutella (chocolate and hazelnut spread, if you’re not familiar). The aroma of the Green Tea Milk Spread is sweet, and has a very mild green tea aroma. This product is shelf-stable prior to opening, and must be refrigerated after opening.

First Taste

After toasting a bagel, I put the Green Tea Milk Spread on it. I’m not generally one for thick layers of smear on my bagels (aside from cream cheese, I do love cream cheese!) and this product doesn’t seem to lend itself well to being spread thickly on anything (again, it reminds me of Nutella). The mild aroma of green tea is pleasant. The taste of the Green Tea Milk Spread is primarily green tea and condensed milk, although it’s not as sweet as condensed milk. I think it could have a stronger dairy flavour to it, and maybe a bit more sweetness (but it reminds me so much condensed milk, so I feel like it should be sweeter). Despite sugar showing up on the ingredients list prior to green tea powder, each teaspoon (1og) contains 3g of sugar, which is interesting (I’m sure if it was condensed milk, it’d be like 9g of sugar per 10g of product…).

My Overall Impression

I liked Plus Rigina’s Green Tea Milk Spread. I think the flavour is pleasant and makes for a nice bagel spread, so it might also pair well with tea biscuits. For me, I feel like it could be sweeter, but I do have a bit of a sweet tooth. If you’re not as in love with sugar and sweets as I am, you might be really happy with the level of sweetness in the Green Tea Milk Spread. Either way, it’s a nice bagel spread and it does become more liquid-y when heated, so it might be a nice drizzle over some vanilla ice cream as well (because, yum).

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