Category: Review

Posted on

First Edition Tea Co.’s Toronto

Toronto by First Edition Tea Co.
Green Tea / Flavoured
$13.00USD for 100g

20170818-firsteditiontoronto

First Edition Tea Co.’s Toronto came to me as part of The Sugared Teacup’s June themed subscription box.

First Impressions

Toronto came to me in a cute little sealed (and resealable) 10g sample bag – too cute! I’m a fan of nice packaging, and First Edition Tea Co. did not disappoint. Toronto is part of their Wanderlust collection which features 4 other cities from around the world (Marrakech, Paris, London, and Mumbai). Toronto is described as an “apple, peach & maple green tea”. If you’re going to make a tea inspired by a Canadian city, I think maple is kind of necessary. When I first opened up the bag, I was pleasantly surprised. The tea smells like what it described on the front. Apples? Check. Peaches? Double check. Maple? Oh yes, please.

20170818-firsteditiontoronto1

The ingredients in Toronto are: green tea, hibiscus petals, rosehips, apple pieces, orange pieces, calendula petals, safflower petals, real maple syrup, and natural flavours. If you’re confused by the lack of peaches in this apple, peach, and maple green tea, you’re not the only one. I’m hoping that the peach aroma that I can smell from the dry leaf is from the natural flavouring, or else I feel like I should be concerned.

20170818-firsteditiontoronto2

Preparation

First Edition Tea Co. recommended steeping Toronto in 100°C (212°F) water for 4 minutes. Because it is a green tea base, and I only have 10g to play with, I was a bit cautious and steeped at a lower temperature. I steeped this green tea blend at 80°C (175°F), which is the green tea setting on my Breville IQ Kettle. I did steep it for 4 minutes.

First Taste

Toronto is apparently a pink city! I think the colouring is primarily due to the hibiscus in the mix. It’s a beautiful colour. The aroma that comes up from this tea is full of apple and peaches and a hint of maple syrup. The aroma of this tea matches up so nicely with the description, I can almost forgive it for not actually containing peaches.

20170818-firsteditiontoronto4

On first sip, I find that this tea is tart. The maple adds a nice touch of sweetness to this tea that almost balances out the tartness from the hibiscus. I can taste a bit of apple, a bit of peach, and there’s a subtle but familiar vegetal taste in the background that could only be from the green tea base. With the mix of fruit, I’m not a huge fan of it as a hot tea. First Edition Tea Co. suggests this as an iced tea though, which is what I wound up doing after I let it cool to room temperature.

20170818-firsteditiontoronto6

The tartness gets a bit more subdued, but the fruitiness of the tea comes out a lot more when it’s cooled and iced. I would recommend having this tea iced.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Toronto. It was a much paler pink and it lacked the tartness from the hibiscus. I found it was primarily the green tea base shining through on this tea and not quite the same experience. While I’m a fan of green tea in general, I didn’t think this blend did a great job with a second steep.

20170818-firsteditiontoronto5

My Overall Impression

3cups-2

I liked First Edition Tea Co.’s Toronto. While I didn’t like this green tea blend hot (or resteeped), I think the initial steep did an amazing job with being iced. Definitely have this tea iced, the tartness of the hibisicus and fruitiness of the apple and peach flavours lends itself well as an iced tea (and it’s refreshing to boot!). Because of the maple syrup, I don’t think that this tea needs any sweetener as it’s got a nice amount of sweetness already to it. Still, I’m curious about where the peaches are, but I think the flavours in this green tea blend are really nice (and would strongly recommend having this one iced only).

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.

Posted on

Yunomi’s Organic Shimane Sencha Ou Midori

Organic Shimane Sencha Ou Midori by Yunomi
Green Tea / Straight
$7.00USD for 20g

20170816-yunomisencha

Yunomi has provided me with Organic Shimane Sencha Ou Midori for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

It’s another tea from the Takarabako Tea Farm in Japan! I shared a review not too long ago of another tea from the Takarabako Tea Farm (Shimane Oolong Tea), and this is the second of six reviews I’ve got coming to you for the teas from this Japanese tea farm. Yes, the label says Premium Sencha Ou Midori, but I think the product got a rename between the packaging of samples and the product pages being put onto the Yunomi website. Not the first thing this has happened to me when reviewing a tea, and it probably won’t be the last.

20170816-yunomisencha1

Sencha Ou Midori came to me in a resealable green bag. It seemed smaller than the other samples, although they’re all 20g. This is because sencha is so dense. With the way the leaves are processed, they’re flattened. It’s not a big airy tea like some others that I’ve had in the past. There’s just little to no room between the leaves. The leaves themselves are a dark green, when I first opened the packaging the first thing I smelled was corn, vegetables, and grassy notes. Sencha Ou Midori is an organic green tea.

