Tealish’s Northern Lights

Michelle

Northern Lights by Tealish
Green Tea / Flavoured
$7.50 for 50g

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Tealish’s Northern Lights came to me as part of The Sugared Teacup’s July themed subscription box.

First Impressions

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Northern Lights came in a super cute little white tin. I was a little bit rough when opening the tin though, and it came off with a pop and some of the tea came out so I would caution you to be careful if you get it in a small white tin as well. This is my first exposure to Tealish and I really like their label – it’s simple, tells me the name and type of the tea. Unfortunately, the label on this little tin didn’t list the ingredients or steeping instructions, so I had to hop onto their website for that. The dry leaf has a very bright citrus aroma to it, it also smells sweetly of apples.

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Northern Lights consists of: green tea, apple cubes, orange peels, fennel seeds, flavouring, and calendula petals. I quite like that I can see the ingredients in this tea (obviously minus the flavouring). It smells really good, has a great fruity aroma to it.

Preparation

Tealish recommends steeping Northern Lights in 80°C (176°F) water for 1-3 minutes. My initial steep was for 2 minutes.

First Taste

Northern Lights steeps to a pale yellow, and there are a lot of tiny particles to this tea so in hindsight I wish I had used a filter bag instead of a stainless steel infuser for this tea – learn from my mistakes if you don’t like drinking pieces of tea. This green tea blend has a sweet aroma to it, the citrus fragrance from the orange peel and the apple pieces mingle well to create a very fruity smell. On first taste, I can taste the natural sweetness from the fruit (and can make out the apple flavour), and a light sweetness from the green tea base. The green tea itself is quite light, and has just a hint of sweetness to it that is enjoyable.

I poured some of my initial steep into a mason jar to cool and then I added some ice cubes to it. This tea is delicious iced – I usually find a lot of fruity teas to be good iced, and Northern Lights was good. I might even like it better iced than hot.

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A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Northern Lights and found for the second steep, the flavours that I loved in the initial steep were quite lacking in the second steep. It was hard to find the orange and the apple in the second round so I would say that Northern Lights is good for one steep only.

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My Overall Impression

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I liked Tealish’s Northern Lights. I really like the flavour profile and the fact that I could taste the orange, the apple, and the green tea all separately and the flavours balanced with each other quite well. I also think that Northern Lights does quite well when iced, and I’ll probably wind up cold steeping or icing this tea when I have it again. It doesn’t do well with resteeping, which was quite disappointing. I also wish that the label had more information about this tea (but I also acknowledge that Tealish may have changed their packaging/labeling for the tea that went into The Sugared Teacup subscription boxes).

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Grand Tea’s Premium Pearl Jasmine

Michelle

Premium Pearl Jasmine by Grand Tea
Green Tea / Flavoured
$35.00HKD for 25g

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Grand Tea has provided me with Premium Pearl Jasmine for the purposes of providing an honest review. I received this product at no charge to me and received no other compensation.

First Impressions

I love a good jasmine tea from time to time, so I was happy when Grand Tea sent me their Premium Pearl Jasmine to try. The sample packet is full of little tea pearls and they smell amazing! The jasmine fragrance is so strong, and the little pearls are just so tightly rolled. It’s really quite a pretty tea and with a tea like this, the nice thing is that you don’t need to use a lot to steep a whole teapot or cup because of how much they open up. Pearl or blooming teas are really fun to watch open up, so I’d recommend doing it in a clear glass teapot/cup for added tea entertainment.

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Premium Pearl Jasmine is a green tea scented with jasmine, that’s been rolled into pearls. Can’t deny it, it’s kind of nice when the name of a tea is a direct description of the tea itself.

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Preparation

Grand Tea recommends steeping Premium Pearl Jasmine in 85-90°C (185-197°F) water for 3 minutes, and to spin the glass (if you’re steeping in a glass) or otherwise just irritate the water so the pearls move and open up. I steeped mine for 3 minutes and moved the infuser up and down to move the pearls as they opened up.

First Taste

My first steep of Premium Pearl Jasmine resulted in a fairly pale yellow cup of tea, the smell is purely floral because the jasmine scent is so strong. On first sip, there’s a sweetness to the tea that goes well with the floral flavour. After the first three minutes of steeping, the tea leaves haven’t fully unfurled and rolled open, so there’s still some flavour locked up! I found that three minutes was a good amount of time for this tea, the tea lacks bitterness and astringency, and has a smoothness that can be hard to find in green teas. It goes down easy and I eagerly steeped it again.

