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Gold Kili’s Double Shot White Milk Tea

Double Shot White Milk Tea by Gold Kili
Black Tea / Flavoured
$6.95 for 280g (eight 35g sachets)

First Impressions

I picked up Double Shot White Milk Tea on a whim while grocery shopping a little while ago – that’s the funny thing about going grocery shopping now with the arrows that dictate what direction you’re meant to go down each aisle, you sometimes start wandering down an aisle that you didn’t need anything but end up picking up something anyways.

In a bright orange cardstock box, Double Shot White Milk Tea intrigued me enough to pick it up. There’s a nice photo of latte art in the front. This box contains eight portions of the instant tea mix. Double Shot White Milk Tea consists of: sugar, refined fully hydrogenated vegetable oil, skimmed milk powder, instant tea, dipotassium phosphate, sodium caseinate, mono- and di-glycerides of fatty acids, silicon dioxide, and caratene. Potential allergens listed are: sesame, soy, wheat and gluten. There’s basically no smell to the powder at all.

Preparation

Gold Kili recommends mixing one pouch with 180ml hot water and to stir to mix. For iced, they recommend using 90ml hot water, and then adding ice. I opted to prepare it hot. With no water temperature suggestion, I opted to heat my water to 100°C (212°F).

First Taste

Double Shot White Milk Tea easily dissolves, and has a light brown colour. Obviously the latte art doesn’t magically appear, but it’s a nice colour. Once the powder is mixed, it does smell like milk tea. The flavour is interesting – I can taste black tea, and there’s a nice milk flavour to it. However, it’s not as creamy as I would prefer in a milk tea, and there’s actually a slight bitterness to it like an oversteeped black tea. It’s not as sweet as I expected, given that sugar is the first listed ingredient and each 35g pouch has 16g of sugar.

A Second Cup?

No second cup as everything dissolves in the water, much like a matcha or drink mix.

My Overall Impression

I thought that Gold Kili’s Double Shot White Milk Tea was just okay. The flavour wasn’t quite what I was expecting, maybe because I’m a bit particular about milk tea in general (proof) – I like mine a bit sweeter, with a heavier milk presence (which is why I use evaporated milk). The nice thing about that I do like about the Double Shot White Milk Tea is the convenience of having milk tea on-the-go, and how easily it dissolves in water. I will definitely be having this iced this summer since it’s so easy to make, and having a packet or two with my lunch for work since it’s just more convenient than heating up a kettle and carrying around evaporated milk with me.

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Teaware: Adagio Teas’s Double-Wall Poppy

Double-Wall Poppy by Adagio Teas
Porcelain and Stainless Steel
$14.00USD each

Adagio Teas has provided me with Double-Wall Poppy for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Double-Wall Poppy is a double-wall porcelain cup with stainless steel infuser. The cup itself has a lovely poppy design on it, with a small hole at the bottom to allow for the air to escape when hot liquids are poured inside. It comes in a sturdy cardboard box. Double-Wall Poppy is a 3 piece cup – lid, stainless steel infuser, and the cup itself.

This cup is dishwasher and microwave safe (if you remove the stainless steel infuser), and holds 12oz (355ml) of tea.

First Use

Like I do with all of my teaware, I did hand wash the Double-Wall Poppy first with warm soapy water. One thing to keep in mind with a double-walled porcelain cup like this is the little hole on the bottom. If you submerge in water or wash it in the dishwasher, water can get inside and you may find it dripping out at inopportune moments.

I had a nice milk tea in the mug for the first use. I love the double-wall feature because it means that when you pour piping hot water into the cup to steep your tea directly in the cup, you won’t burn your hands on the outside. The little handle on the stainless steel infuser is handy and didn’t get too hot to handle. The infuser is also nice because it’s fairly large for the cup and gives the tea leaves a lot of space to expand – a great feature if you’re likely to steep oolong or pu’erh.

My Overall Impression

I loved Adagio Teas’s Double-Wall Poppy. From the lovely design, nice function, and the large stainless steel infuser, the Double-Wall Poppy functions well and is at a nice price! There are a lot of other double-walled cups out there that are much more expensive, and I like the fact that this one is at an affordable price that makes it a great option to include with a gift or as a treat when you’re looking for a treat yo’self moment.

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Sunny M’s Formosa High Mountain

Formosa High Mountain by Sunny M
Oolong Tea / Straight
$48.00 for 100g

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

First Impressions

Formosa High Mountain comes in a sealed, resealable pouch. There’s a thin almost fishing-wire like seal that is easy to pull in order to open the pouch. There’s a funny little disc on the back to allow you to push air out of the bag – what a fun feature to help maintain the freshness of your tea! This is one of the teas that I was able to taste at the 2020 Vancouver Tea Festival and I was super stoked when Sunny M offered some of this lovely oolong tea to me to review.

Formosa High Mountain is an Taiwanese oolong tea that is exclusive to Sunny M, which I found interesting. It’s roasted, whole leaf, and natural (no additional flavouring). The leaves are gorgeous – a lovely mix of light and dark green shades and you can see the details in the leaves, so beautiful. The dry leaf has a nice aroma – it smells roasted, floral, and grassy.

Preparation

Sunny M recommends steeping Formosa High Mountain in 85-90°C (185-194°F) for 20-40 seconds. I opted to do an initial steep with 85°C water for 30 seconds.

First Taste

Formosa High Mountain steeps to a pale yellow colour. There’s a light roasted aroma. The flavour is a mix of nutty, floral, and sweet. The packaging suggests a chrysanthemum-like flavour and I can taste it – although how much is the power of suggestion? I like the lightness in the flavour, it’s pleasant and easy to drink.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Formosa High Mountain five times (six steeps total), adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. I found that the colour got more golden yellow, with a nice flavour to it. The flavour got more sweet, with hints of vanilla as I steeped it – it made for such a pleasant steeping session.

My Overall Impression

I loved Sunny M’s Formosa High Mountain. This oolong tea was a treat from dry leaf to steep to just admiring those pretty leaves after being done with them. While the tea itself is on the more expensive side, it’s nice to know that it holds up really well to being resteeped and has some great flavour. It’s definitely one that you’ll want to resteep over and over again until you get all of the flavour from the leaves, and just enjoy the floral and sweet notes that mingle with the nutty flavours. It’s a well-balanced oolong and it’s just nice to know how nature just creates a nice flavour from tea leaves.

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