Category: Review

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Fox Tea Club’s Orange Cookie

Orange Cookie by Fox Tea Club
Black Tea / Flavoured
$9.95USD for 2oz

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Fox Tea Club has provided me with Orange Cookie for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

I was intrigued by the idea of a tea named “Orange Cookie” mostly because I really like cookies. This black tea blend came to me in a sample packet from Fox Tea Club. I ripped opened the packaging and could smell the orange right away. The citrus aroma is rich and deep. There’s a mixture of spices in this black tea blend that mingle well with the black tea base – I can definitely make out the cinnamon in this mix and I can see the cardamom.

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The listed ingredients at the time of writing are: black tea and orange. The description of the tea on the Fox Tea Club includes the mention of cinnamon and cloves, but they’re not mentioned in the ingredients list.

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Preparation

Fox Tea Club recommends steeping Orange Cookie at 205°F (96°C) for 3 to 5 minutes, and suggests that the tea can be steeped twice. My initial steep of Orange Cookie was for 4 minutes.

First Taste

Orange Cookie steeps to a beautiful golden orange colour. The smell that wafts up from the steeped tea is primarily that of the spices. I can smell the cinnamon and the cloves, and the gentle hint of the orange. On first sip, I found the black tea base to be strong with a hint of astringency. I found that the orange fragrance of the dry leaf to translate well in the steeped tea. It’s light and adds a hint of refreshing citrus flavour to the steeped tea.

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I added a touch of honey to the cup and found that the sweetness helped to boost the citrus flavour in this tea and made it taste more like orange.

A Second Cup?

As Fox Tea Club had suggested that this tea could be steeped twice, that meant I had to try a total of three steeps. The first resteep of Orange Cookie tasted quite a lot like the initial steep – the black tea based was more pronounced with the spices playing less of a strong role in the flavour profile. The amount of citrus I found to be similar to the initial steep. For the second resteep, I found that it was mostly the black tea in the flavour of the tea blend and the spices were all by forgotten. I agree with Fox Tea Club’s suggestion of two steeps for Orange Cookie.

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My Overall Impression

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I liked Fox Tea Club’s Orange Cookie. I really enjoyed the flavours of this tea – from the dry leaf to the steeped tea. I do agree with Fox Tea Club’s recommendation of steeping this tea twice. The orange flavour is enjoyable, but I didn’t really find that it reminded me of cookies. I think a touch of vanilla or a vanilla simple syrup would go a long way to making me think of cookies. Additionally, I luckily do not have any food allergies (that I’m aware of), so I don’t need to scour through ingredients lists constantly, but I do wish I knew what all the different ingredients present in this black tea blend are.

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Yunomi’s Handpicked Mountain-Grown Shizuoka Sencha

Handpicked Mountain-Grown Shizuoka Sencha by Yunomi
Green Tea / Straight
$7.00USD for 10g

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Yunomi has provided me with Handpicked Mountain-Grown Shizuoka Sencha for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

Yunomi sent me this Handpicked Mountain-Grown Shizuoka Sencha from the Murakami Tea Garden, located in the Yoshiwara District, Shizuoka Prefecture. I was able to learn from the Yunomi website that the Murakami Tea Garden was established in the late 19th century, and they only produce 1300kg of tea each year as they only harvest the tea leaves from the spring first flush harvest.

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This sencha came to me in a beautiful golden paper covered foil packet that’s resealable. The sencha was steamed for 90 seconds after being harvested on May 4 2017. It’s kind of amazing that they can tell me exactly when it was harvested and for how long it was harvested. The smell from the dry leaf is very lightly salty, a bit of seaweed, a bit of ocean air. There’s a slight underlying sweetness to the aroma from the dry leaf that reminds me of flowers and peaches.

