Tag: Green Tea

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Grand Tea’s Bai Yu Luo Jasmine Tea

Bai Yu Luo Jasmine Tea by Grand Tea
Green Tea / Flavoured
$40.00HKD for 25g

Grand Tea has provided me with Bai Yu Luo Jasmine Tea for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

Bai Yu Luo Jasmine Tea came to me in a gold sample packet with enough tea to have three pots of tea. The tea leaves are beautiful with each leaf curled, with varying colours of dark olive green and a pale, cream colour. The lighter part of each leaf has visible downy feathers on it. The aroma from the dry leaf is primarily that of the jasmine – the dry tea is bright and floral.

Bai Yu Luo Jasmine Tea is a Chinese green tea that has been scented with jasmine flowers and is from the Yunnan Province. I’m really quite fascinated by how the tea leaves look, since the colours have such a high contrast which makes them beautiful to look at.

Preparation

I couldn’t find any steeping instructions for Bai Yu Luo Jasmine Tea. My initial steep of this green tea was in 79°C (175°F) water for 90 seconds.

First Taste

Bai Yu Luo Jasmine Tea steeps to a light yellow with a very floral aroma. It smells almost sweet with the strong jasmine fragrance. The taste of this tea carries a light sweetness, there’s the jasmine/floral notes with a slight creamy flavour to it – almost buttery. I found that the tea was smooth with zero bitterness or astringency at the temperature that I steeped it for.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Bai Yu Luo Jasmine Tea six times (seven steeps total with the same leaves), and I added an additional 30 seconds for each steep. I found that the flavour profile stayed fairly consistent throughout, although it did become less sweet despite the floral notes remaining strong. The flavour began to decline by the fourth resteep.

My Overall Impression

I loved Grand Tea’s Bai Yu Luo Jasmine Tea. I found that this tea was both beautiful in the dry leaf and in the flavour of the steeped tea. I really enjoyed the floral sweetness that I found in the initial steep, and the creaminess I found in this green tea was a pleasant surprise. I think that this tea did beautifully when resteeped and would really recommend resteeping it to get all of the flavour out of the leaves.

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Teatourist’s Ravish & Lavish Tea Adventure

Ravish & Lavish Tea Adventure (April 2018) by Teatourist
£15 for 1 box, plus shipping (+£3-5 per box)

Teatourist has provided me with the Ravish & Lavish Tea Adventure for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

I was really excited with the Ravish & Lavish Tea Adventure because the first item I really laid eyes on was the complimentary brew buddy, which was the Vegan Creme Egg Fudge by Fab Fudge. I pretty much ate that quick and it was delicious! It had a lovely chocolate texture and reminded me a lot of a Cadbury Creme Egg. There’s not a lot of photos that I took of that one, unfortunately. The only thing that would have it better if there had been more of it.

This collection had six teas: Mountain Mint by Nazani Tea (herbal infusion), Blooming Marvelous by eteaket (green tea), Pedernales Green Yaupon by CatSpring Yaupon (herbal infusion), Shakti Masala Chai by Sonya’s Chai (black tea), Belgian Chocolate Rooibos by Cheshire Tea (rooibos), and Breakfast In Bed by teatourist (black tea). From what I learned from teatourist, this is their first signature tea blend, so I was really looking to trying it when I saw it!

Mountain Mint is an herbal tisane that I would describe as being very fluffy. It just has a very fluffy, airy dry leaf. This mint tisane is 100% wild mountain mint and harvested 1800m above sea level. It has an obviously minty aroma to it. Blooming Marvelous has a very strong strawberry aroma to it, which is quite nice. It’s made up of green Chinese sencha, rosebuds, strawberries, mallow, sunflower petals, and natural flavouring (lemon, vanilla, and red fruit). Now, I’m not sure what ‘red fruit’ is, but I’m assuming it helps to amplify the strawberry flavouring of the tea. Pedernales Green Yaupon has flakey dry green leaves. There’s something about the aroma of this yaupon that reminds me of kale. Pedernales Green Yaupon is 100% organic yaupon.

From left to right: Mountain Mint, Blooming Marvelous, and Pedernales Green Yaupon.

Shakti Original Masala Chai has some strong spice aromas from the dry leaf, I can smell primarily the cardamom, clove, and black pepper. This chai consists of Assam black tea, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, anise seed, black pepper, clove, and fennel. Belgian Chocolate Rooibos has a sweet chocolate aroma, along with the medicinal aroma from the rooibos base. It consists of rooibos, cacao bean pieces, calendula petals, and natural flavours. Breakfast In Bed has a strong black tea aroma, and I can smell and sweet the vanilla bean pieces. The aroma makes me think of cake, but I believe that to be due to the vanilla bean. Teatourist’s signature blend consists of black tea, vanilla pieces, and flavouring.

From left to right: Shakti Original Masala Chai, Belgian Chocolate Roobios, and Breakfast In Bed.

Preparation

Nazani Tea recommends steeping Mountain Mint in 100°C (212°F) water for 4 to 5 minutes. I did an initial steep of 4 minutes.

eteaket recommends steeping Blooming Marvelous in 80°C (176°F) water for 2 to 3 minutes. I did an initial steep of 2 minutes in 79°C (175°F) water.

CatSpring Yaupon recommends steeping Pedernales Green Yaupon in 95°C (203°F) water for 3 to 5 minutes. I did an initial steep of 4 minutes in 93°C (200°F) water.

Sonya’s Chai recommends steeping Shakti Original Masala Chai in 100°C (212°F) water for 4 minutes. I followed the steeping instructions for the initial steep.

Cheshire Tea recommends steeping Belgian Chocolate Rooibos in 100°C (212°F) water for 3 to 7 minutes. I did an initial steep of 5 minutes.

teatourist recommends steeping Breakfast In Bed in 100°C (212°F) water for 4 to 5 minutes. I did an initial steep of 4 minutes.

