Tag: Green Tea

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Chai Castle’s Gunpowder

Gunpowder by Chai Castle
Green Tea / Straight
$10.00 for 100g

Chai Castle has provided me with Gunpowder for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

Chai Castle’s Gunpowder came to me in a resealable black pouch, with a nice label on the front. I love an informative label. If you’ve never had a gunpowder before, it is traditionally a Chinese green tea. Chai Castle’s Gunpowder is no exception. Chai Castle describes their Gunpowder as “brisk, tart and slightly smoky”.

Gunpowder is a Chinese green tea. The leaves are dark olive green, all bunched and rolled together. There is a mild smokey aroma. If you know lapsang souchong tea, it’s nothing like that in terms of the campfire smoke. Just a gentle, mild smokey aroma – enough for you to know it’s there, not enough for you to think there’s a wildfire happening somewhere.

Preparation

Chai Castle recommends steeping Gunpowder in 79°C (175°F) water for 2 to 3 minutes. My initial steep was for 2 minutes.

First Taste

Gunpowder steeps to a lovely golden orange. On first taste, I do notice that there’s a slight astringency in the tea – but it’s not off-putting. There’s a nice smokey flavour, without making me feel like it’s over the top. It’s a very clear tasting tea though, nice blend of smoke, vegetal notes, and just that little touch of astringency at the end of each sip. If you’re not a fan of the astringency, I’d recommend steeping Gunpowder for little bit less than 2 minutes (probably start at 60 seconds and titrate up to your liking).

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Gunpowder three times, adding an extra 30 seconds for each steep. I found that the flavour profile remained fairly consistent throughout, but the third resteep was a bit weak in flavour. Overall, I think that Gunpowder can handle being resteeped at least twice and the third can be reserved for people who don’t mind the flavour being a bit weaker.

My Overall Impression

I loved Chai Castle’s Gunpowder. I really enjoyed steeping this green tea, watching the leaves open up was a nice treat that reminded me of my oolong experiences. I was a little bit apprehensive when I read that it had a smokey flavour, but it wasn’t overbearing – it was just enough, and it goes well with the name of the tea as well. For this tea, I would definitely recommend at least two resteeps to get all that nice flavour out of the leaves.

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Yunomi’s Fukamushicha From Narama

Fukamushicha From Narama by Yunomi
Green Tea / Straight
$6.00USD for 20g

Yunomi has provided me with Fukamushicha From Narama for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

Fukamushicha From Narama came to me in a pale green, resealable foil bag. I love how Yunomi’s product labels tell you everything you ever needed to know about their teas, and then some. From this label, I learned that this Japanese green tea was harvested in spring of 2018, from the Narama Village, located in Shizuoka, Japan. You can literally pin point the location of when and where this tea was harvested, which is just so neat.

Fukamushicha From Narama is made up of fine, dark green leaves. There’s a very pleasant salty aroma from the leaves – it has a quality about it that reminds me a lot of seaweed, being by the water, just hanging out on the beach and breathing it all in. Fukamushicha From Narama consists of green tea.

Preparation

Yunomi recommends steeping Fukamushicha From Narama for 1 minute in 70°C (158°F). As usual, I use my trusty Breville IQ Kettle to heat up my water. However, the lowest my kettle goes is 175°F (79°C) so I heated my water to the lowest temperature setting and allowed it to cool with the lid open for about 5 minutes.

First Taste

Fukamushicha From Narama steeps to a lovely light green colour. There’s a very light flavour to this tea, with some clear umami notes. There’s a mild amount of saltiness, which isn’t off-putting. It has an almost savoury quality to it, which is quite endearing. Fukamushicha From Narama is quite a smooth green tea with zero bitterness or astringency.

A Second Cup?

Yunomi suggests that this tea can be resteeped up to 3 times, so obviously I had to give that a go. I resteeped it four times, with an additional 30 seconds for each resteep. The flavour were the strongest in the initial steep and the first resteep, and I found that it started to get weaker after that. The fourth resteep was still tasty, but it just wasn’t nearly as intense as the previous steeps.

My Overall Impression

I loved Yunomi’s Fukamushicha From Narama. I felt like it was a very nice savoury green tea, it was light with some good umami notes. I think it would pair well with savoury foods, or even play nicely with something sweet to help balance each other out. Fukamushicha From Narama resteeped well, which definitely made for a nice tea steeping session.

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Tetley’s Green Tea Honey Lemon Ginseng

Green Tea Honey Lemon Ginseng by Tetley
Green Tea / Flavoured
$4.74 for 48g (24 sachets)

First Impressions

What’s this? Another Tetley review?! Yes, yes it is. I just couldn’t resist giving this one a try when I saw it at my local grocery store. Honey and lemon is such a go-to flavour combination for me when I’m feeling under the weather, and the addition of ginseng was just very intriguing that I had to give it a go. As usual, Tetley’s round tea bags come in a cardboard carton with a snug-fitting plastic lid with that foil seal that pulls off.

The aroma from the dry leaf of Green Tea Honey Lemon Ginseng is primarily that of the lemon and honey, I don’t really smell the ginseng (if I do, it’s not very noticeable). The dry leaf has a lot of small piece in it. Green Tea Honey Lemon Ginseng consists of: green tea, natural flavours, ginseng root, and honey.

Preparation

Tetley recommends steeping Green Tea Honey Lemon Ginseng in 80°C (175°F) water for 1 to 2 minutes and recommends having it clear (straight; no sugar or milk/cream). My initial steep of Green Tea Honey Lemon Ginseng was for 90 seconds.

First Taste

Green Tea Honey Lemon Ginseng steeps to a slightly cloudy orange colour. There’s a light honey lemon aroma that I can smell, although still no ginseng notes. On first taste, the thing that stood out to me was the fact that it’s not as sweet as I expected it to be. There’s a nice balance of honey and lemon flavours, with a light amount of vegetal flavour from the green tea base. I still don’t really taste any ginseng.

I’ve said it before in a previous review that also had honey and lemon notes, but the flavour combination always makes me feel like I should be sick in order to drink it.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Green Tea Honey Lemon Ginseng and I found the flavour to be just not quite right. There wasn’t enough honey or lemon in it. I mostly tasted the green tea base – with the light vegetal flavours – and a small amount of ginseng (perhaps the lemon and one flavours were overpowering it?).

My Overall Impression

I thought that Tetley’s Green Tea Honey Lemon Ginseng was just okay. I think it would have scored this tea little bit higher if the ginseng was more pronounced in the initial steep – which is also the steep where I could taste the honey and lemon. I really enjoy the honey lemon flavour combination, but it’s always one that makes me feel like I should be ill in order to be drinking it. That said, I think it’d be a great ‘sick time’ tea to have in a tea stash because you never know when a sore throat is going to hit you and you need a little something to help you out.

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