Category: Review

Posted on

For Tea’s Sake’s Skinny Sip

Skinny Sip by For Tea’s Sake
Oolong & Green Tea / Straight
$9.99 for 30g

20160909-forteassakeskinnysip1

First Impressions

I picked up this tin of tea while I was on a ferry returning home after a wine tour with some girlfriends on Vancouver Island. There was a bunch of the For Tea’s Sake’s teas on clearance and I picked this one out because it was the only one that was not a rooibos or an herbal infusion. I do like oolongs and I do like green teas, so I figured I would give it a try. I didn’t pick it up because it was a “skinny” tea. There’s a lot of teas and companies out there that make bold claims that drinking tea will make you skinnier, or feel more full. I don’t care about all of that, I just like to try new-to-me teas. The label on the tin states “Gain better health by drinking lots of water but kick it up a notch with the benefits of green and oolong tea. Enjoy a cup before exercise and in the afternoon to stave off cravings and rev up your body’s metabolism.”

20160909-forteassakeskinnysip2

For Tea’s Sake happens to be a Canadian company, based out of Ontario, and I’m all for supporting Canadian tea companies. Skinny Sip comes in a small tin, it feels quite air-tight. The tea itself is loose and comes in a silver foil bag inside of the tin. This silver foil bag is not resealable, which I am okay with since the tin feels sufficient for keeping air out. The dry leaves seem quite compacted when I took a spoonful out. There’s this earthy quality to the dry leaves, along with a buttery smell.

Preparation

For Tea’s Sake recommends steeping Skinny Sip in 90°C (194°F) water for 3 to 5 minutes. I opted to steep mine closer to 3 minutes because there is the green tea in this and I didn’t want to over steep it and wind up with a bitter cup of tea.

First Taste

20160909-forteassakeskinnysip3

Skinny Sip steeps to a nice golden yellow. It smells buttery and has a light earthiness to it that reminds me of the way that dirt smells following rain. Skinny Sip meets my expectations in that it does taste creamy with a beautiful buttery quality to it. That earthiness in the flavour is hard to pick out as it gets overpowered by the butter taste though, which is alright by me because I do like creamy teas. For Tea’s Sake mentions on the tin that “milk and sugar are not recommended”, which is a fair recommendation given that it is an oolong and they’re trying to market a tea that promotes a healthier lifestyle. Not sure how much I believe that the tea will help in gaining a more fit body or help with weight loss though.

20160909-forteassakeskinnysip5

A Second Cup?

20160909-forteassakeskinnysip4

Skinny Sip resteeps beautifully, which I was expecting given that it is an oolong tea. It resteeps to a much deeper golden yellow colour. The tea itself gains a stronger creamy butter quality to it, the earthiness is only present in fragrance on a second steep. I was able to resteep Skinny Sip a total of three times before it started to become weaker in taste and scent.

My Overall Impression

3cups-2

I liked For Tea’s Sake’s Skinny Sip. I will always greatly enjoy a tea that can be resteeped well, which Skinny Sip definitely fits the bill. The primary reason why I take Skinny Sip three cups out of four, instead of the full four cups, is because of the fact that it is boasting health benefits. While I think tea is always a better alternative to sugar-laden drinks, I’m not one to recommend a product for health benefits without knowing a bit more behind the science of it. One reason why this tea may be good prior to exercise or to help keep you full is because you are taking in more water when you drink this – water is fantastic and necessary when you exercise. Despite the health benefits mentioned on the product, I do think it’s a delicious tea. I don’t think it’s going to make me shed the pounds, but I do think it’s tasty and would recommend it if you’re looking for a Canadian based-tea company which puts out a good oolong and green tea blend.

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

Posted on

DavidsTea’s Royal White Peony

Royal White Peony by DavidsTea
White Tea / Straight
$14.98 for 50g

20160906-davidstearoyalwhitepeony1

First Impressions

White Peony is a tea that I’m fairly familiar with – it is a tea that is often available with at the dim sum restaurants that I go with my family. It’s also called Bai Mudan (literally translates to white peony), for those who want to read more about it. DavidsTea’s Royal White Peony is one of their newer straight teas – it’s a nice touch after them releasing many teas with additional flavourings/ingredients. DavidsTea describes Royal White Peony as a “delicate white tea” that has “fresh notes of garden-picked snow peas”.

20160906-davidstearoyalwhitepeony2

The dry leaf of Royal White Peony takes up quite a bit of space, it’s a light and airy tea that takes up a lot of space. The tea has a light floral scent, with visible feathery down on the leaves. I’m not getting any of the snow peas mentioned in the description of the tea, but I’m intrigued by it because I’m familiar with bai mudan. Royal White Peony is made of organic white tea from Fujian province.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Royal White Peony in hot water for 4 to 7 minutes. Hot water is mentioned on their website as being 75-80°C (167-176°F). I used the green tea setting on my Breville IQ Kettle (175°F) and steeped the first pot for 2 minutes. White teas are steeped for 2 to 5 minutes, I find the recommended steeping times of 4 to 7 minutes to be much too long.

