Category: Review

Posted on

DavidsTea’s Golden Dragon Pu’erh

Golden Dragon Pu’erh by DavidsTea
Pu’erh Tea / Straight
$12.98 for 50g

First Impressions

Golden Dragon Pu’erh is a pu’erh that I picked up on a whim when I was throwing together an online order. I’m not sure what I’ve done with myself, but apparently I buy pu’erh teas now. What can I say? Pandemic isolation has resulted in me behaving very strangely.

Golden Dragon Pu’erh comes in regular silver pouch from DavidsTea. The ‘golden’ part is reflected by the golden paper wrappers around each individual ball of tea. 50g gets you 8 balls in a pouch, so each one is 6.25g (and makes it $1.62 per serving as each ball = 1 serving). DavidsTea describes this as being a shou pu’erh (‘cooked’ pu’erh) from Yunnan province, China. On the online product page, there’s further information from this tea being grown in Menghai and is described as one of the first regions of China to pu’erh tea (all the way back in 1500BC!).

The leaves themselves are tightly balled up – with varying shades of brown ranging from light caramel to deep chocolate browns. The aroma really reminds me of cooked down mushrooms – just very earthy, the smell of dirt after a good rainfall. It really isn’t the most appealing, but I’ve played this game with pu’erh before so… onto the tasting we go.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Golden Dragon Pu’erh in 95°C (200°F) water for 4-5 minutes. I followed the steeping instructions and did an initial steep for 5 minutes.

First Taste

Golden Dragon Pu’erh steeps to a very deep brown with slight reddish tones. The aroma is very earthy and that is also reflected in the taste. It’s earthy, with just a hint of sweetness, and a really nice balanced flavour overall. There’s just something about Golden Dragon Pu’erh that makes me think of mushrooms, earthiness, post-rainfall freshness. There’s plenty of smooth umami qualities and it has a quality about it that reminds me a lot of the type of pu’erh that you might find served to you when you go out to eat at an authentic Chinese restaurant (especially during dimsum hours).

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Golden Dragon Pu’erh a total of seven times (eight steeps total) and it honestly got better with each steep until about the third resteep, then started to decrease in flavour (but was still worth drinking by the end). The tea takes on a more thickened liquor feel to it, lending itself to a pleasant mouthfeel experience. The flavour remains well-balanced and continued to remind me of a pu’erh that I might have been served at my favourite dimsum restaurant.

My Overall Impression

I loved DavidsTea’s Golden Dragon Pu’erh. There’s just something about this tea that gives me very strong nostalgia for memories of eating out with my family, which is honestly probably why I like it more than I feel like I should. It has a great flavour profile, is well-balanced, and resteeps incredibly well, so I wouldn’t mind recommending this (and continuing to drink it over and over again). Definitely worth the time to resteep it and have throughout the day (and night!).

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

Posted on

DavidsTea’s Salted Caramel Oolong

Salted Caramel Oolong by DavidsTea
Oolong Tea / Flavoured
$9.98 for 50g

First Impressions

Salted Caramel Oolong is one of those blends that I saw in a photo, was a bit curious at all those salt chunks, and just had to give it a try. This is an oolong blend from DavidsTea and comes in a familiar silver pouch. As always, I still hate the labelling and the teeny tiny print… but nobody asked me for my opinion (I just happen to give it freely). The blue is nice, but I can see how it might be difficult for someone with poorer vision or perhaps colour blindness to have difficulty reading this turquoise text on a medium blue background. But again… nobody asked me for my opinion.

The aroma of Salted Caramel Oolong basically reminds me of salted caramel (treats). It smells like how one would expect it, and it’s very tempting. The tea consists of: oolong tea, caramel bits, sugar crystals, pineapple, carob, chicory root, artificial caramel flavouring, and salt. Those crystals that you can so easily see in the blend are sugar, not salt – yes, my dear readers, I tried one in the name of science. I’m not sure why they saw the need to add flavouring on top of the presence of caramel, I find that often just leads to disappointment over the expectations versus reality when it comes to steeping a flavoured tea. That said, it smells like candy (a pro) and I cannot smell the oolong base at all (a con).

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Salted Caramel Oolong in 90°C (195°F) water for 4 to 5 minutes. I opted to do an initial steep of 5 minutes with the recommended water temperature, which just so happens to be the oolong tea setting on my Breville kettle.

