Greenmax’s Milky Tea

Milky Tea by Greenmax
Black Tea / Flavoured
$7.99 for 320g (16 sachets)

First Impressions

Another week, another post about my thoughts on another on-a-whim grocery store purchase. This is Milky Tea from Greenmax, another instant milk tea option for me to try in my quest for finding the ‘best’ one.

Milky Tea comes in individually portioned packets, each one with 20g. The product itself isn’t particularly much to look at – it doesn’t have much an aroma, milky white powder with the sparkle from sugar, and dark speckles throughout (that reminds me of how vanilla bean ice cream looks like).

Milky Tea consists of: creamer, sugars, black tea powder, milk powder, beta-cyclodextrin, artificial flavour, and cocoa powder.

Preparation

Greenmax recommends preparing Milky Tea with 150mL of boiling water (100°C/212°F) for a hot drink (and for an iced preparation, add ice cubes). I opted to prepare Milky Tea as a hot drink.

First Taste

Milky Tea mixes up very easily. The aroma is sweet and creamy. The flavour is sweet, milky, with the black tea in the background. There’s some astringency, earthiness, and maltiness that all mingle well with the cream in the blend, but the foremost flavour in Milky Tea is the sweetness from the sugar. I was surprised at how much of the black tea does come through, but I do wish that there was less sweetness in it.

A Second Cup?

Given that Milky Tea is a beverage mix, there’s no second preparations with the same powder.

My Overall Impression

I thought that Greenmax’s Milky Tea was just okay. While Milky Tea was easy to prepare, but overly sweet for my personal tastes. There’s a nice amount of cream flavour in the blend, and there are some nice black tea notes that come through. I think this would be a great blend to have with boba or have iced – it just needs a little bit less sugar to be a drink I’d regularly reach for.

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

Sheng vs. Shou Pu’erh

Out of all the types of tea that exist out there, pu’erh is generally one that I discuss the least on One More Steep with yellow tea being, by far, the most rarely discussed if only because of the rarity of the tea itself. But pu’erh is also a tea that I grew up drinking a lot. It’s a staple at dimsum restaurants and a fantastic tea for long tea drinking sessions because a good pu’erh typically resteeps incredibly well.

Pu’erh is one of those teas that seems mysterious to a lot of tea drinker that don’t dabble into more Chinese teas. If your tea cabinet consists primarily of Earl Grey, chamomile, and peppermint, pu’erh probably isn’t one of those teas that is lurking in the cabinet if only because it’s not your jam. In Chinese, pu’erh tea is also called hei cha (literal translation: dark or black tea), which is very different from what western culture calls black tea (which, in Chinese, is called hong cha; with the literal translation of “red tea”).

Pu’erh is a fermented tea – either through time or through a sped-up process – that uses micro-organisms to contribute to the process and the flavour. There’s two primary categories that I will discuss: sheng pu’erh and shou pu’erh. Please keep in mind that I am not an expert on pu’erh tea, and nor do I pretend to be one, and I will be discussing the basics of both sheng and shou pu’erh, as well as similarities of both.

You will also find pu’erh being written as pu’er, pu-erh, pu-er, puerh and puer on the internet. Just to add to any confusion you might have had about this category of tea. For consistency’s sake, you will see that I use pu’erh on One More Steep.

Sheng pu’erh has many other names, as does shou pu’erh.

Sheng pu’erh is also referred to as raw or unripe pu’erh/tea, aged or young pu’erh (depending on the age). Sheng pu’erh is  allowed to age naturally, and ferment. Sheng pu’erh can be harvested, lightly steamed, pressed into shape (discs, balls, bricks) or left loose – and then left to age intentionally. Typically sheng pu’erh is allowed to age for, at minimum, 10-plus years before they are steeped. The process of producing sheng pu’erh (primarily the time), makes it the more expensive of the two types of pu’erh.

There are a lot of factors that go into producing a good sheng pu’erh and I’m not able to educate you on it (because it’s simply not in my wheelhouse), but intentionally allowing a tea to age also means keeping an eye on things like moisture/humidity that the tea is exposed to – because you want to age the tea… and not grow a pile of mold.

Shou pu’erh on the other hand is a ripe or cooked pu’erh/tea. The production method of shou pu’erh involves creating a large pile of leaves, and intentionally keeping the leaves moist and warm to encourage beneficial bacteria and molds to grow, and then turning the leaves to encourage even fermentation (much like you would turn a compost bin). Once properly ‘cooked’, the leaves can be pressed into shape like sheng pu’erh, but the tea itself is ready-to-drink and no further aging is required.