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Preparation

Yunomi has recommendations for the first three steeps. First steep at 60°C (140°F) for 1-2 minutes, second steep for 15 seconds for 80°C (176°F), and the third steep for 45 seconds at 80°C (176°F). I followed the instructions for the first three steeps of this Handpicked Mountain-Grown Shizuoka Sencha. Yunomi also includes that if you use a hotter temperature water, it’ll be more astringent; and a cooler temperature water, the tea will be sweeter.

First Taste

The initial steep of Handpicked Mountain-Grown Shizuoka Sencha steeped to a pale green-yellow. The aroma that wafts up from this sencha is one that reminds me of salty air by the ocean and there’s underlying honeyed sweetness to the tea. I sipped it and found it to be just a touch sweet and salty at the same time. The umami flavours are quite good, I found zero astringency and bitterness when I steeped it at such a low temperature compared to other green teas I’ve had in the past. There was a subtle flavour of floral sweetness in the tea that I find quite enjoyable.

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A Second Cup?

I followed the Yunomi steeping recommendations for the second and third steeps for this sencha. The green tea became sweeter and saltier with each steep. I found that I could steep the same leaves a fourth and fifth time, and found this Japanese green tea became a touch sweeter. The sixth steep was quite watery and unenjoyable. I would recommend a total of five steeps with this sencha.

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My Overall Impression

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I loved Yunomi’s Handpicked Mountain-Grown Shizuoka Sencha. From the dry leaf to the steeping process and the smell that comes up from the wet leaves, this sencha has a beautiful fragrance and flavour. I really enjoyed the contrasting sweet-and-salty flavours in this sencha and I’m quite happy to have tried it. I like that the tea can be resteeped a few times is a lovely quality to the sencha – especially as Yunomi included extensive steeping instructions for not only an initial steep for subsequent steeps as well.

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DavidsTea’s Sticky Rice Oolong

Sticky Rice Oolong by DavidsTea
Oolong Tea/ Flavoured
$14.98 for 50g

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First Impressions

Having grown up eating copious amounts of rice (sticky and otherwise), the name of this tea definitely intrigued me. Plus, it’s also an oolong and I love oolongs so it was kind of a no brainer to use one of my Frequent Steeper rewards from DavidsTea on this one. This oolong smells amazingly like rice, a bit of rice pudding. There are some floral notes with the dry leaf, which are enticing. I’m quite eager to try this one out.

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Sticky Rice Oolong consists of oolong tea and sticky rice leaves (nuo mi xiang). From an aroma stand out, this oolong is really quite fragrant and aromatic. If you have a DavidsTea location near you, it’s definitely one that I would recommend sniffing because it just smells so good.

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Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Sticky Rice Oolong in hot water (167-176°F or 75-80°C) for 4-7 minutes. I steeped mine at 175°F for an initial steep of 5 minute.

First Taste

Sticky Rice Oolong steeps to a beautiful golden yellow. The aroma of rice might be stronger in the steeped tea than in the dry leaf, if that’s even possible. The taste of this tea is an interesting blend of rice to rice pudding, and oolong. There’s just a tiny hint of astringency that I noted at the end of each sip, although I can’t tell for sure if it’s from the oolong or the sticky rice leaves. I found that there was a touch of sweetness in this tea, but overall it’s quite a savoury tea.

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I did try a cup of Sticky Rice Oolong with a touch of honey and it made it taste more like rice pudding.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Sticky Rice Oolong four times, adding an extra 30 seconds per subsequent steep. I found the aroma and flavours of this tea to become stronger, the rice pudding flavour is delicious and gets just a touch sweeter in the additional steeps.

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My Overall Impression

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I liked DavidsTea’s Sticky Rice Oolong. I found that the tea smells just like the name implies for both the dry leaf and steeped tea. The slight astringency might be a touch off-putting for something, but I found that the tea does wonderfully with a tiny amount of honey. The sweetness makes it taste more like rice pudding. I find the tea resteeps well, so if you find that the price is putting you off from buying it, the quality of the tea is good enough to resteep repeatedly.

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