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Field to Cup’s May Adventurer Box

May Adventurer Box by Field to Cup
$34.97USD for 1 Adventurer Box (per month)
$356.69USD for 12 Months ($29.72/mo)

Field to Cup has provided me with the May Adventurer Box for the purposes of writing an honest review.

Use coupon code Onemoresteep20 for 20% off your first order of teas or first month of subscription boxes from Field to Cup!

First Impressions

As always, the Adventurer Box came to me in a brown cardboard box – just stuffed full of tea, steeping bags, and the steeping guide catered towards the teas in the box. The May Adventurer Box consists of 5 teas – two green teas and one each of black, oolong, and pu’erh teas. Each tea came in a sealed, resealable pouch that has a label affixed to the front that details the tea, tasting notes, steeping instructions – as well as a guide to steeping it in the appropriate water temperature if you don’t have a thermometer or variable temperature kettle (my kettle is still my favourite small appliance purchase ever).

The first trio of teas that I tried from the May Adventurer Box were: Silver Sheng 2012 (pu’erh tea), Organic Hibiscus Hint (oolong tea), and Sweet Ceylon (black tea). Silver Sheng 2012 looks like a silver needle (a white tea), which isn’t surprising as it’s an aged raw 2012 silver needle. The leaves still retain their downy feathers, but is slightly darker than a regular silver needle. This aged white silver needle is from the Yunnan Province of China. Organic Hibiscus Hint has some dark brown leaves that have some deep purple colouration, I can spy some hibiscus in the blend and it smells like preserved plums (those that grew up in an Asian household may know the aroma that I’m talking about!). This blend consist of organic oolong and organic hibiscus. Sweet Ceylon has some dark red and brown leaves, with some golden tips throughout. The primarily aroma is a toasted nutty fragrance that is inviting and reminds me of a savoury tea. Sweet Ceylon consists of Sri Lankan black tea (FBOPFEXSP) from the New Vithanakande Tea Estate.

Left to right: Silver Sheng 2012, Organic Hibiscus Hint, Sweet Ceylon.

The last duo of teas I tried were Toasted Breakfast Blend and Hidden Treasure, both green teas. Toasted Breakfast Blend smells like a genmaicha – it has the popped rice/popcorn aroma that I’m familiar with, with a hint of ocean/salt water in the background. I can see the matcha powder coating the tea leaves and popped rice. This tea consists of: sencha green tea, toasted rice, and matcha. Hidden Treasures is a biodynamically grown green tea from Zhejiang, China. It has wiry dark green leaves that have an aroma that I would categorize as being a mix of nutty and sweet. I did have to look up what biodynamic agriculture means and essentially it means that it’s a type of farming practice that helps maintain the nutrients in the soil to keep the land sustainable, and is considered a type of organic farming.

Left to right: Toasted Breakfast Blend, Hidden Treasure.

Preparation

Silver Sheng 2012 is recommended to be steeped in 205°F (96°C) water for 1 minute. I used 200°F (93°C) water for 1 minute.

Organic Hibiscus Hint is recommended to be steeped in 195°F (91°C) water for 4 minutes. I followed the steeping recommendations for the initial steep.

Sweet Ceylon is recommended to be steep in 200°F (93°C) water for 3 minutes. I followed the steeping recommendations for the initial steep.

Toasted Breakfast Blend is recommended to be steeped in 165°F (74°C) water for 2 minutes. I heated my water up to 175°F (79°C) (lowest temperature setting on my Breville IQ Kettle), allowed the water to cool for 3 minutes and then steeped the tea for 2 minutes.

Hidden Treasure is recommended to be steeped in 175°F (79°C) water for 2 minutes. I followed the steeping recommendations for the initial steep.

First Taste

Left to right: Silver Sheng 2012, Organic Hibiscus Hint, Sweet Ceylon.

