Tag: Green Tea

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Yunomi’s Gyokuro Phoenix 2016

Gyokuro Phoenix 2016 by Yunomi
Green Tea / Straight
$6.00USD for 10g

Yunomi has provided me with Gyokuro Phoenix 2016 for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

Gyokuro Phoenix 2016 comes from the Hattori Tea farm, from Uji, Kyoto. Yunomi describes this tea as a “heritage grade gyokuro”, which is from Akinobu Hattori, who is a tea farmer who has been farming gyokuro for fifty years. The family that runs Hattori Tea Farm has a 400 history as tea farmers (whoa!). Gyokuro Phoenix is a handpicked green tea that was harvested in the spring of 2016. This tea was aged by Yunomi.

Gyokuro Phoenix has these beautiful dark green leaves, there’s some parts of it that almost have an emerald-like shimmer to them. The leaves have a light grassy aroma to it, and they actually look quite small. But given the fact that they were harvested in the spring (and who knows how early in the spring), that seems fairly appropriate.

Preparation

Yunomi recommends a series of steep times for this green tea. An initial steep for 60-80 seconds at 50°C (122°F), with a second steep for 15 seconds at 80°C (176°F) and a third steep for 45 seconds at 80°C (176°F).

If you’ve been following me for a while, you know that while I do use a variable temperature kettle, I can’t change the temperature settings. What I did for the initial steep of Gyokuro Phoenix was heat the water at the lowest temperature setting 175°F (79°C) and allow it to cool for about 7 minutes and I steeped the tea leaves for 70 seconds.

First Taste

Gyokuro Phoenix steeps to a pale yellow. The aroma that I get from this green tea is primarily that of sweetness, with a bit of salty air to it. When I tasted it, I noted that it had a bit of sweetness and some grassy notes. There was a pleasant amount of umami with each sip, which added a great mouthfeel to this tea. The grassy flavours made it taste very fresh, and felt very summery.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Gyokuro Phoenix a total of three times – I did the 2nd and 3rd steep was per the suggested steep times and did the 4th steep at 60 seconds. It did so well with each resteep, the flavours got stronger for the second steep, and started to wane for the third and fourth, but it was still a flavourful cup of tea.

My Overall Impression

I loved Yunomi’s Gyokuro Phoenix 2016. This green tea was flavourful and just steeped well. It’s definitely one that I would say you would need to watch your water temperature and steeping times, especially with such a low recommended temperature and relatively short resteep times. There was happily no bitterness or astringency at the recommended temperature settings, so I think Yunomi was on the ball with this one.

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DavidsTea’s Jasmine Crème Brulée

Jasmine Crème Brulée by DavidsTea
Green Tea / Flavoured
$8.98 for 50g

First Impressions

My first exposure to Jasmine Crème Brulée was as an iced tea sample in-store when it was the Tea of the Month – which is also the reasoning for the packaging. I actually bought the bag after it was the Tea of the Month, which meant this pouch was on sale because there was a new TotM. It was a bit of a perk, since it can be hard sometimes to get tea on sale – especially a tasty one. The dry leaf of Jasmine Crème Brulée smells like vanilla custard with floral notes and some fruity hints somewhere in there.

The ingredients in Jasmine Crème Brulée are as follows: apple, jasmine tea, rosehip shells, pineapple, sweet blackberry leaves, marigold flowers, natural and artificial flavouring. Like a lot of tea blends, I found that the smaller ingredients tended to settle at the bottom, so I had to give the bag a good shake to redistribute the ingredients again in order to get a spoonful that had the green tea in it.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Jasmine Crème Brulée in hot water for 3 to 5 minutes. I really do wish that they would go back to listing actual temperature values. I used the green tea setting on my Breville IQ Kettle and did an initial steep of Jasmine Crème Brulée at 79°C (175°F) for 3 minutes.

First Taste

Jasmine Crème Brulée steeps to a light golden yellow. There’s a nice jasmine/floral aroma that comes up from the tea, as well as something that definitely reminds me of a vanilla custard. I’m not sure how much of the green tea I actually taste, but this blend has a nice floral taste to it, some vanilla notes, and I’m not sure how much of the fruit ingredients I’m tasting. There’s a delicate creaminess to Jasmine Crème Brulée that has a nice buttery quality to it, which may be why it got its name. When steeped for 3 minutes, there was no astringency or bitterness from the green tea.

I iced some of the Jasmine Crème Brulée to try it cold and found it to be quite refreshing. I think this is one of those teas that does well both hot and iced. There was enough sweetness to it that I didn’t find myself needing any sweetener for either the hot or iced tea.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Jasmine Crème Brulée twice, adding an extra 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. I found the first resteep was quite similar to the initial steep in terms of the depth of flavour, while the second resteep was lacking some of that sweetness but was still palatable.

My Overall Impression

I loved DavidsTea’s Jasmine Crème Brulée. I really enjoyed the flavour profile of this green tea blend with the floral notes and the vanilla custard flavours. The creaminess and buttery qualities of this tea make for a great mouthfeel and there’s a nice sweetness to it. I found this tea equally enjoyable for both hot and iced. I think it’d be a great candidate for cold steeping so you don’t accidentally oversteep the green tea.

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Metropolitan Tea Company’s Jasmine Gold Dragon Organic Green Tea

Jasmine Gold Dragon Organic Green Tea by Metropolitan Tea Company
Green Tea / Flavoured
$15.00 for 100g

Mint and Honey has provided me with Metropolitan Tea Company’s Jasmine Gold Dragon Organic Green Tea for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

I received a sample packet of Metropolitan Tea Company’s Jasmine Gold Dragon Organic Green Tea, courtesy of Mint and Honey. The leaves of this organic green tea are a deep green-brown colour, and you can see light twists in the leaves throughout from the drying process. The aroma is very strongly that of jasmine flowers, which is quite pleasant.

Jasmine Gold Dragon Organic Green Tea is an organic green tea, scented with jasmine. I can’t really make out the aroma of the green tea base, but it is a jasmine tea so I’m not too put off by the fact that I can only smell the jasmine.

Preparation

I wasn’t able to find any recommended steeping instructions. I opted to do an initial steep of Jasmine Gold Dragon Organic Green Tea at 79°C (175°F) for 1 minute.

If you’re ever at a loss for how hot your water should be or how long to steep a tea for, I have an article on a general guideline for how long (and hot!) to steep your teas for!

First Taste

Jasmine Gold Dragon Organic Green Tea steeps to a beautiful golden yellow. This green tea has a strong jasmine/floral aroma to it that is quite inviting. On first taste, I found zero bitterness or astringency to it (a reminder, I steeped this tea for 1 minute at 79°C). There’s a mild vegetal note at the tail end of each sip that reminds me of leafy, dark green vegetables, which just a subtle bit of umami mingling throughout.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Jasmine Gold Dragon Organic Green Tea a total of four times, adding an extra 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. I found that the flavour stayed fairly consistent, only decreasing a little bit with each steep.

I had also set some aside to have cold/iced and found that the flavour was quite pleasant. I found it to be less floral-sweet when iced.

My Overall Impression

I loved Metropolitan Tea Company’s Jasmine Gold Dragon Organic Green Tea. I found the flavour to be really enjoyable, and the floral sweetness of the jasmine to meet my expectations for a jasmine green tea. The flavour of the green tea base shines through once the leaves are steeped, and it has a nice contrast with the sweetness from the floral with its umami flavour. It’s definitely a tea that you’ll get some good steeps out of it, so be sure to resteep the leaves. Just be careful about oversteeping it, because you don’t want to end up with a bitter cup of tea!

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