20170816-yunomisencha2

Preparation

Yunomi suggests steeping Sencha Ou Midori in 70°C (158°F) water for 1 minute. My initial steep was for 1 minute.

First Taste

Sencha Ou Midori steeps to a beautiful pale yellow. There’s a slight sweet aroma that comes up from the tea, and when I smell it, it has a vegetal smell to it. The overall aroma that comes up from this tea is quite mild in its fragrance. When I taste this tea, it get a very clean and crisp taste – there’s a slight saltiness to this tea that reminds me of a seaweed that makes for some nice umami flavours in this tea. I did note a mild bitterness in this tea that kind of lingers at the end of each sip. It isn’t a very strong bitterness, but it is still present. I think cutting the steep time down even further would help with the bitterness that I encountered in this tea.

20170816-yunomisencha4

A Second Cup?

I did a second steep of Sencha Ou Midori and found that the bitterness was more pronounced and not enjoyable. I did not resteep after that.

20170816-yunomisencha5

My Overall Impression

2cups-2

I thought that Yunomi’s Organic Shimane Sencha Ou Midori was just okay. The initial steep of this green tea was quite good – I enjoyed the different flavours in this tea and it has an enjoyable umami flavour to it. The bitterness that resulted from resteeping this tea make it an unenjoyable continued tea experience. The initial 60 seconds was a bit much, I think, and resulted in some burnt leaves. I think this sencha does great for an initial steep, but I wouldn’t recommend resteeping the leaves if you’re following the steeping recommendations.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.

Posted on

Grand Tea’s Chenpi Loose Black Pu-erh

Chenpi Loose Black Pu-erh by Grand Tea
Pu-Erh Tea / Flavoured
$36.00HKD for 25g

20170814-grandteachenpi

Grand Tea has provided me with Chenpi Loose Black Pu-erh for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

I haven’t had the greatest of experiences with pu-erhs, and I’ve never had one that was aged inside of a tangerine, so I was a bit apprehensive about trying this Chenpi Loose Black Pu-erh from Grand Tea. If you’re not familiar with how dried citrus peels smell like, you’ll get a good whiff of it from this tea when you open up the package. If I had to describe it, I would say it smells quite subtle compared to a fresh orange or tangerine. You can smell that it was a tangerine, once upon a time, but it’s aromas have become subdued with time.

20170814-grandteachenpi1

Chenpi Loose Black Pu-erh is aged pu-erh that was kept inside of a hollowed out tangerine. Each unit of tea comes with some of the peel. The peel is still supple, and you can tear it into smaller pieces to steep with the tea leaves for added flavour.

20170814-grandteachenpi2

Preparation

Grand Tea recommends steeping in 90-100°C (194-212°F) water and to do two rinses with boiling water prior to steeping for 1 minute. The rinsing process is to remove any dirt or debris in the tea. I rinsed twice and steeped according to the instructions.

First Taste

Chenpi Loose Black Pu-erh steeps to an incredibly dark amber colour, but in my tea pot it looked quite dark – nearly black – before I poured out a cup. The aroma of the tea is warming and inviting – there’s the soft aroma of the tangerine/citrus, and there’s an almost woody aroma to the tea as well, which I’ll attribute to the pu-erh base. There’s some great earthy notes to this tea, which go great with the woody aroma. It has a bit of musty flavours, something that reminds me a bit of meaty mushrooms (think portobello), which all get wrapped up with a warm citrus flavour. There’s no sweetness here, it’s a completely savoury tea and it’s quite enjoyable (yes, I’m saying that about a pu-erh tea).

20170814-grandteachenpi4

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Chenpi Loose Black Pu-erh a few times (four steeps in total), and found that the citrus/tangerine flavours were fading by the second resteep and almost completely gone by the third resteep. It still had a great warming quality to it, and it still had the rich earthy notes in the flavour.

20170814-grandteachenpi5

My Overall Impression

3cups-2

I liked Grand Tea’s Chenpi Loose Black Pu-erh. I’m still not a convert when it comes to pu-erhs, but I genuinely liked this one a lot better than the last time I tried (which was a raw pu-erh). I think the tangerine peel made a difference for me, the flavour just balanced out the earthiness of the pu-erh and led to a very well balanced cup of tea. I enjoyed the richness in this tea, it tastes quite good. I think it’d go really well with a heavy, savoury meal. There’s also this lovely warming quality about this tea that I quite enjoyed, it’s a characteristic that I find often with tea blends that have ginger or cardamom, but it was in this one as well and it was nice on the palate.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.