Category: Review

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DavidsTea’s Organic Earl Grey

Organic Earl Grey by DavidsTea
Black Tea / Flavoured
$5.98 for 50g

First Impressions

I realized a little while ago that I haven’t reviewed DavidsTea’s Organic Earl Grey yet. Which seems quite odd to me because this is one of those teas that I’ve bought repeatedly and gotten full tins of since I started this tea journey, that I almost feel like it was an oversight. I get Organic Earl Grey 100g at a time, which either means that I get a tin refilled or I get a free tin with purchase. In the case of the last time I got this refilled, there was these cute sheep tins so I opted to get the cute tin because sheep.

Organic Earl Grey consists of: organic black tea, cornflower petals, and natural flavouring. This tea does contain bergamot oil, which is the ‘natural flavouring’ and a staple in Earl Grey blends. This black tea blend has a very strong aroma – it smells of oranges and it almost smells astringent, just a bit too harsh.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Organic Earl Grey in near-boiling water for 4 to 7 minutes. Near-boiling means 90-95°C (194-203°F). I opted to steep at 93°C (200°F) for 4 minutes, which is the oolong tea setting on my Breville IQ Kettle.

First Taste

Organic Earl Grey steeps to a beautiful golden orange. The strong, almost astringent orange aroma from the dry leaf is considerably mellow in the steeped tea. I find that the aroma has a certain level of citrus, but it’s not overwhelmingly so. The flavour is smooth – there’s a light citrus aroma and flavour, with the black tea base that is robust in the way that an breakfast blend would be, but just not quite as strong. This may be because of the citrus notes. I can detect a mild sweetness, which may be due to the flower petals in this tea.

I typically drink Earl Grey with a bit of sweetener (typically honey) with some evaporated milk. It’s my preferred method of drinking Earl Grey. I find that a bit of sweetener helps accentuate the citrus flavours, while the milk helps to temper some of the strength behind the black tea to make it a bit more palatable at any time of day.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Organic Earl Grey. I find the first resteep to be fairly close to the first steep, just a bit less citrus flavour but the same robustness. The second resteep tends to be weaker in flavour and colour overall. I find Organic Earl Grey to be good for just one more steep.

My Overall Impression

I loved DavidsTea’s Organic Earl Grey. This probably comes as no surprise. It’s not the most inexpensive Earl Grey tea out there, but it is one of the better tasting Earl Grey blends that I’ve tried. It’s a staple in my tea stash for a reason – and that’s because I just really drinking it. This is one of those teas that I find to be good at any time of day – although it is caffeinated so it that bothers you, probably not a wise choice after mid-afternoon.

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Yunomi’s Sobacha Green Tea

Sobacha Green Tea by Yunomi
Green Tea / Flavoured
$5.00USD for 12g (3 sachets)

Yunomi has provided me with Sobacha Green Tea for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

I received the three Sobacha Green Tea sachets in a green foil resealable bag. There was 12g of tea in this bag, with 4g in each sachet. Each sachet is a pyramid, with a simple tag attached (each tag just says “tea” on it). The out side of each pyramid is covered with some fine green tea dust.

Sobacha Green Tea comes from the Kaneroku Matsumoto Tea Garden, this green tea is a blend of green tea (from Shimada, Shizuoka prefecture) and soba, also known as buckwheat (Kunisake Peninsula, Oita prefecture). The aroma of this tea reminds me a bit of genmaicha – there’s a certain aroma that reminds of vegetation with a level of roasted nuttiness, like the aroma of the toasted rice in genmaicha. However, the roasted nuttiness is a lot mellower compared to genmaicha normally smells to me.

Preparation

Yunomi recommends steeping Sobacha Green Tea in boiling water (100°C/212°F) for 2 to 3 minutes. I steeped at a lower temperature (79°C/175°F) for 2 minutes.

First Taste

Sobacha steeps to a pale, cloudy yellow-green. The tea dust on the outside of the pyramid forms a bit of a rim on my tea cup. The aroma from my cup is that of vegetation with the roasted nuttiness again. The taste is surprisingly sweet, although not overwhelmingly so. I found that the roasted nuttiness is present with every sip, and it almost reminds me of toasted oats. The sweetness plays with the vegetal flavours, mostly reminding me of dark green vegetables like gailan or broccoli.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Sobacha Green Tea twice. The first resteep, the flavours were more towards the sweet vegetal side with less of the nuttiness from the soba. For the second resteep, the green tea base was the shining star with little or none of the soba present. That said, the green tea base is pleasant to drink so it wasn’t the end of the world.

My Overall Impression

I liked Yunomi’s Sobacha Green Tea. I really enjoyed this green tea blend, I thought it was a great play on the genmaicha that I’m more familiar with. The nuttiness from the buckwheat was balanced well against the sweet vegetal green tea base. I do wish that it had resteeped a little bit better, because the soba was the reason why it was enjoyable and added another level of complexity to the flavour of this tea. That said, it was still a delicious cup of tea and a tasty alternative to genmaicha.

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Young Mountain Tea’s Nilgiri Green Swords

Nilgiri Green Swords by Young Mountain Tea
Green Tea / Straight
$6.50USD for 1oz

First Impressions

I picked up Nilgiri Green Swords at Young Mountain Tea’s table at the 2017 Vancouver Tea Festival This green tea was one of the teas that they had available for sampling and I enjoyed it. This green tea comes from the Nilgiri mountains of south India, and comes from the Coonoor Tea Estate. Interestingly enough, this tea was inspired by the traditional Dragonwell (Longjing). These tea leaves are dark green with a flattened ‘sword’ shape – it’s no mystery where the name of this tea came from

The dry leaf of Nilgiri Green Swords has an aroma that is an interesting mix – when I opened the packet (resealable kraft paper bag that’s lined in foil), I could smell grassy notes, along with what reminded me of apricots. The description of the tea on the packaging suggests that this tea tastes like peaches.

Preparation

Young Mountain Tea recommends steeping Nilgiri Green Swords in 180°F (82°C) water for 3 to 5 minutes. I opted to do my initial steep of Nilgiri Green Swords at 175°F (79°C) for 3 minutes.

First Taste

The first steep of Nilgiri Green Swords steeps to a pale yellow, and it has a very subtle grassy aroma to it. The taste of this green tea has a light sweetness to it, and a mild vegetal base. While the description of the tea was peaches, I still taste apricots – so still some fruity flavour to it. With the apricot comes a bit of sweetness, making this tea pleasant to drink.

A Second Cup?

I did resteep Nilgiri Green Swords a few times (four resteeps total), adding an extra 30 seconds per steep. I found that the flavours became more developed – the apricot/fruit sweetness came through more with each steep, while the vegetal base remained mostly the same. The colour of this tea became more and more golden yellow with each steep.

My Overall Impression

I liked Young Mountain Tea’s Nilgiri Green Swords. I found the flavour to be pleasant, and enjoyed the fact that the fruity flavour was present in this green tea. I wish it had reminded me more of peaches, but the apricot flavour that I was able to pick out was delicious and balanced well with the vegetal flavour component of this green tea’s flavour. I think it did well with the resteeping process, and enjoyed watching the tea leaves open up. It’d be a nice tea to pair with a slice of pie or other sweets that lean towards the savoury side.

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