Tag: Black Tea

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Chatime’s Original Milk Tea

Original Milk Tea by Chatime
Black Tea / Flavoured
$8.99 for 200g (10 x 20g sachets)

First Impressions

I am still in search for the perfect tea product to have on-the-go that has everything in it that I love (for a milk tea or tea latte), without being too something. Too sweet, too bitter, too expensive. There’s so many things that could go wrong.

Chatime is a popular brand out of Taiwan that happens to have brick and mortar locations. It happens to be a popular option for my fellow nurses to order in when it comes to food delivery services. so when I spotted a familiar purple on the shelf of my favourite Asian grocery store, I knew I had to give it a go.

The bag contains 10 sachets of the Original Milk Tea powder. Each sachet is 20g and contains: sugar, creamer, black tea powder, and artificial flavour. There’s also a “may contain” warning for gluten, tree nuts, egg, and sesame (in case any of those are allergens/concerns for you).

The powder itself is kind of a light brown, like a milk tea, and doesn’t have a very obvious aroma to it. It does smell sweet though.

Preparation

Chatime recommends making Original Milk Tea as cold or hot preparations.

For a cold preparation, combine 60ml of hot water with 1 sachet, then stir until the powder dissolves. Add 60g of ice.

For a hot preparation, combine 120ml of hot water with 1 sachet, then stir until powder dissolves.

I opted to do a hot preparation, and I used water heated to 93°C (200°F).

First Taste

Original Milk Tea mixes up to a light brown colour. It has an aroma that creamy and black tea. The flavour of Original Milk Tea is surprisingly not as sweet as I was expecting, especially considering sugar is listed as the first ingredient. The black tea has a touch of astringency to it, and the sugar balances well against it. The creamer in the mix adds a nice amount of creaminess to it, without overpowering the black tea flavour. If I had been making it at home from scratch, I probably would have made it sweeter.

A Second Cup?

As Original Milk Tea is a drink mix powder, there are no second cups with the same powder.

My Overall Impression

I liked Chatime’s Original Milk Tea. It’s a very convenient method of making milk tea on-the-go, especially seeing as how I have access to a hot water dispenser at work. I like that it’s not too sweet, because it allows me to add some sweetener as I see fit. The flavour is good, and the slight astringency remind me a lot of the milk tea that you can get at Hong Kong-style cafes. Original Milk Tea is priced nicely, especially if you compare it to what a tea delivered to you would cost ($0.90 per serving versus $5+), making Original Milk Tea an affordable option.

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

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ChaTraMue’s Thai Tea Mix

Thai Tea Mix by ChaTraMue
Black Tea / Flavoured
$6.99 for 450g

First Impressions

Thai Tea Mix stood out to me when I was in the tea aisle of one of my favourite Asian grocery stores because of the bright red tin. Plus it wasn’t expensive, so this tin made its way into my shopping cart. My experiences with Thai tea is quite limited, I think I’ve had it a handful of times in restaurants – I remember a very orange colour drink, especially as I had it as a milk tea.

The tin itself calls it “red tea powder (vanilla flavour)”. The lid pops off easily with a spoon (but is taped down). Thai Tea Mix consists of: black tea powder (Assam), sugar, artificial flavour, sunset yellow FCF. It’s dark, powdery, and has some bits of tea that are a bit larger. There isn’t a lot of aroma to the Thai Tea Mix, it mostly smells like a black tea but I can’t smell the artificial flavouring that has been added.

Preparation

ChaTraMue recommends preparing Thai Tea Mix as iced – mixing it with boiling water (100°C/212°F), steeping for 2 minutes, strain out the leaves, stir in sugar as needed, then serve with ice. There’s also the recommendation to add a slice of lemon for Lemon Iced Tea.

ChaTraMue also recommends preparing Thai Tea Mix as a Thai tea with milk, which involves mixing the Thai Tea Mix in boiling water (100°C/212°F) water for 3 to 5 minutes, strain out the leaves, add sugar condensed milk or fresh milk, and to serve hot or iced.

I opted to steep Thai Tea Mix for 3 minutes as I was planning to prepare it as an iced Thai milk tea.

