Cofftea

Yesterday- protein water matcha to hold me over for lunch while watching Little Women. Good movie, I should dig out my book and read it again.

Yesterday- added lemon juice instead of lime w/ my Special K protein water. I like lime better.

Backlogging from Sat. This and Special K protein water was the extent of my supper.

Sifting is even worth it for matcha OJ… Wonderful!

I normally don’t pair my matcha with anything except for possibly a piece of fruit on occasion, but since it’s that time of year, I decided to pair it w/ a Thin Mint Girl Scout cookie. Sooo good! Reminds me of my favorite non coffee Starbucks winter drink. :) Even though I like to take my time drinking my matcha and don’t mind rewisking it (especially when this doesn’t need much), I still find eating while drinking matcha a bit awkward. I think I’m going to make shortbread then dip them in mint matcha chocolate ganache to get the same flavors.

This makes the perfect matcha OJ! This matcha has definitely proven to be worth a 100. Not just a 100 though, but “this deserves a 100 and I need to go thru and down grade all other matchas”. Yay!

Ok… the official test. 1tsp poperly sifted and whisked in my chawan w/ 8oz hot water which is 4x the suggested serving size on the bag.

Now this is interesting… My first observation is that it’s very easy to sift. So much so that very few of the tiny wholes in my sifter are clogged with matcha. Ease of cleaning my sifter after use will definitely give this matcha brownie points.

As soon as I pour the water over the matcha powder, it starts to mix and even froth at the edges. This quality is not exclusive to this matcha, but it’s definitely a nice thing to see. It whisks quickly and easily and forms quite a bit of froth, even for someone like me who still isn’t very skilled at froth making.

Yummm… WOW. This has a nice strong flavor, but also a smooth quality instead of a harshness that one might expect from consuming the entire tea leaf. This is the smoothest matcha I’ve had w/o being weak in flavor. I like to take my time drinking matcha and I absolutely don’t mind rewisking halfway thru if that’s what it takes for me to enjoy the entire bowl, but this needs very little rewisking because the mouthfeel is smooth in addition to the flavor.

I’ve said in the past that my palate is not yet refined to say x matcha is “the best I’ve ever tried”, but I think taking into account all factors (even those that, in all honesty, don’t reflect taste such as the price), this is the best matcha I’ve ever had. I just hope it stands up to matcha OJ- that’s the last test for me.

TRY THIS!

I’m broke again. Like really broke. Why is it when I encounter financial issues like this I also ran out of matcha? My financial situation caused me to do some research and I did a search for “organic ceremonial grade matcha”. Low and behold, I found this! I’ve never even heard of Urbana before. Really? Could it be? The price seems too good to be true! The only matcha I’ve had that is comparable in price is Lupicia’s 100g matcha which is a dollar cheaper at $15, but that’s neither organice or ceremonial grade, both of which are greatly important to me when it comes to matcha. Don’t get me wrong, Lupicia’s is by far better than no matcha at all and I would by it again in a heart beat again if I needed to, but it’s a bit flat- especially when I make matcha OJ.

(Back log from yesterday)… Holy excessive packaging! The box is huge for one small pouch which means there’s also a ton of paper padding inside. I’m also not happy with the price that this excessive packaging costs- almost $8!

I breathe a sigh of relief when I open the package. It’s definitely green. Much more vibrant than Lupicia’s and the aroma is quite strong too.

Since it was my best friend’s birthday, I decided to forgo traditional preparation and make a double portion (2tsp/16oz hot water) in my large mug that Irina got me for Christmas last year.

I can tell that this definitely needs sifting and I’m not getting the froth on top, but this is really good! I’ll give it a score and elaborate more on the mouthfeel when I have a chance to whisk it later, but this is definitely better than Lupicia’s and something I would (and will be) getting in the future- but would also recommend it to anyone… including Irina. :) And to avoid the insane shipping, I’ll just buy 3 at once… I drink enough of it that it’d stay fresh no problem lol.

I needed something to cleanse my palate after the tomato basil tea and since I wanted something clean and light rather than something like matcha that would have also worked, but would have coated my tongue, I went for this. I also don’t have much matcha left lol. 2x cup just the way I like it- lotsa leaf, cooler water, short steeping time. I’ll be so heart broken when this is gone.

