Category: Review

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Masters Teas’ Shi Feng Long Jing

Shi Feng Long Jing by Masters Teas
Green Tea / Straight
$29.00USD for 1.5oz

Masters Teas has provided me with  Shi Feng Long Jing for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Getting my hands on a newly harvested tea is a real treat. It came from Masters Teas in a sealed, resealable pouch. The packaging describes it as an early spring harvest from very young leaves – I have reviewed from the Shi Feng Long Jing from 2020 so getting to try the 2021 harvest is a nice treat.

The leaves themselves are incredibly uniform – long flat green leaves with a bright spring green. The aroma is brightly floral, sweet, and lightly vegetal that reminds me of spring grass. I love how evenly shaped the leaves are, it has just a beauty to it. This Shi Feng Long Jing is from Zhejiang, China and was harvested in April 2021.

Preparation

Masters Teas recommends steeping Shi Feng Long Jing in 170°F (77°C) water for 2 to 3 minutes. I opted to follow the steeping instructions and do an initial steep of 2 minutes.

First Taste

Shi Feng Long Jing steeps to a lovely yellow colour, the aroma has a nice brightness to it – I find notes of floral, grassy notes, and vegetal aromas when I lifted up the cup to inhale the aroma of this dragon well. The flavour is lightly sweet, with hints of grass, vegetal notes of dark leafy green vegetables. I found that Shi Feng Long Jing has a smoothness to it, a light thickened mouthfeel, and a nutty finish at the tail end of each sip.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Shi Feng Long Jing six times (seven steeps total), by adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. The colouring of Shi Feng Long Jing became a deeper yellow, with a stronger aroma and flavour that became less sweet and more nutty. It felt like it was maturing with each steep, and I found it to be quite tasty and enjoyable. The mouthfeel of Shi Feng Long Jing became just a touch astringent and I found myself wanting more.

My Overall Impression

I loved Masters Teas’ Shi Feng Long Jing. This was a lovely green tea to experience from dry leaf, through the steeping process, to the drinking and resteeping process. I found the flavour was tasty and the leaves steeped well. I enjoyed the sweetness that naturally occurs in the initial steep, and the changes in the flavour with each subsequent steep made for a pleasant experience with the little nuances in the flavour. This is definitely one to resteep as much as possible, and possible cold steep the leaves to coax more flavours out of the leaves.

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

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Teakan’s Anji Baicha

Anji Baicha by Teakan
Green Tea / Straight
$30.00 for 60g

Anji Baicha is part of Teakan’s Volume 4 Exploration Kit, a collection of five single origin teas. Anji Baicha makes up 15g of the 60g kit.

First Impressions

This is the first of five reviews from Teakan’s Volume 4 Exploration Kit – featuring all single origin teas. This one is Anji Baicha, which is a green tea that came in a kraft paper pouch that’s sealed and resealable. As always, the labelling is minimalistic, while providing just enough information to allow you to gain a bit of knowledge and appreciate the tea.

Anji Baicha has amazing leaves – they’re very long and straight and the leaves themselves are a bright spring green and feel like that there’s a tight roll to the leaves. There’s a sweet floral aroma to the leaves and it’s honestly just lovely to look at. Anji Baicha is from Anji, Zhejiang, China. This green tea was harvested just spring of this year (2021). The detailing in the leaves is amazing, I love that I can see the vein definition in the individual leaves and the floral aroma is just lovely.

Preparation

Teakan recommends steeping in 80°C (176°F) water for 1 minute for western style steeping, and just 20 seconds for gongfu style steeping. i opted to do western style steeping and followed the steeping instructions.

First Taste

After just one minute of steeping, Anji Baicha is a very pale yellow (not surprised). The aroma is light and floral. The tea itself has a soft floral flavour to it, it has a sweetness to it and a thin texture to it. It’s pleasant to drink and leaves a sweet aftertaste that’s not overly sweet (like syrup). It reminds me a lot of the sweetness from maple syrup (not ‘syrup’). Funnily enough, there’s a note on the label from Teakan that says “Why isn’t this a white tea?” and I’m inclined to agree! It has a lot of characteristics that reminds me of a white tea – it’s a bit of a blend to me in characteristics between a white and a green tea. Tasty, nonetheless.

