Category: Review

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Fox Tea Club’s Watermelon

Watermelon by Fox Tea Club
Fruit Infusion / Flavoured
$9.95USD for 2oz

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

First Impressions

Autumn has been settling in quickly around here over the long weekend (it’s Thanksgiving in Canada), but let’s pretend it’s still summer for just a day, shall we? Watermelon from Fox Tea Club came to me in plain sample packaging with the name handwritten on the outside, and this fruit infusion smells remarkably like watermelon juice despite the lack of watermelon in the ingredients list. It’s pretty amazing how much the smell reminds me of a sweet, juicy slice of watermelon on a hot summer day.

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Watermelon consists of cherry, foxberry, hibiscus, rose and rosehips. Curiously enough, the product page for Watermelon on the Fox Tea Club website mentions bilberry in the description at the time of writing.

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Preparation

Unfortunately, there were no steeping instructions provided for Watermelon. I opted to do my initial steep of this fruity tea at 100°C (212°F) for 5 minutes.

First Taste

Watermelon steeps to a brilliantly deep ruby red colour – likely due to the combination of all the red coloured ingredients (and the hibiscus!). The smell that comes up from this fruity infusion still reminds me of watermelon fruit, but has a bit of a tart aroma that I attribute to either the cherry or the hibiscus.

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On first taste, I can see why Fox Tea Club gave this fruit infusion blend the name Watermelon. It has a refreshing taste and just a touch of tartness that rivals the sweet. I can taste the cherry and the hibiscus. Despite lacking in actual watermelon in the ingredients, the flavours that are the result of the blend is still reminding me of watermelon – just not as sweet as the actual fruit would be.

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Fox Tea Club recommends this infusion as iced. I did try it cold and found that I enjoyed it hot more. The tartness from the hibiscus was more subtle when the infusion was iced. If you’re not a huge fan of how tart the hibiscus is, a touch of honey or another sweetener helps fix that a bit and brighten up the fruity flavours.

A Second Cup?

I did attempt to resteep Watermelon, but found that both the colour of the infusion and the flavour was lacking. I would say that Watermelon is good for just one steep.

My Overall Impression

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I loved Fox Tea Club’s Watermelon. It has a beautiful aroma and the flavour of this fruit blend is delicious and very similar to actual watermelon. I think that most people would probably be less picky than I am and enjoy this fruity infusion iced or cold, so it’s definitely a contender for those who are experiencing warmer weather than I am at this moment in time. I just find it so remarkable how much this blend reminds me of the smell and taste of watermelon.

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Grand Tea’s White Down Silver Needle – Zheng He

White Down Silver Needle – Zheng He by Grand Tea
White Tea / Straight
$52.00HKD for 25g

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Grand Tea has provided me with White Down Silver Needle – Zheng He for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

Another silver needle white tea from Grand Tea to try and review and I couldn’t be more please. Similarly from an earlier review (White Down Silver Needle – Fuding), White Down Silver Needle – Zheng He is from the Fujian Province of China and is an expensive form of tea due to the fact that it’s young buds harvested early in the growing season.

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White Down Silver Needle – Zheng He is a very soft tea! There’s a lot of tiny feathery hairs on these leaves and it’s kitten-soft to the touch. The dry leaf has a subtle aroma to it that reminds me a bit of dragonfruit – just a hint of light fruity sweetness.

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Preparation

Grand Tea recommends steeping White Down Silver Needle – Zheng He in 70-80°C (158-176°F) for 2-3 minutes and no longer than 5 minutes. My initial steep of this silver needle was for 2 minutes.

First Taste

White Down Silver Needle – Zheng He steeps to a very pale yellow. The aroma that comes up from this tea still reminds me of dragon fruit, but then there’s some additional aromas as well. I get a bit of cantaloupe and cucumber from this tea, and just a light honey sweetness from the fragrance of this steeped tea.

