Tag: Green Tea

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Teakan’s Bi Luo Chun

Bi Luo Chun by Teakan
Green Tea / Straight
$30.00 for 70g

Bi Luo Chun  is one of five teas from Teakan’s Tea Exploration Kit (Volume 2) and makes up 15g of the 70g of looseleaf tea in this curated collection.

First Impressions

Bi Luo Chun comes in a sealed (resealable) kraft paper pouch with the standard minimalistic label from Teakan. This is one of the teas in the Volume 2 collection that I was really looking forward to trying. I’m a huge fan of traditional Chinese green teas, and Bi Luo Chun fits the bill for sure. This particular tea comes from Pu’er, Yunnan, China and was harvested spring of 2020 (something good that came from this year?). The leaves themselves are beautiful – lovely white downy bits in the spirals that go really well with it’s name (which literally translates to green spring snail).

The tea leaves have a nice grassy aroma to it, very sweetly vegetal that reminds me of the smell of raw napa cabbage (which is nice and sweet when cooked – and goes very well with pork, if anyone was wondering). It’s inviting and makes me eager to try this.

Preparation

Teakan recommends steeping Bi Luo Chun in 90°C (194°F) water for 3 minutes (western style steeping) or a rinse followed by a 15 second steep (for gongfu style steeping). I’m opted to do the western style steeping in my teapot with 195°F water heated in my variable temperature kettle.

First Taste

Bi Luo Chun initially steeps to a very pale yellow. There’s a nice sweetness that wafts up from it. The taste of this green tea is a touch grassy, there’s still a vegetal flavour that reminds me of napa cabbage because it has that nice sweetness. There’s zero bitterness or astringency with the 3 minute steep, and I find it to have a nice thickened texture to the tea. It’s got a great body to the tea, without feeling heavy. The grassy notes are sweet which really make it easy to drink.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Bi Luo Chun a total of seven times, adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. I found the flavour to be more intense with the first and second resteep, and the tea itself was more of a golden yellow. It becomes sweeter the deeper the colour of the tea gets, which is really enjoyable.

My Overall Impression

I loved Teakan’s Bi Luo Chun. I was really looking forward to trying this green tea and I was not disappointed by it at all. The experience is really a journey, and getting to watch those little ‘snails’ open and straighten up is really a nice treat! The fact that the tea itself has a good amount of sweetness to it doesn’t hurt either. I enjoyed this the most hot, although I did sip some that had been left to cool and it was pretty good too. I would highly recommend resteeping this tea because it gets better after the initial steep.

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

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Dessert by Deb’s Deep Dish Apple Pie

Deep Dish Apple Pie by Dessert by Deb
Green Tea / Flavoured
$6.00 for 25g

First Impressions

Deep Dish Apple Pie comes in a gorgeous deep pink metallic pouch with a clear front to the bag – I’m in love with the colour because my hair is usually that shade (when I’m able to get to the hair salon on a more regular basis). This tea came as part of my tea subscription box from Dessert by Deb, but luckily for anyone intrigued by my review, it is not a subscriber exclusive and it is a part of the Little Cottage Bakery Collection so you can order it.

When I first opened up the pouch and scooped some of the tea out, the first thing that I noticed was just how much it smells like an apple pie. This blend consists of organic: green tea, apple, Canadian maple, cinnamon, and coconut. I don’t really smell the green tea base, but I do smell the cinnamon and maple, which is what reminds me of that apple pie aroma.

Preparation

Dessert by Deb recommends steeping Deep Dish Apple Pie in 200°F (93°C) water for 5 to 6 minutes. I did an initial steep in the recommended water temperature for 5 minutes.