Silver Sheng 2012 steeps to a light yellow. I found that this pu’erh white tea has a lovely floral grassy and hay notes to it. It’s a smooth cup of tea. The tasting guide suggested that there were chili pepper flavours to it, but I didn’t find that to be the case. However, it is a nice smooth cup of tea and is very easy to drink.

Organic Hibiscus Hint steeps to a lovely orange colour. Surprisingly, there were no plum notes in the steeped tea, compared to the dry leaf. It has a nutty quality to it, and a hint of tartness that I attribute to the addition of the hibiscus in the blend. The hibiscus is not overpowering compared to the oolong base.

Sweet Ceylon has a dark brown colour after steeping. I found it to have a sweet aroma, with a hint of honey sweetness. The strength behind the tea is matched by the astringency from this black tea. Quite a bit of mouth puckering occurred when I drank this, as it reminded me a lot of a breakfast blend.

Left to right: Toasted Breakfast Blend, Hidden Treasure.

Toasted Breakfast Blend has a slightly cloudy yellow-green colour to the dry leaf. There’s a nice toasted rice flavour to it, which couples nicely with the creamy green tea base – I found it to be quite vegetal but no astringency to be noted at all.

Hidden Treasure steeps to a light golden yellow. I found it had a pleasant toasted aroma to it – the flavour is primarily vegetal, it reminds me of the flavour of raw spinach but perhaps a few notches lower in flavour compared to the vegetable.

A Second Cup?

The best resteeping tea in the box is Silver Sheng 2012. I resteeped it four times (adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep) and found that the flavour remained fairly consistent throughout, just a bit weaker with each steep. Organic Hibiscus Hint did fairly well with being resteeped – I resteeped the same leaves twice and found that the oolong became more prominent as the hibiscus fade. Sweet Ceylon did a lovely job with being resteeped (I did two resteeps of the same leaves) – the astringency was still present with each steep, but it lessened over time.

Left to right: Silver Sheng 2012, Organic Hibiscus Hint, Sweet Ceylon.

I attempted a resteep of Toasted Breakfast Blend but I found that the toasted rice flavour just wasn’t as strong as the initial steep, so this is one tea that I would recommend just one steep of. Hidden Treasure did remarkably well with two resteeps of the same leaves, I found that the flavour stayed fairly consistent throughout each steep.

Left to right: Toasted Breakfast Blend, Hidden Treasure.

My Overall Impression

I loved Field to Cup’s May Adventurer Box. I feel like this month’s box is a fantastic combination of teas – especially for those who love the traditional teas. My favourites would have to be Silver Sheng 2012 and Toasted Breakfast Blend. I found that almost all of the teas did well with being resteeped, which just showcases the quality of the tea leaves showing up in the boxes! As always, you can opt to purchase the box as a whole or pick and choose your teas to try via the Field to Cup website (and don’t forget to use the coupon code Onemoresteep20 for 20% off your first tea purchase or first month of a box subscription!)

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

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Field to Cup’s April Adventurer Box

April Adventurer Box by Field to Cup
$34.97USD for 1 Adventurer Box (per month)
$356.69USD for 12 Months ($29.72/mo)

Field to Cup has provided me with the April Adventurer Box for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

It’s always a fun treat to open up the Adventurer Box from Field to Cup. As always, Field to Cup offers a variety of boxes (from traditional teas in the Adventurer option to seasonal blends in the Explorer option). The April Adventurer Box features five teas – four black teas and one white tea. Each tea comes in a sealed (and resealable) foil pouch with a label that has information regarding tasting notes, steeping instructions, and ingredients.

From left to right: Organic Nilgiri Highlands, Golden Jin Luo, and Chai Bazaar.

