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Masters Teas’s Rohini First Flush

Rohini First Flush by Masters Teas
Black Tea / Straight
$19.00 for 2oz

Masters Teas has provided me with Rohini First Flush for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

When a tea company asks if you’re interested in trying the very first harvested tea of the year, the answer is yes. There’s some fantastic flavours that can come from harvests at different types of the year – it all depends on the amount of sunlight versus shade, water, altitude, fertilizer. Everything comes into play when you get into single origin teas.

Rohini First Flush was harvested this year – late February and processed in March 2020. This black tea is from Darjeeling, India and came to me in a sealed, resealable pouch that I’ve come to be familiar with when it comes to Masters Teas’s packaging. The tea itself doesn’t look like a typical black tea. There’s a myriad of different colours, lots of fuzzy leaves mixed in, and I honestly thought it was either a green or white tea just based purely on appearances.

There’s a really pleasant aroma to the leaves – it reminds me of a mix of floral and honeycrisp apples (which I love!). Rohini First Flush consists of only black tea leaves.

Preparation

Masters Teas recommends steeping Rohini First Flush in 212°F (100°C) water for 2 to 3 minutes. I opted to do an initial steep for 2½ minutes.

First Taste

Rohini First Flush steeps to a pale yellow for the initial steep. There’s a sweet floral note to it that’s quite inviting. I found that it was smooth, with just a slight bite at the tail end of each steep. The flavour is nice – the honeycrisp apple aroma translates well to a fruity flavour in the steeped tea, while the floral notes add a nice sweetness to the tea itself. It reminds me of a milder version of a breakfast tea, which I find traditionally has a robust, astringent flavour to it that really needs to be tempered down with some evaporated milk or sweetener at times. Rohini First Flush though doesn’t have nearly as strong of an astringency to it, or maltiness. It has a pleasantly smooth flavour that is only met with the slightest of astringent notes at the end of each sip.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Rohini First Flush three times (four steeps total), adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. The tea steeps to a more golden colour for the subsequent steeps and has a stronger apple/fruity flavour to it. Rohini First Flush remains a pleasant, smooth cup of tea.

My Overall Impression

I loved Masters Teas’s Rohini First Flush. For a black tea, it was a truly unique experience from leaf to steep with this first flush tea because of the nuances in the flavour and the behaviour of the tea itself. A pleasant experience and delicious to boot, since I do adore honeycrisp apples. This is definitely a black tea that you should enjoy straight up with no added cream and sugar – and be sure to resteep as it does well and you can get more flavour of the leaves.

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

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Sunny M’s Formosa Amber

Formosa Amber by Sunny M
Oolong Tea / Straight
$10.00 for 20g

First Impressions

This was an oolong that I picked up at the 2020 Vancouver Tea Festival (which just feels like it happened a year ago at this point!), and I believe it was also one that I sampled while I was there because, let’s face it, I sampled a lot of teas and I’m not one to turn down trying out an oolong. This oolong came in a sealed pouch, inside of a tea sachet that of course I ripped apart because I needed to see the leaves!

Formosa Amber has just the most delightful fruity aroma to it. Reminds me of opening up a package of dried apricots mixed in with something a bit more tropical, like dried mango. It smells sweet and inviting, which is always a nice quality to have in a tea! I learned from the Sunny M website that Formosa Amber is from Taiwan – specifically the Charm of Hearts Estate. The coolest thing about getting a tea from a company that works directly with the producers is that you get to learn exactly where the tea comes from in the world – you don’t really get that sort of knowledge from the standard grocery store tea (not that there is something wrong with grocery store tea, mind you – I’ll still drink it!).

Preparation

Sunny M recommends steeping Formosa Amber in 5℃-95℃(185℉-203℉) water for 4 to 6 minutes. I opted to steep for 5 minutes – just going for middle of the road – and used 93C (200℉) water.

First Taste

Formosa Amber steeps to a lovely golden yellow – it’s such a vibrant colour and I’m afraid that I wasn’t quite able to capture just how yellow it really is in person. The tea itself has a nice aroma – fruity (the stone fruit notes are strong in this one!) with some honey sweetness mingling in the background. I found Formosa Amber to be smooth, with only the slightest of astringency, a full mouthfeel texture. The apricot and honey notes are strong, with a subtle amount of creamy flavour in the background. It makes for a nice flavour experience.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Formosa Amber eight times (nine steeps total with the same leaves) and found it to be a lovey steeping experience. I add an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep, and kept the water temperature the same. The colour deepened for the first and second resteep, becoming more golden in colour, before eventually fading. I found the flavour to be strongest in the first and second resteeps. After that, the honey notes began to fade while the buttery cream notes got stronger. By the end, it still had a nice amount of flavour, I ended up pouring it into a container and having it in the fridge for a bit to enjoy cold.

My Overall Impression

I loved Sunny M’s Formosa Amber. I’m a sucker for a nice oolong, and the flavours in this Taiwanese oolong did not disappoint. I really enjoyed the fruity and honey notes, it just really made for a nicely balanced and flavourful experience. The resteeping process was nice and smooth – I got to enjoy it immensely and it made for a lovely tea steeping afternoon with some great cups of tea. Always, always, always resteep oolongs that aren’t part of a tea blend, you’ll get to experience the subtle changes in flavour when you do.

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

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Adagio Teas’s Motherhood Teas (Collection)

Motherhood Teas by Adagio Teas
Black Tea, Green Tea, White Tea, Honeybush, Tisane / Flavoured
$24.00USD for 6 0.5oz tins

Adagio Teas has provided me with Motherhood Teas for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Motherhood Teas is a super sweet little set of six limited edition blends designed for moms and the mother figures in your lives. The adorably illustrated tins slide open and are jam-packed with the tea/tisane inside. The tins neatly fit into a dark pink box and it’s basically already packaged up for you to gift to your mom (and Mother’s Day is coming up, so you best go and order now if you haven’t already gotten your mom a present!).

