Author: Michelle

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The Virginia Tea Company’s Winter Cheer

Winter Cheer by The Virginia Tea Company
Black Tea / Flavoured
$15.00USD for 2oz (20 pyramid tea bags)

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The Virginia Tea Company has provided me with Winter Cheer for the purposes of providing an honest review. I received this product at no charge to me and received no other compensation.

First Impressions

Winter Cheer came in a cardboard carton, but unlike the other teas from The Virginia Tea Company that I’ve reviewed so far, this one came preportioned in tea bags. Another option that they offer, this one is 2oz of tea in 20 pyramid tea bags for $15.00USD. For ease of seeing the tea itself, I cut open the tea bags to get a better look at the tea. There’s a strong smell of peppermint and cinnamon in this tea blend, I quite like it. The smell of peppermint and cinnamon both remind me of the holidays. It may be March, but it snowed this past week where I live, so it still feels like winter!

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It’s very easy to see all of the ingredients: black tea, peppermint, and cinnamon. As per the product page, all of the ingredients are organic. This tea is 66% fair trade and 100% organic, which is quite nice to learn! I like knowing that the people who helped to produce the tea are being paid a living wage for their area.

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Preparation

The Virginia Tea Company recommends steeping Winter Cheer in boiling water (100°C/212°F) for 2 to 3 minutes. I steeped it for 2 minutes for the initial steep. They suggest that the tea leaves can be resteeped up to 3 times.

First Taste

Winter Cheer steeps to a clear reddish orange liquor. There’s a strong peppermint smell to it that’s quite inviting. On first sip, I can make out the black tea base – it has wonderful malty notes to it. The cinnamon is warming, and it provides a light amount of sweetness to the tea. The peppermint offers a minty freshness with each sip that reminds me of candy canes during the holidays. It’s been a while since I’ve had a tea blend where I could make out each individual flavour, it’s quite nice to be able to do that and taste how well balanced the flavours are!  They complement each other nicely.

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A Second Cup?

Because it was suggested that the tea leaves could be resteeped up to three times, I had to give it a go – and three resteeps was right on money. The mint and cinnamon flavours were still present by the third resteep, they were just a bit weaker. I think the flavours would be more muddled if I had attempted a fourth resteep. I added 30 seconds for each additional resteep.

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My Overall Impression

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I loved The Virginia Tea Company’s Winter Cheer. It may seem like the wrong month for it, but the crazy amount of snow I’ve been experiencing lately has gotten me into a bit of a sour mood so a cup of Winter Cheer suited me just fine as a pick-me-up. I found the flavours of all three ingredients to be well balanced in creating an enjoyable flavour. The fact the tea leaves can be resteeped up to three times is quite nice, the flavours are still present – just getting a smidgen weaker.

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

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Grand Tea’s Premium Gun Powder

Premium Gun Powder by Grand Tea
Green Tea / Straight
$19.00HKD for 25g

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Grand Tea has provided me with Premium Gun Powder for the purposes of providing an honest review. I received this product at no charge to me and received no other compensation.

First Impressions

The tea leaves are tightly rolled, with a beautiful mix of the green and pale cream colours in the leaves. The tea is called Gun Powder because it resembles gun powder pellets. I’ve had rolled teas before, so I’m always curious about how much the tea leaves will unfurl. From Grand Tea’s website, they mentioned that their Gun Powder tea uses high quality young leaves – which is why the leaves still have the downy feathers on the leaves. Premium Gun Powder has a bit of a grassy-vegetal smell to it. This green tea’s only ingredient is the tea leaves themselves.

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As with most rolled teas, you shouldn’t use a spoon to measure how much tea to use because it will greatly expand. I use a stainless steel infuser in my tea pot and pour enough tea into it until there’s a thin layer covering the base of the infuser. This is an incredibly generous sample provided by Grand Tea with their Premium Gun Powder. I used about a fifth of their sample packet’s contents for my tea pot.

Preparation

I couldn’t find preparation information on Grand Tea’s product page, so I used the green tea setting on my Breville IQ Kettle (80°C/175°F) and did an initial steep of 90 seconds.

First Taste

After a quick steep of 90 seconds, I had a nice pale green tea. The smell of Premium Gun Powder is stronger than it tastes, with strong grassy notes in the aroma. The tea itself has a light sweetness to it, with a mild flavour of grassy-vegetal notes. With only a 90 second steep, Premium Gun Powder is pleasant with zero bitterness or astringency. I always try to keep the water temperature low for green teas because they can burn so easily and I generally don’t enjoy bitter tea. The tea leaves opened up quite a bit, but not fully with the initial 90 second steep.