The first three teas I tried were all black teas. Organic Nilgiri Highlands is a black tea from Indian. This straight tea from the Thiashola Estate in the Nilgiris District of India has a lot of dark reddish-brown leaf pieces. There’s a light citrus aroma from the leaves. The tasting notes provided by Field to Cup suggest curry notes, but I don’t really smell those in the dry leaf. Golden Jin Luo is a black tea from China, specifically the Guanxi Province. This tea has some beautiful leaves – the dry leaves are twisted into spirals, with plenty of light golden orange tips as well as some dark brown portions to the leaves. The aroma of the leaves reminds me a lot of yeast (for those that bake, you know what I’m talking about) and slightly malty, like an assam. Chai Bazaar has a gorgeous aroma. I instantly smelled the cardamom and ginger and it’s just so inviting. It smells a lot like other chais that I’ve had before, but there’s just something curious about it – most other chai blends I’ve had before have had cinnamon, which this blend lacks. Chai Bazaar consists of: black tea, rooibos, ginger, cardamom, cloves, and saffron. Luckily I don’t smell the rooibos in the blend.

From left to right: Organic Nilgiri Highlands, Golden Jin Luo, and Chai Bazaar.

From left to right: Organic Water Sprite and Pure Gold.

The second two teas that I tried were the Organic Water Sprite (white tea) and Pure Gold (black tea). Organic Water Sprite has a light floral aroma to it. Despite the bag being larger than the other tea pouches, it contained a similar weight of tea (20g) – making it a considerably more airy tea. This straight white tea is from the Fujian Province of China, it has some downy feathery leaves in it. Visually, it almost reminds me a of a blend of silver needle and white peony (which are both excellent types of white tea). Pure Gold has some lovely wiry, golden leaves that have some feathery features to it that remind me of a golden silver needle. There’s a sweet, fruity aroma to the dry leaf that reminds me a lot of lychee fruit. This black tea is from the Guangxi Province of China.

From left to right: Organic Water Sprite and Pure Gold.

Preparation

Organic Nilgiri Highlands is recommended to steep in 205°F (96°C) water for 3 minutes. My initial steep was in 200°F (93°C) water for 3 minutes.

Golden Jin Luo is recommended to steep in 205°F (96°C) water for 4 minutes. My initial steep was in 200°F (93°C) water for 4 minutes.

Chai Bazaar is recommended to steep in 205°F (96°C) water for 3 minutes. My initial steep was in 200°F (93°C) water for 3 minutes.

Organic Water Sprite is recommended to steep in 180°F (82°C) water for 2 minutes. My initial steep was in 175°F (79°C) water for 2 minutes.

Chai Bazaar is recommended to steep in 195°F (90°C) water for 3 minutes. My initial steep was in 195°F (90°C) water for 3 minutes.

First Taste

From left to right: Organic Nilgiri Highlands, Golden Jin Luo, and Chai Bazaar.

Organic Nilgiri Highlands steeps to a light orange. There’s a noticeable citrus aroma that reminds me a lot of oranges. There is a light spicy note at the end of each sip, which I thought was really pleasant. I think that’s what Field to Cup is referencing in terms of the curry notes.

Golden Jin Luo has a nice orange brown colour after it steeps. There is still a malty aroma to it. I found it tasted lovely though, there was a nice strength behind it – although it wasn’t as strong as an assam is, with a nice lingering taste to it. It feels like it would be a higher caffeinated tea, almost like a breakfast tea, but without the potential bitterness.

Chai Bazaar has a dark brown colour to it. I found it has an inviting aroma to it – I found that I could taste the ginger, cardamom, and saffron. I found this chai blend to be both spicy and sweet – the cloves are a bit strong for me, I found. If you find the cloves to be a bit strong, adding a little bit of milk to it would help temper the flavour of the cloves (and perhaps you could have a chai latte).

From left to right: Organic Water Sprite and Pure Gold.

Organic Water Sprite steeps to a pale yellow colour. I found that it has a beautiful floral aroma – the flavour of the white tea is a pleasant sweetness with a smooth floral flavour that is present from start to finish. It has a light buttery quality to it that I found delightful as the sweetness lingers as an aftertaste.

