Category: Review

Posted on

DavidsTea’s Peachy Lychee

Peachy Lychee by DavidsTea
Black Tea / Flavoured
$9.98 for 50g

20170802-davidsteapeachylychee

First Impressions

I got my little bag of Peachy Lychee at a local DavidsTea store after the person behind the counter went on and on about this one. She said it was her new favourite (when iced) and I had to have a sniff. The first thing that I smelled when exposed to the dry leaf was peaches. Peaches, peaches, and more peaches. And then there’s the sweet, floral aromas that balance quite well with the peaches. If you’ve never had lychees before, I would describe them as having a sweet and crisp floral aroma. They’re quite a delicious fruit, if you ever get the chance to eat them.

20170802-davidsteapeachylychee1

Peachy Lychee is a black tea blend, the ingredients are: black tea, apple, candied pineapple, orange peel, sweet blackberry leaf, white hibiscus, peach, lychee, and natural flavouring. It never ceases to amaze me how prominent apple can be in fruity tea blends, despite not being anywhere in the title. Apple, however, does go well in a fruity tea as it adds a nice level of sweetness that I always enjoy.

20170802-davidsteapeachylychee2

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Peachy Lychee in near-boiling water for 4-7 minutes (as per their website, ‘near-boiling’ is 90-95°C (194-203°F). My initial steep of Peachy Lychee was for 5 minutes.

First Taste

Peachy Lychee steeps to a beautiful golden yellow (it’s a bit more orange when you have larger amounts of it… more about that later). The aroma that comes up from the steeped tea is solely peaches. After letting it cool down just a little bit, I had a sip. The taste of this tea was a good mix of fruity and floral – the peaches and lychee flavours are quite good. I did add some sweetener to this tea (honey, for those curious) and found that it really helped to add an extra punch of sweetness to it while helping to brighten up the flavours.

I wound up icing this tea as well and found it to be delicious. Iced, the peach and lychee flavours were more refreshing. I would recommend having this either iced or cold steeped.

20170802-davidsteapeachylychee4

A Second Cup?

I did try to resteep Peachy Lychee and found that it didn’t really hold up to being resteeped. The fruity and floral flavours that I loved so much in the first steep were weak in the second steep. I would say that Peachy Lychee is good for one steep only.

20170802-davidsteapeachylychee5

My Overall Impression

rating4

I loved DavidsTea’s Peachy Lychee. This fruity black tea blend does an okay job as a hot tea, but it definitely ticks all the boxes for me as an iced tea. The aroma and flavour of this tea, both dry and steeped, are delicious. The floral sweetness from the lychee is present and isn’t overpowered by the peachy flavours that most people would be familiar with. I would highly recommend having this tea either iced or cold steeped, and a little bit of sweetener goes a long way in brightening up the flavours and making it even more refreshingly delicious.

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

Posted on

Tealish’s Northern Lights

Northern Lights by Tealish
Green Tea / Flavoured
$7.50 for 50g

20170731-tealishnorthernlights

Tealish’s Northern Lights came to me as part of The Sugared Teacup’s July themed subscription box.

First Impressions

20170731-tealishnorthernlights1

Northern Lights came in a super cute little white tin. I was a little bit rough when opening the tin though, and it came off with a pop and some of the tea came out so I would caution you to be careful if you get it in a small white tin as well. This is my first exposure to Tealish and I really like their label – it’s simple, tells me the name and type of the tea. Unfortunately, the label on this little tin didn’t list the ingredients or steeping instructions, so I had to hop onto their website for that. The dry leaf has a very bright citrus aroma to it, it also smells sweetly of apples.

20170731-tealishnorthernlights2

Northern Lights consists of: green tea, apple cubes, orange peels, fennel seeds, flavouring, and calendula petals. I quite like that I can see the ingredients in this tea (obviously minus the flavouring). It smells really good, has a great fruity aroma to it.

Preparation

Tealish recommends steeping Northern Lights in 80°C (176°F) water for 1-3 minutes. My initial steep was for 2 minutes.

First Taste

Northern Lights steeps to a pale yellow, and there are a lot of tiny particles to this tea so in hindsight I wish I had used a filter bag instead of a stainless steel infuser for this tea – learn from my mistakes if you don’t like drinking pieces of tea. This green tea blend has a sweet aroma to it, the citrus fragrance from the orange peel and the apple pieces mingle well to create a very fruity smell. On first taste, I can taste the natural sweetness from the fruit (and can make out the apple flavour), and a light sweetness from the green tea base. The green tea itself is quite light, and has just a hint of sweetness to it that is enjoyable.

