Posts

Posted on

Adagio Teas’ Blue Mango Iced Tea

Blue Mango Iced Tea by Adagio Teas
Herbal Infusion / Flavoured
$8.00USD for 6 pouches (2.1oz)

Adagio Teas has provided me with Blue Mango Iced Tea for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

It’s still summer weather here (hello, tail end of another heat wave!), so having some iced tea in the fridge is always a good idea. When Adagio Teas asked me about trying out some of their iced teas, I wasn’t able to turn it down. I do enjoy something thirst quenching. Blue Mango Iced Tea comes in a sealed, resealable pouch.

Blue Mango Iced Tea comes pouches filled with the herbal tea blend. There are 6 pouches per bag, making it 2.1oz (~60g) of tea (it’s approximately 0.35oz, or ~10g, of tea per pouch). Blue Mango Iced Tea consists of: lemon grass, butterfly pea flower, rose hips, chamomile flowers, natural mango flavour, mango pieces, marigold flowers and lychee flavour. The aroma is very heavy of lemon grass and chamomile. The mango is more of a background aroma.

Preparation

Adagio Teas’ steeping instructions for Blue Mango Iced Tea are to place in refrigerator over night, with 1 pouch per quart (1 quart = ~1L). I opted to pop the pouch into an pitcher with room temperature water and then into the fridge overnight.

First Taste

Blue Mango Iced Tea cold steeps to a deep blue colour. The aroma is mostly lemongrass and chamomile. The mango is more of a background fragrance. The flavour is primarily lemon grass, chamomile, with hints of mango in the background. It does have a refreshing quality to it, beautiful blue colouring from the butterfly pea flower, and the mango is just lingering in the background.

A Second Cup?

As the pouch of tisane was steeped overnight, I opted not to attempt a resteep given the nature of it being an herbal infusion. But look at how the beautiful the butterfly pea flower is when it opens.

My Overall Impression

I liked Adagio Teas’ Blue Mango Iced Tea. It’s easy to use as it’s measured out already, steeps to a beautiful blue colour, and has a refreshing flavour to it.. I liked the flavour of the lemon grass and the chamomile, but I do wish that the mango was stronger. It’s quite a background note in comparison the lemon grass, which is a much stronger flavour than the mango. I did enjoy Blue Mango Iced Tea, and the colour is a lot of fun.

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

Posted on

Masters Teas’ Shi Feng Long Jing

Shi Feng Long Jing by Masters Teas
Green Tea / Straight
$29.00USD for 1.5oz

Masters Teas has provided me with  Shi Feng Long Jing for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Getting my hands on a newly harvested tea is a real treat. It came from Masters Teas in a sealed, resealable pouch. The packaging describes it as an early spring harvest from very young leaves – I have reviewed from the Shi Feng Long Jing from 2020 so getting to try the 2021 harvest is a nice treat.

The leaves themselves are incredibly uniform – long flat green leaves with a bright spring green. The aroma is brightly floral, sweet, and lightly vegetal that reminds me of spring grass. I love how evenly shaped the leaves are, it has just a beauty to it. This Shi Feng Long Jing is from Zhejiang, China and was harvested in April 2021.

Preparation

Masters Teas recommends steeping Shi Feng Long Jing in 170°F (77°C) water for 2 to 3 minutes. I opted to follow the steeping instructions and do an initial steep of 2 minutes.

First Taste

Shi Feng Long Jing steeps to a lovely yellow colour, the aroma has a nice brightness to it – I find notes of floral, grassy notes, and vegetal aromas when I lifted up the cup to inhale the aroma of this dragon well. The flavour is lightly sweet, with hints of grass, vegetal notes of dark leafy green vegetables. I found that Shi Feng Long Jing has a smoothness to it, a light thickened mouthfeel, and a nutty finish at the tail end of each sip.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Shi Feng Long Jing six times (seven steeps total), by adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. The colouring of Shi Feng Long Jing became a deeper yellow, with a stronger aroma and flavour that became less sweet and more nutty. It felt like it was maturing with each steep, and I found it to be quite tasty and enjoyable. The mouthfeel of Shi Feng Long Jing became just a touch astringent and I found myself wanting more.

My Overall Impression

I loved Masters Teas’ Shi Feng Long Jing. This was a lovely green tea to experience from dry leaf, through the steeping process, to the drinking and resteeping process. I found the flavour was tasty and the leaves steeped well. I enjoyed the sweetness that naturally occurs in the initial steep, and the changes in the flavour with each subsequent steep made for a pleasant experience with the little nuances in the flavour. This is definitely one to resteep as much as possible, and possible cold steep the leaves to coax more flavours out of the leaves.

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

Posted on

Teakan’s Anji Baicha

Anji Baicha by Teakan
Green Tea / Straight
$30.00 for 60g

Anji Baicha is part of Teakan’s Volume 4 Exploration Kit, a collection of five single origin teas. Anji Baicha makes up 15g of the 60g kit.

First Impressions

This is the first of five reviews from Teakan’s Volume 4 Exploration Kit – featuring all single origin teas. This one is Anji Baicha, which is a green tea that came in a kraft paper pouch that’s sealed and resealable. As always, the labelling is minimalistic, while providing just enough information to allow you to gain a bit of knowledge and appreciate the tea.

Anji Baicha has amazing leaves – they’re very long and straight and the leaves themselves are a bright spring green and feel like that there’s a tight roll to the leaves. There’s a sweet floral aroma to the leaves and it’s honestly just lovely to look at. Anji Baicha is from Anji, Zhejiang, China. This green tea was harvested just spring of this year (2021). The detailing in the leaves is amazing, I love that I can see the vein definition in the individual leaves and the floral aroma is just lovely.

Preparation

Teakan recommends steeping in 80°C (176°F) water for 1 minute for western style steeping, and just 20 seconds for gongfu style steeping. i opted to do western style steeping and followed the steeping instructions.

First Taste

After just one minute of steeping, Anji Baicha is a very pale yellow (not surprised). The aroma is light and floral. The tea itself has a soft floral flavour to it, it has a sweetness to it and a thin texture to it. It’s pleasant to drink and leaves a sweet aftertaste that’s not overly sweet (like syrup). It reminds me a lot of the sweetness from maple syrup (not ‘syrup’). Funnily enough, there’s a note on the label from Teakan that says “Why isn’t this a white tea?” and I’m inclined to agree! It has a lot of characteristics that reminds me of a white tea – it’s a bit of a blend to me in characteristics between a white and a green tea. Tasty, nonetheless.

A Second Cup?

I opted to resteep Anji Baicha for a total of seven times (eight steeps total) – adding thirty seconds for each subsequent steep. The flavour gets deeper as the colouring also gets darker (Anji Baicha becomes a deeper golden yellow). It has a beautiful flavour to it, and just check out the beautiful leaves (!). I just love how much the leaves have opened up – the detailing in the leaves are gorgeous.

My Overall Impression

I loved Teakan’s Anji Baicha. It was a great first experience with the teas from the Volume 4 Exploration Kit. Anji Baicha has a great flavour, enticing aroma, and resteeps beautifully. You don’t need a lot to go a long way in terms of flavour, and the leaves are a treat to experience. I would highly recommend resteeping this green tea; it helps that the leaves are of a good quality and I think that nice floral sweetness would translate well as an iced tea as well if you wanted to cold steep Anji Baicha.

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