Tag: Grand Tea

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Grand Tea’s Premium Gun Powder

Premium Gun Powder by Grand Tea
Green Tea / Straight
$19.00HKD for 25g

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Grand Tea has provided me with Premium Gun Powder for the purposes of providing an honest review. I received this product at no charge to me and received no other compensation.

First Impressions

The tea leaves are tightly rolled, with a beautiful mix of the green and pale cream colours in the leaves. The tea is called Gun Powder because it resembles gun powder pellets. I’ve had rolled teas before, so I’m always curious about how much the tea leaves will unfurl. From Grand Tea’s website, they mentioned that their Gun Powder tea uses high quality young leaves – which is why the leaves still have the downy feathers on the leaves. Premium Gun Powder has a bit of a grassy-vegetal smell to it. This green tea’s only ingredient is the tea leaves themselves.

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As with most rolled teas, you shouldn’t use a spoon to measure how much tea to use because it will greatly expand. I use a stainless steel infuser in my tea pot and pour enough tea into it until there’s a thin layer covering the base of the infuser. This is an incredibly generous sample provided by Grand Tea with their Premium Gun Powder. I used about a fifth of their sample packet’s contents for my tea pot.

Preparation

I couldn’t find preparation information on Grand Tea’s product page, so I used the green tea setting on my Breville IQ Kettle (80°C/175°F) and did an initial steep of 90 seconds.

First Taste

After a quick steep of 90 seconds, I had a nice pale green tea. The smell of Premium Gun Powder is stronger than it tastes, with strong grassy notes in the aroma. The tea itself has a light sweetness to it, with a mild flavour of grassy-vegetal notes. With only a 90 second steep, Premium Gun Powder is pleasant with zero bitterness or astringency. I always try to keep the water temperature low for green teas because they can burn so easily and I generally don’t enjoy bitter tea. The tea leaves opened up quite a bit, but not fully with the initial 90 second steep.

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A Second Cup?

I steeped Premium Gun Powder a total of 5 times (4 resteeps), with an additional 30 seconds per sequential steep. I noted that the flavours were strongest in the first resteep, and the grassy-vegetal flavours held up very well throughout all of the steepings that I had done with Premium Gun Powder.

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My Overall Impression

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I loved Grand Tea’s Premium Gun Powder. I’m always a fan of a good quality tea that can be resteeped over and over again, and Premium Gun Powder did not disappoint on that front! From dry leaf to steeped tea, Premium Gun Powder remained consistent and had a nice vegetal flavour to the tea. It’s a nice mild tea that could be easily paired with sweets or savouries, if you’re looking for a food pairing. The mild sweetness in this tea is a nice touch, as it doesn’t require anything and I think it should be had plain.

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Grand Tea’s Organic Fragrance Tikuanyin

Organic Fragrance Tikuanyin by Grand Tea
Oolong Tea / Straight
$58.00HKD for 25g

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Grand Tea has provided me with Organic Fragrance Tikuanyin for the purposes of providing an honest review. I received this product at no charge to me and received no other compensation.

First Impressions

I always love a good oolong, so I was excited to try the Organic Fragrance Tikuanyin from Grand Tea. The tea leaves are tightly rolled and the leaves have a nice mix of light and dark green to them. There’s a light floral scent from the tea leaves. The leaves themselves are quite compacted and the floral scent to them is enjoyable without having a sweet smell to them. Organic Fragrance Tikuanyin is a straight oolong tea. For those that enjoy learning about different teas, tikuanyin is also called tieguanyin or Iron Buddha oolong. Grand Tea’s Organic Fragrance Tikuanyin is a non-roasted, green oolong.

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Preparation

I steeped Organic Fragrance Tikuanyin in 90C (195F) water for an initial steep of 2 minutes.

