Cofftea

Best. Slimfast. Ever. 8oz Fat Free Smart Balance milk, 1 scoop french vanilla slimfast, 1tsp matcha, 1tsp drinking chocolate mix, and 1tsp Irish Creme instant cappuccino mix. I really wanted to add a thicker, icyier texture to it as well as a berry flavor by adding 1/2 cup frozen unsweetened raspberries, but I didn’t have any.

My koicha was so bitter this morning I reached for this. Sweet, rich, chocolatey, and fruity. The flowers on top gave more crunch than flavor, but they were a nice touch.

Koicha is going so well now that I’m sifting, I had to make it w/ this. To my surprise it sifts faster than my other matchas (1 min instead of 2)… but it is quite bitter… :( That makes me sad.

Went to a new cafe for lunch and had this. SO nice to get real unsweetened iced tea! The liquor was EXTREMELY light… barely colored at at. But the flavor was just as strong as the liquor was light. Very good. Although because it was iced prior to my drinking the pearl effect was lost on me. It was also made w/ regular ice cubes.:(

1/2TB each MC chai and MC pu erh. 1 cup each water and Fat Free Smart Balance Milk. Drank while watching a documentary on the Titanic. You’d think I woulda gotten my fill in 7th grade (when the movie came out)- but ever since I can remember (probably kindergarden or before) the 2 things that have always interested me have been the Titanic and the Holocaust- and they still do.

Decided to try koicha w/ this again, sifting this time. 1tsp/40ml water. MUCH better- not gritty or chalky at all. Although I’m not crazy about the fact that it requires sifting to be this good. One of the reasons I love matcha is the short time between “I want matcha” and “Mmmmatcha!”- but sifting adds 2 min. to the process! Which seems like a lot longer when you’re sifting.

Definitely need this after such a long day. 1/2 heaping TB each this and MC pu erh steeped in 1 cup water then added 1 cup Fat Free Smart Balance Milk. Topped w/ whipped cream. SO chocolatey. SO sweet. SO spicey. SO… perfect! The only bad thing is whipped cream + hot beverage = almost instantly collapsing whipped cream.

KOICHA! It’s been a looong day. Up too late last nite. Madison got me up too early this morning. 4 hrs in a car. All afternoon at the museum (which included LOTS of pushing my chair, several hrs in dark rooms, and spending a lot of time straining my neck trying to read exhibit discriptions). And trying to stay up til mite. So I need koicha.

Attempt 2.

1tsp matcha sifted and 40ml water.

Thank God this does not look or taste like a chalky sand castle! It’s actually VERY smooth and creamy (still very thick of course) where as all other koichas I’ve made have been on the verge of too chalky/gritty for my personal taste. I need to sift my other matchas and revisit koicha w/ them. I’d love to give this a 100, but since it absolutely needs to be sifted, I can’t give it more than a 99.

Ok, I love green oolongs and I’ve never had this (or any Jade oolong) before so when this came up as May’s Roots Campaign featured tea I was pretty much suckered in instantly.

2.25g/6oz

This may sound odd… but the raw leaf smells like matcha in a lot of ways. The tightly scrunched green leaves smell sweet, and vegetal, and just plain green. After steeping the liquor is a bright canary yellow and the aroma is a much lighter version of the raw leaf.

Yummm… light- but not weak, clean, smooth, crisp, sweet. Just plain delicious.

1tsp in my tomato soup for lunch. Shocked at how light the matcha flavor is… you could probably add it w/o anyone suspecting anything- except for the odd brown color it creates. I’ve now had a total of 2tsp of matcha powder today… probably not a good idea since I need to go to bed early tonite so I can get up early tomorrow.

Craaap. Ok I really need to think when I’m making matcha. Remember when I said I like following methods/recipes for making tea cuz it lets me go on autopilot? Well that only works if I think just enough to remember the recipe. I wanted to make koicha, but I used 75ml of water instead of 40. And I even took time to sift it which took foreeever… It was good, but I’m rather annoyed w/ myself.

Forgot to log my Usucha from before church yesterday. 1/2tsp matcha/75ml water. Didn’t sift it, but thankfully I didn’t need to. It was very thick (thicker than other Usuchas possibly?) creamy, vegetal, and GREEEN!!! (extra “e” completely intended lol). I’m scoring it as 100 for now. If I can’t figure out koicha, it may go down a couple points- but not much.

My chocolate for the day! Rich, creamy, CHOCOLATEY… slighty fruity. Can’t really taste the mint on top, but that’s ok cuz I’m not sure how mint and honeydew match…

My matcha came today! This is my 1st ceremonial grade matcha so, of course, I had to make koicha!:)

1tsp/40ml hot water.

Hmmm… I’ve never had the matcha stay in one glob like wet sand when I add the water before… I’ve never had to… but maybe I should have sifted it?

