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Teakan’s Li Shan Oolong

Li Shan Oolong by Teakan
Oolong Tea / Straight
$25.00 for 70g

Li Shan Oolong is part of the Teakan’s Spring 2020 Exploration box, which I purchased at the 2020 Vancouver Tea Festival back in March. This Exploration Box consists of 5 teas and Li Shan Oolong was 15g of the 70g.

First Impressions

Last week I shared my review of the first of five single origin teas from Teakan’s 2020 Spring Exploration Box – Jasmine White. You can find the photo of the outer packaging there as well. This review will be focusing on the second tea I picked out of the kit – Li Shan Oolong.

Li Shan Oolong is an oolong tea harvested in spring 2019 from Li Shan, Nantou, Taiwan and I got 15g of it in the Exploration Box. I love the minimalist vibes from the kraft paper pouch, which is sealed and resealable. The back of the packaging has steeping instructions (more on that later).

This Taiwanese oolong has some beautiful leaves. I love all the variation in colours from warm browns to bright greens to very dark, forest greens. They’re just really fun to look at. The aroma is lightly fruity, it reminds me a lot of peaches.

Preparation

Teakan recommends steeping Li Shan Oolong in 95°C (203°F) water. I opted to use 93°C (200F°) water. For western style steeping, this oolong is meant to be steeped for 1 minute, 30 seconds (90 seconds). With the gongfu method, its 5 seconds. I did the 90 second steep in my teapot.

First Taste

Li Shan Oolong steeps to a light golden yellow for the initial steep. There’s some floral aroma to the tea – with some sweet, honeyed notes in the fragrance as well. The flavour of the tea is a mix of stone fruit (I definitely taste more apricot that I can smell), honey, and floral notes. It’s nicely balanced. I found that the tea was smooth with only a slightly thickened texture to it. It’s a pleasant mouthfeel and was so easy to drink up the whole pot.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Li Shan Oolong six times (seven steeps total), adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. The flavour and colour were strongest in the first and second resteeps. While the flavour and colour weakened by the last steep, the flavour remains consistent and didn’t change too much for it. It was a treat to watch how much the leaves opened up as I steeped this oolong.

My Overall Impression

I loved Teakan’s Li Shan Oolong. I’m a sucker for a good quality oolong, and this one does not disappoint. I loved everything from admiring the dry leaf, steeping (and resteeping) and drinking the tea, to looking at the spent leaves after everything was all said and done. I really enjoyed the flavour of this oolong, and I think a lot of people would like it as well – especially if you have an appreciation for teas with floral notes.

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Sun-Rype’s Black Tea Twist of Lemon

Black Tea Twist of Lemon by Sun-Rype
Black Tea / Flavoured
$1.69 for 1 can (355ml)

First Impressions

Another day, another canned tea product review! You may as well find out what I think about these products before you decide to purchase them to have while enjoying a leisurely trip to your patio or backyard, right?

This is Sun-Rype’s Black Tea Twist of Lemon. As one might suspect, it’s a black tea base with lemon added to it – added bonus of carbonated water for a ‘sparkling’ bubbly taste. It’s a tall skinny can – I’m beginning to think that canned tea products are being produced in these cans so they aren’t as easily mistaken to be soft drinks (side note, do you say pop or soda were you live? It’s pop for me!) since the perceived health benefits of not drinking soft drinks or canned drink products laden with sugar is always on the forefront of a lot of people’s minds.

The can is differently coloured from the other flavours to make it easier to recognize, which is nice. The tea itself is a golden orange colour, obviously carbonated with all of the visible tiny bubbles and the fizz that I could hear as soon as I cracked open the can. There is a nice lemon aroma to it, and I can small the malty black tea base. Black Tea Twist of Lemon consists of: carbonated filtered water, cane sugar, real brewed black tea concentrate, citric acid, natural flavour, and natural colour.

First Taste

The aroma of Black Tea Twist of Lemon is pleasant – it does remind me of the classic combination of lemon with black tea. It’s not as sweet as I would have liked, especially for a product that contains cane sugar. I can taste the black tea base – it has a nice robustness to it that reminds me of a breakfast tea. There’s a nice amount of lemon flavour to it, but I find it a bit tart. I do taste a bit of mineral quality to it, which I think comes from the carbonated water.

My Overall Impression

I thought that Sun-Rype’s Black Tea Twist of Lemon was just okay. I could appreciate the flavour of lemon with the black tea but it wasn’t sweet enough for me and I found the mineral quality in the carbonated water to be a bit off-putting. I think this would be great cut with some lemonade. I would definitely recommend pouring this over a cup of ice, perhaps adding a lemon wedge to it. It’d be a great drink to have while sitting out in the shade on a hot day, just enjoying the summer weather.

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

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Zevia’s Black Tea Lemon

Black Tea Lemon by Zevia
Black Tea / Flavoured
$2.98 for 355ml (12 fl oz, 1 can)

First Impressions

Another canned iced tea drink review, Michelle? Yes, yes it is.

Black Tea Lemon from Zevia comes in a tall, skinny cream coloured can. There’s a cute little lemon wedge illustration on the front and it’s basically adorable. Like with the other Zevia tea products that I’ve reviewed already, this one is also certified for non-GMO, USDA organic, and fair-trade trade. Again, just because a product does not have those logos doesn’t mean that the product is not non-GMO, organic or fair-trade, it just means that they’ve paid money to become certified in all of those things. Okay, now I can get off of my soap box.

Black Tea Lemon consists of: organic brewed black tea, organic natural flavours, citric acid, and organic stevia leaf extract. There’s exactly 0 calories, 0 grams of sugar/carbohydrates, 0 grams of protein, and 0 grams of fat in each 355ml can. There is also 45mg of caffeine per can, which is much less than the amount of caffeine in a standard small size cup of coffee from the chain green and white coffee shop that you may or may not frequent.

Popping open the can, Black Tea Lemon has a nice deep orange colour. There’s a pleasant lemon aroma to it, and I can smell the black tea base as well. It smells quite like what I was expecting with the two flavours mingling together.

First Taste

Black Tea Lemon has a lovely flavour profile – I can taste the lemon, there’s sweetness to it thanks to the stevia, and also the black tea base. Not too strong to over power the lemon, but not too weak as to not be noticeable. There’s a pleasant mouthfeel to it, and I found that it had some malty notes with the black tea base that were a bit earthy. Quite pleasant to the palate though!

My Overall Impression

I liked Zevia’s Black Tea Lemon. It’s a classic flavour combination, so it was quite enjoyable. I would recommend having this one over ice, maybe with a splash of lemonade for more lemon flavour or just a lemon wedge on the side. The only thing that really stops me from giving it a better rating is the cost – it’s not cheap for a single serving sized can and I’m not about to have it regularly despite how tasty it may be and how convenient it is to have it in a can versus making iced tea at home myself. It is nice for a treat though!

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