Cofftea

a 3rd infusion w/ probably the most amazing panini ever. Chicken patty, breaded eggplant, tomato slice, 1 leaf of basil, Drunken Goat cheese (both sides of the bread), fat free miracle whip on one side of the bread, and Ken’s Northern Italian Salad Dressing on the other bread (French bread). YUM!

Um… yeah… let’s just say that there are certain times that my mineral levels get lower due to me being a woman lol. So… I needed my mineral fix. I threw a tsp of this in 8oz of OJ (served James Bond style) expecting to be mad at myself for wasting such delicious matcha since I assumed the orange would completely mask the strawberry. BOY WAS I WRONG! Granted I may have been imagining a lil extra strawberry flavor since I knew it was in there, but the strawberry almost kept up with the orange! This leads me to believe Lupicia’s Strawberry Matcha au Lait mix would be delicious in OJ. Now if I could only find decaf matcha since my body really doesn’t need caffeine today.

2TB/16oz water. Cold w/ lunch.

Another attempt at salvaging my SoBe water. SoBe matcha lemonade!
6oz SoBe Lifewater (yumberry pomegranate flavor)
2TB lemon juice
1tsp matcha
Served James Bond Style.

The flavor of the water pretty much gets lost, but the overpowering sweetness is perfect for a lemonade.

2.5tsp matcha/20oz bottle Yumberry Pomegranate SoBe Life Water. James Bond style. Wow! This is pretty good. I’m glad I’m finding more and more ways to flavor matcha so I like it cold. Although… the reason I’m drinking this is to attempt to salvage this water. Why the heck is this so sweet when there are no sweeteners listed in the ingredients? It’s still sweet even this way.

BUT BE WARNED! The combo of the water & matcha look NASTY! lol

Ok. I admit it. I blindly put this on my shopping list as soon as I saw “bamboo”. It wasn’t til after it arrived I even noticed it has gen mai in it. AH CRAP! But even that aside, this is a weird combo: chai like spices and fruit?

Prepared as suggested.

Hmm… The light greenish yellow liquor definitely smells very faintly of the gen mai that gives it it’s cloudyness and a hint of spice. But it’s mostly a fruity green tea aroma.

Ok, this is the ONLY gen mai cha that I will ever like. I’m not actually gagging- yay! The gen mai is the lightest of the flavors followed by the spices (unfortately mostly peppercorn), and most strongly the fruit and green tea. I have no clue what bamboo would taste like in a tea so I can’t tell you if it’s here or not. Don’t get me wrong, this is actually a pretty impressive and shockinly amazing tea (an 85ish on my personal preference scale), but there’s just too much other schtuff here for it to be called a bamboo shoots tea.

The steeping suggestions are hotter, shorter, and less leaf than I’d choose- but here it goes.

The liquor is a light golden color almost like a white wine (which I love) and the aroma is light and sweet.

The flavor is exactly what I’d expect from the aroma with almost honey and fruit like notes. The mouth feel is a bit thicker than plain water, but not something I’d label as thick. A wonderful, light, smooth cuppa!

On to something unflavored. The liquor is a light but vibrant green and the aroma is very vegetal with hints of butteryness and sweetness. Yummm… the mouth feel is on the thicker side and the taste matches the aroma. Almost broth/soup like.

Ok… this tisane looks like fecal matter droppings. ’Nuff said.

This isn’t exactly a fruit or an herbal, but that’s the closest listed on the chart so that’s what I’ll go w/ even though 1/2TB doesn’t look like much since the chocolate pieces are so big.

Suprisingly this brews up quite dark- dark brown liquor w/ reddish tones. And it definitely smells like the ingredients. I can detect the red pepper, but it doesn’t burn my nose, it’s mostly chocolate and ginger.

I was expecting this to be flat w/o any tea in it, but it’s actually quite smooth. I think that’s cuz of the ginger and the red pepper. It’s almost coffee-ish in some ways, but still different enough to not be called coffee flavored. Would most likely be good with milk.

Ok, I admit it. I bought this just for the name. I’m anticipating not liking it. Why? Because black/green blends just don’t work parameter wise. Each tea demands vastly different steeping conditions. I hate “winging” tea, but I have no clue what to do w/ this so I gotta. I’m gonna go w/ “typical” green parameters.

1tsp/6oz

The liquor is a beautiful autumnal amber and the aroma is surprisingly sweet. I’m getting fruity and sugary notes instead of floral. Interesting.

Whoa! Color me surprised. It tastes nothing like the watery black tea I feared. The green tea and flowers took over giving me a smooth slightly sweet (but still not floral) tea that has quite a bit of body (I’m assuming from the black tea). It’s actually very good and I’d give it even more points if I got the floral notes.

Mocha Matcha Latte!