First Taste

Deep Dish Apple Pie steeps to a light golden orange colour. The aroma of the tea is definitely reminding me of an apple pie. Dessert by Deb really hit the nail on the head with this one, because it also really reminds me of an apple pie when I drink it! The prominent flavours that I feel like it needs to really cement it in my head as an apple pie would be some brown sugar in addition to the maple, and then just a hint of vanilla or vanilla bean. I really enjoy the sweetness from the apple, and that rustic baked good sweetness from the maple flavour.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Deep Dish Apple Pie and just found that it didn’t resteep well. The apple flavour wasn’t nearly as strong as in the initial steep, so I would recommend steeping Deep Dish Apple Pie just the one time.

My Overall Impression

I loved Dessert by Deb’s Deep Dish Apple Pie. It has the right level of flavour and sweetness to make me think of apple pie when I drink it. There’s just some subtle things that would need to be tweaked for me to think that I was drinking an apple pie, and overall this makes for a lovely dessert tea since it would be significantly less calories than actually eating a slice of pie, but the flavour is just on point and makes me want to bake an apple pie and eat it too.

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

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Naoki Matcha’s Matcha Superior Ceremonial Grade

Matcha Superior Ceremonial Grade by Naoki Matcha
Green Tea (Matcha) / Straight
$22.99USD for 40g

Naoki Matcha has provided me with Matcha Superior Ceremonial Grade for the purposes of writing an honest review. This product is also under the name Superior Ceremonial Blend Matcha on their website.

First Impressions

Matcha Superior Ceremonial Grade came to me in a lovely metal tin with a well-fitting lid. Inside was a sealed silver pouch. I did end up cutting it open and pouring the contents into the tin. The matcha inside has a beautiful bright, spring green colour. There’s a nice aroma to the matcha – very grassy, vegetal, a nice freshness overall to it.

Naoki Matcha’s product page for Matcha Superior Ceremonial Grade tells me that this matcha is from Uji, Kyoto, Japan and contains no other ingredients besides 100% pure Japanese Matcha. The leaves are from the first harvest, and that it’s most suited for making matcha tea, lattes, and smoothies. In fact, when a representative from Naoki Matcha asked me if I would be interested in trying their product, they included a guide on how to make lattes and suggested I try it out as a matcha latte, so I did end up obliging! Naoki Matcha does have a lot of articles about matcha on their website, so give it a look if you’re interested in learning more about matcha.

Preparation

Naoki Matcha recommends preparing Matcha Superior Ceremonial Grade with room temperature water if making it into a tea latte. You really just prepare it the same way you would if you were whisking it with warm or hot water.

For ease, and because I had it handy, I mixed mine up in a shaker bottle. I heated up some soy milk as that’s what I had in my fridge, and then poured the prepared matcha on top. Not café quality, but still not terrible looking!

First Taste

As a tea latte, Matcha Superior Ceremonial Grade has a lovely flavour. There’s definitely the umami quality that I look for in a matcha, but it’s quite well balanced. I found it had some nice grassy qualities to it, a hint of sweetness, and it does balance well against the (soy) milk that I had in my cup. I’m always on the look out for a matcha that goes well into lattes since it’s really my preferred method of drinking matcha on a regular basis. It just has a sense of decadence to it.

I did save some of the matcha I had mixed up to drink up straight. Matcha Superior Ceremonial Grade has a very deep green colour to it, almost emerald in likeness. There’s a hint of sweetness to this matcha when not mixed into milk. It has a nice freshness, a nice grassy quality to it, and the umami is definitely heavily present in this more traditional preparation without the milk. I think it’s nice, but having the umami quality of the matcha lightened by the addition of milk certainly helps to make it easier to drink.

A Second Cup?

As Matcha Superior Ceremonial Grade is prepared as a suspension, there are no second steeps with the same matcha powder.

My Overall Impression

I loved Naoki Matcha’s Matcha Superior Ceremonial Grade. I really liked the packaging, it feels like it is good quality. The matcha itself is so bright in colour and has a really strong aroma with just the powder. I found that it mixes really easily and well when wanting to make tea latte out of it. It’s definitely tasty and I found that the flavour was good when made up essentially like a matcha shot, but even more enjoyable as a tea latte, which is one of the methods suggested for preparation of this matcha from Naoki Matcha.

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