Tag: Green Tea

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Kailo Tea’s Wake Up

Wake Up by Kailo Tea
Green Tea / Flavoured
$15.99 for 45g (15 sachets)

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Kailo Tea has provided me with Wake Up for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

When Kailo Tea contacted me and asked if I wanted to try their teas, I was intrigued. A Canadian tea company based in Ontario, Kailo Tea pairs tea with supplemental vitamins. Their teas are available in tea bag/sachet form only at this time, as each sachet includes a capsule. Even though I had read online that their tea included vitamins, it still threw me off a little bit to see the capsule inside of the tea bag.

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The dry leaf smells strongly of citrus, mint, and ginger. The aromas remind me a lot more of an herbal infusion than of a green tea, but there is green tea in there. Wake Up consists of: organic orange peel, organic ginger root, organic peppermint, green tea, eleuthero root (Siberian Ginseng), calendula, natural and artificial flavours, vitamin D3, vitamin C, and vitamin B (B2, B3, B5, B6, B7, B9, B12).

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One thing I appreciated on Kailo Tea’s packaging is that they mention consulting your healthcare provider if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, on any medication, or if you have a medical condition. I attribute this extra warning due to the fact that the tea does come with a vitamin capsule. Some medications are poorly absorbed if taken at the same time as vitamin supplements, so it’s always a good idea to check with your physician or pharmacist prior to taking anything with supplements.

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Preparation

Kailo Tea recommends steeping Wake Up in 170-180°F (77-82°C) for 3 to 4 minutes. I steeped Wake Up in 175°F (80°C) for 3 minutes.

First Taste

Wake Up steeps to a bright greeny-yellow. The tea is slightly cloudy, which I attribute to the vitamin capsule as that’s the only thing I can think of that might cause the tea to be a bit cloudy out of the ingredients list. The tea smells sweet, and I can make out the citrus and ginger. I wish I could make out the mint, because I love the smell of mint. On first taste, Wake Up has bright flavours. The citrus and ginger combination is sublime. There’s a minty freshness at the end of each sip that I attribute to the peppermint. I can’t smell or taste the green tea base, but the flavours that I can taste are tasty.

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A Second Cup?

I did try to resteep Wake Up. I found the citrus and ginger flavours to be a lot more subdued and didn’t have the same level of natural sweetness and the flavours weren’t as bright. I would say that Wake Up is good for one steep.

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My Overall Impression

3cups-2

I liked Kailo Tea’s Wake Up. I’m not sure how the vitamins really made a difference in the flavour, but I found that the tea itself had a great flavour profile with the citrus, ginger, and peppermint. The cloudiness to the tea, once you realize it’s from the vitamin capsule, isn’t off-putting. I wish it had held out for one more steep because the flavour in the initial steep was so bright and inviting. I had this tea hot, but because of the citrus and ginger flavours, I think it would do well being iced. It has a nice natural sweetness that I think doesn’t require more sweetener.

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First Edition Tea Co.’s Toronto

Toronto by First Edition Tea Co.
Green Tea / Flavoured
$13.00USD for 100g

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First Edition Tea Co.’s Toronto came to me as part of The Sugared Teacup’s June themed subscription box.

First Impressions

Toronto came to me in a cute little sealed (and resealable) 10g sample bag – too cute! I’m a fan of nice packaging, and First Edition Tea Co. did not disappoint. Toronto is part of their Wanderlust collection which features 4 other cities from around the world (Marrakech, Paris, London, and Mumbai). Toronto is described as an “apple, peach & maple green tea”. If you’re going to make a tea inspired by a Canadian city, I think maple is kind of necessary. When I first opened up the bag, I was pleasantly surprised. The tea smells like what it described on the front. Apples? Check. Peaches? Double check. Maple? Oh yes, please.

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The ingredients in Toronto are: green tea, hibiscus petals, rosehips, apple pieces, orange pieces, calendula petals, safflower petals, real maple syrup, and natural flavours. If you’re confused by the lack of peaches in this apple, peach, and maple green tea, you’re not the only one. I’m hoping that the peach aroma that I can smell from the dry leaf is from the natural flavouring, or else I feel like I should be concerned.

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Preparation

First Edition Tea Co. recommended steeping Toronto in 100°C (212°F) water for 4 minutes. Because it is a green tea base, and I only have 10g to play with, I was a bit cautious and steeped at a lower temperature. I steeped this green tea blend at 80°C (175°F), which is the green tea setting on my Breville IQ Kettle. I did steep it for 4 minutes.

