Tag: Green Tea

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Teakan’s Anji Baicha

Anji Baicha by Teakan
Green Tea / Straight
$30.00 for 60g

Anji Baicha is part of Teakan’s Volume 4 Exploration Kit, a collection of five single origin teas. Anji Baicha makes up 15g of the 60g kit.

First Impressions

This is the first of five reviews from Teakan’s Volume 4 Exploration Kit – featuring all single origin teas. This one is Anji Baicha, which is a green tea that came in a kraft paper pouch that’s sealed and resealable. As always, the labelling is minimalistic, while providing just enough information to allow you to gain a bit of knowledge and appreciate the tea.

Anji Baicha has amazing leaves – they’re very long and straight and the leaves themselves are a bright spring green and feel like that there’s a tight roll to the leaves. There’s a sweet floral aroma to the leaves and it’s honestly just lovely to look at. Anji Baicha is from Anji, Zhejiang, China. This green tea was harvested just spring of this year (2021). The detailing in the leaves is amazing, I love that I can see the vein definition in the individual leaves and the floral aroma is just lovely.

Preparation

Teakan recommends steeping in 80°C (176°F) water for 1 minute for western style steeping, and just 20 seconds for gongfu style steeping. i opted to do western style steeping and followed the steeping instructions.

First Taste

After just one minute of steeping, Anji Baicha is a very pale yellow (not surprised). The aroma is light and floral. The tea itself has a soft floral flavour to it, it has a sweetness to it and a thin texture to it. It’s pleasant to drink and leaves a sweet aftertaste that’s not overly sweet (like syrup). It reminds me a lot of the sweetness from maple syrup (not ‘syrup’). Funnily enough, there’s a note on the label from Teakan that says “Why isn’t this a white tea?” and I’m inclined to agree! It has a lot of characteristics that reminds me of a white tea – it’s a bit of a blend to me in characteristics between a white and a green tea. Tasty, nonetheless.

A Second Cup?

I opted to resteep Anji Baicha for a total of seven times (eight steeps total) – adding thirty seconds for each subsequent steep. The flavour gets deeper as the colouring also gets darker (Anji Baicha becomes a deeper golden yellow). It has a beautiful flavour to it, and just check out the beautiful leaves (!). I just love how much the leaves have opened up – the detailing in the leaves are gorgeous.

My Overall Impression

I loved Teakan’s Anji Baicha. It was a great first experience with the teas from the Volume 4 Exploration Kit. Anji Baicha has a great flavour, enticing aroma, and resteeps beautifully. You don’t need a lot to go a long way in terms of flavour, and the leaves are a treat to experience. I would highly recommend resteeping this green tea; it helps that the leaves are of a good quality and I think that nice floral sweetness would translate well as an iced tea as well if you wanted to cold steep Anji Baicha.

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Masters Teas’ Huang Shan Mao Feng

Huang Shan Mao Feng by Masters Teas
Green Tea / Straight
$17.00USD for 1.5oz

Masters Teas has provided me with Huang Shan Mao Feng for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Never one to shy around from trying a green tea, I was happy to receive this in the mail from Masters Teas. It came in a sealed, resealable bag with some information across the front. Huang Shan Mao Feng is described as being a premium green ta with “plenty of fuzzy tea buds”. I didn’t see too much fuzziness in the bag, but the leaves are a bright vibrant green with such vein definition, that I can forgive them for that.

The leaves are beautiful and have a light floral yet fruity aroma to it. It just seems really delicate when I shake some out into my tea pot, the leaves are long and take up quite a bit of room, and has a nice sweetness to the smell. Huang Shan Mao Feng is from Anhui, China – presumably from Huang Shan (Yellow Mountain) and was harvested in April 2021, so what a treat it is to steep it in July of the same year.

Preparation

Masters Teas recommends steeping Huang Shan Mao Feng in 170°F (77°C) water for 2-3 minutes. I followed steeping instructions for my initial steep.