Decided to play w/ this a bit and add 1/8tsp each dried oregano and garlic powder and have it w/ my lunch (Left over buffalo chicken pizza I added pineapple and corn to dipped in tetziki sauce w/ a pear and a salad w/ cucumber, carrot, cranberries, and shreadded coconut w/ Italian dressing.)

Now this looks like tomato soup! While pale, it’s red and slightly opaque. Smells like tomato soup too!

OHMYWOW! This is so good! The oregano and garlic really beat the lapsang into submition to the point where it’s pretty much hiding. It does make the tomatoes taste as if they’re fire roasted instead of stewed though. For a person who hates tomato juice and exceptionally watery pasta sauces, I’m shocked I love this so much. This cuppa absolutely gets a 100 in my book.

A salsa flavored tea would be good! Tomato, black and red pepper, onion, cilantro, jalapeno, garlic… maybe a version w/ a bit of watermelon and mango (the type of salsa I like on my fish tacos).

I had no clue what to have for dinner by the time Biggest Loser came on so I shook this (2tsp) into 16oz of water w/ a packet of Special K protein water (Pink Lemonade flavor) and 4TB of lime juice (since it’s so sweet). 2 hours later and I still have no idea what to eat, but I could sure drink this every day… actually I’m realizing that, for the most part, I could rely solely on matcha for my tea consumption (I still love me some chai though). While not thick grade, this is some amazingly awesome stuff and it’s pretty awesomely priced as well.

While I didn’t and couldn’t fathom this, I think I was almost as jazzed as LiberTEAS about this one. I’m all for weird and savory teas… specifically my idea for a hot dog flavored black so I’m hoping if this one goes over well, that will be next.

Whoa… TOMATO. W/ a bit of lapsang souchong. Note to self: Tomato tea smells nasty. But, that’s what it’s supposed to smell like so at least it’s accurate.

I actually got this yesterday, but I didnt’ get the mail in til this morning so I decided to have this for breakfast which is normal for me. I’ve never had tomato soup (which I hope this tastes like) for breakfast perse, but I’m not a fan of typical breakfast foods for breakfast.

Pretty normal steeping parameters for a flavored black tea for me. The liquor is a reddish brown that’s fairly translucent and the aroma is much like the raw leaf except it’s slightly more smokey and and less tomatoey.

Yep. That’s what I feared. While I can taste the tomato, the lapsang is way too strong. So much so that it’s the dominant flavor and completely masks the basil and pepper. This tastes more like BBQ smoked ribs w/ a tomato sauce topping than a tomato soup. I think a Yunann region black tea would have been a better choice. Love the idea though.

Inspired by TeaEqualsBliss yesterday, I did some experimenting and used half (1/2tsp) of this and half Tipu’s instant chai. Served clean.

Hm. Interesting. The flavor profile is layered. The chai rises to the top, the coffee sinks to the bottom and grounds the tea, while the caramel mixes between the two. The caramel isn’t as strong as I’d like it, but I think that’s just because I’ve been congested for 11 days and the other 2 flavors are easier to pick up on. A good cuppa!

Unfortunately the whole reason I revisited this was because I’ve finally had Adagio’s version… but my tasting note for that was deleted. :( Good news is I’m finally getting the apple. I would give it a 100, but there’s a slight spice that I’m not sure should be there for a candied apple- although it’s very yummy.

Added 2 TB of lime juice to my coconut water matcha this morning and it was MUCH better. It’s nice to drink matcha and not gag lol.

I need to start drinking coconut water because of its high dose of electrolytes. But I HATE coconut. So I decided to add matcha to it. Everything’s better w/ matcha, right? I took a small sip of it before adding the matcha and shockingly it doesn’t really taste like coconut. It’s REALLY sweet (I can’t believe companies actually sweeten this) and has a slightly off taste I can’t place. Maybe this won’t be so bad because I like matcha lemonade.

Ok… BAD idea. I’m not sure how or why, but matcha made this worse! I had to chug it really fast and gaged when I was done. BAD, BAD, BAD idea. Can someone please give me an idea for a coconut water/matcha combo that won’t make me want to puke?