Pure Gold steeps to a golden orange colour. I found the tea to be sweet, and I would agree with Field to Cup’s tasting notes that it tastes like molasses and fruit, as I get a flavour that reminds me a lot of brown sugar as well as lychee fruit and apricots. It’s quite pleasant and I found it to have a very pleasant mouthfeel.

A Second Cup?

As always with my resteeps, I add an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent resteep and keep the water temperature the same as the initial steep (I use a variable temperature water kettle – Breville’s IQ Kettle).

From left to right: Organic Nilgiri Highlands, Golden Jin Luo, and Chai Bazaar.

I resteeped both Organic Nilgiri Highlands and Golden Jin Luo three times, I found the flavour to be pleasant and quite similar to the initial steep for the first two resteeps. They were both considerably weaker by the third resteep, so I could recommend an additional two resteeps for those teas. Chai Bazaar did decently well for the first resteep, and poorly for the second so I would say that this chai blend is good for just one more steep.

From left to right: Organic Water Sprite and Pure Gold.

For Organic Water Sprite, I resteeped the same tea leaves a total of seven times. I found that the flavour stayed consistent and deepened for the first three resteeps, while it slowly lessened with each steep after that. It did a fantastic job with being resteeped. Pure Golden was good for resteeping as well, I managed to resteep a total of four times before I thought it was getting too weak in flavour to have again.

My Overall Impression

I loved Field to Cup’s April Adventurer Box. I really enjoyed trying each of the teas and I found that they were all of good quality. If you’re looking for some delicious black teas to try, this month’s box really fits the bill. Almost all of the teas can handle being resteeped more than once – which shows the quality of the leaves (and the box as a whole!). My favourites from this month’s box are Organic Water Sprite, Pure Gold, and Golden Jin Luo. If you ever decide that you just want to try one of the teas out of a box, you can purchase the teas à la carte from Field to Cup.

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

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Field to Cup’s March Adventurer Box

March Adventurer Box by Field to Cup
$34.97USD for 1 Adventurer Box (per month)
$356.69USD for 12 Months ($29.72/mo)

Field to Cup has provided me with the March Adventurer Box for the purposes of providing an honest review.

Use coupon code Onemoresteep20 for 20% off your first order of teas or first month of subscription boxes from Field to Cup!

First Impressions

I wrote a bit about how the Field to Cup subscription boxes work (multi-month options, different tea options) in my review of their February Adventurer Box. I’m so pleased to be sharing my review of the March Adventurer Box with you all. Again, the Adventurer Box is geared towards fans of primarily traditional tea types, and have at least four teas per box. The March box contains five teas – four of which are labelled as premium teas and one is the ‘extra’ bonus tea for the month. Each tea comes in a sealed, resealable foil pouch with a black and white label on the front that includes steeping instructions, resteeping instructions, ingredients, and flavour notes.

The first three are: Bergamot Bliss (green tea), Plus Belle (pouchong tea), and Organic Nilgiri Silk (black tea). I found Bergamot Bliss to be very rich in bergamot aroma, it’s very bright and inviting and reminds me a lot of an Earl Grey. Because of the strength of the bergamot, I can’t really make out the aroma of the green tea base. This green tea blend consists of green tea and bergamot oil. For Plus Belle, a pouchong tea (which – an internet search told me – is fairly close to an oolong tea), this is a Taiwanese tea from Nantou County. The leaves are bright and green with a mild grassy aroma to it. Organic Nilgiri Silk has some light malty notes, coupled with the dark wiry leaves. The tea itself is an organic black tea from the Nilgiris District in India.

From left to right: Bergamot Bliss, Plus Belle, Organic Nilgiri Silk.

The next two teas in the box are: Organic Green Jewel (green tea) and Formosa Bai Hao (oolong tea). Organic Green Jewel consists of a fine green leaves – they were quite small and coated my teaspoon due to the static electricity. There’s a light salty aroma to it. The tasting notes mentioned a lime zest, but I don’t really get that from the dry leaf. Formosa Bai Hao has a mix of dark brown, reddish brown, and pale brown wiry leaves. The aroma of the dry leaf is mostly that of a honeyed floral aroma.