Shou pu’erh is the “young” version of pu’erh, with the development of the processing method coming into play in the 1970’s with the growing popularity and demand for pu’erh tea. After all, it’s a long time to get a sheng pu’erh to a drinkable state if you’re patiently waiting for the tea to age and ferment. Shou pu’erh fills in that demand by making pu’erh more accessible (less expensive!) in comparison to a slowly aged sheng pu’erh.

As a whole, pu’erh is less accessible in North American markets, but the typical North American tea drinker is also not the primary demographic that consumes pu’erh tea. I find that shopping in person for pu’erh tea is limited to Chinese/Asian grocery stores, and specialty tea shops. If you’re lucky to live in an area with a Chinatown, finding a tea shop that features pu’erh might be within your grasp. If you’re not, then online shopping is always an option! Try to look for online stores that offer samplers or smaller amounts of pu’erh – you don’t want to be venturing into purchasing a whole 500g brick for your first pu’erh adventure.

Pu’erh is fantastic tea to steep – typically a pu’erh is unadulterated, so you don’t have added ingredients or flavourings, making it a great tea to resteep. A pu’erh is a great way to practice gongfu steeping and also grandpa steeping. If you have the option of pu’erh tea at a dimsum restaurant, I’d highly recommend it (that would be usually a grandpa style of steeping tea).

As a whole, pu’erh is often a very rich, dark colour when you steep the leaves. The flavour is honestly very difficult to describe unless you have the tea available to you because there are so many factors that influence the flavour. How long the tea has been aged, how well it was kept (was there too much moisture or humidty, or not enough?). I typically find that pu’erh has a very earthy aroma and flavour to it though, which is likely due to the fermentation process with the microbes.

Two bricks of sheng pu’erh are unlikely to be identical because there’s just so many factors that go into the flavour of the tea during the fermentation process. Shou pu’erh, on the other hand, is more likely to have a consistent flavour because of the process in which it’s made (quicker, not relying on decades of time and changes in conditions). That said, I personally find that sheng pu’erh can be much more complex in flavour because of the time allowance to grow that depth of flavour.

Both sheng and shou pu’erh can be a great tea to enjoy if you’re looking to expand your tea-drinking horizons. Have you tried it before? Do you enjoy pu’erh regularly?

DavidsTea’s Cinnamon Oolong

Cinnamon Oolong by DavidsTea
Oolong Tea / Flavoured
$14.98 for 50g

DavidsTea sent me Cinnamon Oolong as part of a complementary Garden to Cup subscription package, a review was not requested.

First Impressions

Cinnamon Oolong came in a light blue pouch, both sealed and resealable. The white text is easy to read, and it surprisingly smooth texture to the pouch material that is different from the regular silver ones.

Cinnamon Oolong is described as an “oolong tea scented with cinnamon”.

Cinnamon Oolong consists of tightly bunched up leaves, all with a mix of light green to dark green. The leaves are lightly cinnamon scented, and there’s the grassy notes in the background. It’s a pretty tea to look at with the light warmness of cinnamon.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Cinnamon Oolong in 90°C (195°F) water for 4 to 5 minutes. I opted to do an initial steep of Cinnamon Oolong for 4 minutes.

First Taste

Cinnamon Oolong steeps to a bright golden yellow. It has the warming qualities of cinnamon int he aroma, which overwhelms the other aromas. The flavour is primarily the oolong – grassy, creamy, with the warming qualities of cinnamon that lightly mingles in the background. It’s smooth, zero bitterness or astringency.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Cinnamon Oolong four times (five steeps with the same leaves), adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep.

The flavour remained fairly consistent with each steep, with the cinnamon waning after the second resteep. There’s a creaminess to the oolong that comes through as the cinnamon goes away.

My Overall Impression

I liked DavidsTea’s Cinnamon Oolong. I thought that the cinnamon was a nice complement to the oolong, but found myself enjoying the flavour of the oolong as the cinnamon. The natural oolong flavour comes through after a few steeps, and I’m finding that I wish that the natural flavour was more prominent at the beginning of the steeping session with this tea. The cinnamon does add something nice to Cinnamon Oolong though, so I find it pleasant to sip.

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