Each tin is adorable – there’s Love, Admiration, Hug, Hero, Wisdom and Truth.

From left to right: Hug, Admiration, and Love.

Love has a slight rose aroma, I can also smell the black tea base and it has some vanilla notes. Love consists of: black tea, heart sprinkles, rose petals, rose flavor, and natural creme flavor.

Admiration is a honeybush blend, but it does have some rooibos qualities to it and I can definitely smell that medicinal quality behind it. There’s a nuttiness in the background though, which I find intriguing. Admiration consists of: honeybush, flower sprinkles, cocoa nibs, natural hazelnut flavor, and natural chocolate flavor

Hug has a lovely aroma – lemongrass, berries, roses and ginger are all mingling in there. Hug consists of: rose hips, hibiscus, apple pieces, rose petals, blue cornflowers, lemon grass, natural creme flavor, licorice root, blueberries, strawberries, raspberry leaves, natural strawberry flavor, natural blueberry flavor, raspberries, ginger root, natural blackberry flavor, peppermint leaves, safflower, and blue cornflowers.

From left to right: Trust, Wisdom, and Hero.

Hero has the cutest tin, by far! This green tea blend smells grassy, floral, and has some lovely vanilla notes to it. Hero consists of: green tea, hibiscus, confetti sprinkles, natural vanilla flavor, orange peels, natural bergamot flavor, and blue cornflowers.

Wisdom is a white tea blend – I can smell vanilla and chocolate, I don’t really smell the white tea base or the coconut that exists in here, but bonus because I can’t smell the rooibos either. Wisdom consists of: white tea, rooibos, apple pieces, white chocolate chips, hibiscus, blueberries, natural strawberry flavor, strawberries, blue cornflowers, coconuts, rose petals, and natural vanilla flavor.

Last, but certainly not least, is Trust. Trust smells like apricots, vanilla, and cream to me. This green tea blend consists of: green tea, butterfly sprinkles, lavender, vanilla pieces, apple pieces, natural apricot flavor, strawberry pieces, apricots, and marigold.

Preparation

Adagio Teas recommends steeping Love, Admiration and Hug in 100°C (212°F) water for 3 minutes (Love) and 5-10 minutes (Admiration and Hug). I followed the steeping instructions and did 3, 5 and 5 minutes.

For Hero, Wisdom, and Trust, Adagio Teas recommends steeping in 82°C (180°F) for 2-3 minutes (Hero), 3-5 minutes (Wisdom), and 2-3 minutes (Trust). I used 80C (175F) water to steep these three and did the initial steeps for 3, 5 and 5 minutes.

First Taste

Left to right: Love, Admiration, and Hug.

Love steeps to a golden brown colour. I found the aroma to be very similar to the dry leaf – I get the rose, vanilla and black tea base. The flavour is pretty good, I found it to be sweet with some light floral notes without being over the top perfume. It’s pleasant and I think it’d be great with cream and sugar, or paired with an afternoon tea.

Admiration tastes like rooibos, which is never my favourite ingredient. I found it to have some light chocolate flavours with a honeyed sweetness. I do like the sweet part of this tisane, and I think fans of rooibos and honeybush would enjoy this one.

Hug has a really strong lemongrass and ginger aroma and flavour to it. It steeps to a lovely yellow-brown colour. There’s some nice warming qualities about it that I think are really enjoyable and would be nice for busy moms who want something to drink while unwinding after a long day of balancing working from home and home schooling.

Left to right: Hero, Wisdom, and Trust.

Hero has a great aroma to it – it steeps to a peachy yellow, which was surprisingly not pink despite the fact that hibiscus is in the blend. There’s some grassy and vanilla notes to Hero. I found the flavour to be grassy, with hints of vanilla and a nice creamy quality to it. It’s quite light enough that I think it’d be nice as an iced tea too – since if you’re a hero, you’re a hero throughout the year and that includes different seasons.

Wisdom steeps to a golden orange with some oils floating on top – I think it’s from either the chocolate or coconut (or both). I still can’t taste the coconut. It has some nice vanilla and chocolate notes to it. I found it to be smooth, with a lovely texture despite the oils floating on top (it doesn’t taste heavy at all). It’s sweet too, and reminds me of a dessert. I think this one means to be paired with some strawberry shortcake or a freshly baked scone with strawberry preserves.

Trust steeps to a light yellow – I love the colour. It smells like apricot and vanilla. There’s a very pleasant sweetness to this that I enjoy. I found it to be light and pleasant – the apricot flavour is the best. I think this one would be a great iced as well, as it’s just got that lightness to it that goes well with iced teas.

A Second Cup?

I found that Hero, Wisdom, and Trust resteeped the best (for one resteep). A lot of the added flavourings were missing in the second steep of the same leaves.

Left to right: Love, Admiration, and Hug.

For Love, I found a lot of the rose flavour to be missing. While for Admiration and Hug, the flavours were just a bit muddled and didn’t like the initial steep.

Left to right: Hero, Wisdom, and Trust.

My Overall Impression

I loved Adagio Teas’s Motherhood Teas collection. I think it comes well packaged, with adorable illustrations, and a nice collection of blends that allows moms to try something new and perhaps find a new favourite. Hug, Hero, and Trust were my top picks/favourites out the six – and if I had to pick an absolute favourite, it’d be Trust.

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