Category: Review

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Wing Wah’s Sau-Mei Tea

Sau-Mei Tea by Wing Wah
White Tea / Straight
100g

I received Wing Wah’s Sau-Mei Tea as a gift, and was unable to find information regarding the price.

First Impressions

Wing Wah’s Sau-Mei Tea came to me in a fairly big gold foil bag. There’s minimal information about the tea on the packaging, aside from some key instructions of storing it in a cool, dry place. For those unfamiliar with shou-mei, it’s a traditional Chinese white tea.

Shou-Mei tea has some beautiful dried leaves. There’s a mix of colours ranging from brown to bright green. Some of the leaves have visible downy feathers on them, quite reminiscent of a silver needle. There’s a few sticks mixed in. This is a very airy tea, it takes up a lot of space with just a little bit. The dry leaf has a light floral aroma with slight plum notes.

Preparation

There were no steeping instructions on the packaging. I opted to steep Shou-Mei Tea in 185°F (85°C) for 2 minutes.

First Taste

Shou-Mei Tea steeps to a beautiful golden yellow. The texture of the tea is very smooth, with a light creaminess. The flavour is a nice mix of floral and fresh-tasting plum notes. It’s a really enjoyable tea. The light sweetness to it makes it a good pairing with pastries (I might have had this with a chocolate croissant…).

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Sau-Mei Tea seven times (eight steeps total with the same leaves), I added an extra 30 seconds for each additional steep. As I steeped it, I found that the creaminess grew stronger as the colour became more golden yellow. The floral notes were more prevalent in the subsequent steeps while the plum notes subsided.

My Overall Impression

I loved Wing Wah’s Sau-Mei Tea. This was a very pleasant white tea to drink. I loved how well it resteeped, and how the flavours changed with each resteep. I really enjoy teas that can be resteeped that retain their flavour – it really shows to the quality in the leaves. Additionally, I know that 185°F is a bit on the ‘high’ side of what you’d want to steep a white tea in, but the leaves held up beautifully and I had zero issues with astringency or bitterness.

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Aroma Tea House’s Golden Oolong

Golden Oolong by Aroma Tea House
Oolong Tea / Straight
$10.00 for 100g

First Impressions

Another Vancouver Tea Festival purchase and the second oolong out of four from the sampler set that I purchased from Aroma Tea House’s booth. Like the Formosa Oolong that I reviewed earlier this month, Golden Oolong came to me in a sturdy little cardboard tube that holds the tea inside.

The tea leaves vary from light green to a darker forest green. The aroma from the leaves was both floral and nutty, which was an interesting flavour combination to smell. I found it to be more vibrant than expected from an oolong.

Preparation

As part of the sampler packaging, there were no steeping instructions on the cardboard tube. On the product page online, Aroma Tea House recommended steeping Golden Oolong in a small teapot for 15 to 30 seconds, with no suggestions for water temperature. I used my Breville IQ Kettle‘s green tea temperature setting of 175°F (79°C) and steeped it for 30 seconds.

I prepared Golden Oolong in my gaiwan, doing short steeps and pouring the tea out into a small tasting cup throughout the process to taste.

First Taste

The aroma of Golden Oolong is primarily that of the flowers – the product page on Aroma Tea House’s website suggests that it smells like osmanthus flowers. The floral smell is bright and inviting. I can definitely figure out where Golden Oolong got its name with the colour of the steeped tea. The taste of Golden Oolong is a bit nutty and floral, with a hint of sweetness. With the short steeps that I did, I found that the tea remained smooth with no bitterness or astringency noted. It had a light creamy mouthfeel to it that I found really enjoyable.

A Second Cup?

With the gongfu method of preparing the tea in my gaiwan, I resteeped the same leaves fifteen times. I kept the steeping time at 30 seconds for the first five resteeps before increasing gradually at 15 seconds for each subsequent resteep.

I found that the colour of the tea became more dark gold as I continued to steep the tea. The floral notes got stronger while the nuttiness became less and less pronounced.

My Overall Impression

I loved Aroma Tea House’s Golden Oolong. I found it to be a very pleasant tea to drink, and the flavour profile was complex enough to keep me interested throughout all the steeps. If you opt to steep in a teapot instead of a gaiwan, I would recommend keeping the steeps short since it doesn’t take long to make a good cup of tea – and definitely resteep those leaves! They did so well and it made for a great tea drinking session.

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Purdys Chocolatier’s Matcha

Matcha by Purdys Chocolatier
Green Tea (Matcha) / Chocolate
$11.00 for 6 pieces (70g)

First Impressions

I love chocolate as much as the next girl, but when it comes mixed with tea? You know I had to give it a try! If you’re not familiar with Purdys, they are a chocolate company based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Their stores feature chocolates, candies, ice cream, and more. The purple and gold store fronts can also be found across Canada, and I picked up this box of Matcha at a store near me.

Inside the box, there are six beautiful chocolates. Each one has a unique speckled design on it – according to the product page, Purdys uses a spirulina-based dye mixed with cocoa butter to create the colours. Matcha is a unique truffle that consists of a blend of white chocolate and matcha green tea powder, inside of a milk chocolate shell. Each chocolate is nestled in its own brown paper cup. The aroma that I get from the chocolate is milk chocolate.

The ingredients in Matcha are: sugar, milk ingredients, cocoa butter, unsweetened chocolate, coconut oil, matcha powder, natural and artificial flavours, soy lecithin, turmeric, spirulina concentrate, apple concentrate, titanium dioxide, water, sunflower oil, maltodextrin, and citric acid.

First Taste

I cut my first Matcha chocolate in half. The green centre of the Matcha has a sweet, grassy aroma to it. The flavour reminds me a lot of a matcha latté – there’s a touch of honeyed sweetness, grassy notes, a touch of saltiness, and the milk chocolate shell just melts in your mouth. Despite it being a fairly hefty chocolate, it’s quite light in terms of the mouthfeel – there’s a nice decadence to it.

My Overall Impression

I loved Purdys Chocolatier’s Matcha. I think that the matcha flavour really shines through. The speckled decoration is beautiful, and I really like how they used natural dyes to create the colours. The milk chocolate shell is superb, but as someone who’s grown up eating Purdys, I don’t expect anything less. These are nice for a treat, at the price of $11 for 6 pieces, it’s definitely not something that I’ll have around all the time, but they’re quite tasty and I would recommend trying it out if you’re a fan of matcha and chocolate.

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