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Oteas’s Black Tea with Turmeric

Black Tea with Turmeric by Oteas
Black Tea / Flavoured
$7.49 for 33.75g (15 sachets)

Oteas has provided me with Black Tea with Turmeric for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

This is my first time getting to experience the new plastic-free packaging from Oteas. I noticed that the box is a bit shorter than the previous boxes, and doesn’t have plastic shrink wrap over the box. The cardstock box is recyclable, the inner liner and the tea sachets are all made from plant-based materials and are compostable in home composts – so nothing fancy is required! I think that’s really neat and shows a huge commitment to being environmentally friendly by using green-friendly materials.

Now onto the tea itself – it does come portioned out into tea sachets with a string and tag, I did open it up to get a better look at the tea itself. Black Tea with Turmeric contains just two ingredients: black tea and turmeric powder. Both ingredients are very visible in the tea itself. I mostly smell the turmeric, I can’t really smell the black tea base because the turmeric is such a strong ingredient.

Side note about turmeric – if you often use a plastic gravity tea infuser or steep in anything made of plastic, turmeric will stain it yellow. There’s no ifs, ands or buts about it – it will stain. So to get away from that, steep in something ceramic or use a stainless steel infuser – much easier to clean and keep your teaware stain-free!

Preparation

Oteas recommends steeping Black Tea with Turmeric using 100°C (212°F) water for 5 to 6 minutes. I opted to do an initial step for 6 minutes at the recommended temperature.

First Taste

Black Tea with Turmeric steeps to a deep reddish orange – not nearly as yellow as one might expect, but I think the black tea base as a lot to do with that. I can definitely smell the turmeric. There’s a nice smoothness to the tea, with a strong turmeric flavour that gives it a bit of tang and mouthfeel that lends itself to a pucker. No astringency or bitterness noted, I did find that there was a nice malty flavour from the black tea base, which does shine through the strong turmeric flavour.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Black Tea with Turmeric. I found that it didn’t resteep very well as the turmeric wasn’t as strong. So if you’re a fan of the turmeric, stick to the initial steep (6 minutes over 5 minutes, for sure!). If you’re a fan of a black tea with milder turmeric flavours, keep resteeping!

My Overall Impression

I liked Oteas’s Black Tea with Turmeric. I love the environmentally friendly recyclable and compostable packaging, I think it’s a great direction for any company in this day and age to go, especially for something that is single use. The initial steep of Black Tea with Turmeric was definitely a favourite over the resteep, because the turmeric is just that much more strong and enjoyable – so it really depends on what you like in your tea (I really wished that the turmeric had more of a presence in the second steep!).

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Sunny M’s Formosa Ruby

Formosa Ruby by Sunny M
Oolong Tea / Straight
$34.00 for 100g

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

First Impressions

Formosa Ruby comes in a shiny black pouch, it’s sealed and resealable. I really do like the fancy valve that Sunny M has in the packaging that allows you to push all the air out of the packaging – very handy feature! Formosa Ruby is an oolong tea, described by Sunny M has being artisan roasted, hand picked and from a micro lot.

Formosa Ruby comes from the Charm of Hearts tea estate in Taiwan, and is described as being ethically sourced. This oolong is tightly bunched leaves in varying shades of brown. There are some nice floral, apricot and malty aromas coming from the leaves. I think it’s quite inviting.

Preparation

Sunny M recommends steeping Formosa Ruby in 85℃-95℃ (185℉-203℉) water for 4 to 6 minutes, so I opted to heat my water to 93°C (200°F) and steep for 5 minutes.

First Taste

Formosa Ruby steeps to a lovely golden orange colour. The aroma is a mix of fruity and floral. The flavour of the tea itself is a smooth floral, light sweetness, some apricot mingling in the background, and a touch of malty that just makes itself known at the tail end of each sip. A bit of a roller coaster of a taste experience, that’s for sure, but truly delicious.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped the leaves for Formosa Ruby a total of seven times (so eight steeps total with the same leaves). As always, I added an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. I found that the colour continued to deepen as I steeped, especially for the first three resteeps, and the flavour stayed fairly consistent, just getting stronger and then weaker, accordingly with the colour of the tea itself.

My Overall Impression

I loved Sunny M’s Formosa Ruby. This oolong does so great in steeping and resteeping, I found the flavour stayed really nice as I resteeped it and it was just a pleasure to drink over and over again. Definitely one to be resteeped, and you can always steep and pour into a pitcher for some iced oolong later if you don’t have time to drink all that hot tea when you’re in the process of steeping. That’s my tea tip for today!

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Masters Teas’s Shincha Sencha

Shincha Sencha by Masters Teas
Green Tea / Straight
$29.00USD for 1.5oz (43g)

Masters Teas has provided me with Shincha Sencha for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

When you get asked if you’d be open to trying out brand new, just harvested this year teas, the answer is always a resounding yes. Even if I wasn’t a fan of green teas, I would have said yes – because it’s a rarity and a treat to get to experience such a new tea. So this is Shincha Sencha from Masters Tea by way of Shizuoka, Japan. Like all of Masters Teas’s products, when you head over to the Shincha Sencha product page, you’ll find out information about the tea farmer that grew this tea – which I think is so amazing.

The leaves of this Japanese green tea are beautiful – dark green, thin, flattened leaves. There’s a light fruity note and something about it that reminds me of a sharp burst of citrus brightness. Whatever it is, it’s smells like summer.

Preparation

Masters Teas recommends steeping Shincha Sencha with 165°F (74°C) water for 2 minutes. Now, my variable temperature kettle doesn’t accommodate 165°F, so what I did was heat to the lowest possible temperature (175°F/79°C) and allowed it to cool for about 5 minutes prior to steeping the tea for 2 minutes.

First Taste

Shincha Sencha steeps to a beautiful spring yellow-green color. The aroma is a mix of grass, citrus, and other fruity notes. There’s a nice sweetness to it, that mingles with some umami qualities that I find delicious. For the initial steep of just 2 minutes. I found zero bitterness or astringency, and a nice crispness to the tea and it made for a smooth cup of tea.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Shincha Sencha five times, adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. I found the flavour got bolder in the first two resteeps, and started to wane after that. The remained pretty consistent with the initial steep, I think you could probably successfully go beyond five resteeps if you wanted to.

My Overall Impression

I loved Masters Teas’s Shincha Sencha. It’s such a lovely cup of tea with some great spring/summer flavours and aromas in it. It’s very light tasting, a bit delicate, and certainly resteeps well – which is something I would highly recommend doing, especially given the cost of the tea being on the higher end. So tasty, I would recommend resteeping it or even cold steeping it for an even sweeter, crisper cup of tea.

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