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A Second Cup?

I resteeped Premium Pearl Jasmine seven times (eight steeps total), increasing the steep time by about 30 seconds per steep. The tea pearls were mostly fully opened up by the end of the first resteep, and the colour intensified and became more yellow. The tea became more golden with each subsequent steep. The jasmine fragrance and flavour remained fairly strong until about the sixth resteep, when it began to taste more watery.

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My Overall Impression

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I loved Grand Tea’s Premium Pearl Jasmine. The jasmine aroma and flavour was amazing, and there was a sweetness to the tea that was enjoyable. I found the pearls to be fun to watch as they steeped, and they resteep well! I think this tea would be great either paired with sweets or savouries. I had some leftover tea from the many steeps, so this wound up in a pitcher in my fridge. I’m happy to report that Premium Pearl Jasmine tastes refreshing and crisp when iced, so there’s an option for you as well if you’re looking for an iced tea. I think there’s good value in this tea with it’s ability to be resteeped, and the word premium in its name wasn’t wishful thinking.

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Tea Experience: Snowy Village

Michelle

Snowy Village
Coquitlam, British Columbia
$2.00-6.00 for drinks

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Snowy Village is first and foremost a Korean bingsoo (ice dessert) restaurant, they specialized in shaved ice desserts (and boy do they do it well!). Snowy Village also serves hot tea and coffee (as well as iced), hence the reason for this review.

For those curious, I got a mango bingsoo in the regular size. Most of the shaved ice desserts are available in regular or large sizes. I felt like the regular size was pretty sizeable (and delicious). Instead of using shaved ice water, they use shaved iced milk. A lot more creamier (and delicious) compared to the other shaved iced desserts I’ve had in the past. My regular sized mango bingsoo was $10.

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My drink was a London Fog. Curiously enough, the Snowy Village website states that they make London Fogs but the menus in store did not have London Fog listed. When I ordered, I did get a bit of a blank stare when I asked for a London Fog. I clarified by saying that it was an Earl Grey latte and suddenly a light went off and the person helping me knew what it was. The price of the London Fog was $3.00, which was the same price as the price of a Cafe Latte on the menu.

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I asked and was told that they exclusively use Mighty Leaf Tea, which is a Canadian tea company. My London Fog came with a thin layer of foam on top, but the tea was steeped well. You can see how thin the foam was in the first photo. I forgot to pull out the tea bag after a few minutes of it arriving, but found that the tea itself didn’t get bitter (which was nice!). I do like a good tea that doesn’t get overly bitter if I forget to remove the tea bag when I’m on the go, although I’d have to do some experiments to see if it’s still the case if the tea is steeped straight without the addition of milk.

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Overall, I had a lovely experience at Snowy Village. The price of the London Fog was quite comparable to other places that I’ve been (and it’s generously on the lower end). I do wish that there had been more foam on top, but the place wasn’t primarily a tea and coffee cafe – it’s an iced dessert cafe. I would go back from the bingsoo, but probably not for the London Fog (I like a bit more foam with my tea lattes!).

Lemon Lily’s Summer Splash

Michelle

Summer Splash by Lemon Lily
Herbal Infusion / Flavoured
$9.00 for 50g

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Lemon Lily’s Summer Splash came to me as part of The Sugared Teacup’s July themed subscription box.

First Impressions

Summer Splash came to me in a nice white, resealable bag. I’m a fan of packaging that is useful, so the seal is always appreciated. When I opened the bag, the first thing I smelled was berries and then there was a hint of lemongrass. This tea has some heavy ingredients! I estimate that I could probably get about ~3 teapots worth of tea from this bag (25g). Summer Splash is a special Canada 150 Celebration tea.

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Summer Splash is made up of: organic elderberries, organic hibiscus, organic lemongrass, organic lemon peel, organic orange and orange peel, organic currents and organic raisins. As per their website Lemon Lily is a certified organic tea company (located in Canada!) that uses all 100% certified organic ingredients. I’ve classified this herbal infusion as being ‘flavoured’ as opposed to ‘straight’ because it contains more than one ingredient (which is my usual requirement to be labelled as straight).

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Preparation

Lemon Lily recommends steeping Summer Splash in 200°F (93°C) water for 4-6 minutes. My initial steep of Summer Splash was for 5 minutes.

