Category: Review

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Teakan’s Osmanthus Tie Guan Yin

Osmanthus Tie Guan Yin by Teakan
Oolong Tea / Straight
$30.00 for 70g

Osmanthus Tie Guan Yin is one of five teas from Teakan’s Tea Exploration Kit (Volume 2) and makes up 15g of the 70g of loose leaf tea in this curated collection.

First Impressions

Osmanthus Tie Guan Yin came to me as part of Volume 2 of Teakan’s Tea Exploration Kit. This is the fifth/last review I’ll be writing for Volume 2 (and I’m so looking forward to when Volume 3 is released! I’m hoping for an all-oolong kit). Osmanthus Tie Guan Yin came to me in a sealed, resealable kraft paper pouch with a simple printed label. This is a scented oolong tea from Anxi, Fujian, China. The tea itself was harvested in autumn 2019, so a bit over a year old now.

The leaves themselves are lightly bunched, with varying shades of green that are mostly light to medium in depth of colour. The aroma is strongly that of osmanthus flowers and the tea was scented in a manner similar to how they scent jasmine green teas (keeping the flowers with the tea during the production of the tea, and then the flowers are removed). It has a strong floral with a light vanilla aroma to it, it’s very inviting and reminds me a lot of spring time because of the floral notes.

Preparation

Teakan recommends steeping Osmanthus Tie Guan Yin in 90°C (194°F) water for 3 minutes (western steeping style) or for 30 seconds (gongfu steeping style). I opted for western style steeping and used water that was heated to 91°C (195°F).

First Taste

Osmanthus Tie Guan Yin steeps to a pale yellow. It has a very floral aroma with a light vanilla fragrance in the undertones. The flavour is primarily that of sweet floral, with some vanilla flavour that lingers on the tip of the tongue. There’s an almost buttery creaminess to it that kind of coats the mouth when you drink this oolong and it has a nice flavour to it.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Osmanthus Tie Guan Yin six times (seven steeps total), adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. The floral quality of the flavour stays throughout and is fairly consistent, while the vanilla notes deepens initially and then begins to fade. The flavour stays very pleasant throughout and I would recommend resteeping this oolong as much as you care to do so.

My Overall Impression

I loved Teakan’s Osmanthus Tie Guan Yin. This made for a really nice steeping experience between admiring the dry leaf, the first taste, and the multiple resteeps. It just has a nice flavour and aroma to it, and is very easy to drink and slurp down. I even allowed a cup or two to cool to room temperature and it also tasted pretty good cold, so I think it’d be a great candidate as iced tea or cold steeped.

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Teakan’s Margaret’s Hope Darjeeling

Margaret’s Hope Darjeeling by Teakan
Black Tea / Straight
$30.00 for 70g

Margaret’s Hope Darjeeling is one of five teas from Teakan’s Tea Exploration Kit (Volume 2) and makes up 15g of the 70g of looseleaf tea in this curated collection.

First Impressions

Margaret’s Hope Darjeeling comes in a sealed, resealable kraft paper pouch. The label is the minimalistic style that I’ve come to know and love from Teakan. I have to admit, I do appreciate the not-so-flashy packaging from time to time because it really allows for the tea to shine instead of me being overly impressed by something fancy. For those curious like I was, I did look up Margaret’s Hope, and it’s a tea estate in Darjeeling. The name comes from the original owner’s daughter, who passed away after a visit on her way back to England. Margaret’s Hope Tea Estate is also the location where the labourers of the West Bengal’s tea industry first organized in 1955 to protest against low wages and unfair working conditions.

Margaret’s Hope Darjeeling has some deep, dark brown leaves with some pops of cream mixed in. This straight black tea is from Darjeeling, West Bengal, India and is the 2nd flush (second harvest) of 2018. There’s something heavy about the aroma of the dry leaf – earthy, sweet, grassy. A perplexing and intriguing blend of aromas all around. The leaves are on the shorter side, a bit wiry with a light twist.

Preparation

Teakan recommends steeping Margaret’s Hope Darjeeling in 85°F (185°F) for 2 to 3 minutes. I followed the steeping instructions and did an initial steep of 3 minutes.

First Taste

Margaret’s Hope Darjeeling steeps to a bright golden orange. The aroma of the tea is very similar to the dry leaf – more earthy and sweet than grassy, but the grassy aroma is in the background. The texture of this tea is nice – there’s a thickened mouthfeel to the tea that just allows everything to really coat the inside of your mouth. The flavour is pleasantly sweet, with a hint of astringency that rests with the grassy notes while the earthiness is more forward and really just tickles the taste buds throughout each sip. Just a pleasant to sip cup of tea.

I didn’t add anything to Margaret’s Hope Darjeeling as I felt that the flavour really stood well by itself. I do, however, feel like this would be an excellent tea to mix with some sweetener or cream, if you were so inclined.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Margaret’s Hope Darjeeling twice (three steeps total), adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. I found that the initial steep was the most flavourful, but I didn’t have any issues with the slightly less flavour in the other two steeps. It was still very enjoyable cups of tea, so I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend resteeping this black tea.

My Overall Impression

I loved Teakan’s Margaret’s Hope Darjeeling. I felt like this black tea just made for a nice cup of tea. It has a pleasant mix of flavours that were all well balanced together and did a decent job with being resteeped. It has a nice texture to it and was just easy to drink with just enough of a punch of caffeine that I could see this easily being had in the wee hours of the morning when waking up before a day shift, or anyone who needs to pull an all-nighter for school.

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Naoki Matcha’s Ujitawara Special

Ujitawara Special by Naoki Matcha
Green Tea (Matcha) / Straight
$24.99USD for 20g

Naoki Matcha has provided me with Ujitawara Special for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Ujitawara Special came to me from Naoki Matcha in a sealed, resealable pouch. It’s described as being part of their Masters Collection and being a ceremonial grade matcha. This particular blend of matcha is from Uji, Kyoto, Japan. I was quite pleased to get the chance to try this because I’m always wanting to explain my knowledge of matcha and I feel like every experience comes with something new.

The aroma of Ujitawara Special is a mix of grassy and watercress to me. The colour is an amazingly vibrant green that just looks very fresh and inviting – like someone just plucked new leaves off a plant and ground it up in front of me. Giving the tasting cup a small shake and most of the clumps that came out of the packaging that way just fell apart.

Preparation

Naoki Matcha didn’t have specific instructions for Ujitawara Special, but their website does have a lot of information on how to prepare matcha.

What I opted to do: heat water to the lowest setting on my variable temperature kettle (the green tea setting 175°F/79°C), sifted Ujitawara Special into my bowl, whisked with a bamboo whisk (in an M or W motion), and then topped up with a bit more water. I had this one straight.

First Taste

Ujitawara Special has an interesting flavour that was hard for me to pinpoint at first. There was the froth from the top of the matcha first, so that was just a bit bubbly. Then followed umami flavour, grassy notes, and then almost a sweet floral that was just kissed the taste buds before it was gone. It has a nice smoothness to it that makes it pretty pleasant to drink.

A Second Cup?

As with all matcha, there are no second steeps.

My Overall Impression

I loved Naoki Matcha’s Ujitawara Special. It was a treat to experience and drink from start to finish. The vibrancy of colour, to that subtle grassy and watercress aroma to the deep green whisked up matcha and just how it easy it was to drink definitely made for a pleasant matcha experience. I had this one straight (so not as my usual matcha latte), and you could certainly opt to do that with this as well, it just might make for an expensive matcha latte given the price – but a good quality matcha will usually run you at least $1 per gram, and if you want to drink a really nice matcha latte, shouldn’t you be using something good?

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