Category: Review

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Ahista Tea’s Om

Om by Ahista Tea
Herbal Infusion / Flavoured
$14.99 for 100g

Ahista Tea has provided me with Om for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

I recently tried Om, which came in portioned tea sachets. The aroma of the dry leaf is primarily lavender with hints of lemongrass and chamomile. It smells really inviting and and floral, which is pleasant and makes me think a lot of summer. The idea of the name Om make me think it’s a spa day tea, which is helped along with the soothing aroma of the chamomile.

Om consists of chamomile, lemongrass, rose petals, lavender, and lemon verbena. Surprisingly, I don’t really smell the rose petals – which I often find to be a heavily fragrant ingredient.

Preparation

Ahista Tea recommends steeping Om in 90-100°C (194-212°F) water for 5 minutes. I opted to steep in 100°C (212°F) water for 5 minutes.

First Taste

Om steeps to a light orange. It has a strong floral aroma to it. On first taste, I find that it is quite floral. It’s a bit strong on initial taste. I find that I can taste the lemongrass in Om, but the lavender and rose are the strongest flavours in this blend. I found it a bit too perfumey for me, the floral notes come off strong – which is great if you’re a fan of that!

I wound up cutting this with some lemonade (a 1:1 ratio of steeped Om with lemonade that was sweetened with honey) and found that it helped temper the floral notes a lot and made it quite pleasant.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Om once, and found that it didn’t do that great being resteeped. It is an herbal infusion, so I’m not surprised at all.

My Overall Impression

I liked Ahista Tea’s Om. I found it to be too floral for my tastes when I tried it straight – I found it to be very strong with the lavender and rose flavours. However, it does take nicely to being mixed with lemonade, which made for it to be a great iced lemonade blend, which made me really appreciate the floral notes in this flowery blend.

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Udyan Tea’s Dragon Claws Oolong Tea

Dragon Claws Oolong Tea by Udyan Tea
Oolong Tea / Straight
₹585.00 for 100g

Udyan Tea has provided me with Dragon Claws Oolong Tea for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Dragon Claws was initially a confusing tea for me. On the packaging that the tea came in from Udyan Tea, the label reads “Dragon Claws Black Tea” while the website calls it “Dragon Claws Oolong Tea”. The tea came in a sealed, resealable matte black pouch. The leaves themselves are beautiful – there’s some feathery down bits, some wiry leaves.The aroma of the tea has some grassy notes.

Based on my knowledge, I would call this a oolong tea. Udyan Tea calls this an oolong tea that was harvested during autumn 2018. The appearance reminds me of an oolong much more than a black tea.

Preparation

Udyan Tea recommends steeping Dragon Claws Oolong Tea in 90-95°C (194-203°F) water for 4 to 5 minutes. I opted to steep at 91°C (195°F) water for 4 minutes for my initial steep of Dragon Claws Oolong Tea.

First Taste

Dragon Claws Oolong Tea steeps to a bright orange colour, it has a lovely aroma – grassy and hay notes. I found the tea to have a bit of astringency, and a subtle sweetness at the end of each sip. There was a touch of nutty flavour that I found in the tea, I can’t quite pin-point which nut it reminds me of.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Dragon Claws Oolong Tea twice, adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. The tea steeped to a more golden orange, with a stronger flavour that stayed well balanced compared to the initial steep. The astringency stayed mild and wasn’t off-putting. The second resteep was considerably weaker than the first.

My Overall Impression

I liked Udyan Tea’s Dragon Claws Oolong Tea. I found that the dry leaf had a lovely aroma to it, and it steeped well. The flavour of this oolong tea was balanced well, I really liked the light sweetness throughout that went well with the astringency that was present. I could have done without the labeling confusion, and I do wish that the tea had held up a bit better to being resteeped since I’m so used to resteeping oolongs for many more times.

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Oteas’s Lemongrass, Ginger & Cinnamon

Lemongrass, Ginger & Cinnamon by Oteas
Herbal Infusion / Flavoured
$6.95 for 30g (12 sachets)

Oteas has provided me with Lemongrass, Ginger & Cinnamon for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Lemongrass, Ginger & Cinnamon come in pyramid tea sachets, that are in a bag that’s inside of a box. As mentioned in previous Oteas reviews where the tea comes in sachets, the bags are biodegradable – which I think is so awesome. As a fair disclaimer, I haven’t tried composting one of the sachets – I live in a condo, so I can’t really keep a compost bin on the balcony (I’m sure strata would say something!) so the sachets (and tea leaves) end up in the green waste bins.

The aroma of Lemongrass, Ginger & Cinnamon is primarily that of ginger and lemongrass, with hints of cloves and cinnamon in the background. The dry leaf looks amazingly beautiful with the flower petals throughout. Lemongrass, Ginger & Cinnamon consists of: lemongrass, ginger pieces, cinnamon, fennel, licorice root, pineapple granules, orange peels, basil, spearmint leaves, pimienta triturada, tangerine orange granules, cloves, osmanthus flowers, pink pepper, pink cornflowers. Oteas mentions that people with hypertension should “avoid excessive consumption” of products with licorice root.

Preparation

Oteas recommends steeping Lemongrass, Ginger & Cinnamon in 100°C (212°F) water for 8 to 10 minutes. My initial steep was for 10 minutes.

First Taste

Lemongrass, Ginger & Cinnamon steeps to a beautiful golden yellow-orange colour. The aroma of this herbal blend is primarily lemongrass and ginger, I find the cinnamon has a hard time being strong with those other more powerful, fragrant ingredients. There is a gentle sweetness with this blend and I can taste the lemongrass and ginger, with light flavours of the cinnamon at the end of each sip. There’s an almost fruity quality in the sweetness, which may be coming from the pineapple and tangerine.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Lemongrass, Ginger & Cinnamon, but I found the flavour to be lacking in comparison to the initial steep. I would recommend steeping Lemongrass, Ginger & Cinnamon just the one time.

My Overall Impression

I loved Oteas’s Lemongrass, Ginger & Cinnamon. I found the flavour to be quite good, although I do wish that the cinnamon had been more prominent, but it had some tough competition. The sweetness in the blend is nice, and I felt that it helped temper down the ginger, which normally adds a spiciness to things. I had this blend hot, and found it to be pleasant – I think it would be nice as an iced tea or cold steeped, since the ginger would add some heat in the flavour.

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