Tag: Oolong Tea

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Sunny M’s Formosa Milky

Formosa Milky by Sunny M
Oolong Tea / Straight
$10.00 for 20g

First Impressions

Formosa Milky was a 2020 Vancouver Tea Festival back in March, which currently feels like forever ago even though it was just last month! It was one of the teas available for sample and when I drank it, I knew I had to have some to steep at home. The tea comes in a coated paper pouch – sealed and resealable – which features a frosted window to see the leaves through. Quite simple and minimalistic packaging. The front features labels with the company’s name and which tea is inside, the back has a label with the steeping instructions.

The leaves themselves are from a micro lot, hand picked and they’re beautiful. Varying shades of brown, mostly dark, and tightly bunched up leaves. There’s some light grassy notes in the dry leaf that I’m appreciating. I quite like it and it’s really enticing.

Preparation

Sunny M has steeping instructions for a more western style (teapot) and a more eastern style (gaiwan). For the western style, it’s using 95°C (203°F) water for 4-6 minutes versus the eastern style of steeping of 20-45 seconds for up to 6 steeps with the same leaves.

I opted to use my teapot because that’s what I didn’t have packed up (One More Steep HQ is moving!), and did an initial steep in 93°C (200°F) water for 5 minutes.

First Taste

Formosa Milky steeps to a lovely warm, golden yellow colour. There’s a pleasant aroma – flora with soft vanilla notes to it. Having a sip, I find that the oolong has a pleasant smoothness to it. There’s zero bitterness or astringency. There’s an underlying buttery quality to it that is nice on the palate, I find it enjoyable and a pleasant drink to be had. I definitely think this oolong would be lovely paired with sweets or savouries.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Formosa Milky six times (seven steeps total with the same leaves), adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. The buttery flavour was more pronounced in the first and second resteeps, which then gave way to becoming more cream-like. Quite tasty and delightful throughout.

My Overall Impression

I loved Sunny M’s Formosa Milky. It’s just such a beautiful tea that really holds to resteeping quite well. I enjoyed the subtle changes in flavour as I resteeped it multiple times, and got a lot of tea out of a small amount of tea leaves. While the price may seem high to some, you really do get your money’s worth when you consider the amount of resteeps that you can get with the same leaves, and just how tasty it is! I’m a sucker for a good oolong, and this one was delicious.

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Tea By C’s Blue People Oolong

Blue People Oolong by Tea By C
Oolong Tea / Flavoured
$10.00USD for 1oz

Tea By C has provided me with Blue People Oolong for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Blue People Oolong came in a kraft paper pouch that’s resealable. The steeping instructions, ingredients list, and caffeine level were featured on the front while the back includes the product URL, a QR code, the weight of the package, as well as the location of Tea By C. I am not going to lie, I was a bit perplexed when I first opened the package because it honestly looks like no other oolong that I’ve ever had before. Blue People Oolong looks (and kind of feels…) like little pebbles. Smooth, dark brown rocks. When I shook the package and then poured some out, I did think it sounded like rocks too!

The aroma is surprisingly sweet, despite its appearance. I almost expected the tea to have a heavy mineral aroma to match the appearance. Blue People Oolong consists of oolong, licorice root, and ginseng. The sweet aroma reminds me a lot of stone fruits, it just has that almost syrupy sweetness from ripe fruit.

Preparation

Tea By C recommends steeping Blue People Oolong in 180-190°F (82-88°C) water for 1 minute. I opted to steep in 185°F (85°C) for 1 minute.

First Taste

Blue People Oolong steeps to a very bright yellow colour (I’m a touch disappointed that it didn’t steep blue!). The aroma is sweet, with strong stone fruit aromas. I found the tea itself to be quite sweet with equally bright, fruity flavours. There’s some pleasant buttery notes, but overall the fruity sweetness is the strongest part of this tea.

The tea leaves did not appear to open up at all after the initial steep of 1 minute.

A Second Cup?

I steeped Blue People Oolong a total of seven times (eight steeps total!), adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. The leaves didn’t really visible begin to open until until the second resteep and continued to open up further after that. I found the flavour and colour to remain fairly consistent for each steep. The flavour began to weaken by the third resteep (fourth overall steep), but the flavour was still quite strong at the end.

My Overall Impression

I loved Tea By C’s Blue People Oolong. While I was initial confused and surprised by the appearance of the dry leaf, I had a wonderful time drinking this oolong and resteeping it over and over and over again. The flavour was great – with plenty of sweetness for this tea reviewer who has a sweet tooth – and I loved the stone fruit flavours that were in there with the honeyed sweetness. I think this tea would be fantastic both hot and iced and I would highly recommend resteeping the leaves because there’s just so much flavour in there.

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DavidsTea’s Lavender Swirl

Lavender Swirl by DavidsTea
White Tea & Oolong Tea / Flavoured
$10.98 for 50g

First Impressions

Lavender Swirl is one of those teas that I smelled in store, was super intrigued, and decided to buy. Oh, and if you’ll notice the label was printed in March because I somehow misplaced it and recently rediscovered it – and here we are now! I purchased this tea at one of DavidsTea’s retail stores, which is why it came in a silver pouch with a printed label. The tea itself smells really inviting – I mostly get the fragrance of lavender and vanilla. It reminds me a lot of walking into a bakery that specializes in cakes and pastries.

Lavender Swirl is a very pretty tea to look at, which is always nice. This tea is actually categorized as a white tea on the DavidsTea website, but it also contains oolong. Lavender Swirl consists of: apple, candied pineapple, white tea, oolong tea, blackberry leaves, lavender, and artificial flavouring.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Lavender Swirl in 90°C (195°F) water for 3 to 5 minutes. My initial steep was for 3 minutes.

First Taste

Lavender Swirl steeps to a lovely honeyed orange colour. When I pulled the infuser out of my cup, I did notice that some of the debris from the tea came through the infuser – if something like that bugs you, I’d recommend putting the leaves into a filter bag. The tea itself has a very fragrant aroma – I smell lavender, vanilla, and fruity undertones in the background. On first taste, I note the lavender and vanilla notes, followed by the fruity sweetness. I found that the tea has a bit of a thickened mouthfeel, which is pleasant. The lavender notes made for a very relaxing cup of tea.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Lavender Swirl and found that the lavender notes just weren’t strong enough to make me want to continue drinking it. I would say that Lavender Swirl is good for just one steep.

My Overall Impression

I liked DavidsTea’s Lavender Swirl. I really enjoyed the lavender and vanilla notes that I found in this tea, and it had a nice level of sweetness that I appreciated as I could drink it as-is and not need to add anything to it. The strength of the lavender was very pleasant in the initial steep, and I found it to be nice to smell and to drink – it didn’t end up being overly floral in that way. The thickened mouthfeel of the tea was a pleasant quality that I wasn’t expecting, but liked.

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