First Taste

Huang Shan Mao Feng steeps to a pale yellow. The aroma is grassy and floral, the tea itself is smooth with a sweet floral flavour throughout. It has a nice lychee flavour – sweet, floral, fruity. It has a great mouthfeel to it – smoothness, sweet, fruity flavours. It’s a very light tea, sweet and some notes that remind me of snap peas – it makes for a nice vegetal flavour profile.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Huang Shan Mao Feng a total of five times (six steeps total), adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. The floral sweet flavour became more intense with each steep, peaking at the second resteep. The leaves open up quite a bit, and become more light green – it reminds me a lot of a spring grass colour. The colour of the tea becomes a deeper golden yellow in colour as the flavour becomes stronger.

My Overall Impression

I loved Masters Teas’ Huang Shan Mao Feng. This single origin green tea is a treat from start to finish, with a nice aroma in the dry leaf, a great flavour, and resteeps well. It does make for a nice cup of tea, it steeps beautifully and it’s lovely to see the leaves as they open with each steep. The lightness in flavour makes for a cup of tea that could pair nicely with a dessert or savoury dish.

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Dessert by Deb’s Hojicha Chocolate Cream Pie

Hojicha Chocolate Cream Pie by Dessert by Deb
Green Tea / Flavoured
$6.00 for 25g

First Impressions

Hojicha Chocolate Cream Pie came to me as part of my Dessert by Deb subscription box. It came in a purple-pink metallic pouch that’s clear on one side with information about ingredients and suggestions to drink as a latte (don’t mind if I do…). When I first saw it, I didn’t see the words ‘hojicha’ and I thought it was a rooibos blend at first. But you know what they say about first impressions and judging a book by it’s cover…

Hojicha Chocolate Cream Pie consists of organic: roasted green tea, cacao nibs, coconut, and cocoa powder. The aroma of the dry leaf to me is strictly chocolate and coconut. It smells like candy and I’m pretty excited about that. I think that the coconut got pretty covered in the cocoa powder, because I don’t see it present at all.

Preparation

While there were no steeping instructions on the sample packaging, I was able to find steeping instructions on the Dessert by Deb website.

Dessert by Deb recommends steeping Hojicha Chocolate Cream Pie in 205°F (96°C) water for 5 to 6 minutes.

First Taste

Steeping Hojicha Chocolate Cream Pie was… interesting. There’s an obvious oil slick across the top – thanks in part to the cacao nibs and coconut. The oils themselves are not harmful, if not a bit aesthetically unpleasing. Hojicha Chocolate Cream Pie steeps to a deep brown, it’s a bit murky, which I attribute to the cocoa powder and cocoa nibs. The aroma is strongly chocolatey with hints of coconut. I don’t smell the hojicha too much, as I think the cocoa just has a stronger aroma. The flavour is interesting – there’s some roasted notes, chocolate, and hints of coconut in the background. I’m not fond of it on its own.

As Dessert by Deb did recommend having Hojicha Chocolate Cream Pie as a latte, I opted to do that because that’s how it’s intended to be consumed. I heated up, and frothed soy milk and turned my cup of Hojicha Chocolate Cream Pie into a tea latte. It certainly adds a nice level of creaminess to it, the addition of soy milk turns it into a liquid dessert. The level of chocolate flavour comes out really well and is more like a milk chocolate flavour as a tea latte. The roasted notes from the hojicha do come through nicely, and adds a nutty flavour to it.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Hojicha Chocolate Cream Pie once, adding an additional 30 seconds for the resteep. I found that the flavour wasn’t quite up to snuff in comparison to the initial steep, especially on the chocolate front. Although, check out the coconut that’s visible after the initial steep and the cocoa powder is washed off of it!

My Overall Impression

I loved Dessert by Deb’s Hojicha Chocolate Cream Pie as a tea latte. I unfortunately didn’t enjoy it straight, but it was great as a tea latte and definitely made for a nice chocolate treat with the roasted notes from the hojicha. It had a nice flavour, and I do like a nice dessert tea from time to time.

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