A Second Cup?

I opted to resteep Anji Baicha for a total of seven times (eight steeps total) – adding thirty seconds for each subsequent steep. The flavour gets deeper as the colouring also gets darker (Anji Baicha becomes a deeper golden yellow). It has a beautiful flavour to it, and just check out the beautiful leaves (!). I just love how much the leaves have opened up – the detailing in the leaves are gorgeous.

My Overall Impression

I loved Teakan’s Anji Baicha. It was a great first experience with the teas from the Volume 4 Exploration Kit. Anji Baicha has a great flavour, enticing aroma, and resteeps beautifully. You don’t need a lot to go a long way in terms of flavour, and the leaves are a treat to experience. I would highly recommend resteeping this green tea; it helps that the leaves are of a good quality and I think that nice floral sweetness would translate well as an iced tea as well if you wanted to cold steep Anji Baicha.

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

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DavidsTea’s Mini Matcha Maker

Mini Matcha Maker by DavidsTea
Tritan Plastic / 8oz (235mL)
$15.00

First Impressions

I got my Mini Matcha Maker sometime last year (this design is called “Spring Leaves” and is no longer available on the DavidsTea website as it was a seasonal design) – and I actually got it on sale (the price I mentioned above is the regular price for a Mini Matcha Maker if it’s not on sale/clearance due to a seasonal design).

The overall idea of the Mini Matcha Maker is to make it easy to make matcha at home or on the go, and to essentially make what they call “matcha shots” – which is perfect if you’re the type to mix your matcha with something else. For instance, lots of people will put matcha into smoothies or milkshakes, mix it up with sparkling water, lemonade or just mix up that matcha powder and then dilute it with more water because they don’t like it that strong (everyone has a preference, right?).

There are a few components to the Mini Matcha Maker – you have the lid (with the pressure release button), the body (double-walled), the shaker part (see below: the piece with the ball) and then another piece with a mesh (that the shaker part screws onto, and it screws onto the body).

Preparation

I washed all the pieces with warm soapy water and then allowed to air dry. The Mini Matcha Maker is not dishwasher or microwave friendly (there is metal, and it is double-walled).

First Use

Assembling the Mini Matcha Maker is fairly straight forward. The nice part about the Mini Matcha Maker is the ease of use – I utilized the metal mesh of the piece that holds onto the shaker to use to sift the powder as I poured it into the Mini Matcha Maker. Then I poured water (heated to the recommended temperature) to the line, followed by screwing the lid on and holding it (without my finger on the button!) to shake it up. Because the matcha gets sifted through the mesh, I find it doesn’t clump and it shakes up pretty easily. You’re done whenever you’re happy with the way it’s been mixed or with the level of froth (or both), and (aiming away from your face) then hit the button the release the pressure. Once that’s done, just unscrew the lid and pour the matcha into the drink of your choice, over ice, etc.

Clean up is pretty easy (in my opinion) as I just do it in a sink with some warm soapy water and then just rinse everything well. As it’s not dishwasher friendly, my Mini Matcha Maker either lives in the cupboard or on the dish rack when its not in use.

My Overall Impression

I loved DavidsTea’s Mini Matcha Maker. I think it’s definitely a fun way to make matcha without the traditional use of a bowl with bamboo whisk. That said, if you’re really attached to a more traditional matcha preparation method, the Mini Matcha Maker won’t be for you. However, for those are more about the end product and ease of preparation, the Mini Matcha Maker is quite the modern option when it comes to preparing some matcha for a mixed drink. If you’re looking for a method to make matcha for at the office purposes and drink a lot of it, the larger Matcha Maker might be an option for you. I certain enjoy this little device, it’s fun and easy to use (and clean!).

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