First Taste

From left to right: Mountain Mint, Blooming Marvelous, and Pedernales Green Yaupon.

Mountain Mint steeps to a nice orange colour. It has a minty aroma, and has a great minty flavour to it. The description on the packaging described it as being both warm and refreshing, which I do agree with. I think it’d to have iced this summer.

Blooming Marvelous steeps to a light yellow colour. I can taste the sencha base, it has a pleasant vegetal flavour to it. I found that it had a nice light fruity sweetness, and pleasant floral notes to it. The strawberry/berry flavours shine through when I sip at this one.

Pedernales Green Yaupon steeps to a brownish-yellow. I found that it has a bit of a spinach and earthy aroma to it. There’s a very light sweetness to it, and some earthy notes in this infusion that reminds me a lot of dark green leafy vegetables and mushrooms.

From left to right: Shakti Original Masala Chai, Belgian Chocolate Roobios, and Breakfast In Bed.

Shakti Original Masala Chai steeps to a deep red. I found that it had a nice spice aroma and flavour to it. I like my chai a tiny bit sweeter than this one is, so I did add a little bit of honey. I can definitely taste the ginger and cinnamon in it. This chai blend also goes well with a splash of milk.

Belgian Chocolate Rooibos steeps to a deep red. I found the chocolate aroma wasn’t very strong compared to the smell of the rooibos base. The chocolate flavour was very mild compared to the medicinal flavour of the rooibos.

Breakfast In Bed also steeps to a deep red. There’s a slight sweetness to this black tea, with a nice vanilla flavour. The black tea base has a touch of astringency to it, which isn’t overwhelming the vanilla – it reminds me a bit of a breakfast tea (either English or Irish). The vanilla adds a bit of creaminess to the tea. I think it’d do well with some cream and sugar.

A Second Cup?

For the first trio, I attempted resteeps for all three. Mountain Mint did well on the first resteep at 7 minutes and had an enjoyable flavour. In a second resteep attempt, Mountain Mint did poorly, it’s a tisane that is good for just the one more steep. Blooming Marvelous didn’t do well on the resteep, I found that the flavour profile wasn’t similar to the initial steep. The sencha was the main star for the resteep, so if you’re like sencha, you’ll probably enjoy the resteep of the same leaves. Pedenerales Green Yaupon tasted fairly similar to the initial steep with those earthy flavours.

From left to right: Mountain Mint, Blooming Marvelous, and Pedernales Green Yaupon.

In the second half of the Ravish & Lavish Tea Adventure, I resteeped all of them once. I found that Shakti Original Masala Chai wasn’t quite as spicy as the initial steep. It’s still tasty, but the flavour wasn’t as intense as the first steep. Belgian Chocolate Rooibos didn’t do that well with the second steep, I found it to be all rooibos with no chocolate flavour to it. Breakfast In Bed resteeped well. The vanilla flavour wasn’t as strong as the initial steep, but it was noticeable. The black tea still had a mild astringency to it, but wasn’t off-putting.

From left to right: Shakti Original Masala Chai, Belgian Chocolate Roobios, and Breakfast In Bed.

My Overall Impression

I loved Teatourist’s Ravish & Lavish Tea Adventure. I really did enjoy the Vegan Creme Egg Fudge, it was a very tasty morsel! The stand outs in this collection for me were Blooming Marvelous, Shakti Original Masala Chai, and Breakfast In Bed. I really enjoyed the black teas in this collection, and getting introduced to all these flavour combinations is one of my favourite parts of receiving a monthly subscription box. The fun part of the boxes is getting teas that I probably wouldn’t buy on my own, but then I would have missed out of getting to try them. I really would recommend trying it out if you have the spare funds because it’s a really fun treat.

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Harney & Sons’ Hojicha

Hojicha by Harney & Sons
Green Tea / Straight
$5.00USD for 2oz

First Impressions

Hojicha was one of my purchases from Harney & Sons in SoHo when I was in New York City back in October 2017. I picked up the 2oz tin from their wall display of many, many tins because it’s honestly just a tea that I don’t often come across in Vancouver. The tea comes in a sealed silver packet inside of a the tin.

Hojicha consists of roasted tea twigs. That said, the tea consists of short, straight little sticks. I would definitely describe the aroma from the dry leaf as being roasted, it has an almost nutty smell to it.

Preparation

For green teas, Harney & Sons recommends steeping in 175°F (79°C) water for 1 to 3 minutes. My initial steep of Hojicha was for 90 seconds.

First Taste

Hojicha steeps to a beautiful golden orange and it retains a lot of that roasted nuts aroma. The flavour of this tea reminds me a lot of walnuts, and has that toasted element to its flavour profile from the treatment of the short twigs. It’s got a full-bodied flavour, with a great mouth-coating quality to it. Hojicha does not have a subtle aroma or flavour to it, I would describe it as being strong. There’s a subtle sweetness that I found at the end of each sip that I wasn’t expecting, and it made for a surprisingly complex flavour profile, which I really enjoyed.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Hojicha a total of three times (four steeps total), adding an extra 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. I found that the flavour got a bit sweeter for the first resteep, and began to wane in flavour for the next two resteeps. However, the toasted nuttiness remained fairly strong throughout, so it resteeped quite nicely.

My Overall Impression

I loved Harney & Sons’ Hojicha. I really enjoyed the flavours of this Japanese green tea, and liked the way it steeped. The little sticks sure packed a punch of flavour! I think it would be a great morning tea, if you need an extra little somethin’ somethin’ to get you going in the morning, and might make a good coffee replacement if you’re a coffee drinker.

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