First Taste

Salted Caramel Oolong steeps to a deep reddish brown and there just seems to be a lot of… stuff floating around in it. Lots of bits here and there, some oils. If any of that sounds off-putting to you, I would recommend steeping Salted Caramel Oolong in a filter instead of an infuser – just makes life a little bit easier. It smells like salted caramel candy, but not much like oolong at all. The taste reminds me of liquid dessert – it’s sweet, I can taste salted caramel, and it’s got a thickness to the texture of the tea. I find it to be coyingly sweet, and very much has a mouth-coating effect to it.

This oolong blend definitely does not require any addition of sweetener, and I think that it could do with some evaporated milk (which I whole-heartedly added to the cup). The addition of dairy (or a dairy-free milk alternative if that’s more your jam) really helps to temper down that sweetness and adds a level of decadence to it – the creaminess helps perpetuate that idea of caramel, but the oolong base is still not present.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Salted Caramel Oolong, and found that it just wasn’t there in terms of what I was looking for. It was still quite sweet and that oolong base was nowhere to be found. I would recommend Salted Caramel Oolong for just the one steep (and as a tea latte over having it straight).

My Overall Impression

I thought that DavidsTea’s Salted Caramel Oolong was just okay. I think this tea by itself is just far too sweet – so far that it might give a person a toothache despite the fact that they’re a sweet tooth. I’m saddened by the fact that I really could not taste the oolong base, I think it was just overwhelmed by all of the other ingredients that are present in the blend. I find that the tea is greatly improved in the form of a tea latte, so would highly recommend drinking it in that format if you’re a fan of tea lattes. I am disappointed that the oolong base was nowhere to be found within the flavour profile because of the over-powering presence of the other ingredients that are present in the mix.

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

Posted on

Dessert by Deb’s Hojicha Cinnamon Raisin Bread Pudding

Hojicha Cinnamon Raisin Bread Pudding by Dessert by Deb
Green Tea / Flavoured
$16.00 for 75g

Hojicha Cinnamon Raisin Bread Pudding came in my birthday box (a perk for being an annual subscriber) from Dessert by Deb.

First Impressions

Hojicha Cinnamon Raisin Bread Pudding (say that one five times fast!) comes in one of my favourite tea pouch colours from Dessert by Deb – just this pretty matte bronze-ish pouch. So pretty, it definitely gives some fall vibes and as a fan of most things autumn, I don’t mind seeing it in January. This blend is part of the Little Cottage Bakery Collection and it just makes me want to get into it! The name is really the part that makes me want to try it.

Ripping open the pouch and getting a sniff, it really does go well with its name! I definitely smell raisins, the brown sugar, and maple notes. All together, it makes me think of raisin buns from a bakery that I grew up near. Not a whole lot from the hojicha base, but there is a hint of nuttiness in the background that I’m going to attribute to the hojicha. Hojicha Cinnamon Raisin Bread Pudding consists of organic: roasted green tea, Canadian maple, cinnamon, raisins, brown sugar, and apple.

Preparation

Dessert by Deb recommends steeping Hojicha Cinnamon Raisin Bread Pudding in 200°F (93°C) water for 5 to 6 minutes. I opted to do an initial steep for 5 minutes.

First Taste

Hojicha Cinnamon Raisin Bread Pudding steeps to a very pretty reddish brown. It has some lovely raisin and cinnamon notes to it, and when I take a sip, the first thing that I notice is the raisins. Then it’s followed by some sweetness, molasses and maple notes, and just a hint of nuttiness. I did end up adding some evaporated milk to my cup, as the label suggests drinking it as a latte. Definitely adds a little something – some creaminess, a level of decadence. I’ve never had a cinnamon raisin bread pudding, but it definitely tastes like some kind of baked good to me.

A Second Cup?

I did attempt to resteep Hojicha Cinnamon Raisin Bread Pudding. It didn’t do very well with the resteep, I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that the brown sugar and Canadian maple would have dissolved fully in the initial steep, so a lot of those flavours were missing in the second steep. However, there was more of a nuttiness from the hojicha base, so it was nice to find that come out.

My Overall Impression

I loved Dessert by Deb’s Hojicha Cinnamon Raisin Bread Pudding. It has some great flavours that remind me a lot of a freshly baked raisin bun. I’d follow the recommendation from Deb to have this as a latte, as it just added a little something extra. However, the tea was very pleasant without the addition of milk, so it nice to have straight as well! I was a bit disappointed that the hojicha base wasn’t more prevalent in the flavour profile, but I still greatly enjoyed it and think it makes for a great dessert tea.

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