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Davidstea’s Jasmine Ginger Twist

Jasmine Ginger Twist by DavidsTea
Green Tea / Flavoured
$8.98 for 50g

First Impressions

Jasmine Ginger Twist comes in some very familiar packaging – a sealed, resealable silver pouch with a colourful label on the front. And yes, I’m still disappointed in the teeny tiny print, because that’s just who I am. But I do enjoy the fact that is resealable, and it helps keep the tea from going stale so there is that.

Jasmine Ginger Twist has a very strong ginger aroma, with the jasmine in the background. But that’s not all there is to this tea blend! Jasmine Ginger Twist consists of: ginger, jasmine tea, candied ginger, apple, sweet blackberry leaf, matcha green tea, and cornflower petals. Why is there two types of ginger? Why is there matcha in here? Where is it? So many questions, so little time. But it smells great, if you’re into ginger heavy and ginger forward teas.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Jasmine Ginger Twist in 85°C (185°F) water for 3 to 4 minutes. I opted to do an initial steep of 3 minutes at the recommended temperature of water.

First Taste

Jasmine Ginger Twist steeps to a slightly cloudy yellow tea. It has a strong ginger aroma to it, and I can’t really smell the jasmine at all, which is a shame. I found that I can definitely taste the ginger, it has a very light sweetness, and hints of jasmine in the background – mostly on the tail end of each sip is where I find it. It’s not as sweet as I was expecting, especially since there’s candied ginger and apple involved. I don’t really get a lot of the green tea base beyond the jasmine, which is disappointing.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Jasmine Ginger Twist and found the flavour to be lacking – especially in the ginger department. I would recommend Jasmine Ginger Twist for just the one steep.

My Overall Impression

I didn’t like DavidsTea’s Jasmine Ginger Twist. I wanted to like this one, I really did. I think part of it is that I couldn’t taste the jasmine green tea as much as I wanted to, because the ginger was just such an overpowering ingredient (it’s on the ingredients list twice!). I’m not usually one for ginger-forward teas or tisanes unless I’m sick, so that might have something to do with it as well. I think people who are a fan of ginger teas or tisanes would quite like this one, since it does have a great amount of ginger flavour in it, it’s just not one for me.

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Teas to Pair with Afternoon Tea

Afternoon tea has a lot of traditional aspects to it – from the cloth napkins, fancy desserts, and the delicate patterned china being used. And then there’s the teas. I just wanted to share some of my favourite teas for afternoon tea – and I’m going to touch upon some classic teas and tisanes, as well as some more modern options that you might not have thought of pairing with your afternoon tea menu before.

5 Classic Teas for Afternoon Tea

I can’t write about classic teas without mentioning Earl Grey. Earl Grey is a traditional part of afternoon tea and is usually the first tea that gets offered. The black tea blend with bergamot pairs very nicely with cream and sugar – and there’s many takes on the Earl Grey blend, but the traditional one is always tasty. The citrus notes make it bright and fresh.

Darjeeling Black Tea and Assam Black Tea are two black teas are both lovely options. Teas from the Darjeeling and Assam regions of India became popular in Europe as teas from China came out of favour, so both are popular options for afternoon tea. There are differences in the flavour – because the regions have differences in their growing seasons. I found teas from Assam can become astringent easier than Darjeeling teas, but that is also dependent on when the tea is harvested and the particular growing season. Both teas, because of being black teas, take really well to cream and sugar as well.

For the caffeine-free crowd, chamomile and mint are both very popular tisanes! I find them both pleasant, but you have to actually like chamomile or mint to drink it. I don’t add cream or sugar to either, but I have heard of people adding sweetener to mint before (but I don’t find it necessary).