1TB matcha
1TB drinking chocolate mix
8oz Fat Free Smart Balance Milk
4oz water

Needed something sweet, yet detoxifying after my AMAZING Russian meal I stumbled upon. Originally went out for a perch fry, but found that the cafe was featuring Russian items! pork and sourkraut soup, (basically a chicken dumpling soup w/ carrots and potatoes w/ sourkraut and pork in place of the chicken), Cabbage rolls (but not as good as my best friend’s mom’s), cole slaw, and a potatoe roll. It warmed my heart to have a Russian meal and think of my Russian best friend, especially since I didn’t think there was any Russian food to be had in our area.

Decided to make my detoxifying matcha (1TB/12oz water) in my Seattle mug w/ this today. Didn’t sift it because the bottom of my sifter was below the water line… I suppose I should have sifted it 1st then added water, but I used my mug to heat the water. Oh well. Surprisingly it’s not at all bitter this time! I guess 1tsp/4oz water is the perfect ratio, even if you don’t sift it… which is kinda sad though since that isn’t the ratio for Koicha.

Musk melon matcha smoothie!

Musk melon chunks blended down to make 1 cup. <-blend the heck out of it- the runnier, the better (2 cups fruit?)
1tsp matcha, blended in at the last few seconds.

I actually got this idea after a matcha fataliTEA. I wanted to just sprinkle it over musk melon, but it was so juicy that all the matcha settled in the bottom of the bowl w/ the juice- but the juice was very good.

Psst… Frank… musk melon matcha! Cucumber melon matcha?

This came on Saturday and I thought this would be the perfect day to rip into it since it’s the Select item- and it’s my 1st gyokuro!

Prepared as suggested. 1tsp/170 degree purified water. I’m really glad they’ve gotten away from the 1tsp/180 degree water parameters, but this isn’t close enough. Leaf amount is right, but water volume has got to be less, the temp has got to be cooler, and it’s way over steeped. But, this is what they suggest, so it’s what I’ll try 1st.

The liquor is a light olive color w/ a very sweet aroma- almost as sweet as the musk melon I just had. The mouth feel is very smooth- not exactly what I expected since the leaves are so tiny leaving particles in my cup. The flavor is very sweet with just a hint of astringency. Good, but I think an overhaul of the steeping parameters will give me a better cuppa.

Had this w/ lunch- a REALLY crappy tv dinner. It’s ok. Very matcha-esque especially the aroma before steeping. Both sweet and bitter.

Gosh, I haven’t had this in ages! 1 scoop/3oz water. Still as good as I remember it though.

Having another giant Seattle mug full of this. 1TB/12oz water. I hereby name this ratio detoxifying matcha!

Now I’m probably gonna get struck by lightening, but I was reading my Bible this morning and came up with this parody of 1st Corinthians 4-7:

“Matcha is patient, matcha is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Matcha does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

Matcha is truly a gift from God- especially on days like today:)

Made a BIG strong mug of this. 1 level TB/12oz hot water. Made this for several reasons- 1.) It’s YUMMY! 2.) I’m still too tired to spend a lot of mental energy on making tea. 3.) My scale is broken. 4.) Detoxing from a weekend full of DELICIOUS, but rich Russian food. Wait… I said mug, didn’t I? Yep. No chawan today. My best friend Irina gave me a gorgeous mug w/ 2 different views of Seattle on it and I miss her already!

I’ve only had matcha in a cup not shaken twice (once plain and once as an OJ matcha shot at Jamba Juice- both this weekend) so I was a bit nervous it wouldn’t fully blend- but it did! It stayed cohesive a lot longer than expected and it actually had a really thick foam on top. Woohoo! It chases away my post vacation depression that always plagues me.

I used to drink this all the time, but now it’s WAY too sweet for me… although it did a wonderful job of cooling my mouth from buffalo grilled chicken at my best friend’s graduation party Sat. nite.

Venti, clean, iced @ Starbucks Sunday nite to try to cool down. It was nice and refreshing, but I really wish they’d specify if it’s flavored tea. “Iced Green Tea” to me implies unflavored… but then again it also implies a default of unsweetened for me.

My 1st Jamba Juice experience! Had a double in Seattle Sunday nite. SO delicious, but I must admit I’m very disappointed to find out I didn’t come up w/ this idea. It’s so nice to have the ratios perfect when you don’t make it yourself- especially when it comes to something like matcha

Tall double dirty chai latte on Monday morning for breakfast at a cafe in Seattle who’s proceeds go to support New Horizons Ministry. Not the slightest sickeningly sweet. Delicious actually.

This tea has terrified me since I 1st heard about it, but I decided to try this Fri. afternoon after getting into Seattle since it was only $2 and the profits of the coffee shop go to support New Horizons Ministry.

16oz of unknown temp/1 bag (bag?!) for approx 5min. Clean

Very light chai, but it was balanced by the light dirt like flavor of the shu base. I did not hate it- in fact, when I get my sampler I wanna try this w/ milk.

Had this iced at the Milwaukee, WI airport Friday morning. Holy cow it was bitter!