Author: Michelle

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Chai Castle’s Masala Chai

Masala Chai by Chai Castle
Black Tea / Flavoured
$15.00 for 100g

Chai Castle has provided me with Masala Chai for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

Masala Chai is one of those drinks that I can never get right on my own from scratch – I think that I’m just too heavy handed with certain spices when I try to figure it out by myself. This is primarily the reason why I leave that to the experts and use prepared blends because I never get it quite right. Chai Castle was kind enough to send me a sample of Masala Chai to try in a shiny resealable packet.

The aroma of Masala Chai is incredibly fragrant – I can make out the ginger, cardamom, and cinnamon when I take a sniff after opening the packet. I’m almost certain that I can identify all of the ingredients as well in this blend: black tea, ginger pieces, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, fennel, and aniseed.

Preparation

Chai Castle recommends steeping Masala Chai in 100°C (212°F) water for 3 to 5 minutes. My initial steep of Masala Chai was for 4 minutes.

First Taste

Masala Chai steeps to a beautiful deep reddish-orange colour. There’s some strong fragrances from the steeped tea – primarily that of the ginger, cardamom, and ginger again. This Masala Chai has some very nice flavours. I found a good balance between the ginger and cinnamon. I find the cardamom wasn’t as strong as I usually prefer, and the fennel was very noticeable at the end of each sip.

I found that the initial steep had a nice, light sweetness to it. I brightened up the flavours a bit by adding a small bit of local honey. It helped to bring out the cardamom flavours in the tea blend.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Masala Chai once, adding an extra 30 seconds for the resteep time. I found that the flavour was pretty consistent with the initial steep, with all the flavours slightly weaker. However, the balance of the flavours held up well with being resteeped and it was palatable for a resteep.

My Overall Impression

I loved Chai Castle’s Masala Chai. I really enjoyed the flavours of the spices in this black tea blend, it really did hit the notes that I’m looking for in a chai. While the cardamom could have been a touch stronger, it was brought out by that little bit of honey that I had put into the tea, so I really did like how the flavours were susceptible to being coaxed out by a bit of sweetener. If you’re not too into sweet teas, Masala Chai does have a light sweetness to it, so the honey isn’t necessary.

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Yunomi’s Sayamacha Fukamushi Aracha

Sayamacha Fukamushi Aracha by Yunomi
Green Tea / Straight
$6.00USD for 20g

Yunomi has provided me with Sayamacha Fukamushi Aracha for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

Sayamacha Fukamushi Aracha was sent to me by Yunomi in a resealable green foil pouch. If you’ve never had a tea from Yunomi before, you’re in for a bit of information overload about the tea on the label. The printed text covers how to steep it, how to adjust steeping this tea to your liking, the ingredients in the tea, as well as when and where this green tea was grown and harvested (Sayama, Saitama and in Spring 2018).

Sayamacha Fukamushi Aracha is a straight green tea. I found that the leaves seemed quite fine. The leaves are thin and flat in mostly bright to dark shades of green. The aroma of this tea is primarily that of the ocean (saltiness of the water) and vegetal notes that primarily remind me of dark green, leafy vegetables.

Preparation

Yunomi recommends steeping Sayamacha Fukamushi Aracha in 70°C (158°F) water for 60 seconds. The lowest my Breville IQ Kettle heats water to is (79°C) 175°F, so I opted to steep to that and allow the water to sit and cool for an additional 5 minutes. My steep of Sayamacha Fukamushi Aracha was for 60 seconds.

First Taste

I found there to be a lot of fine particles in my tea, it made it quite cloudy in appearance. If this is something that might bother you, I would recommend steeping Sayamacha Fukamushi Aracha with the use of a filter bag. The tea itself is a pleasant light yellow green. I found that the aroma of the tea to be very similar to the dry leaf – there’s quite of bit of salty aroma and the dark leafy vegetal aromas are still very much present. The flavour of Sayamacha Fukamushi Aracha was very similar to that of dried seaweed snacks – salty. This green tea hits all the umami notes well, I found it be on the savoury side of things.

A Second Cup?

Yunomi suggests that Sayamacha Fukamushi Aracha can be resteeped three times, so I did the same. I found the saltiness and umami notes to fade quite still maintaining the leafy vegetal flavours. I added an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep.

My Overall Impression

I loved Yunomi’s Sayamacha Fukamushi Aracha. I found the flavour to be really pleasant, and wasn’t too salty/umami for me. The flavours of this tea stayed fairly consistent with each steep, with just a gradual loss of the saltiness as I resteeped it. I think that Sayamacha Fukamushi Aracha would work really well with a savoury dish to help balance out the flavours and lend some of that saltiness to the flavour of your meal.

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Tea Side’s 2014 Dong Ding Oolong Tea, Medium Roasted

2014 Dong Ding Oolong Tea, Medium Roasted by Tea Side
Oolong Tea / Straight
$12.00USD for 50g

Tea Side has provided me with 2014 Dong Ding Oolong, Medium Roasted for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

The 2014 Dong Ding Oolong Tea, Medium Roasted came to me in a pink foil packet with minimal information about the tea. I did glean some information about the product page from Tea Side’s website. For instance, I learned that this tea was harvested in the spring of 2014 and was processed in traditional Taiwanese methods despite the tea being grown and processed in Thailand.

After opening the packaging, the first thing I really noticed was the fact that the leaves are look like they’re huge. As with most oolongs, the leaves are bunched and rolled together, but the dried tea looks like the leaves are very large. There’s various shades of browns that go from dark and fade all the way to a cream colour. The dry leaf of the 2014 Dong Ding Oolong has some nice floral notes, as well with a light, sweet fruity aroma. 2014 Dong Ding Oolong Tea, Medium Roasted is a straight tea.

Preparation

I wasn’t able to find any steeping instructions for the 2014 Dong Ding Oolong Tea. But knowing that it is an oolong, I referred to my steeping times and temperatures chart. I opted to do an initial steep in 90°C (195°F) water for 2 minutes.

First Taste

2014 Dong Ding Oolong Tea steeps to a lovely light orange colour after the initial 2 minute steep. The aroma of the steeped tea is primarily that of plums and apricots, the floral notes still remain. When I tasted the tea, I noted a mild astringency at the end of each sip. The combination of the floral and fruity notes reminds me of a lot of tropical fruits that come out of Asia – in particular lychee and mangosteen, with a hint of freshness that you get from dragon fruit. There’s a touch of deeper fruit flavours in this tea that I get from time to time that remind me a lot of apricot and plums. It has a nice sweetness to it, thanks to the floral and fruit notes.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped 2014 Dong Ding Oolong Tea, Medium Roasted a grand total of seven times. My usual method of resteeping tea is to add an additional 30 seconds for each steep, which is what I did here as well. I found that the floral and fruity notes got strong for the first two resteeps, and started to lessen in intensity after that. The mild astringency at the end of each sip turned to a slight sourness as I continued to resteep the oolong.

My Overall Impression

I loved Tea Side’s 2014 Dong Ding Oolong Tea, Medium Roasted. I really enjoyed the intricacies of this oolong in how the flavour changed from steep to steep, as well as the balance of fruit to floral in this roasted oolong tea. I would highly recommend resteeping this tea if you’re drinking it, it does so well with resteeping continuously. I found the flavours to be really well balanced, and that fruity sweetness would lend itself to being paired with sweets or desserts quite easily.

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