Tag: Black Tea

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DavidsTea’s Traditional Tea Discovery Kit

Traditional Tea Discovery Kit by DavidsTea
Black Tea, Green Tea, Oolong Tea, and White Tea / Straight
$35.00 for 110g

First Impressions

This is the Traditional Tea Discovery Kit, which was released as part of the Origins Collection from DavidsTea (there is also a Green Tea Discovery Kit and Black Tea Discovery Kit). The Traditional Discovery Kit consists of 6 teas that each come in a cute metal tin: 24g of Organic Zen Pearls (white tea), 12g of Organic Mao Jian Jade (green tea), 24g of Organic Gyokuro Yamashiro (green tea), 22g of Guangzhou Milk Oolong (oolong tea), 16g of Orange Pekoe (black tea), and 12g of Organic Nepal Black (black tea). I’ve linked previously written reviews to the teas that I have tried previously, and I will be showcasing the Organic Zen Pearls and Organic Gyokuro Yamashiro in this review.

From left to right: Organic Zen Pearls, Organic Gyokuro Yamashiro

Organic Zen Pearls has a beautiful jasmine aroma, and the tea comes in cute pea-sized pearls. There is a nice differing range of colours of the leaves from a dark olive to a light cream. Zen Pearls are rolled white teas from Fujian Province, China – scented with jasmine flowers. Gyokuro Yamashiro has these shiny dark green leaves, that have a slightly salty, umami notes. Gyokuro Yamashiro consists of organic steamed green tea from Kagoshima, Japan.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Zen Pearls in 90°C (195°F) water for 3 to 5 minutes. My initial steep was for 3 minutes.

DavidsTea recommends steeping Gyokuro Yamashiro in 80°C (175°F) water for 1 to 2 minutes. My initial steep was for 1 minute.

First Taste

Zen Pearls steeps to a light orange colour. There’s a light jasmine aroma to this tea, which is nice and sweet. I found that this tea has a smooth mouthfeel. There’s light jasmine floral flavouring throughout, with no astringency or bitterness. I found it to put me in a very zen mood since I find it very relaxing to have a jasmine tea.

From left to right: Organic Zen Pearls, Organic Gyokuro Yamashiro

Gyokuro Yamashiro steeps to a yellow. There are obvious umami notes from the aroma that comes off from the tea. I found that there is a full mouthfeel from this tea – it’s smooth and has a light sweetness. There is a nice savoury quality from this tea, which I think comes from the umami notes.

A Second Cup?

For each resteep, I kept to the same temperature of water as the initial steep, and added an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep.

From left to right: Organic Zen Pearls, Organic Gyokuro Yamashiro

For Zen Pearls, I did 5 resteeps. I found that the jasmine flavouring stayed fairly consistent and it was nice to watch the leaves unfurl further with each steep.

For Gyokuro Yamashiro, I did 3 resteeps. I found that umami quality got a bit lighter with each resteep, becoming more sweet.

My Overall Impression

I loved DavidsTea’s Traditional Tea Discovery Kit. I really love the presentation of this tea kit, and the adorable printed tea tins. For the new-to-me teas, I really enjoyed the flavours and I think that DavidsTea did a great job of putting together an assortment of quality traditional teas to allow people to sample a variety of teas. The only thing that would have made it better is if they had included Butterfly Jasmine in it.

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Harrods’s Earl Grey

Earl Grey by Harrods
Black Tea / Flavoured
£9.50 for 125g

First Impressions

I received Earl Grey as a gift from a family member, and I was pretty stoked. I love Earl Grey and the tin that Harrods sells their Earl Grey in is quite beautiful. It came shrink wrapped, and the lid screws on/off to provide a decent seal. The aroma of the leaves is bright citrus. The leaves themselves are dark brown and smell lovely and inviting – which is what I look for in an Earl Grey.

Earl Grey consists of black tea, natural bergamot flavouring, and other natural flavouring. I wish I could let you smell this tea through your screen – the bergamot is amazing.

Preparation

Harrods recommends steeping Earl Grey in boiling water (100°C/212°F) for 3 to 5 minutes, and to serve in fine china and to add milk, sugar or honey to taste.

I opted to steep for 4 minutes and had it both plain and with evaporated milk and honey.

First Taste

Earl Grey steeps to a beautiful orange red colour. The aroma is mostly the bergamot, very inviting. There’s the boldness from the black tea base that almost seems like it has a bit of astringency, but falls short of providing a mouth puckering feel to it. There is a natural sweetness from the bergamot, which I appreciate and enjoy.

I did also make Earl Grey with a touch of evaporated milk and locally sourced honey, which helped temper that slight astringency and made the tea all that more creamy and enjoyable.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Earl Grey once, adding an additional 30 seconds to the steeping time. I found that the bergamot flavour was still present although weaker than the initial steep. Earl Grey did pretty okay, so I would recommend doing a resteep with these leaves.

My Overall Impression

I loved Harrods’s Earl Grey. From the presentation and dry leaf to the first taste and being able to resteep the leaves, I found that Earl Grey was very pleasant to drink. I’m a huge fan of Earl Grey (of course), so I’ve gotten to be a bit picking out Earl Grey teas to drink. I find that this Earl Grey does well both on its own and when mixed with milk and sugar – and I think it’d be a great candidate for a London Fog as well.

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Snapdragon & Thistle’s Earl Grey

Earl Grey by Snapdragon & Thistle
Black Tea / Flavoured
$7.00USD for 2oz

Snapdragon & Thistle has provided me with Earl Grey for the purposes of providing an honest review.

Use coupon code INSTA03 for 10% off your order of Earl Grey from Snapdragon & Thistle! Coupon code valid for May 2019.

First Impressions

I’m always quite honest about the fact that I love Earl Grey. It’s one of my favourite classic tea blends and I love it. Because of this, it constantly makes me nervous yet excited about trying new-to-me sources for Earl Grey because of the fact that I never know if the blend is going to be the way that I like it. So when Snapdragon & Thistle offered to let me try their Earl Grey, of course I said yes.

Earl Grey came to me in a sealed, resealable plastic-lined kraft paper pouch with matte product labels on the front and the back. The blend itself has a beautiful bergamot aroma to it. The leaves are dark brown and a nice size to them for a blended black tea. Earl Grey consists of Chinese black tea and bergamot flavouring.

Preparation

Snapdragon & Thistle recommends steeping Earl Grey in 100°C (212°F) for 2 to 4 minutes. My initial steep of Earl Grey was for 3 minutes.

First Taste

Earl Grey steeps to a golden orange colour. The tea has a bright citrus aroma, the bergamot fragrance is really nice. I found that the tea had a nice strength behind the flavour – the black tea base is smooth and I found zero astringency in the tea when I steeped it for 3 minutes. There’s a slight sweetness to the tea that is mostly present with the beginning of each sip. It makes for a pleasant cup of tea.

I also tried Earl Grey with a bit of honey and evaporated milk and found it to be quite pleasant.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Earl Grey twice, adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. I found that the flavour of Earl Grey weakened a bit for the first resteep, but the bergamot flavouring wasn’t present enough for the second resteep. I would say that Earl Grey is good for one more steep.

My Overall Impression

I loved Snapdragon & Thistle’s Earl Grey. The flavour of the bergamot is enticing and delicious, it balances well with the black tea base. It does well both straight and with a bit of sweetener and milk, so it’ll do well for people who belong to either camp – fans of the London Fog and fans of the straight Earl Grey. Definitely give this cup of tea a resteep, as the leaves do nicely to be resteeped and you’ll want to taste a bit more of that bergamot.

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