It takes a lot of whisking, but I think I finally have a coheasive mixture. It’s thick and GREEN! As soon as I take a sip I realize it’s not really mixed after all… the chunkyness is not cool- it almost makes me want to gag. Due to this matcha fail, I’m gonna hold of rating.

Back on 5/7 Rishi had a FB contest. All you had to do was comment on what tea you’d add to chocolate and why. The winners recieved a 4 piece tea ganache variety pack and a canister of tea (found out the tea was Jasmine Pearls). I was one of the winners! I can’t resist diving into these so here it goes. Should be interesting since I’ve never had anything Earl Grey before.

Hmmm… Obviously getting nice creamy chocolate covered in a chocolate shell. I’m also getting citrus. I think I’m getting bergamot, but it’s kinda hard since I have no clue what it tastes like. Not a fan of the raw leaf on top. All in all, VERY good!

TTB Tea #17:

Made this for dessert. I normally don’t drink herbal/fruit teas… especially bagged, but since I wasn’t gonna be stuck w/ a whole bag it was worth a shot. I’ve never had anything acai flavored before.

There are a lot of ingredients in this… which personally ticks me off. If it’s mixed berry, then call it that. And their soy in it… Huh?

Anyway the raw “leaf” smells like a fruity, licoricey cough medicine…

1 bag (2.29g)/6oz almost boiling water.

The liquor is VERY dark red. Almost black. The flavor is a mix of hot fruit juice, licorice, and medicine… blech.

TTB Tea #16:

I’m not a black tea person- especially bagged… but I know black tea is part of the tea culture in the UK and since this is named for one of the royal family, why not? I’m a sucker for novelty teas.

The liquor is a dull brown color… CRAP! forgot to weigh this. Sigh… Oh well… Slightly sweet smooth flavor. Quite pleasing for even the not black lover like myself. Paired nicely w/ lunch- chicken parmesean. Not sure I’d drink it not paired w/ some sort of food though.

Using leaves from last nite (1 heaping TB steeped for 6 min), added 6oz water and steeped for 7 min.

Dark, coffeish liquor. Slight spice. Not much chocolate… almost like a mocha flavored coffee.

Decided to make my own orange matcha today. 1/2tsp matcha and 75ml orange juice.

Now I normally don’t like cold matcha, but this is very good! Smooth, orangy, w/ a slight matcha flavor. I just wish the matcha would be a bit stronger.

Note to self: Matcha Screwdrivers. I even think the green olive garnish I like in them would go well w/ the matcha.

Well, it looks like it’s Maple Day! Decided to make a sugary maplely chai. 1/2 of this mixed w/ 1/2 Adagio’s Masala Chai + 1tsp sugar free maple syrup and 1TB creme brulee creamer. Quite sweet- couldn’t enjoy this every day. But today, it’s SOOO yummy!

1/2 TB MC chai and 1/2TB MC pu erh. I’m gonna blend the rest of my pu erh this way cuz the pu erh needs the chai spices and the chai needs bigger almond slices.

Tea steeped in 1c. water then added 1c. Fat Free Smart Balance milk and 2TB chocolate chip creme brulee creamer.

Mmmm… VERY chocolatey. VERY spicy. Lots of savory sugary flavor. VERY perfect.

I’m drinking this Koicha style not just for flavor today. It’s not unusual for me to wake up in a lot of back pain (it’s actually more unusual that I don’t), but instead of an intense ache that spreads over my entire back and down my arms today it came in the form of a single line of intense needle like jabbing pains along the back of my waist so I need lots of caffeine and L-theanine to deal w/ the pain.

TTB Tea #15:

The problem I have w/ blends containing more than one type of tea isn’t the flavor… it’s the steeping parameters! I decided to steep this more like I would a green oolong since I figure the black tea probably only makes up 1/3 of the tea.

1 bag (2.23g)/6oz

After 3 min the liquor is VERY red. The aroma is heavy like a black tea, yet green… I can’t explain it.

The flavor is heavy like a black tea, yet smooth and sweet. I definitely wouldn’t steep this like a black tea. It’s ok, but I think a person that likes black teas would enjoy it a lot more.

TTB Tea #14:

1st order of business. This is labeled as a “Pu Erh Oolong” again… and was listed as an oolong here, so I changed it.

The raw leaf is earthy like soil (NOT fecal), but still sweet.

1 bag (3.2g)/6oz nearly boiling water

The liquor is a dark reddish brown and it almost looks thick like mud. The smell is much like the raw leaf, only more soil is coming out.

YAY! NO “pu” flavor! It’s still very earthy, but that’s it- just soil. The sweetness that was in the aroma is also there so it’s not like I’m drinking dirt. The mouth feel is also thicker as the liquor predicts. A good bagged shu.