Tag: Oolong Tea

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Chatime’s Pearl Milk Tea

Pearl Milk Tea by Chatime
Black & Oolong Tea / Flavoured
$11.99 for 290g (4 servings)

First Impressions

Pearl Milk Tea was an impulse grocery store purchase – because why not? It’s from Chatime and features 4 servings of bubble tea – 2 Original Milk Tea, 2 Oolong Milk Tea and 4 brown sugar pearls. Because I had recently reviewed Original Milk Tea, I will be focused on Oolong Milk Tea option.

Each packet of Original Milk Tea and Oolong Milk Tea are each 20g, which is the same as the packets of Original Milk Tea that I had previously purchased. The Original Milk Tea is orange, Oolong Milk Tea is green.

Original Milk Tea consists of: sugar, non-dairy creamer, black tea powder, and flavour.

Oolong Milk Tea consists of: sugar, non-dairy creamer, oolong tea powder, and flavour. The aroma of Oolong Milk Tea smells very similar to Original Milk Tea – mostly sweet with a bit of milky aroma.

Preparation

Chatime has recommendations for preparing the boba pearls by microwave or boiled water.

By microwave – tear open the packet, microwave for 30 seconds. Pour the heated pearls into 60ml of hot water and mix with milk tea powder. Top with 60ml of hot water or 60ml of ice.

By boiled water – place packet into boiled water, allow it to heat up over 1 minute. Pour heated pearls into 60ml of hot water and mix with milk tea powder. Top with 60ml of hot water or 60ml of ice.

I opted to prepare the Oolong Milk Tea with the boba pearls that were heated in the microwave.

First Taste

The boba pearls soften up a lot in the microwave, and the Oolong Milk Tea mixes up very easily with the hot water that I used. I topped up the cup with ice. The colour of the Oolong Milk Tea is a milky brown, the boba pearls are large and dark brown.

The boba pearls themselves are soft, chewy, and sweet. Oolong Milk Tea has a creamy flavour, but also nutty and floral. The pearls are large, and not all perfectly circular, so make sure you’ve got a large straw to accommodate them. The tea itself is decent – not overly sweet and I can taste the nuances of the oolong in the mix.

A Second Cup?

As Oolong Milk Tea is a drink mix, there can only be one tea preparation with this mix.

My Overall Impression

I liked Chatime’s Pearl Milk Tea. While Chatime’s Original Milk Tea was $0.90 per packet, Pearl Milk Tea has each boba tea at $3 per serving – which makes it more expensive for sure. I found the flavour to be good, and the texture of the boba pearls is great – I love how soft and chewy they were. It’s a great deal compared to ordering the equivalent from their actual shop ($6.10 for pick-up), but there are also cheaper methods of making boba at home. For the convenience, I like it and will definitely make it again at home (and at work!).

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DavidsTea’s Cinnamon Oolong

Cinnamon Oolong by DavidsTea
Oolong Tea / Flavoured
$14.98 for 50g

DavidsTea sent me Cinnamon Oolong as part of a complementary Garden to Cup subscription package, a review was not requested.

First Impressions

Cinnamon Oolong came in a light blue pouch, both sealed and resealable. The white text is easy to read, and it surprisingly smooth texture to the pouch material that is different from the regular silver ones.

Cinnamon Oolong is described as an “oolong tea scented with cinnamon”.

Cinnamon Oolong consists of tightly bunched up leaves, all with a mix of light green to dark green. The leaves are lightly cinnamon scented, and there’s the grassy notes in the background. It’s a pretty tea to look at with the light warmness of cinnamon.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Cinnamon Oolong in 90°C (195°F) water for 4 to 5 minutes. I opted to do an initial steep of Cinnamon Oolong for 4 minutes.

First Taste

Cinnamon Oolong steeps to a bright golden yellow. It has the warming qualities of cinnamon int he aroma, which overwhelms the other aromas. The flavour is primarily the oolong – grassy, creamy, with the warming qualities of cinnamon that lightly mingles in the background. It’s smooth, zero bitterness or astringency.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Cinnamon Oolong four times (five steeps with the same leaves), adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep.

The flavour remained fairly consistent with each steep, with the cinnamon waning after the second resteep. There’s a creaminess to the oolong that comes through as the cinnamon goes away.

My Overall Impression

I liked DavidsTea’s Cinnamon Oolong. I thought that the cinnamon was a nice complement to the oolong, but found myself enjoying the flavour of the oolong as the cinnamon. The natural oolong flavour comes through after a few steeps, and I’m finding that I wish that the natural flavour was more prominent at the beginning of the steeping session with this tea. The cinnamon does add something nice to Cinnamon Oolong though, so I find it pleasant to sip.

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Teakan’s Rou Gui

Rou Gui by Teakan
Oolong Tea / Straight
$30.00 for 65g

Rou Gui is part of Teakan’s Volume 5 Exploration Kit, a collection of five single origin teas. Rou Gui makes up 10g of the 65g kit.

First Impressions

Rou Gui came as part of Volume 5 of Teakan’s Exploration Kits. This oolong comes in a sealed, resealable kraft paper pouch. There’s a white and black label on it, which tells me that it’s an oolong tea from Wuyishan, Fujian, China. This particular oolong is from spring 2021. This particular little pouch carries 10g out of the 65g tea sampler kit – which is enough for a few cups of tea.

The leaves are a dark, dark green, with very minimal streaks of lighter green throughout. The leaves are long, wiry, and it really does take up a large volume of space for the weight of tea that’s in there. The aroma is lightly floral. There is something slightly earthy about it that reminds me of shittake mushrooms.

Preparation

Teakan recommends steeping Rou Gui in 96°C (205°F) water and doing an initial steep of 2 to 3 minutes for western style steeping and a mere 10 to 15 seconds for gongfu style steeping. I opted to do an initial steep of 2 minutes in my western style tea pot.

First Taste

Rou Gui steeps to a golden yellow. It has the light aroma of florals. Flavour wise, I found that Rou Gui has a bit of sweetness and floral flavour to it. There’s almost a cinnamon note to the aroma that takes the backseat to the floral fragrance, but it fades away when I drink it. There’s a smoothness to this tea that is inviting – I found zero bitterness or astringency to it, which is nice. I found it easy to drink.

A Second Cup?

Rou Gui was resteeped five times (six steeps total) with the same leaves. I did add an additional 30 seconds with each subsequent resteep. The leaves opened up a significant amount, and were pleasant shades of green throughout. I found the flavour to remain fairly consistent. The floral flavour was stronger for the first resteep, and then slowly began to fade after that.

My Overall Impression

I loved Teakan’s Rou Gui. The last couple of teas from Teakan’s Volume 4 have hit the spot with me because I’m such a fan of oolong. Rou Gui didn’t disappoint when it came to aroma, steeping, flavour, or resteeping. Sipping this oolong was a pleasant activity to do over an afternoon and I greatly enjoyed getting to taste it and experience the nuances of the flavour from this Wuyishan oolong.

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