Tag: Sunny M

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Sunny M’s Cascara Tea

Cascara Tea by Sunny M
Herbal Infusion / Straight

Sunny M has provided me with Cascara Tea for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Fun fact, Cascara Tea is not a tea at all – it’s a tisane! It’s also called coffee cherry tea, and is made from the dried skin of the coffee fruit. Inside of the fruit is where you find the actual coffee beans themselves – but that’s a story for another day. Cascara Tea came in a sealed, resealable pouch from Sunny M with some information about the product. I did a search for Cascara Tea on the Sunny M website and it’s not currently available. But no matter, that’s what the internet is for, right?

Cascara Tea is from the Costa Rica Sonora Estate, it’s a nano lot and only consists of cascara. The aroma of Cascara Tea is a bit like a roasted chocolate aroma, with a hint of fruity sweetness. It’s definitely intriguing! And check out the look of the dry leaf itself – the tisane consists of these pieces of the dried coffee cherry fruit skin.

Preparation

No preparation information from Sunny M available at this time, but I opted to steep in 93°C (200°F) water for 5 minutes. 200°F is the ‘French Press’ temperature setting on my variable temperature kettle.

First Taste

Cascara Tea steeps to a orange-brown colour. It’s clear, has a nice aroma to it that reminds me a bit of chocolate and fruitiness, which is appealing. There’s a nice smoothness to it, with a slight bitterness at the tail end of each sip. I find that it has a thickened mouthfeel to it, which is smooth, and has a great flavour to it – I find it to be a blend of chocolate-notes, with some fruity notes that remind me of a bit of currants and rosehips. The sweetness that I find in this cup is really nice and pairs well with the flavour of currants.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Cascara Tea and found that it tasted like a very watered down version of the initial steep. I’d recommend sticking to the initial steep for Cascara Tea for maximum flavour and to leave it with a pleasant taste in your mouth.

My Overall Impression

I liked Sunny M’s Cascara Tea. I found it to be really pleasant, and was nothing like coffee (bonus!). The chocolate notes and the fruity flavours that remind me of currants made for a pleasant cup to drink. I did find some hints of bitterness at the tail end of each sip, but it wasn’t enough to keep me from finishing the cup. Cascara Tea has a really nice smoothness to it, that I think is enjoyable as an alternative to coffee if you’re trying to get away from it – since cascara does naturally contain caffeine, but not as much as coffee.

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Sunny M’s Formosa Bloom

Formosa Bloom by Sunny M
Oolong Tea / Straight
$38.00 for 100g

Sunny M has provided me with Formosa Bloom for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Formosa Bloom comes in a sealed, resealable pouch from Sunny M. It features a one-way air valve to help keep your tea fresh, which is still such a neat feature to me. Quite a bit of information about the tea itself on the packaging (front and back). This particular one is from the Charm of Hearts tea estate in Taiwan. It’s hand-picked, whole leaf, the cultivar is Taiwan No. 13 and they describe the roasting technique used to create this tea.

Formosa Bloom is a tightly bunched tea – the colours vary from dark brown to brownish red. There’s a strong floral aroma that is truly enticing, it’s just got a light nuttiness to the undertone, and it just seems really inviting overall. Because the leaves are so tightly bunched, I would recommend steeping it in an gaiwan or with an infuser that really lets the leaves open up as much as possible.

Preparation

Sunny M recommends steeping Formosa Bloom in 85℃-95℃(185℉-203℉) water for 4 to 6 minutes. I opted to do an initial steep for 4 minutes with water that had been heated to 93°C (200°F).

First Taste

Formosa Bloom steeps to a really brilliant golden orange colour. There’s a strong amount of floral aroma that comes from the steeped tea. The tea itself has a lovely sweet and floral flavour to it, there’s a hint of nuttiness in the background that I believe comes from the roasting technique used. It’s very smooth with zero astringency or bitterness at the steeping temperature and time I had mentioned earlier.

A Second Cup?

Formosa Bloom was resteeped seven times (eight steeps total with the same leaves). I used the same temperature water, just adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steeps. I found the leaves stood up really well to being resteeped and that the flavour remained very close to the initial steep throughout, just getting a bit weaker at the end.

My Overall Impression

I loved Sunny M’s Formosa Bloom. I found the floral aroma from the dry leaf was inviting, and the steeped tea was just so easy to drink! This is definitely an oolong that you’ll want to resteep because it does so well and you’ll get a lot of flavour from it. Formosa Bloom would be a great tea to pair with something savoury or sweet, I just think it’d balance nicely and the flavour of the tea just really holds up well to being resteeped over and over again, so it’s a great tea to serve with a group of people because all you’ll need to do is keep the kettle going.

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Sunny M’s Formosa No. 12

Formosa No. 12 by Sunny M
Oolong Tea/ Straight
$34.00 for 100g

Sunny M has provided me with Formosa No. 12 for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Formosa No. 12 comes in a sealed, resealable pouch with a one-way air valve to help maintain the freshness of the tea and to help prevent it from getting stale. The packaging is clean, functional, with some great information on the labeling. Sunny M describes Formosa No. 12 as an artisan roasted, hand-picked, micro lot tea from the Charm of Hearts tea estate from Taiwan.

The leaves themselves are quite lovely – tightly bunched up and rolled leaves from dark brown to a more chocolate brown colour in the shades of browns found in the dry leaf. There’s some strong floral and fruity notes in the tea that are really inviting.

Preparation

Sunny M recommends steeping Formosa No. 12 in 85℃-95℃ (185℉-203℉) water for 4 to 6 minutes. I opted to use 93°C (200°F) water and steep for 5 minutes.

First Taste

Formosa No. 12 steeps to a lovely golden orange colour. The texture of the tea is smooth, and the flavour is floral with a slight nuttiness that lingers on the tongue. I found that the tea itself had a slight astringency that was present at the tail end of each sip, which wasn’t off-putting for myself (just something to be aware of!).

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Formosa No. 12 a total of eight times (nine steeps total with the same leaves). I found that the flavour of the steeped tea got creamy and buttery as I steeped it, which wasn’t present in the initial steep, and it balanced quite nicely with the floral notes.

My Overall Impression

I loved Sunny M’s Formosa No. 12. This oolong does such a great job of being steeped repeatedly – which is a good thing because it’s not the cheapest tea ever, but you get a lot of bang for your buck with the ability to resteep it many times over. And I’d definitely recommend doing so if you’re a fan of milky oolongs because it does develop a more buttery flavour as you steep it, which is one of the reasons why I enjoyed it.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.