From left to right: Organic Green Jewel, Formosa Bai Hao.

Preparation

Bergamot Bliss is recommended to steep in 180°F (82°C) water for 3 minutes. My initial steep was in 175°F (79°C) water for 3 minutes.

Plus Belle is recommended to steep in 180°F (82°C) water for 3 minutes. My initial steep was in 175°F (79°C) water for 3 minutes.

Organic Nilgiri Silk is recommended to steep in 205°F (96°C) water for 4 minutes. My initial steep was in 200°F (93°C) water for 4 minutes.

Organic Green Jewel is recommended to steep in 170°F (77°C) water for 2 minutes. My initial steep was in 175°F (79°C) water for 2 minutes.

Formosa Bai Hao is recommended to steep in 205°F (96°C) water for 3 minutes. My initial steep was in 200°F (93°C) water for 3 minutes.

First Taste

From left to right: Bergamot Bliss, Plus Belle, Organic Nilgiri Silk.

Bergamot Bliss steeps to a light green-yellow with a surprisingly not overpowering aroma of bergamot from the steeped tea. There’s something inviting about the citrus notes that make me think that this may be nice as an ice tea. I found that the bergamot flavour is nice and citrusy and balances well with the light grassy notes from the green tea.

Plus Belle steeps to a pale yellow. There is mix of floral and grassy flavours in the aroma of this tea. I found the taste to be sweet, with hints of floral and grassy flavour, as well as a light buttery cream in the background. Overall, I found this tea to be very smooth and easy to drink.

Organic Nilgiri Silk has a golden reddish orange colour, with a sweet aroma to it. The flavour is primarily sweet honeyed notes, with a malty flavour that almost has a bit of a yeasty quality to it – if you’re a baker, you may know what I mean. There’s a nice robustness to the flavour.

From left to right: Organic Green Jewel, Formosa Bai Hao.

Organic Green Jewel has a bright yellow colour. I found that the aroma is salty and grassy, while the flavour of this green tea has hints of salt, grassy/vegetal flavours, as well as a bit of lime in the steeped tea. The lime surprised me a bit since I didn’t really get that from the dry tea or even from the steeped tea, until I tasted it! It adds a burst of freshness to the flavour profile.

Formosa Bai Hao steeps to an orange brown. The darkness in the colour reflects the deep honeyed notes well, along with the floral sweetness and some dried apricot flavours. It’s quite pleasant, and I feel like it would pair well with a savoury dish.

A Second Cup?

Bergamot Bliss resteeped well, I did it twice and found that the bergamot was still very much present with each steep. Plus Belle was resteeped three times and I found it to be still light and almost delicate tasting throughout. It remained nicely sweet and floral with each steep. Organic Nilgiri Silk was resteeped twice, I found that the first resteep was much closer to the initial steep than the second steep – the deep malty notes weren’t as strong for the second resteep.

From left to right: Bergamot Bliss, Plus Belle, Organic Nilgiri Silk.

Organic Green Jewel was resteeped twice and I found the flavour weakened a little bit with each steep, but that little burst of lime freshness was still in the tea throughout each steep. Formosa Bai Hao was the real resteeping winner in this box – I did four resteeps and found that the flavour stayed pretty consistent throughout and was tasty through each steep of the same leaves.

From left to right: Organic Green Jewel, Formosa Bai Hao.

My Overall Impression

I loved Field to Cup’s March Adventurer Box. I really enjoyed the variety of teas, and learned a little something about pouchong tea. My favourites in this month’s box would have to be the Bergamot Bliss, Plus Belle, and Formosa Bai Hao. I really enjoyed trying each tea and tasting the flavours mentioned in the tasting notes.

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