Author: Michelle

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DavidsTea’s Jasmine Crème Brulée

Jasmine Crème Brulée by DavidsTea
Green Tea / Flavoured
$8.98 for 50g

First Impressions

My first exposure to Jasmine Crème Brulée was as an iced tea sample in-store when it was the Tea of the Month – which is also the reasoning for the packaging. I actually bought the bag after it was the Tea of the Month, which meant this pouch was on sale because there was a new TotM. It was a bit of a perk, since it can be hard sometimes to get tea on sale – especially a tasty one. The dry leaf of Jasmine Crème Brulée smells like vanilla custard with floral notes and some fruity hints somewhere in there.

The ingredients in Jasmine Crème Brulée are as follows: apple, jasmine tea, rosehip shells, pineapple, sweet blackberry leaves, marigold flowers, natural and artificial flavouring. Like a lot of tea blends, I found that the smaller ingredients tended to settle at the bottom, so I had to give the bag a good shake to redistribute the ingredients again in order to get a spoonful that had the green tea in it.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Jasmine Crème Brulée in hot water for 3 to 5 minutes. I really do wish that they would go back to listing actual temperature values. I used the green tea setting on my Breville IQ Kettle and did an initial steep of Jasmine Crème Brulée at 79°C (175°F) for 3 minutes.

First Taste

Jasmine Crème Brulée steeps to a light golden yellow. There’s a nice jasmine/floral aroma that comes up from the tea, as well as something that definitely reminds me of a vanilla custard. I’m not sure how much of the green tea I actually taste, but this blend has a nice floral taste to it, some vanilla notes, and I’m not sure how much of the fruit ingredients I’m tasting. There’s a delicate creaminess to Jasmine Crème Brulée that has a nice buttery quality to it, which may be why it got its name. When steeped for 3 minutes, there was no astringency or bitterness from the green tea.

I iced some of the Jasmine Crème Brulée to try it cold and found it to be quite refreshing. I think this is one of those teas that does well both hot and iced. There was enough sweetness to it that I didn’t find myself needing any sweetener for either the hot or iced tea.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Jasmine Crème Brulée twice, adding an extra 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. I found the first resteep was quite similar to the initial steep in terms of the depth of flavour, while the second resteep was lacking some of that sweetness but was still palatable.

My Overall Impression

I loved DavidsTea’s Jasmine Crème Brulée. I really enjoyed the flavour profile of this green tea blend with the floral notes and the vanilla custard flavours. The creaminess and buttery qualities of this tea make for a great mouthfeel and there’s a nice sweetness to it. I found this tea equally enjoyable for both hot and iced. I think it’d be a great candidate for cold steeping so you don’t accidentally oversteep the green tea.

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

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Global Tea Hut – March 2018 “Swirling Mist”

March 2018 “Swirling Mist” 2004 Sheng Puerh by Global Tea Hut
Pu’erh / Straight
$20-30USD/month

Global Tea Hut has provided me with their March 2018 issue of Tea & Tao Magazine with a sample of “Swirling Mist” for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

When I was first contacted by a representative of Global Tea Hut, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. A tea magazine? Why not! It came to me in the post from Asia, so it did take a little while to reach me in Canada. The magazine is a beautiful 60+ page magazine with full colour, glossy pages, and no advertisements. The March 2018 issue talks about several different locations where tea is grown, harvested, and processed. There’s even a full feature on the tea of the month, as well as a feature on a Tea Wayfarer, which I’ve come to learn is a regular feature on a Global Tea Hut member.

“Swirling Mist” is a 2004 Sheng Puerh, it came to me in a metal tin that’s lined with rice paper to help protect the tea. The aroma from the dry leaf is actually very mild, I found it to be a little bit earthy. There were some leaves that were heavily compacted, just from how the puerh was made into a cake.

Preparation

Global Tea Hut recommends steeping Swirling Mist in 98°C (208°F) water and suggested steeping it gong-fu method up to 20 times. It’s a bit of a time consuming method, consisting of very short steeps. I opted to steep in 100°C (212°F) water for an initial steep of 2 minutes.