First Taste

Thai Tea Mix steeps to a fairly bright orange colour, I would think in part thanks to the added food colouring (sunset yellow), and the natural colouring of the Assam black tea powder. The aroma is mostly that of the black tea to me, with something light in the background. The flavour of Thai Tea Mix is a touch sweet, with a little bit of vanilla, and then the astringency that I commonly find in Assam tea. There is a touch of bitterness in it, and that may be from the tannins being released after using boiling water to steep Thai Tea Mix with for 3 minutes.

Adding milk to the drink creates a more muted orange colour, and it tastes quite a bit like the Thai milk tea that I’ve had before in restaurants. It’s not as sweet as I would have liked, but I didn’t add additional sweetener to it as I knew that sugar was part of the tea milk already.

A Second Cup?

I did attempt to resteep the leaves, but because it’s so finely ground/dust bits of the tea leaves, it does very poorly in being resteeped and I would not recommend it.

My Overall Impression

I liked ChaTraMue’s Thai Tea Mix. For the value, I think you get a lot of tea (mix) for the price, and it makes for a very easy way to make Thai (milk) tea at home. That said, I think it’s unfortunate that a higher quality tea leaf isn’t used, because the black tea powder present in the Thai Tea Mix doesn’t lend itself well to being resteeped so the leaves are very much a one-time-use product. The colour and flavour resembles Thai milk tea that I’ve had in restaurants, so it’s a good option if you’re wanting to have it at home! That said, it does contain added flavourings and colouring, in case that is a concern for you.

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

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Dessert by Deb’s Thai Banana Cake

Thai Banana Cake by Dessert by Deb
Black Tea / Flavoured
$7.00 for 25g

First Impressions

Coming to me as part of the bimonthly Dessert by Deb subscription box (no longer available! The subscription box, not the product itself – you can put together a box of goodies yourself via the Dessert by Deb website), and is in the brightest berry pink metallic pouch. I’ve never had a Thai banana cake, so I really can’t tell you if it resembles the actual dessert. I know what banana bread smells and tastes like, but somehow in my mind cake ≠ bread, so I’m going into this review with no existing ideas of what I’m supposed to find in this organic tea sample.

The blend is pretty – I can see the coconut, black tea base, banana chips, and lemongrass. The aroma is strongly coconut and lemongrass – probably because both of those ingredients are quite strong in comparison to bananas. Thai Banana Cake consists of certified organic: black tea, natural banana flavour, bananas, toasted coconut, and lemongrass. It’s pretty. I’m not overly familiar with Thai tea products, or banana cake, but it smells like a lemongrass blend and I can smell the coconut. It’s inviting, doesn’t remind me of banana bread, but that’s okay!

Preparation

No preparation instructions on the sample, but on the Dessert by Deb’s website I found the following recommendations: steep in 212°F (100°C) water for 4 to 6 minutes. I opted to do an initial steep for 5 minutes. The website also recommends preparing as a tea latte.

First Taste

Thai Banana Cake steeps to an orange, with little bits of tea dust that escaped the stainless steel infuser that I had used. The aroma is Thai Banana Cake is primarily lemongrass and coconut, with just a touch of oil across the surface of the steeped tea – I imagine that comes from the toasted coconut. The flavour is primarily lemongrass, coconut, and hints of astringency from the black tea base. There’s a slight sweetness, but I find that it’s not very banana-forward or banana-heavy. I found myself wishing for more banana flavour to get that banana cake feel to it.

A Second Cup?

I did attempt to resteep Thai Banana Cake, adding an additional 30 seconds for the subsequent steep. I found the first resteep was primarily lemongrass, with hints of coconut, and the black tea base with the touch of astringency. I didn’t particularly enjoy it, because it was further lacking the flavours that I was hoping for. I wouldn’t recommend Thai Banana Cake for another steep.

My Overall Impression

I didn’t like Dessert by Deb’s Thai Banana Cake. Allow me to preface this with the fact that I didn’t get a lot of banana flavour in my cup of tea, I received a sample and that can be influenced by how well the blend was mixed or how well I redistributed the ingredients in the sample pouch. I liked the lemongrass and coconut combined with the black tea base, and would have rate it higher, if I hadn’t been expecting banana in the blend, along with the sweetness that one would expect from dried fruit. I think a heavier hand with the banana (chips or flavouring, or both!) would result in a more banana-esque flavouring (and more hearts).

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