Category: Review

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Tea Ave’s Wenshan Baochong Oolong

Wenshan Baochong Oolong by Tea Ave
Oolong Tea / Straight
$13.75 for 25g

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First Impressions

I have to say, I’m a fan of Tea Ave’s packaging. Simple, clean, sleek. Wenshan Baochong Oolong came to me in a resealable foil bag. The label consists of plenty of information about the tea: where it is from (Ping Ling District, New Taipei City, Taiwan), the altitude at which the tea is harvested (400-800metres), roasting level, cultivar, oxidation levels, and (my favourite part) different brewing methods.

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The tea leaves themselves are long and wiry with slight twists in the leaves. There’s obvious variation in the colour of the tea leaves, ranging from a dark green to an almost spring green. The aroma from this oolong is brightly floral, it’s the first thing that I noticed when I opened the bag because it’s quite strong. This straight oolong tea smells inviting. Tea Ave states on the product page for Wenshan Baochong Oolong that this tea is one of the most fragrant oolongs in the world – I might be inclined to agree.

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Preparation

Tea Ave has steeping instructions for steeping in a gaiwan, tea cup, tea pot, and cold brew. I opted for the steeping instructions for a tea pot because that’s what I used for steeping this oolong. You can find more steeping instructions on the product page.

For the tea pot, Tea Ave suggests using 90°C (194°F) water and to steep for 3-5 minutes. Wenshan Baochong Oolong can be resteeped up for 4 times, with an additional 30 seconds to 1 minute for each additional steep. I steeped Wenshan Baochong Oolong in 85°C (185°F) water for an initial steep of 3 minutes.

First Taste

Wenshan Baochong Oolong steeps to a pale yellow for the initial steep. The aroma from this tea is quite representative of the dry leaf – very floral with a nice sweetness that reminds me a lot of honey. The tea itself is smooth, with a nice mouthfeel to it. I found this tea enjoyable to sip while having breakfast, it just has a nice fragrance to it that wafts up from my cup. The floral notes are quite inviting.

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A Second Cup?

Because Tea Ave suggested that I could resteep this up to 4 times, I had to push my luck and go over that. I found as I resteeped it, Wenshan Baochong Oolong steeped to a darker, more golden yellow colour. The tea had more a honeyed sweetness, and there was a more creamy consistency with the tea by the second resteep. The tea started to wane in colour and flavour by the fourth resteep, but stayed palatable for up to six resteeps (seven steeps total). I imagine that I could have gotten more if I kept the steeping times shorter or had done an initial steep for less than 3 minutes – I added an additional 30 seconds for each additional steep.

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My Overall Impression

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I loved Tea Ave’s Wenshan Baochong Oolong. This tea is so fragrant and inviting that it was a joy to drink. I really enjoyed the increased honeyed sweetness with each steep, and how the tea had a fantastic mouthfeel – it just added to the tasting experience so well. This is definitely a tea that I would recommend being able to dedicate the time to having a long steeping session, since it holds up so well to being resteeped.

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Yunomi’s Organic Uji Matcha G1, Ceremonial Grade

Uji Matcha G1, Ceremonial Grade by Yunomi
Green Tea (Matcha) / Straight
$49.99USD for 30g

20180122-yunomiujimatcha Yunomi has provided me with Organic Uji Matcha G1, Ceremonial Grade for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

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Organic Uji Matcha G1, Ceremonial Grade, came to me from Yunomi in a beautiful gold foil resealable bag – the match was inside in a separate foil packet for me to rip open (and I tried so hard not to spill any of the matcha out – I did fail a little bit). This organic matcha comes from Wazuka, Kyoto and was harvested in spring 2016. My personal experience with preparing matcha is quite limited, but I did my best!

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This matcha consists only of green tea. The powder is a bright spring green, I noticed a few clumps in the dry powder – probably from being compressed in the packaging. I would describe the smell of this tea as being grassy – it reminded me a lot of the smell of a freshly cut lawn.

Preparation

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Yunomi recommends mixing 1g (¼ teaspoon) with a small amount of water (70°C/158°F) to make a paste, and then to add water to the desired thickness. What I did was use a bamboo scoop to put a small amount of the matcha into my bowl, and then whisked it with a small amount of water. Once it was clump-free, I added some more water until I had about ¾ of a bowl of match to drink.

First Taste

I’m quite the novice when it comes to matcha, but I did try my best with this one. For the whisking motion, I do a repeated M shape back and forth in the bowl until it seemed clump-free and well mixed in, although I never did manage to get a very good froth going so I suspect that I might not have used enough for the matcha. Live and learn!

