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Teakan’s Bi Luo Chun

Bi Luo Chun by Teakan
Green Tea / Straight
$30.00 for 70g

Bi Luo Chun  is one of five teas from Teakan’s Tea Exploration Kit (Volume 2) and makes up 15g of the 70g of looseleaf tea in this curated collection.

First Impressions

Bi Luo Chun comes in a sealed (resealable) kraft paper pouch with the standard minimalistic label from Teakan. This is one of the teas in the Volume 2 collection that I was really looking forward to trying. I’m a huge fan of traditional Chinese green teas, and Bi Luo Chun fits the bill for sure. This particular tea comes from Pu’er, Yunnan, China and was harvested spring of 2020 (something good that came from this year?). The leaves themselves are beautiful – lovely white downy bits in the spirals that go really well with it’s name (which literally translates to green spring snail).

The tea leaves have a nice grassy aroma to it, very sweetly vegetal that reminds me of the smell of raw napa cabbage (which is nice and sweet when cooked – and goes very well with pork, if anyone was wondering). It’s inviting and makes me eager to try this.

Preparation

Teakan recommends steeping Bi Luo Chun in 90°C (194°F) water for 3 minutes (western style steeping) or a rinse followed by a 15 second steep (for gongfu style steeping). I’m opted to do the western style steeping in my teapot with 195°F water heated in my variable temperature kettle.

First Taste

Bi Luo Chun initially steeps to a very pale yellow. There’s a nice sweetness that wafts up from it. The taste of this green tea is a touch grassy, there’s still a vegetal flavour that reminds me of napa cabbage because it has that nice sweetness. There’s zero bitterness or astringency with the 3 minute steep, and I find it to have a nice thickened texture to the tea. It’s got a great body to the tea, without feeling heavy. The grassy notes are sweet which really make it easy to drink.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Bi Luo Chun a total of seven times, adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. I found the flavour to be more intense with the first and second resteep, and the tea itself was more of a golden yellow. It becomes sweeter the deeper the colour of the tea gets, which is really enjoyable.

My Overall Impression

I loved Teakan’s Bi Luo Chun. I was really looking forward to trying this green tea and I was not disappointed by it at all. The experience is really a journey, and getting to watch those little ‘snails’ open and straighten up is really a nice treat! The fact that the tea itself has a good amount of sweetness to it doesn’t hurt either. I enjoyed this the most hot, although I did sip some that had been left to cool and it was pretty good too. I would highly recommend resteeping this tea because it gets better after the initial steep.

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DavidsTea’s Blueberry Muffin

Blueberry Muffin by DavidsTea
Fruit Infusion / Flavoured
$7.98 for 50g

First Impressions

Blueberry Muffin was a tisane that caught my eye when I was putting in an order online with DavidsTea. I figured that I’m always on the look out for new fruit tisanes to try out iced, so why not? I do like berries, so Blueberry Muffin was hopefully going to tick the boxes. Blueberry Muffin comes in a sealed, resealable silver pouch with a bright label on the front. I’m not sure if I’m the only one, but I’m not a fan of the super tiny print on the labels because I just find them hard to read at times, especially if I don’t have the best lighting available when trying to look at what’s in it.

That said, Blueberry Muffin was very fragrant when I opened the pouch and scooped some out. There’s a lot of fruit in this blend, and it has a very berry-forward aroma. I can even pick up on some dairy notes, which I attribute to the yoghurt in the blend. Blueberry Muffin consists of: apple, raisins, carrot, hibiscus blossoms, beetroot, artificial blueberry muffin flavouring, yoghurt bits, blueberries and cornflower blossoms. Before reading the label, I had zero clue that “blueberry muffin flavouring” was a thing – but I guess we learn something new every day! I wonder what other type of products an artificial blueberry muffin flavouring goes into?

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Blueberry Muffin in 95C (200F) water for 5+ minutes. I opted to do an initial steep of 7 minutes.

First Taste

Blueberry Muffin steeps to a nice pink colour, it reminds me a bit of the colour of watermelon juice. I would attribute this particular shade to the carrot, hibiscus blossoms and the beetroot. The aroma of the tisane is definitely fruit forward, and it smells sweet. It does actually taste like a blueberry muffin, which is both surprising and not considering that a blueberry muffin flavouring is in the blend somewhere. There is a subtle tartness at the beginning of each sip, which I would think is from the hibiscus.

I tried it both hot and iced, and I would say that I preferred it iced over hot. Having Blueberry Muffin hot just didn’t do it for me, but iced was certainly a treat. It tastes like a muffin with a nice level of sweetness to it.

A Second Cup?

As with most tisanes, resteeping Blueberry Muffin did not work out as it just didn’t have that flavour. I think that that flavouring was really sapped out with the initial steep, which is a shame since it was surprisingly good.

My Overall Impression

I liked DavidsTea’s Blueberry Muffin. Part of me really wants to love this tisane, because it really does taste like its namesake, but at the same time, how much of that flavour that I enjoyed was from artificial flavouring? And how is blueberry muffin flavouring even a thing? It’s definitely a mystery to me, but I did enjoy the flavour and wish it was more natural than artificial. I think I’ll be using this as iced tea for sure, and perhaps mixing it with some lemonade since blueberry and lemon is such a delightful flavour combination and I think the sour of the lemonade will balance well with the tartness of the hibiscus.

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

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Dessert by Deb’s Deep Dish Apple Pie

Deep Dish Apple Pie by Dessert by Deb
Green Tea / Flavoured
$6.00 for 25g

First Impressions

Deep Dish Apple Pie comes in a gorgeous deep pink metallic pouch with a clear front to the bag – I’m in love with the colour because my hair is usually that shade (when I’m able to get to the hair salon on a more regular basis). This tea came as part of my tea subscription box from Dessert by Deb, but luckily for anyone intrigued by my review, it is not a subscriber exclusive and it is a part of the Little Cottage Bakery Collection so you can order it.

When I first opened up the pouch and scooped some of the tea out, the first thing that I noticed was just how much it smells like an apple pie. This blend consists of organic: green tea, apple, Canadian maple, cinnamon, and coconut. I don’t really smell the green tea base, but I do smell the cinnamon and maple, which is what reminds me of that apple pie aroma.

Preparation

Dessert by Deb recommends steeping Deep Dish Apple Pie in 200°F (93°C) water for 5 to 6 minutes. I did an initial steep in the recommended water temperature for 5 minutes.

First Taste

Deep Dish Apple Pie steeps to a light golden orange colour. The aroma of the tea is definitely reminding me of an apple pie. Dessert by Deb really hit the nail on the head with this one, because it also really reminds me of an apple pie when I drink it! The prominent flavours that I feel like it needs to really cement it in my head as an apple pie would be some brown sugar in addition to the maple, and then just a hint of vanilla or vanilla bean. I really enjoy the sweetness from the apple, and that rustic baked good sweetness from the maple flavour.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Deep Dish Apple Pie and just found that it didn’t resteep well. The apple flavour wasn’t nearly as strong as in the initial steep, so I would recommend steeping Deep Dish Apple Pie just the one time.

My Overall Impression

I loved Dessert by Deb’s Deep Dish Apple Pie. It has the right level of flavour and sweetness to make me think of apple pie when I drink it. There’s just some subtle things that would need to be tweaked for me to think that I was drinking an apple pie, and overall this makes for a lovely dessert tea since it would be significantly less calories than actually eating a slice of pie, but the flavour is just on point and makes me want to bake an apple pie and eat it too.

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