First Taste

Swirling Mist steeps to a dark gold colour. I found that it had a smooth, pleasant mouthfeel. There’s some earthiness in the flavour – something that reminds me of mushrooms, and also sweet plums. It makes for a very pleasant cup of tea, and I don’t say that very often about pu’erhs.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Swirling Mist a total of eight times (nine steeps total). I found that the flavour stayed strong and consistent throughout, until about the sixth resteep – which is when the flavour started to decline a little bit. I added an extra 30 seconds for each additional steep and found that the tea stayed smooth and enjoyable throughout each steep.

My Overall Impression

I loved Global Tea Hut’s March 2018 issue of Tea & Tao Magazine along with Swirling Mist. I really enjoyed reading the magazine, and learning more about the kind of places where tea is grown and harvested. The pu’erh was a really nice treat to have, I’ve been disappointed in the past before with pu’erh tea, so I was very pleased that I enjoyed this one. I think for the cost, you do get good value if you are interested in learning about tea farms and the process of making some of your favourite teas.

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

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How to Make The Perfect Vegan Tea Latte at Home

I make it no secret that I love tea lattes – whether it’s a Chai or London Fog, I’m probably a fan of it! For those who are vegan or vegetarian and abstain from using dairy products, making a tea latte at home can be a difficult process – it’s just so hard to get a good amount of foam. I, for one, think that you deserve to have some thick foamy goodness in your cup!

For my trick on how to make a picture perfect vegan tea latte, I used a little something called aquafaba – a word I first heard from Chelsea of Vegcouver (and when she explained it to me, I thought she was nuts!). For those who aren’t familiar, aquafaba is the ‘water’ that comes in canned beans. Apparently that stuff I’ve been pouring down the drain all of these years is super useful (who knew??).

I use the water that comes from canned chickpeas – it has a light colour and a mild flavour. From a 28fl oz can of chickpeas, I get just under 12oz of aquafaba (almost 350ml or 1½ cups).

But how do I go from bean water to a tea latte? Continue reading, tea friend!

Steep your tea as you would normally for a tea latte and you can choose to add in the dairy-free milk of your choice at this point (or not). I find a lot of dairy-free milk alternative products just do not foam well with my at-home mason jar tea latte method that I’m so fond of. I tried it with almond milk, cashew milk, and soy milk – and they were all pretty terrible at foaming up. I’ve read online that dairy-free milks can sometimes foam up nicely with an electric milk frother, but I’m really trying to cut down on single-use kitchen appliances/gadgets (who has the counter space?!). If you’re in the same boat as me and still want to make gorgeous tea lattes at home with a generous amount of foam, this tutorial is for you.

So after your tea is steeped and you’ve already added in your preferred dairy-free milk, here comes the fun part!

Using a glass jar, pour in 3-4 fl oz of aquafaba (around 100ml). If you didn’t already add your milk to your tea, add equal parts dairy-free milk and aquafaba together in the jar (I tried 50-60ml of each and it worked a treat).

Add sugar to taste (I use 2tsp of white sugar).

Put the lid on, and shake! Shake, shake, shake!

The aquafaba turns from a yellow liquid to a white foam.

Pour foam on top of your tea and you’re ready to go!

I find that aquafaba doesn’t add a bean-y flavour or smell to my tea lattes. It doesn’t make your tea latte taste like chickpeas (thank goodness!) and the foam actually lasts a lot longer than cow’s milk frothed up in the same method. It doesn’t matter if you frothed up aquafaba or aquafaba and milk, it doesn’t smell or taste like chickpeas at all! The sugar helps sweeten the foam and makes it taste quite delicious. If you’re making a London Fog, you can substitute the sugar for Lavender Simple Syrup and then all of the foam has a delicate lavender flavour and aroma – yum!

For the rest of that aquafaba, you could make vegan pavlova or use it as an egg alternative in your favourite baking recipe (3 tablespoons of aquafaba ≅ 1 whole egg and 2 tablespoons ≅ 1 egg white!). Chelsea considers it to be a  vegan pantry essential, and with the uptick of plant eaters out there, it’s nice to have it on hand so your vegan and vegetarian friends can also have a fancy drink!