Category: Review

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California Tea House’s Organic Silver Needle

Organic Silver Needle by California Tea House
White Tea / Straight
Price$18.00USD for 2oz

California Tea House has provided me with Organic Silver Needle for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

California Tea House got in contact with me regarding trying out a few of their teas, and this was the first one: Organic Silver Needle! This silver needle white tea came to me in a sealed (and resealable!) pouch – opaque on the front and clear on the back so I could see the tea before I even opened the packaging. There were no steeping instructions listed on the packaging, but the URL of the company is included for more information. California Tea House describes their Organic Silver Needle as coming from the Fuding and Zhenhe districts of Fujian Province, and says that this white tea is picked between March 15 and April 10 – so specific! As well, this tea is picked when it’s not raining – what a neat detail to include about the harvesting process (and it probably makes it a lot easier for the workers as well).

These tea leaves are beautiful! If you’ve never encountered a silver needle before, the tea leaves are long and narrow and covered with what feels like soft, downy feathers. I highly recommend touching silver needle the next time that you can because it’s kitten-soft. The dry leaf has a very subtle sweet, floral aroma to it. Organic Silver Needle is a straight Chinese white tea.

Preparation

There were no preparation instructions on the packaging. On California Tea House’s product page, they recommend steeping Organic Silver Needle in below boiling water for 3-5 minutes. My initial steep of Organic Silver Needle was in 85°C (185°F) water for 3 minutes.

First Taste

Organic Silver Needle steeps to a light golden yellow after the first three minutes. I found the aroma to be lightly floral. The taste of this white tea is floral and smooth – no bitterness or astringency at the length of time I steeped it for, or at the temperature of water. I found there to be a nice sweetness to this tea, it makes for a pleasant and tasty cup of tea.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Organic Silver Needle a total of seven times (eight steeps total with the same leaves). The colouring of this tea became a more golden yellow with each steep, peaking in colour at the fourth resteep. As the colour gets deeper, the flavour gets stronger. The balance of the flavours stays consistent with each steep.

My Overall Impression

I loved California Tea House’s Organic Silver Needle. This straight white tea has a beautiful flavour balance, with a nice sweetness to it. The tea itself resteeps well and the tea leaves are lovely to touch and look at. If you haven’t had the opportunity before to try a silver needle, I would recommending trying it. The nice thing about quality straight teas, such as this one, is the ability to resteep over and over again, so you can get a lot of value out of the tea leaves.

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Yunomi’s Genmaicha: Brown Rice Green Tea

Genmaicha: Brown Rice Green Tea by Yunomi
Green Tea / Flavoured
$8.00USD for 100g

Yunomi has provided me with Genmaicha: Brown Rice Green Tea for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

Genmaicha: Brown Rice Green Tea came to me in a kraft paper sealed pouch lined with foil – not resealable, unfortunately. This particular Genmaicha comes from Kyoto Obubu Tea Farms in Wazuka, Kyoto, Japan. You can clearly see all of the ingredients in this tea – from the flattened, long green tea leaves, to the tiny puffs of rice mixed in.

Genmaicha: Brown Rice Green Tea consists of green tea and toasted brown rice. The aroma from this tea is primarily that of cut grass (from the green tea) and wheat (from the toasted brown rice), but it’s quite mild and subtle. The label on the packaging says that the rice is sweet mocha rice, which I am unfamiliar with.

Preparation

Yunomi suggest steeping this green tea blend at 90°C (195°F) for 60 seconds, I followed the steeping instructions for the initial steep.

First Taste

Genmaicha: Brown Rice Green Tea steeps to a pale yellow with a very vibrant aroma that I wasn’t quite expecting, considering how subtle it was in the dry leaf. The aroma is mostly that of cut grass and then there’s the nutty aroma that comes from the brown rice. When I sip the tea, I’m surprised by the sweetness that is present. It’s not overwhelmingly or cloyingly sweet, it’s just enough to make the sweetness known, and mingles well with the nuttiness and the grassy flavours. It’s quite the good balance between the flavours in this blend.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Genmaicha: Brown Rice Green Tea three times, I added an extra 30 seconds per subsequent steep. The tea steeped to a more golden yellow with each steep, and the flavours got deeper in the first resteep with the same balance as the first steep, just stronger. By the third resteep (fourth steep overall), I found the flavours were be almost lacking, as it was getting to be watered down. I think two or three resteeps would do most people just fine in terms of flavour intensity.

My Overall Impression

I loved Yunomi’s Genmaicha: Brown Rice Green Tea. This green tea blend just has a beautiful balance of flavours – from grassy to nutty to sweet. It resteeps well, and has a lovely aroma and flavour. I really enjoyed steeping this tea and drinking it – and the price isn’t anything to sneeze at either, as it’s pretty affordable considering the number of resteeps that you can get from these leaves.

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ShakTea’s Pear Green

Pear Green by ShakTea
Green Tea / Flavoured
$7.75 for 50g

First Impressions

Pear Green is one of the teas that I picked up at the 2017 Vancouver Tea Festival at ShakTea’s booth (the others being White Grape and Morning Dew, both previously reviewed here). Pear Green was a tea that I was able to smell in person, and it’s got such a bright fruity aroma to it! The fragrance from this tea is primarily that of the pear, and I smell very little of the roses beyond a hint of floral in the background.

The ingredients in Pear Green are: green tea, pear pieces, and rose petals. You can definitely see all of the ingredients in this green tea blend. The pear pieces are quite generous in size and smell so good.

Preparation

There weren’t any preparation instructions for Pear Green on the packaging or the website’s product page, so I did an initial steep of this green tea blend at 79°C/175°F for 2 minutes.

First Taste

Pear Green steeps to a pale yellow after two minutes. The aroma from this tea is mostly fruity sweetness, with just a slight bit of rose. When I sip this tea, I find it to be enjoyable – there’s definitely some sweetness from the pear, I can taste the roses, and the green tea base is mostly in the background. There’s just a hint of grass notes mingling there, being overwhelmed by the pear and the roses.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Pear Green twice, adding an extra 30 seconds for each steep. I found that the green tea base flavour keeps fairly consistently, while the pear and rose (while present) continued to get weaker. There’s still that fruity sweetness with the two resteeps, so I did quite enjoy both resteeps. If you’re after a strong pear flavour, I would say that the first steep is the one for you.

My Overall Impression

I loved ShakTea’s Pear Green. I found the pear flavours of this green tea blend to be very enjoyable and added a great natural sweetness to this tea. I felt like the ingredients lived up to the name of this tea, and it was nice that it resteeped fairly decently, especially being a tea with fruit and floral ingredients. I think this would be a nice tea to pair with a meal, mostly because the grassy notes would play off a savoury meal while the pear and rose would partner nicely with a dessert.

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