First Taste

Summer Splash steeps to a bright ruby red, it’s so pretty! The aroma of this tea is primarily berries with some hibiscus in it. When I sipped this tea, the only thing that went through my mind was it was very tart. Quite a bit of mouth puckering going on for me when I sipped this. With the addition of honey, the tartness toned down a lot and I could taste the citrus flavours in it, as well as the berry flavour. I did not really like this tea hot, but Lemon Lily does list Summer Splash under their iced teas, so I poured it out into a bottle to chill in the fridge. Verdict? It’s incredible iced – the level of fruitiness is just where I like it for an iced tea and it has a refreshing quality to it.

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A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Summer Splash and found the second steep to be a bit lacking in terms of flavour. It was missing the intensity of hibiscus and citrus that I found in the first steep.

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My Overall Impression

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I liked Lemon Lily’s Summer Splash. I think this herbal infusion is destined to be an iced tea only, and would highly recommend either cold steeping it or chilling it down with some ice cubes. It’s just so much better cold than it is hot (Lemon Lily clearly has the right idea since they list it under their iced teas). I find that the hibiscus can be overwhelmingly tart if you don’t do anything after the infusion is done. I would highly recommend adding some kind of sweetener to help tone down the tartness, it really helps to allow you to realize the other flavours in there. Overall, I think it makes a fantastic iced tea, but it just needs a little help in making it palatable.

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Pluck’s The Canada 150 Blend

Michelle

The Canada 150 Blend by Pluck
Black Tea / Flavoured
$8.00 for 50g

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Pluck’s The Canada 150 Blend came to me as part of The Sugared Teacup’s July themed subscription box.

First Impressions

I’ve always been a sucker for good packaging, and Pluck does pass the test in that regard. A simple foil-and-plastic bag, it does the trick to keep the tea from getting stale due to exposure to air. The nice thing is that there is some of the tea that is visible on the clear side, so you can see what you’re getting. I really like the themed label – the red and white with the maple leaves just scream Canada to me, so it’s really nice to see.

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The Canada 150 Blend is made up of: black tea, sunflower petals, safflower petals, and natural flavouring. According to the product page on the Pluck website, the ‘natural flavouring’ is “natural caramel cream flavouring”. The smell of the dry leaf is primarily the black tea base. The tea has a sweetened aroma to it, which I’ll chalk up to the added flavouring, while the black tea base reminds me a lot of a straight breakfast tea – it’s generally has a bold, strong aroma to it that has just a hint of malty flavour in the fragrance.

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Preparation

Pluck recommends steeping The Canada 150 Blend in 100°C (212°F) water for 5 to 7 minutes. I honestly thought 7 minutes was a bit much, so my initial steep was for just 5 minutes.

First Taste

The Canada 150 Blend steeps to a really nice golden red, the colour was more intense in my teapot than in my teacup for sure. It has a nice malty aroma to it that was quite inviting. On first sip, I’m really glad that I did not opt to steep for the upper end of the recommended steep time (7 minutes) because I found that the aftertaste of each sip to be on the just a little bit bitter side. This tea could probably stand to be steeped for a shorter amount of time (perhaps 4 minutes?), just to avoid that aftertaste. I would describe this black tea blend as being strong – it has quite a bold, malty flavour to it, with just a hint of astringency in each sip. I would liken it to being very similar to a traditional English Breakfast tea. The one thing that does set it apart is just a touch of creamy sweetness that blends in well with the malty flavour. I think we can thank the caramel flavouring for that.

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I tried this tea also with some added honey and evaporated milk – the honey helped bring out more of the flavouring out of the caramel, and the milk helped to temper the bitter aftertaste. All in all, I think the tea accepts a bit of help quite easily and it makes for a tastier cup of tea if you accidentally oversteep it.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped The Canada 150 Blend twice (three steeps total). I found the flavouring to be fairly similar to the first steep for the first resteep, but the flavour just fell flat for the second resteep. Overall, I would say that The Canada 150 Blend is good for one more steep.

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My Overall Impression

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I liked Pluck’s The Canada 150 Blend. I love all things Canadiana, so it’s probably not too big of a surprise that I did like this tea. I’m always a fan of solid black teas, and this one has a bit of a twist to it (with the caramel flavouring), but I found that it held up really well to the addition of sweetener and some evaporated milk. I think if you’re a fan of breakfast teas, you’ll probably like this one as well – it has a strong, bold flavour profile. It’d be a good tea to replace your morning cup of coffee with, or to serve with an afternoon tea if you’re looking to change things up from the tea time staple of Earl Grey. This black tea blend smells amazing, and it does taste quite good. I would just recommend watching the steep times (try 4 minutes and go up from there, I think you’d be woefully disappointed if you started at 7 minutes).

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