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Uji Matcha G1 mixes to a beautiful green. The aroma is subtle from the whisked green tea though, I found it not as strong as expected, but my matcha experience prior to this has been primarily matcha lattes prepared for me which were probably full of more than just matcha, water, and dairy products. I found to the flavour to be surprisingly sweet, it reminded me of honeydew melon, with some grassy/vegetal notes. There’s a nice smoothness to this tea, and I must have mixed it enough because there was no graininess or clumps noted as I drank it. There was a touch of bitterness that I noted at the tail end of each sip, but it’s not enough to be off-putting.

A Second Cup?

As matcha is a powder that you mix into the water to drink, there were no second steeps here!

My Overall Impression

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I loved Yunomi’s Organic Uji Matcha G1, Ceremonial Grade. I found this matcha to be really enjoyable. The mix of sweet and grassy flavours made this complex and quite fun to drink. The process of mixing this matcha was fun for me, and I found it to be a great way to slow down and enjoy the tea making process. I realize that Uji Matcha G1 is on the more expensive side, however it is quite tasty. I would consider this to be more of ‘treat’ or special occasion matcha due to the associated costs. However, if you consider it by servings, you get 30 servings in a 30g bag, and that works out to be $1.67/cup – probably a lot cheaper than a matcha at your local café.

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DavidsTea’s Lemon Cayenne Cleanse

Lemon Cayenne Cleanse by DavidsTea
White Tea / Flavoured
$12.98 for 50g

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First Impressions

I went into my local DavidsTea because I saw photos of their new teaware products and just about fell head-over-heels in love with some of their new designs that are part of their Wellness Collection. While I was there, I got to sample some teas (Blueberry Muffin and Lemon Cayenne Cleanse), and I wound up getting Lemon Cayenne Cleanse as part of my Frequent Steeper rewards. Lemon Cayenne Cleanse smells mostly of lemons to me, and I was a bit apprehensive about trying it at first after the salesperson told me that it contained peppers but she reassured me that it wasn’t spicy at all (and she was right!).

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Lemon Cayenne Cleanse consists of: apple, white tea, lime pieces and peel, carrot, rose hip peel, lemon peel, chili peppers, sunflower blossoms, and natural lemon flavouring. The most obviously fragrance from the dry leaf is the lemon/citrus aromas, I can’t smell the chili peppers, apple, white tea base, or any floral aromas from the sunflower blossoms.

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Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping this white tea blend in hot water for 4 to 7 minutes on the packaging. For further details, I always go onto their website to the tea’s product page for more information. Hot water in this instance is 167-176°F (75-80°C). I opted to steep mine at 175°F, which is my Breville IQ Kettle‘s green tea setting (the white tea setting is 185°F), and I steeped Lemon Cayenne Cleanse for 3 minutes.

First Taste

Lemon Cayenne Cleanse steeps to a nice happy yellow. Despite using a stainless steel basket-style infuser (as part of my Tea for One set), I found lot of tea debris in my cup of tea. If that sort of thing bothers you, this is a tea I would recommend steeping in a tea filter bag instead. Ahem, back to the tea now. Lemon Cayenne Cleanse has a very strong lemon aroma to it. It tastes the same to me as when I sampled it in store – there’s a tart lemon flavour, with a touch of sweetness. There’s the warming properties of the pepper with each sip, but I don’t really get much of a spicy kick from this tea. I’m (generally) sensitive to heavy spices, and I usually shy away from things that are spicy, but I found this white tea blend not spicy at all. That said, I also don’t taste the white tea either.

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A Second Cup?

I resteeped Lemon Cayenne Cleanse twice. The first resteep, done at 4 minutes, the tea was an even brighter yellow, and I found the flavour to be fairly similar. The second resteep, steeped for 5 minutes, wasn’t particularly good. I found it to be watery and didn’t have the same warming properties as the first two steeps. I would say that Lemon Cayenne Cleanse is only good for one more steep.

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My Overall Impression

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I liked DavidsTea’s Lemon Cayenne Cleanse. I really enjoyed the flavour of this white tea blend, I just wish the white tea shined through a bit more. The lemon flavour is really quite delicious, and I greatly enjoyed the warming properties of this tea. That said, I think it is a bit expensive for a tea that can only be reliably resteeped once, and it is quite a bulky tea. If you look at the photo of the dry leaf, it has a lot of large pieces in it – I don’t anticipate getting a lot of pots of tea out of my 50g of Lemon Cayenne Cleanse.

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