Author: Michelle

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Modern Tea’s Black Tea

Black Tea by Modern Tea
Black Tea / Straight
$6.99 for 5g (10 packets)

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First Impressions

I first tried Modern Tea at the 2016 Vancouver Tea Festival, where one of the people in the booth was telling me about this solid tea. I bought a sampler packet with 5 different types of tea (2 packets per tea type), and I’m starting off the reviews of Modern Tea’s products with their Black Tea. Each tea packet contains 0.5g of tea, making it $0.70 per tea packet.

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When I open up the packet, it’s solid granules. It’s not very fragrant in its solid state as I can barely make out the smell of tea from the solid tea. The tiny packages make it not environmentally friendly as the packaging does not state that the packets can be composted or recycled. The ingredients in Black Tea are stated as being “pure black tea”, I’m unsure of the process used to create this solid tea but their website states that “all Modern Tea’s ingredients are pure tea, there is absolutely no additive, artificial color or flavor, or preservative in the entire production process.”

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Preparation

Modern Tea recommends mixing one 0.5g packet of tea per 350mL of hot or cold water. The tea is meant to be dissolved in either hot or cold water. I used my (review) Breville IQ Kettle‘s black tea setting (100°C/212°F) for this tea – the weather is still cold outside, I’m not in the mood for iced tea yet!

First Taste

Black Tea dissolves completely after the addition of hot water, which reminds me a lot of those instant coffee sleeves that you can buy. The nice thing about it is that there’s no tea leaves to deal with after for composting, but then I really enjoy the process of looking at how much tea leaves were able to open up when being steeped so I feel a bit cheated in my regular tea steeping process.

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The tea itself has a great malty smell to it, which transfers over in taste as well. There’s a mild astringency to the tea that isn’t off-putting. It lends itself to a slight mouth puckering, but there’s no bitterness to be noted. I find that the tea has a very strong taste to it, like a bold breakfast tea. The tea stands alone quite well by itself, because it’s so strong I think it would do well as a morning pick-me-up tea.

A Second Cup?

As the solid tea completely dissolves, there is nothing for me to resteep.

My Overall Impression

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I liked Modern Tea’s Black Tea. It has a good flavour, and would be good for someone on-the-go that doesn’t have anywhere to put their tea leaves or to discard of them. I think it could be more environmentally friendly (with perhaps some kind of recyclable packaging), and the cost per cup is quite steep at $0.70/cup. It wouldn’t be a tea that I would be looking to keep on hand on a regular basis due to cost.

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The Chinese Tea Shop’s Finest White Tips Dragon Pearl Jasmine Green Tea

Finest White Tips Dragon Pearl Jasmine Green Tea by The Chinese Tea Shop
Green Tea / Straight
$22.95 for 50g

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First Impressions

And the winner for the longest name possibly ever to grace a review here on One More Steep goes to… the Finest White Tips Dragon Pearl Jasmine Green Tea! This was a tea that I picked up at the 2016 Vancouver Tea Festival from The Chinese Tea Shop’s booth. Part of the reason why I picked it up is because I love watching rolled tea open up when steeping, and also because it smelled amazing.

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There’s a strong jasmine smell with these pearls, which is understandable given the name. I love that I can see the variation in colour in the leaves with the tips being white, ans well as seeing the tiny hairs of the tea very easily. This tea is described on The Chinese Tea Shop website as being made with the “finest silver pekoe tips rolled into small balls”.

Preparation

The Chinese Tea Shop recommends making most, if not all, of their tea gong-fu style. I still lack the proper tea ware for that, so I made it in my normal glass tea pot. I steeped the tea in 79°C (175°F) water (the ‘green tea’ option on my Breville IQ Kettle) for 1 minute for the first steep.

First Taste

Finest White Tips Dragon Pearl Jasmine Green Tea steeps to a very pale yellow after the first steep, it’s barely noticeable in my white tea cup. There’s a great jasmine flavour that is immersed into the tea. With the short steep in the low temperature water, I’ve found zero bitterness. There’s a slight sweetness that I quite enjoy and found to be pleasant. The tea itself is very smooth and that makes for an easy to drink tea.

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A Second Cup?