First Taste

Toronto is apparently a pink city! I think the colouring is primarily due to the hibiscus in the mix. It’s a beautiful colour. The aroma that comes up from this tea is full of apple and peaches and a hint of maple syrup. The aroma of this tea matches up so nicely with the description, I can almost forgive it for not actually containing peaches.

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On first sip, I find that this tea is tart. The maple adds a nice touch of sweetness to this tea that almost balances out the tartness from the hibiscus. I can taste a bit of apple, a bit of peach, and there’s a subtle but familiar vegetal taste in the background that could only be from the green tea base. With the mix of fruit, I’m not a huge fan of it as a hot tea. First Edition Tea Co. suggests this as an iced tea though, which is what I wound up doing after I let it cool to room temperature.

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The tartness gets a bit more subdued, but the fruitiness of the tea comes out a lot more when it’s cooled and iced. I would recommend having this tea iced.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Toronto. It was a much paler pink and it lacked the tartness from the hibiscus. I found it was primarily the green tea base shining through on this tea and not quite the same experience. While I’m a fan of green tea in general, I didn’t think this blend did a great job with a second steep.

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My Overall Impression

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I liked First Edition Tea Co.’s Toronto. While I didn’t like this green tea blend hot (or resteeped), I think the initial steep did an amazing job with being iced. Definitely have this tea iced, the tartness of the hibisicus and fruitiness of the apple and peach flavours lends itself well as an iced tea (and it’s refreshing to boot!). Because of the maple syrup, I don’t think that this tea needs any sweetener as it’s got a nice amount of sweetness already to it. Still, I’m curious about where the peaches are, but I think the flavours in this green tea blend are really nice (and would strongly recommend having this one iced only).

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Yunomi’s Organic Shimane Sencha Ou Midori

Organic Shimane Sencha Ou Midori by Yunomi
Green Tea / Straight
$7.00USD for 20g

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Yunomi has provided me with Organic Shimane Sencha Ou Midori for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

It’s another tea from the Takarabako Tea Farm in Japan! I shared a review not too long ago of another tea from the Takarabako Tea Farm (Shimane Oolong Tea), and this is the second of six reviews I’ve got coming to you for the teas from this Japanese tea farm. Yes, the label says Premium Sencha Ou Midori, but I think the product got a rename between the packaging of samples and the product pages being put onto the Yunomi website. Not the first thing this has happened to me when reviewing a tea, and it probably won’t be the last.

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Sencha Ou Midori came to me in a resealable green bag. It seemed smaller than the other samples, although they’re all 20g. This is because sencha is so dense. With the way the leaves are processed, they’re flattened. It’s not a big airy tea like some others that I’ve had in the past. There’s just little to no room between the leaves. The leaves themselves are a dark green, when I first opened the packaging the first thing I smelled was corn, vegetables, and grassy notes. Sencha Ou Midori is an organic green tea.

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Preparation

Yunomi suggests steeping Sencha Ou Midori in 70°C (158°F) water for 1 minute. My initial steep was for 1 minute.

First Taste

Sencha Ou Midori steeps to a beautiful pale yellow. There’s a slight sweet aroma that comes up from the tea, and when I smell it, it has a vegetal smell to it. The overall aroma that comes up from this tea is quite mild in its fragrance. When I taste this tea, it get a very clean and crisp taste – there’s a slight saltiness to this tea that reminds me of a seaweed that makes for some nice umami flavours in this tea. I did note a mild bitterness in this tea that kind of lingers at the end of each sip. It isn’t a very strong bitterness, but it is still present. I think cutting the steep time down even further would help with the bitterness that I encountered in this tea.

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A Second Cup?

I did a second steep of Sencha Ou Midori and found that the bitterness was more pronounced and not enjoyable. I did not resteep after that.

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My Overall Impression

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I thought that Yunomi’s Organic Shimane Sencha Ou Midori was just okay. The initial steep of this green tea was quite good – I enjoyed the different flavours in this tea and it has an enjoyable umami flavour to it. The bitterness that resulted from resteeping this tea make it an unenjoyable continued tea experience. The initial 60 seconds was a bit much, I think, and resulted in some burnt leaves. I think this sencha does great for an initial steep, but I wouldn’t recommend resteeping the leaves if you’re following the steeping recommendations.

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