First Taste

Organic Fragrance Tikuanyin steeps to a pale yellow in the first 2 minutes. There’s a sweet floral smell to the tea that just wafts up from the tea cup – it’s very inviting. While sipping this tea, I found that it has a slight nutty finish to the tea. The tea itself has no bitterness, with a pleasant, smooth mouthfeel to the tea as I drink it. The floral taste to the oolong is enjoyable, and the sweetness to the tea isn’t overpowering the complexity of the flavour profile as it changes from floral to nutty in the same sip. The change in flavour is enjoyable.

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A Second Cup?

I always resteep my oolongs, so it should be no surprise that I resteeped Organic Fragrance Tikuanyin as well. The second steep (steeped for 2 minutes 30 seconds) was deeper and richer in flavour, the nutty flavours at the end of each sip was more pronounced, and the tea steeped to a deeper yellow. I steeped the same leaves a total of eight times, adding an additional 30 seconds for each steep. I found that the flavours were the strongest for steeps 2 to 4, and began to lose its intensity after the fourth steep. The eighth steep was quite watery, so I would recommend up to seven steeps total.

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My Overall Impression

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I loved Grand Tea’s Organic Fragrance Tikuanyin. I really enjoyed the complex flavour profile that this oolong has, the changes in flavour in the same sip is pretty enjoyable. I love a good oolong that can be resteeped over and over again, and this tea does not disappoint! Because it does resteep so well, it’s definitely a tea I would recommend starting the steeps in the morning and having throughout the day.

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Grand Tea’s Organic Dragon Well

Organic Dragon Well by Grand Tea
Green Tea / Straight
$45.00HKD for 25g

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Grand Tea has provided me with Organic Dragon Well for the purposes of providing an honest review. I received this product at no charge to me and received no other compensation.

First Impressions

This is Organic Dragon Well from Grand Tea, a tea company from Hong Kong. I was really excited to receive this sample because I like green teas. This is a lightly roasted green tea, which smells amazing. There’s a light seaweed smell because there’s a salty smell to it, and there’s a vegetal aroma to the tea that reminds me a lot of tomatoes.

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From Grand Tea’s website, I learned that the tea is European certified organic and is free from chemicals and contamination. There were not ingredients listed, so I am writing on the assumption that this, like most other Dragon Well teas, is a straight green tea. Dragon Well (or Longjing Tea) is a pan-roasted tea that is quite well known, so I was excited to see this one in my package from Grand Tea.

Preparation

Grand Tea’s product page for Organic Dragon Well suggests steeping this tea gong-fu method or in a tall glass. I’m not quite as sophisciated, so I steeped mine in a tea pot with a stainless steel infuser. I steeped Organic Dragon Well in 80°C (175°F) water for an initial steep of 1 minute.

First Taste

Organic Dragon Well steeps to a very pale yellow-green colour when steeped for a minute. There’s a light vegetal taste that has a mild salty flavour that reminds me a lot of seaweed snacks. I noted a nutty flavour at the end of each sip, which goes well with the salty flavour because it reminds me of having roasted nuts as a snack. The tea has a nice warming feel to it, kind of like how ginger does (but without the ginger taste), as well as a good smoothness to the tea with zero noted bitterness – a trait I always appreciate in a tea.

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A Second Cup?

Organic Dragon Well resteeps fairly well. For the first resteep, it becomes darker in colour and has a slightly saltier notes that really adds to the total umami flavour of the tea. I steeped Organic Dragon Well for a total of five resteeps (so a total of six steeps with the same batch of tea leaves). The flavours were fairly good to the fourth resteep, but the fifth resteep was fairly lacking in flavour.

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My Overall Impression

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I loved Grand Tea’s Organic Dragon Well. I always do appreciate a cup of tea with a complex flavour profile, and Organic Dragon Well does not disappoint in that department. For those that do not like a little bit of salty flavour in their tea, they may be a bit turned off by Dragon Well, but I think it is enjoyable – then again, I grew eating seaweed snacks. If you’re a fan of seaweed snacks, I think you’ll like this Organic Dragon Well green tea. The saltiness works well with the roasted nutty flavours that come together in this pan-roasted green tea.

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