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A Second Cup?

I steeped Premium Gun Powder a total of 5 times (4 resteeps), with an additional 30 seconds per sequential steep. I noted that the flavours were strongest in the first resteep, and the grassy-vegetal flavours held up very well throughout all of the steepings that I had done with Premium Gun Powder.

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My Overall Impression

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I loved Grand Tea’s Premium Gun Powder. I’m always a fan of a good quality tea that can be resteeped over and over again, and Premium Gun Powder did not disappoint on that front! From dry leaf to steeped tea, Premium Gun Powder remained consistent and had a nice vegetal flavour to the tea. It’s a nice mild tea that could be easily paired with sweets or savouries, if you’re looking for a food pairing. The mild sweetness in this tea is a nice touch, as it doesn’t require anything and I think it should be had plain.

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

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Plum Deluxe: Tea Club Review

Plum Deluxe
Monthly Tea Club Subscription
$10-16 USD per month

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Plum Deluxe has provided me with their January Tea Club package for the purposes of providing an honest review. I received this product at no charge to me and received no other compensation.

First Impressions

Andy Hayes of Plum Deluxe contacted me and asked if I would be interested in reviewing a monthly club package for Plum Deluxe – of course I said yes! Plum Deluxe offers a monthly tea club subscription, an online shop for à la carte tea shopping, as well as an online community and blog full of tea resources. It was fun getting the January tea club shipment in the mail – I was sent the two teas option (two 1oz teas, with 1 tea sample), as well as the autumn/winter playbook for Plum Deluxe, which costs $16USD/month. There is also a single tea option (one 1oz tea with 1 tea sample) that is $10USD/month. Subscriptions are paid for quarterly (3 months), and at the time of writing they only ship within the United States and to Canada. For Canadian tea lovers, they offer the 1 tea option of their monthly tea club subscription for $17USD/month and the 2 tea option for $23USD/month – also charged for 3 months at a time.

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For my package, I did get to choose one of the tea choices. Whichever option you choose (1 tea or 2), you’ll always receive the special blend of the month. If you opt for the 2 tea option, you get the 1oz of the special blend of the month, 1oz of a surprise signature blend, and 1 tea sample. I had gone through the Plum Deluxe website and Vanilla Latte had appealed to me, so Andy was kind enough to make that the ‘surprise’ signature blend for me. In this package, the teas I received were A Dark Night Orange Spice Puerh (1oz), Vanilla Latte Tea (1oz), and Chocolate Hazelnut Dessert Tea (sample). The special blend of the month is exclusive to tea club members.

I was quite pleased with the packaging that Plum Deluxe has opted for. They use clear, resealable bags. It’s nice because you can easily see what the tea blend looks like, as well as how much you have left. For storage purposes, I always recommend keeping teas in a dark place – light is one of the things that can speed up tea going a bit stale or losing flavour.

I’ll be keeping the order of each tea throughout the sections consistent – with the special January blend first (A Dark Night Orange Spice Puerh), followed by my pick (Vanilla Latte Tea), and the tea sample (Chocolate Hazelnut Dessert Tea).

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A Dark Night Orange Spice Puerh has a very strong cinnamon, orange/citrus smell in the dry leaf. I like that I can make out the ginger and anise in the tea blend. This puerh blend is made up of: puerh tea, cinnamon bark, orange peel, ginger root, hibiscus, rose hips, anise, safflower, and orange essence.

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Vanilla Latte Tea’s dry leaf has a honeyed smell, I can also make out the vanilla and the cardamom. The smell of Vanilla Latte Tea reminds me a lot of a vanilla birthday cake, which is quite pleasant. Vanilla Tea Latte’s ingredients are: black tea, honeybush tea, ground cardamom, and vanilla essence.

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Chocolate Hazelnut Dessert Tea is a cute little sample, there’s really just enough for one cup and to get a taste for it. It smells like chocolate and hazelnut, which is a winning combination in my book! I love hedgehog chocolates (which have a hazelnut filling, if you don’t know the magic of hedgehogs), and the smell of this blend remind me of the hedgehogs so much! Chocolate Hazelnut Dessert Tea is made up of: honeybush tea, cocoa nibs, hazelnut pieces, and hazelnut essence. Continue reading “Plum Deluxe: Tea Club Review”