First Taste

20160906-davidstearoyalwhitepeony3

Royal White Peony steeps to a pale yellow and has a very delicate floral scent. There’s quite a beautiful taste to this tea, there’s a natural sweetness with floral notes. With the steeping time of two minutes, there is zero bitterness to the tea, a creamy texture to the tea, but also no taste or scent of the mentioned snow peas. It’s a very pleasant tea, I find that it’s easy to drink and I could easily drink this all day.

20160906-davidstearoyalwhitepeony4

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Royal White Peony a total of three times. I added an extra minute or so with each subsequent steep – the second steep was the deepest golden yellow colour. The flavouring of the second steep was the best as it had a deeper floral taste, although I am still missing out on the snow peas. I find that the third and fourth steepings were good but not as rich as the second steep.

20160906-davidstearoyalwhitepeony5

My Overall Impression

rating4

I loved DavidsTea’s Royal White Peony. While this isn’t an inexpensive tea, I do think that Royal White Peony does a great job of being economical. You get quite a bit of tea going by the weight, and the tea itself is delicious. I love that Royal White Peony resteeps well, and that you don’t need to use a lot for a pot of tea. I always enjoy teas that can be resteeped well, and it tastes fantastic – huge bonus! It’s a nice every day tea, and the delicate floral taste to the tea would make an excellent tea to have with an afternoon tea or other sweets.

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

Posted on

Breville’s the IQ Kettle

The IQ Kettle by Breville
Five temperature settings
1.8L (2 quart) capacity
MSRP $199.99

20160902-brevilleiqkettle1

This post contains affiliate links – One More Steep makes a small commission from purchases made with no additional costs to yourself.

When I moved, I was in the market for a new kettle. This was for a few reasons, the primary one being that the stove top in my new place is glass top and doesn’t evenly heat things unless it has a completely flat bottom (of which the kettle I had access to did not). That and I love drinking tea, and the idea of being able to select a temperature setting that was ideal for whichever tea I was drinking was a concept I could get behind.

I had asked my friends on Facebook to see which kettles they were using – the Breville IQ and a Cuisinart kettle were the ones mentioned, both in comments and in private messages. After reading many reviews, I decided to get the Breville. I ordered mine off of Amazon.ca for less than MRSP with free shipping. This has been, without a doubt, the most expensive item I’ve bought related to my love of tea so far.

First Impressions

20160902-brevilleiqkettle8

The IQ Kettle comes in a sturdy cardboard box. There’s not a terrible amount of internal packaging – some cardboard forms that hold the kettle and the base in place, along with a manual (in English and French). There’s no styrofoam, which I appreciate from a recycling/green point of view.

20160902-brevilleiqkettle2

A nice feature of the kettle is that the IQ Kettle has a 1.8L (2 quart) capacity. There are clear indicator windows on both sides that have measurements for either metric or imperial. The minimum amount of water needed to use the kettle is 500mL or 2 cups, the maximum is 1800mL or 8 cups. It has 5 temperature settings: green (175°F), white (185°F), oolong (195°F), French press (200°F), and boil/black tea (212°F). There is a keep warm option, which keeps the water at the temperature for 20 minutes.

20160902-brevilleiqkettle4

The base plugs into the wall, the outlet has a loop which is apparently meant to make it easier to unplug the kettle. I don’t find it any easier or more difficult to use compared to a regular plug. The IQ Kettle also comes with a removable scale filter – it has a stainless steel filter with a plastic frame. I don’t live in an area with heavy water, so I don’t anticipate any build up on a regular basis to be cleaned off of this.

20160902-brevilleiqkettle7

First Use

When in use, the outside of the IQ Kettle does get a little hot – the handle remains cool to the touch when the water is being heated. Because of the heat, I would recommend only using the handle when wanting to handle the kettle (don’t use your hand to support the body of the kettle).

20160902-brevilleiqkettle3

As you can see in an earlier photo, it comes with default English text and temperatures in Fahrenheit. Mine came with a sheet of stickers for French text, since I am in Canada. There were no stickers for temperatures in Celsius. I don’t mind this too much because I often choose temperatures based on the type of tea. There is no option to select your own temperatures, but it does cover a fair number of choices that I don’t think that is too much of an issue.

The IQ Kettle makes three beeping noises when the water is done reaching the desired temperature, and it isn’t too noisy or grating. The buttons light up to the selection and when the water is heating, the Start/Cancel button is red. Otherwise when the kettle is in use, the buttons light up white.

I did test the IQ Kettle to see how long it would take to heat up water. When heating up 750mL (3 cups) of water on the green tea setting, it took 2 minutes and 23 seconds. When heating up the same amount of water on the black tea (boil) setting, it took 3 minutes and 34 seconds.

20160902-brevilleiqkettle5

A neat feature with the IQ Kettle that I like is the button that opens the lid. I’ve had kettles before where when you push the button, the lid just pops open because it’s held in by a spring. The IQ Kettle lid opens slowly, so there’s no risk of water flying into your face – always a nice plus!

Overall Impression

The Breville IQ Kettle is not the cheapest variable temperature kettle out there on the market. There are a lot of different types of variable temperature kettles – all with different volume capacities and temperature options. I really like the IQ Kettle for ease of use, and it covers the temperatures that I use most frequently, so it fits the needs that I have. It does have a high MRSP at $199.99, so I would recommend looking for it on sale. I think it is great though, and it does everything that I’m looking for in a kettle so I’m happy with the purchase because it makes steeping tea a breeze.