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Luckily, this silver needle does not disappoint on flavour. I taste a mix of dragon fruit with the freshness of cucumber flavour, along with just a bit of sweetness that reminds me of honey. This tea is much like the other silver needle I reviewed recently from Grand Tea in that it has a thickened texture, despite being thin. It winds up being a nice full mouthfeel to this tea when I drink it with zero bitterness or astringency.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped White Down Silver Needle – Zheng He a total of five times (six steeps total), increasing the steep time by about 45 seconds per additional steep. I found that the first resteep was the deepest in colour – it became a bright golden yellow. The flavours of this tea intensified as I steeped it, and reached a peak in flavour by the second and third resteeps. I found that the cantaloupe flavour was at its strongest, and balanced well with the freshness of the cucumber flavours and the light honeyed sweetness in the background.

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My Overall Impression

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I loved Grand Tea’s White Down Silver Needle – Zheng He. I might even say that it was more enjoyable than the other recent silver needle review I did for Grand Tea because I love the added freshness that the cucumber flavours add to this tea. The flavours of this straight white tea are wonderfully complex and a delight for the taste buds. I love how the subtle changes led to a different balance of aromas and flavours in this silver needle and I really enjoyed steeping it again and again to see how each steep would differ. I had this tea while having lunch and it paired quite nicely with both my savoury meal and the fruit that I had afterwards, so it would be a good option to pair with dessert as well.

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Fox Tea Club’s Coconut Milk Blooming Tea

Coconut Milk Blooming Tea by Fox Tea Club
White Tea / Flavoured
$15.95 for 2oz

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Fox Tea Club has provided me with Coconut Milk Blooming Tea for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

I adore blooming teas – it’s a bit like a mix of tea and art together. For those new to blooming teas, the tea leaves and flowers are tied together and when you first get it the tea is just a ball. After steeping, the flower and the tea opens up and it’s a beautiful arrangement in your tea top. I would definitely recommend steeping all blooming teas in a clear glass teapot or cup to get the full effect.

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That said, Coconut Milk Blooming Tea came to me in sample packaging from the Fox Tea Club. I received one tea ball from them and it smells incredibly like coconut with a hint of floral. There is not much that I can see beyond the tea leaves and a hint of pink from the clover flower. The ingredients for the Coconut Milk Blooming Tea are: clover flowers, jasmine, white tea. The description of the tea also includes coconut flavouring, but the ingredients list (at the time of writing) does not.

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Preparation

Fox Tea Club suggests using 1 ball in a clear teapot and to steep using 180°F (82°C) water for 5 minutes. I followed the steeping instructions for the initial steep.

First Taste

After the 5 minute steep, the Coconut Milk Blooming Tea has opened up quite a bit. The tea itself has a warm pinkish tone to it, I believe that is from the pink clover flowers. The tea smells of jasmine and coconut, and just has a hint of sweetness to it.

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I’m pleasantly surprised at how good this tea taste. It has a soft floral taste to it that I’m attributing to the jasmine – it’s much more vibrant than other jasmine teas I’ve had before because it’s present rather than only being used to scent the tea. The coconut flavour is sweet and quite strong, it holds itself well against the strength of the floral notes from the jasmine. The sweetness is not over-the-top, and it’s just enough to make it interesting. I would think that most people wouldn’t feel the need to add any sweetener to this floral tea.

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A Second Cup?

Fox Tea Club suggests that the Coconut Milk Blooming Tea can be resteeped 3 to 5 times, which always makes me excited to hear because I love resteeping teas – you find subtle flavour changes from time to time. I used the same temperature water, and increased each subsequent steep by 30 seconds.

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For the first 2 resteeps, I found that the coconut flavour was a bit weaker than the initial steep, but it was still quite good. By the third and fourth resteep, I found that the jasmine flavour was considerably stronger than the coconut, as the flavouring of the coconut had started to become weaker. It still has a touch of sweetness though. I didn’t find my last (fifth) resteep to be particularly good compared to the other steeps, so for me the Coconut Milk Blooming Tea was good for a total of four resteeps (five steeps total).

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My Overall Impression

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I loved Fox Tea Club’s Coconut Milk Blooming Tea. Not only was this tea fun to watch while it steeped, it also tasted really good. The coconut flavours were sweet and balanced well with the floral notes from the jasmine. I enjoyed the fact that this tea resteeped well and the changes in the flavour were subtle with each resteep. It’s a fun tea, and I think that blooming teas are best enjoyed with company – especially people who’ve never seen a blooming tea open up before.

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