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Teavana’s Tung Ting Oolong

Tung Ting Oolong by Teavana
Oolong Tea / Straight
$19.98 for 2oz

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First Impressions

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I was at Teavana last month and I had some Starbucks rewards to use up so of course I went and opted for 1oz of tea rather than getting a free drink at Starbucks. I got Tung Ting Oolong (as well as Golden Monkey, a black tea, which will have a review coming up soon!) as one of my rewards. It has this subtle vegetal smell, with a light buttery quality to the aroma that the tea has. Tung Ting oolong has a nice lightness to the dry leaf smell which I’ve come to appreciate in oolongs.

The ingredient list for Tung Ting Oolong is simply oolong tea, it’s a straight tea that Teavana has not added anything extra to.

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Preparation

Teavana recommends steeping Tung Ting Oolong for 3 minutes in 195°F (90°C). I steeped Tung Ting Oolong for the recommended three minutes.

First Taste

Tung Ting Oolong steeps to a pale yellow, and has a beautiful subtle flavour. There’s a milky creaminess to the tea that reminds me a bit of the creaminess that butter has. There is a light sweetness that lingers on the tongue at the end of each sip, and the floral notes in this tea are quite welcome. At the recommended temperature and steeping times, I’ve noted no bitterness or astringency in the tea. I do appreciate it when the recommendations lends to a good cup of tea.

With the recommended three minutes, I noted that not all of the tea leaves had fully unfurled. Because the first steep was delicious, I was very curious about how it would do for one more steep.

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A Second Cup?

Whenever I resteep tea leaves, I generally add another 30 seconds per steep, this is what I did with Tung Ting Oolong as well since I am not steeping it gong fu style. Steeping Tung Ting Oolong for a second time resulted in a brighter, deeper golden yellow tea. The flavour is more buttery and creamy for the second steep. I find that the second steep is more flavourful than the first, what a tasty cup of tea! I steeped this tea for a total of seven steeps, the flavour of Tung Ting Oolong for the sixth steep was waning and watery compared to the first five.

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My Overall Impression

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I loved Teavana’s Tung Ting Oolong. I’ve definitely become a fan of oolongs since I began the journey of chronicling my tea tasting adventures here on One More Steep. While Tung Ting Oolong may be expensive compared to other teas, especially $20 for 2 oz, I think it has value because of the ability of tea to be resteeped over and over again. Because of that, it is a fantastic tea to have when you’re at home and able easy access to a kettle so you can resteep it over and over again.

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

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DavidsTea’s Pom Cider

Pom Cider by DavidsTea
Black Tea / Flavoured
$8.98 for 50g

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First Impressions

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I got Pom Cider while I was in stores because the sales associate at the DavidsTea store talked a lot about how great and fantastic it is. They didn’t have it as a sample/Tea of the Day that day, so I wasn’t able to sample it before going home with a little bit of it just to try. I first smelled the dry tea in store, but smelling it again at home made me question why I got it. It smells very sweet, and is reminiscent of cherry-flavoured cough syrup – definitely something that I did not enjoy as a child whenever I was sick and I do not enjoy it now.

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Pom Cider is made up of: fennel, hibiscus, black tea, rosehips, apple, orange, pomegranate, stevia extract, and natural pomegranate flavouring. You can definitely see the fennel. There is just so much fennel involved with this tea that the black tea takes a back seat compared to the rest of the ingredients.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping in near-boiling water for 4 to 7 minutes. Near-boiling, according to the product page, is 90-95°C (194-203°F).

First Taste

Pom Cider steeps to a beautiful deep red that I would guess is contributed to by the rosehips, hibiscus, and pomegranate (but mostly the hibiscus). The tea itself smells very strongly of rose and hibiscus, but I don’t smell any of the pomegranate which is disappointing. The tea itself tastes very sweet and tart, it has an odd after taste that I find happens a lot with teas that come with artificial sweeteners mixed in already. Pom Cider tastes more of all the other ingredients than it does the black tea base, which is a bit disappointing. I feel that if the additives highlighted the black tea, it would be more enjoyable.

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The tartness in the taste creates a lot of mouth pucker feel that reminds me the natural tartness that apple cider can have, but it doesn’t have the same spice profile that apple cider has. The lack of pomegranate in the flavour of Pom Cider is really disappointing.

A Second Cup?

I did not attempt one more steep of Pom Cider.

My Overall Impression

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I didn’t like DavidsTea’s Pom Cider. I’m not sure what I was thinking when I bought a small bag of this tea, the fact that it smells like cherry cough syrup is off-putting and it doesn’t make me want to try it after I got a good whiff of the tea. But I tried it anyways, and I was really disappointed by the lack of pomegranate flavour in the tea itself, as well as the overall sweetness of the tea (and the weird aftertaste that artificial sweetener lends to the tea itself). I wish that the black tea was more in the forefront of the tea’s flavour profile instead of being the understudy to all the other ingredients.

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

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Vancouver Tea Festival 2016: Recap

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Despite the poor time that I had at the 2015 Vancouver Tea Festival, I decided to give it another try this year. This year, the 3rd annual Vancouver Tea Festival took place on Saturday, November 5th at the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden in Vancouver’s historic Chinatown. What a beautiful venue that they had chosen, and it wasn’t even terribly rainy (while I was here), which was greatly appreciated.

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The vendors were situated in one building, while the classes/workshops (as well one vendor, Phoenix Perennials) were located in another building. It was quite confusing at first, because when I went to register at a table and get my tasting cup, I wasn’t told that the vendors were located in another building. The workshop that I most wanted to take part in was an early one, and it had already been filled by the time I had arrived. I opted to wander over to the vendors (after asking for directions…).

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This year they had about 30 vendors, I believe, and because I was there early it wasn’t too crowded. I was able to discuss tea with the vendors, as well as get in to try some more teas, and even make a few purchases! There were different vendors this year (as well as some repeats), and I got to talk to a good portion of them. I didn’t feel this year that I wasn’t being pushed and shoved while speaking to vendors and other attendees, which definitely made this year’s experience enjoyable.

I made some purchases from Oollo Tea, Modern Tea, The Chinese Tea Shop, and Aroma Tea House – so look forward to reviews from those soon! Many of the teas that I bought were oolongs, which I’ve become very fond of lately.