I poured some of my initial steep into a mason jar to cool and then I added some ice cubes to it. This tea is delicious iced – I usually find a lot of fruity teas to be good iced, and Northern Lights was good. I might even like it better iced than hot.

20170731-tealishnorthernlights4

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Northern Lights and found for the second steep, the flavours that I loved in the initial steep were quite lacking in the second steep. It was hard to find the orange and the apple in the second round so I would say that Northern Lights is good for one steep only.

20170731-tealishnorthernlights7

My Overall Impression

3cups-2

I liked Tealish’s Northern Lights. I really like the flavour profile and the fact that I could taste the orange, the apple, and the green tea all separately and the flavours balanced with each other quite well. I also think that Northern Lights does quite well when iced, and I’ll probably wind up cold steeping or icing this tea when I have it again. It doesn’t do well with resteeping, which was quite disappointing. I also wish that the label had more information about this tea (but I also acknowledge that Tealish may have changed their packaging/labeling for the tea that went into The Sugared Teacup subscription boxes).

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

Posted on

Grand Tea’s Premium Pearl Jasmine

Premium Pearl Jasmine by Grand Tea
Green Tea / Flavoured
$35.00HKD for 25g

20170728-grandteapremiumpearljasmine

Grand Tea has provided me with Premium Pearl Jasmine for the purposes of providing an honest review. I received this product at no charge to me and received no other compensation.

First Impressions

I love a good jasmine tea from time to time, so I was happy when Grand Tea sent me their Premium Pearl Jasmine to try. The sample packet is full of little tea pearls and they smell amazing! The jasmine fragrance is so strong, and the little pearls are just so tightly rolled. It’s really quite a pretty tea and with a tea like this, the nice thing is that you don’t need to use a lot to steep a whole teapot or cup because of how much they open up. Pearl or blooming teas are really fun to watch open up, so I’d recommend doing it in a clear glass teapot/cup for added tea entertainment.

20170728-grandteapremiumpearljasmine1

Premium Pearl Jasmine is a green tea scented with jasmine, that’s been rolled into pearls. Can’t deny it, it’s kind of nice when the name of a tea is a direct description of the tea itself.

20170728-grandteapremiumpearljasmine2

Preparation

Grand Tea recommends steeping Premium Pearl Jasmine in 85-90°C (185-197°F) water for 3 minutes, and to spin the glass (if you’re steeping in a glass) or otherwise just irritate the water so the pearls move and open up. I steeped mine for 3 minutes and moved the infuser up and down to move the pearls as they opened up.

First Taste

My first steep of Premium Pearl Jasmine resulted in a fairly pale yellow cup of tea, the smell is purely floral because the jasmine scent is so strong. On first sip, there’s a sweetness to the tea that goes well with the floral flavour. After the first three minutes of steeping, the tea leaves haven’t fully unfurled and rolled open, so there’s still some flavour locked up! I found that three minutes was a good amount of time for this tea, the tea lacks bitterness and astringency, and has a smoothness that can be hard to find in green teas. It goes down easy and I eagerly steeped it again.

20170728-grandteapremiumpearljasmine5

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Premium Pearl Jasmine seven times (eight steeps total), increasing the steep time by about 30 seconds per steep. The tea pearls were mostly fully opened up by the end of the first resteep, and the colour intensified and became more yellow. The tea became more golden with each subsequent steep. The jasmine fragrance and flavour remained fairly strong until about the sixth resteep, when it began to taste more watery.

20170728-grandteapremiumpearljasmine6

My Overall Impression

rating4

I loved Grand Tea’s Premium Pearl Jasmine. The jasmine aroma and flavour was amazing, and there was a sweetness to the tea that was enjoyable. I found the pearls to be fun to watch as they steeped, and they resteep well! I think this tea would be great either paired with sweets or savouries. I had some leftover tea from the many steeps, so this wound up in a pitcher in my fridge. I’m happy to report that Premium Pearl Jasmine tastes refreshing and crisp when iced, so there’s an option for you as well if you’re looking for an iced tea. I think there’s good value in this tea with it’s ability to be resteeped, and the word premium in its name wasn’t wishful thinking.

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