Category: Review

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Sunny M’s Formosa Milky

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

First Impressions

Formosa Milky was a 2020 Vancouver Tea Festival back in March, which currently feels like forever ago even though it was just last month! It was one of the teas available for sample and when I drank it, I knew I had to have some to steep at home. The tea comes in a coated paper pouch – sealed and resealable – which features a frosted window to see the leaves through. Quite simple and minimalistic packaging. The front features labels with the company’s name and which tea is inside, the back has a label with the steeping instructions.

The leaves themselves are from a micro lot, hand picked and they’re beautiful. Varying shades of brown, mostly dark, and tightly bunched up leaves. There’s some light grassy notes in the dry leaf that I’m appreciating. I quite like it and it’s really enticing.

Preparation

Sunny M has steeping instructions for a more western style (teapot) and a more eastern style (gaiwan). For the western style, it’s using 95°C (203°F) water for 4-6 minutes versus the eastern style of steeping of 20-45 seconds for up to 6 steeps with the same leaves.

I opted to use my teapot because that’s what I didn’t have packed up (One More Steep HQ is moving!), and did an initial steep in 93°C (200°F) water for 5 minutes.

First Taste

Formosa Milky steeps to a lovely warm, golden yellow colour. There’s a pleasant aroma – flora with soft vanilla notes to it. Having a sip, I find that the oolong has a pleasant smoothness to it. There’s zero bitterness or astringency. There’s an underlying buttery quality to it that is nice on the palate, I find it enjoyable and a pleasant drink to be had. I definitely think this oolong would be lovely paired with sweets or savouries.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Formosa Milky six times (seven steeps total with the same leaves), adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. The buttery flavour was more pronounced in the first and second resteeps, which then gave way to becoming more cream-like. Quite tasty and delightful throughout.

My Overall Impression

I loved Sunny M’s Formosa Milky. It’s just such a beautiful tea that really holds to resteeping quite well. I enjoyed the subtle changes in flavour as I resteeped it multiple times, and got a lot of tea out of a small amount of tea leaves. While the price may seem high to some, you really do get your money’s worth when you consider the amount of resteeps that you can get with the same leaves, and just how tasty it is! I’m a sucker for a good oolong, and this one was delicious.

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Zevia’s Black Tea Raspberry

Black Tea Raspberry by Zevia
Black Tea / Flavoured
$2.98 for 355ml (12 fl oz, 1 can)

First Impressions

Black Tea Raspberry from Zevia was a bit of an impulse grocery store buy. I’m forever walking down tea/coffee aisles in grocery stores that I’m unfamiliar with because I just need to know what they have that I haven’t tried before – and it’s a bit of a bonus when I can share a product that may be easily found in your local grocery stores as well instead of just shopping online and getting to delivered. Although online shopping seems to be the preferred method these days…

This “no sugar, zero calories” prepared tea drink comes in a tall and skinny pop-tab can. A pretty cream colour with an illustration of a raspberry – very easy to determine the flavour of the contents, that’s for sure! For those who are interested, this product is non-GMO verified, USDA organic and fair trade certified. Now, that isn’t to say that if you purchase a product without these certifications that the ingredients aren’t organic or fair trade or non-GMO – it’s just that Zevia paid money to get those certifications/verification after going through the trouble of getting those ingredients.

Black Tea Raspberry is a nice golden colour. It has a really bright berry/raspberry aroma to it. Unlike some of the other brands of canned tea drinks I’ve shared recently, this is not ‘sparkling’ (carbonated), which is nice. I don’t necessarily enjoy carbonated drinks all the time (although recently I’ve fallen in love with La Croix, but that’s more of an indulgence for work than anything else). Black Tea Raspberry consists of the following ingredients: organic brewed black tea, organic natural flavours, citric acid, organic stevia leaf extract. Per serving, which is the full 355ml can, this drink contains 45mg of caffeine. A small cup of coffee from your local coffee shop will contain more than 100mg of caffeine.

First Taste

Black Tea Raspberry smells great! Very fruity, berry aromas. The flavour is quite nice – it definitely has a slight tartness from the raspberry flavour, as well as fruity sweetness. I found the black tea base to be quite subdued compared to the raspberry flavouring. It just played nicely in the background – I found it to be neither astringent or bitter, there was a mild malty note in it that balanced well against the tart of the raspberry. It’s a very smooth drink though, very easy to sip down the whole can quite quickly! Not a bad thing for a hot day.

My Overall Impression

I liked Zevia’s Black Tea Raspberry. I quite enjoyed the flavour of this prepared canned tea drink. I thought it was easy to drink, nicely flavoured, and the raspberry flavour was well represented. I would definitely recommend pouring this one over ice, perhaps with a wedge of lemon or going half-and-half with some lemonade (yum!). Another way to make it even nicer might be to muddle some fresh raspberries and mint leaves in the bottom of a glass before adding ice and the canned drink. I do wish it was less expensive, but I think it’d be a fine summer time treat for those enjoying their patios and decks at home… by themselves.

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Wize Monkey’s Sunset Chai

Sunset Chai by Wize Monkey
Herbal Infusion / Flavoured
$14.99 for 100g

First Impressions

Another 2020 Vancouver Tea Festival purchase! I was super pleased to see the fellows behind Wize Monkey at the festival this year, it’s always lovely to see familiar faces. I picked up a tin of Sunset Chai because it smelled amazing – it basically smells like ginger ale and I thought that was pretty cool, so I picked up a tin of this blended coffee leaf tea.

Sunset Chai consists of coffee leaves, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, clove, black pepper, and natural ginger & cinnamon flavours. The ginger is honestly the strongest aroma in the blend, followed by the cardamom and cloves. It smells like ginger ale and I’m all for it.

Preparation

Wize Monkey recommends steeping Sunset Chai at 95°C (200°F) water for a minimum of 5 minutes. I did an initial steep of 6 minutes.

First Taste

Sunset Chai steps to a slightly cloudy orange. It smells like ginger, cardamom and cloves. I can also smell the coffee leaf base – it’s difficult for me to describe because I feel like it has an aroma all its own – it has some malty notes to it. The flavour reminds me of a gentle masala chai. There’s the lovely spice notes – ginger, cardamom, cloves, cinnamon – but doesn’t have that punch of caffeine behind it like in a black tea. Coffee leaf does have caffeine, but not as much as tea or coffee does. It’s quite pleasant – the coffee leaf base adds a little bit of roasted notes and a malty flavour. There is no astringency or bitterness, which makes it even more pleasant.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Sunset Chai. I found that the ginger and cardamom wasn’t as strong as I would have picked, and those were the flavours that I enjoyed the most in the initial steep. I’d recommend a longer initial steep to get all the flavour out and leave it at that.

My Overall Impression

I liked Wize Monkey’s Sunset Chai. I found the flavours of this coffee leaf tisane to be quite pleasant – I definitely appreciated the bright ginger aroma in the dry leaf, and the pleasantness of the spice flavours in the steeped tea. It makes for a nice alternative to the traditional masala chai, because it’s lower in caffeine and just has that more gentle way about it – it’d make for a nice option to get those warming spices in your cup when you’re closer to bedtime or not wanting to drink as much caffeine.

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