I resteeped Finest White Tips Dragon Pearl Jasmine Green Tea a few times, increasing each subsequent steep time by 30 seconds. The colour of the tea gets to be a pronounced golden yellow as each steep occurred. I managed to get a total of seven steeps with this tea before it started to get a little bit lacking in flavour.

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My Overall Impression

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I loved The Chinese Tea Shop’s Finest White Tips Dragon Pearl Jasmine Green Tea. Yes, it is on the pricier side when it comes to jasmine green teas – this I will fully admit. However, the ability to steep again and again just goes to show that it’s a high quality tea. Less expensive jasmine green teas lack the ability to be resteeped over and over again. I loved watching these dragon pearls open up, and found the tea to be smooth and delicious. It’s not a tea that I would have every day (I don’t think I could afford for it to be a daily cup of tea!) but it’s definitely one that I could see having on special occasions or when having company over as a little bit goes a long way.

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Oollo Tea’s Qingjin High Mountain Oolong

Qingjin High Mountain Oolong by Oollo Tea
Oolong Tea / Straight
$10.00 for 25g

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Oollo Tea has provided me with Qingjin High Mountain Oolong for the purposes of providing an honest review. I received this product at no charge to me and received no other compensation.

First Impressions

It’s time for another oolong steeping session! I’ve taken to having oolong when waking up after I sleep off the ill effects of working night shifts. There’s a certain sense of mindfulness that I go through when steeping tea, and the process of steeping and resteeping oolong works for me while I adjust back to a normal sleeping pattern. Today’s review is of Oollo Tea’s Qingjin High Mountain Oolong. It’s pretty gorgeous with a beautiful deep olive green colour in the leaves that are so tightly pressed together. The dry leaves have a fragrance that reminds me of flowers and there’s a subtle vanilla aroma to it that is enticing – much like the smell of vanilla in a kitchen when baking.

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On their website, Oollo Tea describes this as a Qingxin Oolong that is grown in Qingjin, Nantou, Taiwan at 1600m elevation. According to Wikipedia, Nantou is a region known for producing high quality oolongs. The smell and look of this dry leaf is exciting. I’ve become quite fond of oolongs over the last year so I’m looking forward to trying this one.

Preparation

On the packaging, Oollo Tea suggests steeping Qingjin High Mountain Oolong in 90°C (194°F) water for 1.5-5 minutes. On their website, the steeping instructions are for 2-5 minutes in 90-95°C (194-203°F) water. I opted to steep it in 90°C (194°F) water for 2 minutes for the initial steep. The sample packet contains 5g of tea, I used half of it for my tea pot (DavidsTea’s Tea For One).

First Taste

Qingjin High Mountain Oolong steeps to a pale yellow for the initial steep. I love watching tightly rolled leaves unfurl in hot water, it’s very relaxing to watch. There’s a delightful floral smell to the steeped tea, with subtle vanilla notes that are very inviting. With my first taste, the quality in the tea that I notice first is the creamy taste and texture. There’s a smoothness to this tea that makes it very easy to drink as it goes down well. There’s no bitterness or astringency, and I find that the floral and vanilla notes blend well with the buttery creaminess that I’m finding in this tea.

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A Second Cup?

The packaging from Oollo Tea suggests that it can be steeped up to four times, so I do take this as a challenge. I steeped Qingjin High Mountain Oolong an additional five times, increasing the steep time by 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. The colour of the tea got sequentially darker for steeps 2 and 3. The colour and flavour starts to decrease in steep 4 and I found that steep 5 was still tasty, but beginning to lose that impact with the well-blended mix of floral and vanilla that I so loved with the initial steeps. I would say that Qingjin High Mountain Oolong is good for at least five steeps total – maybe even more if you had the time to drink cup after cup.

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My Overall Impression

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I loved Oollo Tea’s Qingjin High Mountain Oolong. I loved watching the leaves open up and seeing how big they could get. A small amount of this tea goes a long way in terms of flavour and I found that I didn’t need a lot of it in my pot to get a good amount of flavour. The floral and vanilla flavour combination is divine and I think it’s quite enjoyable. It’s definitely a tea that I would steep again after a day off after a long night at work as it’s just delicious and relaxing. The quality in the leaves is evident in its ability to resteep, which is something that I always look forward to with oolongs and Qingjin High Mountain Oolong does not disappoint.

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