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Dessert by Deb’s Marmalade Thumbprints

Marmalade Thumbprints by Dessert by Deb
Green Tea / Flavoured
$6.00 for 25g

First Impressions

I received Marmalade Thumbprints as part of my Dessert by Deb subscription box, but this one is not subscriber exclusive! Marmalade Thumbprints comes in a soft pink metallic pouch with a colouful label on the front. The packaging is sealed and resealable. This green tea blend is part of the Cakes & Treats Celebration collection, and is one of many blends.

The aroma of Marmalade Thumbprints is delightfully full of citrus aromas – it’s really bright and fresh smelling and reminds me a lot of summer. You can clearly see the green tea and the orange slices in it. Marmalade Thumbprints consists of green tea, orange peel, oranges, Canadian maple, and brown sugar. The green tea base is lovely to look at, and all of the ingredients are organic.

Preparation

Dessert by Deb recommends steeping Marmalade Thumbprints in 200°F (93°C) water for 4 to 5 minutes. I opted to do an initial steep of Marmalade Thumbprints for 4 minutes.

First Taste

Marmalade Thumbprints steeps to a lovely light shade of sunshine yellow. There’s a strong citrus/orange aroma from the tea itself. The flavour is sweet, it is orange-forward. I found that the brown sugar is noticeable in the steeped tea, lending that sweetness to the tea and it really evokes the feeling of baked goods with having that brown sugar be present. This green tea blend did great being steeped at 200°F (93°C) with zero bitterness and being pleasantly smooth.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Marmalade Thumbprints twice, I found that the best steep was honestly the first one because the brown sugar flavour was gone after the initial steep. Which, to be fair, means you taste more of the green tea base… but I kind of fell in love with the brown sugar notes with the citrus flavours.

My Overall Impression

I loved Dessert by Deb’s Marmalade Thumbprints. I really enjoyed how intentional the ingredients were in this blend in creating a feeling of citrus and warm baked goods, I love the addition of brown sugar for that and just how strong the citrus notes are from dry leaf to steeped tea. It makes for a pleasant cup of tea. I’m not disappointed that the green tea wasn’t as obvious, because the warmth from the orange and brown sugar more than makes up for it. I enjoyed this both hot and cooled down – I think it’d be great as an iced tea because the existing orange flavour would really lend itself well to that.

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Sunny M’s Formosa Bloom

Formosa Bloom by Sunny M
Oolong Tea / Straight
$38.00 for 100g

Sunny M has provided me with Formosa Bloom for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Formosa Bloom comes in a sealed, resealable pouch from Sunny M. It features a one-way air valve to help keep your tea fresh, which is still such a neat feature to me. Quite a bit of information about the tea itself on the packaging (front and back). This particular one is from the Charm of Hearts tea estate in Taiwan. It’s hand-picked, whole leaf, the cultivar is Taiwan No. 13 and they describe the roasting technique used to create this tea.

Formosa Bloom is a tightly bunched tea – the colours vary from dark brown to brownish red. There’s a strong floral aroma that is truly enticing, it’s just got a light nuttiness to the undertone, and it just seems really inviting overall. Because the leaves are so tightly bunched, I would recommend steeping it in an gaiwan or with an infuser that really lets the leaves open up as much as possible.

Preparation

Sunny M recommends steeping Formosa Bloom in 85℃-95℃(185℉-203℉) water for 4 to 6 minutes. I opted to do an initial steep for 4 minutes with water that had been heated to 93°C (200°F).

First Taste

Formosa Bloom steeps to a really brilliant golden orange colour. There’s a strong amount of floral aroma that comes from the steeped tea. The tea itself has a lovely sweet and floral flavour to it, there’s a hint of nuttiness in the background that I believe comes from the roasting technique used. It’s very smooth with zero astringency or bitterness at the steeping temperature and time I had mentioned earlier.

A Second Cup?

Formosa Bloom was resteeped seven times (eight steeps total with the same leaves). I used the same temperature water, just adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steeps. I found the leaves stood up really well to being resteeped and that the flavour remained very close to the initial steep throughout, just getting a bit weaker at the end.

My Overall Impression

I loved Sunny M’s Formosa Bloom. I found the floral aroma from the dry leaf was inviting, and the steeped tea was just so easy to drink! This is definitely an oolong that you’ll want to resteep because it does so well and you’ll get a lot of flavour from it. Formosa Bloom would be a great tea to pair with something savoury or sweet, I just think it’d balance nicely and the flavour of the tea just really holds up well to being resteeped over and over again, so it’s a great tea to serve with a group of people because all you’ll need to do is keep the kettle going.

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Oteas’s Oolong Tea with Ginger

Oolong Tea and Ginger by Oteas
Oolong Tea / Flavoured
$7.49 for 33.75g (15 sachets)

Oteas has provided me with Oolong Tea and Ginger for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Oolong Tea and Ginger is a blend from Oteas that comes portioned into tea sachets with plastic free packaging. Oteas encourages recycling of the cardstock box, the inner liner (that holds all the tea sachets) can be composted at home as well as the tea sachets themselves – how great for the environment! The sachets themselves are the pyramid-shaped ones, I tore it open to take a better look at the contents since that’s what I’m all about.

The aroma of the dry leaf is definitely ginger-heavy. The listened ingredients are Chinese oolong tea (green tea) and natural stem ginger. I’m a wee bit confused about the classification of oolong tea and green tea (since they are different types of tea), but I also know that some oolongs behave more like green tea in terms of steeping time and temperature, so I’m not too fussed. But if you read the packaging and get confused too, you weren’t alone.

Preparation

Oteas recommends steeping Oolong Tea and Ginger in 85-90°C water for 2-3 minutes. With my kettle, I opted to do an initial steep with 85°C (185°F) water for 3 minutes. I did steep the tea in the pyramid shaped tea sachet, and found that it was pretty full with the expanded leaves when I was done steeping.

First Taste

Oolong Tea and Ginger steeps to a really nice golden orange colour. It has a strong ginger-forward aroma, which is well reflected in the steeped tea itself. There are some grassy and earthy notes from the oolong that balances well against the ginger – with really reminds me of a ginger ale of sorts. It’s a nicely balanced blend.

A Second Cup?

I restepeed Oolong Tea and Ginger once, adding an additional 30 seconds for the subsequent steep. I found that the ginger notes weren’t as strong, as I think I used up some of that flavour in the initial steep.

My Overall Impression

I loved Oteas’s Oolong Tea and Ginger. I thought the balance of flavours between the oolong base with the ginger was really well done, I appreciate the plant-based, compostable packaging materials that Oteas has sourced out to use for their products. The flavour of the tea is nice and I find that the ginger is really flavour forward, which makes for an easy blend to reach for when you’ve got an upset stomach if ginger helps you.

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