Category: Review

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Dessert by Deb’s Salted Caramel Pancakes

Salted Caramel Pancakes by Dessert by Deb
Black Tea / Flavoured
$16.00 for 75g

First Impressions

Salted Caramel Pancakes came as part of my Dessert by Deb Subscription Box. This black tea blend came in a metallic pouch with a clear window and a label across the front. The tea is visible through the clear window, and it reminds me visually a lot like a genmaicha because of the presence of the popped rice.

The aroma of Salted Caramel Pancakes is a strong blend of the brown sugar and maple notes, with hints of the popped rice in the background. Salted Caramel Pancakes consists of organic: black tea, caramel, popped rice, Canadian maple, brown sugar, and honeybush. The glisten from the brown sugar makes it an attractive black tea blend, with the light glitter of the sugar under the light.

Preparation

No instructions were found on the sample packaging, but I was able to find the information from the Dessert by Deb website. Dessert by Deb recommends Salted Caramel Pancakes in 212°F (100°C) water for 4 to 6 minutes and recommended drinking it straight or as a latte.

First Taste

Salted Caramel Pancakes steeps to a lovely golden orange. The aroma remarkably reminds me of salted caramel with the popped rice lends itself to a popcorn flavour that lingers in the background. The tea itself has a thickened mouthfeel, with the flavour of salted caramel, maple, and brown sugar dominating the flavour, with the popcorn in the background. It has a nice flavour that also does well with a touch of evaporated milk. I didn’t feel like it needed some sweetener because of the presence of the brown sugar, maple, and caramel.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Salted Caramel Pancakes, but found the flavour not to be as enjoyable as the initial steep. A subsequent steep didn’t have the same level of sweetness, because it was dissolved into the initial steep.

My Overall Impression

I  liked Dessert by Deb’s Salted Caramel Pancakes. It has a nice flavour profile, which does well with a black tea base. The flavour of salted caramel comes through well, although I get more flavour of popcorn than pancakes – it does still make for a good cup of tea that does well to be mixed with some evaporated milk, and I would hazard a guess that it would make for an excellent tea latte as well.

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Masters Teas’ Huang Shan Mao Feng

Huang Shan Mao Feng by Masters Teas
Green Tea / Straight
$17.00USD for 1.5oz

Masters Teas has provided me with Huang Shan Mao Feng for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Never one to shy around from trying a green tea, I was happy to receive this in the mail from Masters Teas. It came in a sealed, resealable bag with some information across the front. Huang Shan Mao Feng is described as being a premium green ta with “plenty of fuzzy tea buds”. I didn’t see too much fuzziness in the bag, but the leaves are a bright vibrant green with such vein definition, that I can forgive them for that.

The leaves are beautiful and have a light floral yet fruity aroma to it. It just seems really delicate when I shake some out into my tea pot, the leaves are long and take up quite a bit of room, and has a nice sweetness to the smell. Huang Shan Mao Feng is from Anhui, China – presumably from Huang Shan (Yellow Mountain) and was harvested in April 2021, so what a treat it is to steep it in July of the same year.

Preparation

Masters Teas recommends steeping Huang Shan Mao Feng in 170°F (77°C) water for 2-3 minutes. I followed steeping instructions for my initial steep.

First Taste

Huang Shan Mao Feng steeps to a pale yellow. The aroma is grassy and floral, the tea itself is smooth with a sweet floral flavour throughout. It has a nice lychee flavour – sweet, floral, fruity. It has a great mouthfeel to it – smoothness, sweet, fruity flavours. It’s a very light tea, sweet and some notes that remind me of snap peas – it makes for a nice vegetal flavour profile.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Huang Shan Mao Feng a total of five times (six steeps total), adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. The floral sweet flavour became more intense with each steep, peaking at the second resteep. The leaves open up quite a bit, and become more light green – it reminds me a lot of a spring grass colour. The colour of the tea becomes a deeper golden yellow in colour as the flavour becomes stronger.

My Overall Impression

I loved Masters Teas’ Huang Shan Mao Feng. This single origin green tea is a treat from start to finish, with a nice aroma in the dry leaf, a great flavour, and resteeps well. It does make for a nice cup of tea, it steeps beautifully and it’s lovely to see the leaves as they open with each steep. The lightness in flavour makes for a cup of tea that could pair nicely with a dessert or savoury dish.

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DavidsTea’s Double Walled Glass Nordic Mug

Double Walled Glass Nordic Mug by DavidsTea
Glass
$19.00 each

DavidsTea sent me the Double Walled Glass Nordic Mug, a review was not requested.

First Impressions

I was pleasantly surprised to receive the Double Walled Glass Nordic Mug. I own several other Nordic Mugs, so it’s a lovely addition to my mug collection. The double-walled glass nature of the mug makes it nice for either iced or hot drinks, as it allows for ease of use and less likelihood of condensation to collect on the outside of the mug.

The mug itself comes with a lid, which is lovely. The Double Walled Glass Nordic Mug doesn’t come with an infuser, but the lid doubles as a saucer for an infuser if you have one to use. The lid feels delicate compared to the mug itself. As per the bottom of the mug, it is microwave and dishwasher safe. I tend to hand wash my teaware though, as I often need it in circulation a bit more frequently. This mug holds up to 16oz (473mL).

First Use

As with all of my teaware, I washed the Double Walled Glass Nordic Mug with warm soapy water and allowed it to air dry in a dish rack. The mug itself is lovely to use, I’m able to easily have an iced drink or hot drink in it and not worry about condensation on my hands. It also makes for some lovely photographs with the nature of the double-walled structure of the mug. The large size means that it can hold a lot of tea (or coffee, if you’re into that), and makes for a nice mug for a study session (which I used it for a lot over the last few months).

My Overall Impression

I liked DavidsTea’s Double Walled Nordic Glass Mug. I love the functionality of this mug and how pretty it is to be able to fully view my tea as I drink it. It’s nice to hold as I don’t burn my hands on a hot drink, nor does the mug sweat with condensation with an iced drink. While my Glass Nordic Mug has stayed intact through some fairly regular usage, I did check out some of the reviews of this mug on the DavidsTea website, and it seems like it’s quite delicate with a lot of people mentioning how easily the mug cracks and breaks. So far, so good for me though!

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