Author: Michelle

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Chai Castle’s Dream of the Orient

Dream of the Orient by Chai Castle
White Tea & Green Tea / Flavoured
$8.50 for 50g

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

First Impressions

Dream of the Orient was a sample pick from Chai Castle that I was really excited about. This white tea and green tea blend smells delightful – there’s a light fruity aroma and I can smell the mango and jasmine. I find the mango is the most prominent aroma with the jasmine in the background.

Dream of the Orient consists of: white tea (pai mu tan), green tea (darjeeling), green tea (fog tea, lung, jasmine jade pearls), candied pineapple, papaya, mango pieces, natural flavour, orange peels, strawberry, apricot, sour cherry pieces, and red currants. So many fruits!

Preparation

Chai Castle recommends steeping Dream of the Orient in 79°C (175°F) water for 2 to 3 minutes. I did an initial steep for 3 minutes.

First Taste

Dream of the Orient steeps to a very pale yellow after a three minute steep. The aroma is mostly fruity with a hint of floral notes in the background – that jasmine is quite strong to stand against all those fruit ingredients! The flavour of mango is quite strong, there’s some vegetal notes in the background, with the floral/jasmine notes lingering on the tongue. It makes for a nice flavour – the ingredients play nicely with the tea base.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Dream of the Orient twice, adding an extra 30 seconds per steep. The flavour remains quite well balanced with each steep. I found the fruit flavours (mango, apricot, pineapple) to be more pronounced with each steep and held up well with each steep.

My Overall Impression

I liked Chai Castle’s Dream of the Orient. I loved the mango flavour, and found that it worked really well with the jasmine and the green tea base. I would have liked for the other fruit flavours to come out a bit more – perhaps they just need to be more present to add in more sour cherry, red currants, and papaya. Dream of the Orient does resteep well, the green tea and white tea base makes for a delicious tea. I think with the fruity base, this tea would be good iced as well or cold steeped.

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Teaglass’s Teaglass

Teaglass by Teaglass
Borosilicate Glass
$29.99USD

Teaglass has provided me with Teaglass for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

When I first saw the Teaglass on Instagram, one of the first things I thought to myself was “What is that?” in a really intrigued way. The Teaglass is designed for drinking yerba mate, a caffeinated plant that is steeped like tea is and traditionally made in a cup that’s fashioned out of a gourd with a metal straw, or bombilla.  This Teaglass is thankfully not a gourd (I don’t think that would have made it through customs), and is made out of borosilicate glass that is hand-blown.

Teaglass boasts on their website that they are the first all-glass yerba mate cup that has a built-in straw and strainer – which I think is really neat. If you’re not familiar with borosilicate glass, it’s the same type of glass that was used in vintage Pyrex-ware and in vintage and modern day laboratory glassware.

The Teaglass came in a sturdy cardboard box, and wrapped in some bubble wrap for safety during transport (and survival when in the hands of the postal service!). The first thing I thought when I opened the box was that it was just really cute. The Teaglass fits nicely into my hand (and I have small hands) and it seems quite solidly made. It features a double-wall for the cup portion of the Teaglass, and the straw curves away from the cup for when you’re drinking. The Teaglass logo decorates the bottom of the glass, it’s not intrusive by any means. I’m not a huge yerba mate drinker by any means, so I will actually be testing this neat cup out with some chrysanthemum tea.

Preparation

Teaglass states that their Teaglass is dishwasher and microwave safe. I washed it in some soapy warm water before using it. I think if you were really concerned, you could use a thin bottle brush for cleaning the straw portion.

First Use

I dropped two huge dried chrysanthemum flowers into the Teaglass and then poured in my hot water to allow it to steep. I do want to say that the holes aren’t like a fine mesh, so I wouldn’t try a very fine loose leaf tea in here as I think it might go through the holes or clog it (but you can always just rinse it out). After steeping, I drank the tea out of the straw. I think due to the size of the cup, tea does cool down fairly quickly. The double-walled feature of the cup means no burning your hands on a hot cup of tea, which is really nice. I think this would be great for steeping sessions of oolongs, blooming teas, pu’erh, or any straight teas that don’t have added oils to it. For instance, I don’t think that I would steep an Earl Grey in this, only because I think it’d be a pain to clean any residue of the bergamot oil.

There were only smooth edges to the Teaglass, for anyone concerned about that. The size is a comfortable hold for me, and it was a fun experience. I’m definitely going to try some dragon pearls in it next, I think. Just the nature of being able to do some short, small steeps in this cup makes it quite ideal for more delicate teas. And the fact that your tea sits with the leaves, it makes it nice for grandpa-style tea steeping.

My Overall Impression

I loved Teaglass’s Teaglass. I just found this to be a very clever cup. It was easy to use, easy to clean, and made drinking tea quite fun. I found myself just resteeping over and over again because it was just fun to use. The small size makes it easy to do multiple steeps of the same tea, since you don’t have to go through a whole teapot, and the double-walled feature in the cup saves your hands from getting too hot. The fact that it’s hand-blown just kind of puts it over-the-top in the ‘cool’ category, because I just really appreciate the craftsmanship that went into it, it’s so detailed and if you head over to Teaglass’s Instagram page, you’ll also see how uniform the cups are between each other (which is doubly amazing).

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T By Daniel’s Garden Party

Garden Party by T By Daniel
Oolong Tea / Flavoured
$11.00 for 50g

T By Daniel’s Garden Party came to me as part of The Sugared Teacup’s June themed subscription box.

First Impressions

Garden Party came in a familiar matte foil bag, branded with T By Daniel’s information (and if you’ve never seen one of his bags, you should – they’re just so bright and cheerful!). This oolong blend is incredibly floral, with a sweet aroma to it and quite beautiful dried ingredients to be seen. You can really pick out most of the ingredients, if you know what you’re looking for. Garden Party smells like walking through a garden without smelling like a bottle of perfume up your nose – which is much appreciated.

Garden Party consists of: oolong tea, mooring leaves, rose petals, bamboo leaves, and natural orchid flavour.

Preparation

T By Daniel suggests steeping Garden Party in 90°C (194°F) water for 2 to 3 minutes. I used the oolong setting on my Breville IQ Kettle, which is 91°C (195°F). My initial steep of Garden Party was for 2 minutes.

First Taste

Garden Party steeps to a light yellow, this tea has such an inviting floral aroma to it. I can’t really pinpoint which flower that I smell the most – either rose or orchid. It’s not overly floral at all though, which is nice. On first taste, I can taste the floral sweetness, which balances well against the creamy oolong base. The oolong just has a note of buttery creaminess to it, going really well with the floral notes

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Garden Party three times, adding an extra 30 seconds for each resteep. I found that the flavour profile stayed fairly consistent throughout – by the last steep it was more oolong base than floral ingredients. But the oolong stayed true to itself with the buttery notes with each steep.

My Overall Impression

I loved T By Daniel’s Garden Party. I think the oolong base lends itself well to the added floral ingredients. The mix of floral and oolong would pair up well with afternoon tea goodies, I think. The buttery notes from the oolong would play off of the baked goods while the floral notes would balance well against the sweets (cupcakes! macarons! cookies!).

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