5 Non-Classic Options for Afternoon Tea

I love oolong. I don’t even pretend to be shy about it, so I think oolong would make a great option for afternoon tea! Sure, it’s a fairly traditional Chinese tea, and most places that serve afternoon tea probably don’t have it on the menu… But during COVID-19 times, are we even going out anymore? Have we not become one with our own couch? With that in mind, I think a nice Tieguanyin (aka Tie Guan Yin, Iron Goddess of Mercy, Iron Buddha) would be fantastic tea offering for afternoon tea. First off, this oolong typically resteeps well, goes well with sweet and savoury, and is just a really nice tea and I think everyone should try it.

Green tea doesn’t get mentioned nearly as much as I think it should when it comes to a tea menu for afternoon tea. I think that both Jasmine Green Tea and Matcha should be shining stars! The issue with having them included in an afternoon tea menu is water temperature and also the preparation. I don’t think most places are well-equipped (just yet…) for making a good cup of matcha. Which is unfortunate because I don’t think it’s that intimidating (any more…)..

For the white tea fans, Bai Hao Yin Zhen (aka Silver Needle, Yin Zhen) is a great option. If you’re not familiar with this tea, it has some beautiful leaves that have feathery down on the leaves and it just has a really nice flavour – typically light, floral, with a natural sweetness. It would go well, in particular, with sweets – but I’m fond of sipping it with a meal so it’d go well with those tea sandwiches as well.

I couldn’t round out this list without mentioning Hojicha. I’ve really fallen in love with this roasted green tea from Japan, and it can go really well with a savoury meal. More importantly, it is great as a tea latte and takes well to being sweetened. You can find hojicha in both leaf and powdered form – the powdered form can be prepared like you would with matcha (read The Basics of Preparing Matcha to learn more).

What teas do you like to have with your afternoon tea? Have you tried any (or all?) with your tea sandwiches and scones? Share your favourite with me below in the comments!

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The Tea House’s Phoenix Dan Cong

Phoenix Dan Cong by The Tea House
Oolong Tea / Straight

I received Phoenix Dan Cong as part of my swag bag from the 2020 Virtual International Tea Festival. At the time of writing, Phoenix Dan Cong was not available on The Tea House’s website, so I was unable to determine the price of the tea.

First Impressions

Phoenix Dan Cong came to me in sealed, non-sealable, silver packaging – nothing a tight fitting metal tea canister or even just a zip-top plastic bag won’t fix in a pinch. This was part of my swag bag from the 2020 Virtual International Tea Festival. I don’t have a lot of information on this tea, as it’s product page was not available when I was writing this review, but I’ll do my best!

The leaves are wiry and very dark brown. There are some deep, stone fruit aromas from the dry leaf, which are really intriguing. Traditionally, Phoenix Dan Cong is an oolong tea and is grown and harvested from Phoenix Mountain in China. This tea looks like a straight tea and I don’t believe that there are any other added ingredients (just the way I prefer my oolong teas…).

Preparation

The Tea House recommends steeping Phoenix Dan Cong in 190°F (88°C) water for 1 minute. I opted to use 185°F (85°C) water and did an initial steep for 1 minute.

First Taste

Phoenix Dan Cong steeps to a pretty light golden yellow colour. It has a remarkably smooth texture, with notes of plums or apricots (both lovely stone fruits), and just a floral finish at the tail end of each sip. The tea does a nice job of just coating the inside of my mouth with flavour, which is quite well balanced. Zero astringency and zero bitterness and just overall quite smooth and easy to drink.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Phoenix Dan Cong a total of seven times (eight times total with the same leaves). The colour of the steeped tea definitely gets darker, a more golden yellow and the flavour deepen as well while staying fairly consistent in terms of the flavour profile. I found that the fruity notes got stronger while the floral notes did back off a little bit. Still an easy tea to drink though, and quite enjoyable.

My Overall Impression

I loved The Tea House’s Phoenix Dan Cong. I thought that the tea was a lovely experience from start to finish. I really appreciated the level of complexity in the flavour profile and how it subtly changed as I drank it. It really made for a delicious cup of tea and I thought it had some great flavour for a tea that doesn’t contain additional ingredients. The floral finish was really one of my favourite parts of the tasting experience with this oolong.

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