Category: Review

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Adagio Teas’s Lemon Meringue Green

Lemon Meringue Green by Adagio Teas
Green Tea / Flavoured
$9.00USD for 3oz

Adagio Teas has provided me with Lemon Meringue Green for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Lemon Meringue Green comes in a familiar coloured pouch, courtesy of Adagio Teas. The sealed, resealable package has a nice little printed label on the front that lets me know the details of the tea. The leaf itself is quite fragrant – with some really strong lemon and orange notes, as well as some lingering vanilla notes in the background.

The tea leaves are quite pretty – it reminds me of a sencha in appearance, the leaves are flatten. Smelling Lemon Meringue Green outside of the pouch, it definitely reminds me of the aroma of a lemon pound cake. Hints of buttery deliciousness and quite inviting! Lemon Meringue Green consists of: green tea, apple pieces, orange peels, natural lemon flavour, marigold flowers, natural vanilla flavour, and natural creme flavour.

Preparation

Adagio Teas recommends steeping Lemon Meringue Green in 180°F (82°C) water for 2 to 3 minutes. I opted to do a steep in 175°F (79°C) water for 3 minutes to start off.

First Taste

Lemon Meringue Green steeps to a very pale greeny-yellow colour. It smells like lemon and vanilla, which is nice. The flavour of the tea wasn’t surprising as it mimics the fragrance of the dry leaf quite well. I can taste vanilla, something buttery, lemon, and sweetness. It basically reminds me of lemon pound cake from start to finish, which is quite nice. At the temperature of water I used with the steep time, there was zero astringency or bitterness in this green tea blend.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Lemon Meringue Green once, adding an additional 30 seconds to the first resteep. I found that it was lacking in vanilla while the lemon/citrus notes stayed fairly consistent. Missing the vanilla meant that it didn’t quite remind me of lemon pound cake anymore.

My Overall Impression

I loved Adagio Teas’s Lemon Meringue Green. I appreciated how well the tea behaved from dry leaf to steeped tea, and how it stayed consistent in aroma to taste for the initial steep. The aroma of the dry leaf is so inviting, and I think this green tea blend would be a pleasant tea option for afternoon tea, and perhaps paired with dessert. The nature of it being citrus heavy makes me think that it would also be an excellent iced tea drink as well – if you’re concerned about over steeping the green tea base, you can always cold steep it.

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Masters Teas’s Rohini First Flush

Rohini First Flush by Masters Teas
Black Tea / Straight
$19.00 for 2oz

Masters Teas has provided me with Rohini First Flush for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

When a tea company asks if you’re interested in trying the very first harvested tea of the year, the answer is yes. There’s some fantastic flavours that can come from harvests at different types of the year – it all depends on the amount of sunlight versus shade, water, altitude, fertilizer. Everything comes into play when you get into single origin teas.

Rohini First Flush was harvested this year – late February and processed in March 2020. This black tea is from Darjeeling, India and came to me in a sealed, resealable pouch that I’ve come to be familiar with when it comes to Masters Teas’s packaging. The tea itself doesn’t look like a typical black tea. There’s a myriad of different colours, lots of fuzzy leaves mixed in, and I honestly thought it was either a green or white tea just based purely on appearances.

There’s a really pleasant aroma to the leaves – it reminds me of a mix of floral and honeycrisp apples (which I love!). Rohini First Flush consists of only black tea leaves.

Preparation

Masters Teas recommends steeping Rohini First Flush in 212°F (100°C) water for 2 to 3 minutes. I opted to do an initial steep for 2½ minutes.

First Taste

Rohini First Flush steeps to a pale yellow for the initial steep. There’s a sweet floral note to it that’s quite inviting. I found that it was smooth, with just a slight bite at the tail end of each steep. The flavour is nice – the honeycrisp apple aroma translates well to a fruity flavour in the steeped tea, while the floral notes add a nice sweetness to the tea itself. It reminds me of a milder version of a breakfast tea, which I find traditionally has a robust, astringent flavour to it that really needs to be tempered down with some evaporated milk or sweetener at times. Rohini First Flush though doesn’t have nearly as strong of an astringency to it, or maltiness. It has a pleasantly smooth flavour that is only met with the slightest of astringent notes at the end of each sip.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Rohini First Flush three times (four steeps total), adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. The tea steeps to a more golden colour for the subsequent steeps and has a stronger apple/fruity flavour to it. Rohini First Flush remains a pleasant, smooth cup of tea.

My Overall Impression

I loved Masters Teas’s Rohini First Flush. For a black tea, it was a truly unique experience from leaf to steep with this first flush tea because of the nuances in the flavour and the behaviour of the tea itself. A pleasant experience and delicious to boot, since I do adore honeycrisp apples. This is definitely a black tea that you should enjoy straight up with no added cream and sugar – and be sure to resteep as it does well and you can get more flavour of the leaves.

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Sunny M’s Formosa Amber

Formosa Amber by Sunny M
Oolong Tea / Straight
$10.00 for 20g

First Impressions

This was an oolong that I picked up at the 2020 Vancouver Tea Festival (which just feels like it happened a year ago at this point!), and I believe it was also one that I sampled while I was there because, let’s face it, I sampled a lot of teas and I’m not one to turn down trying out an oolong. This oolong came in a sealed pouch, inside of a tea sachet that of course I ripped apart because I needed to see the leaves!

Formosa Amber has just the most delightful fruity aroma to it. Reminds me of opening up a package of dried apricots mixed in with something a bit more tropical, like dried mango. It smells sweet and inviting, which is always a nice quality to have in a tea! I learned from the Sunny M website that Formosa Amber is from Taiwan – specifically the Charm of Hearts Estate. The coolest thing about getting a tea from a company that works directly with the producers is that you get to learn exactly where the tea comes from in the world – you don’t really get that sort of knowledge from the standard grocery store tea (not that there is something wrong with grocery store tea, mind you – I’ll still drink it!).

Preparation

Sunny M recommends steeping Formosa Amber in 5℃-95℃(185℉-203℉) water for 4 to 6 minutes. I opted to steep for 5 minutes – just going for middle of the road – and used 93C (200℉) water.

First Taste

Formosa Amber steeps to a lovely golden yellow – it’s such a vibrant colour and I’m afraid that I wasn’t quite able to capture just how yellow it really is in person. The tea itself has a nice aroma – fruity (the stone fruit notes are strong in this one!) with some honey sweetness mingling in the background. I found Formosa Amber to be smooth, with only the slightest of astringency, a full mouthfeel texture. The apricot and honey notes are strong, with a subtle amount of creamy flavour in the background. It makes for a nice flavour experience.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Formosa Amber eight times (nine steeps total with the same leaves) and found it to be a lovey steeping experience. I add an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep, and kept the water temperature the same. The colour deepened for the first and second resteep, becoming more golden in colour, before eventually fading. I found the flavour to be strongest in the first and second resteeps. After that, the honey notes began to fade while the buttery cream notes got stronger. By the end, it still had a nice amount of flavour, I ended up pouring it into a container and having it in the fridge for a bit to enjoy cold.

My Overall Impression

I loved Sunny M’s Formosa Amber. I’m a sucker for a nice oolong, and the flavours in this Taiwanese oolong did not disappoint. I really enjoyed the fruity and honey notes, it just really made for a nicely balanced and flavourful experience. The resteeping process was nice and smooth – I got to enjoy it immensely and it made for a lovely tea steeping afternoon with some great cups of tea. Always, always, always resteep oolongs that aren’t part of a tea blend, you’ll get to experience the subtle changes in flavour when you do.

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