Made this the way I always do… 1TB chai stirred into 1 cup boiling water then added 1 cup cold milk while continuing to stir. Although I didn’t pay attention to what spoon I grabbed. I grabbed a plastic spoon from Dairy Queen because of the length of the handle. Ended up w/ a bent spoon by the end of my cuppa. Lovely. :)

Mom officially thinks I’m nuts. Was running late for church so I didn’t even have to ime to nuke water and drink hot matcha this morning so I drank my matcha OJ. Halfway thru chugging it I stop and burst out laughing. OJ is gold (kinda) and matcha is green- Packer colors. Funny thing is even though I live in WI I didn’t even want the Packers to be NFC champs and I don’t even get Fox so I can’t watch the commercials (the only part I care about). I love how the irony in my life is always unintentional. Oh well. Here’s to matcha, church, good commercials, and if the Packers get a win, that’s great.

Ok, I’m going to apologize for this in advance. This will make no sense. At first I was absolutely terrified about the steeping parameters (I did it for the full 15 min)… But it was not as horrible as I feared. It was actually REALLY GOOD! It’s fruity, but not. Strong, but not bitter. Smooth in fact. Inspite of the long steeping time, it’s not nearly as sweet as Twining’s Raspberry Echinacea… but not NEARLY as foul as Celestial Seasonings’ Echinacea. There’s just a touch of medicinal quality that’s more like a minty freshness. But yet not. Hm. I’m confused. I just just know I like it. The saying “the best things in life can’t be described in words” is definitely right. Yum.

I bought a pound of this when the 15% code was active. Shipping is really expensive though. Almost $7.50 for this and a 4oz package and my friend that introduced me to it said shipping is about $20 for a container of the concentrate. Luckily there’s a place 45 min from my house (and in the same town my cousin who comes home every weekend goes to college) that sells it. I must price compare sometime.

Anyway… I have a massive headache so I made a 16oz mug (per my usual when I don’t add it to drip coffee) heavily spiced to drink w/ my 2 asprin. I used 1TB (yes, tablespoon) for my 16oz mug and then added 3TB of spiced rum creamer. You’d think I’d die from the spice, but all the creamer does amazing things to calm the spice. Anyone wanna take bets on if my headache will go away before the chai burns a hole in my stomach? lol.

Oh, and P.S. my friend gave the rest of her slow brew to her gastro-intestinal Dr. who’s an Indian man and he said this really is the real deal.

I hate red rooibos. Completely loath it. So I was terrified to try the green version, but I was suckered into it by RoT’s savory greenbush blends… and I love ’em. This is my 1st unflavored greenbush.

The liquor is not green at all. It’s bright orange… like BRIGHT orange. It’s pumpkin almost verging on blaze orange. The aroma is light and slighty fruity.

What an interesting tea… It’s smooth, woody. My grandfather was a wood worker by hobby before he retired so I smelled so much wood I could almost taste it as a small child- and I really think this is what wood would taste like if you licked it. There’s also a slight fruity note. And warmth. Warmth in the flavor, beyond the temperature. Almost like faint notes of cinnamon. Pretty good!

Ahhhh… This makes me happy. I like a bit of clove in my chai, but I was elated to see it missing from this blend after the Gingerbread disaster from Adagio. It’s not a chai, but it was all clove. Seriously. Like drinking perfume. Well… like not drinking perfume… because I couldn’t finish the cup. Do you know what it takes for me to not finish a cup of tea? Ok, I’m done now.

Made this a latte this morning. 2tsp/8oz water/8oz Smart Balance milk/8min. Lol just noticed the 8 theme there.

Spectacular… I can actually drink this! lol. I don’t like gingerbread, but I can definitely taste the gingerbread flavors and enjoy them. Not bad.

Paired this w/ a Healthy Choice Pineapple Chicken tv dinner. Went well, but there was a bit too much fruityness going on in the meal and I think a cucumber tea would have been a better choice. Surprisingly it has just as much juicyness hot as cold.

I normally wouldn’t pair a fruity tea w/ a meal, but I had some left over tzatziki sauce from the Greek chicken we had for supper the other night so I had it w/ some fish sticks and served a 16oz glass of this w/ it.

Cucumber in the tzatziki echos the pickle in tartar sauce- bingo.

The melon (of course) pairs beautifully w/ the cucumber and comes across just as wonderful as it did when it was paired w/ cucumber for Frank’s Cucumber Melon Green Tea. I normally don’t get “juicy” from a tea like a lot of others do, but this is juicy. I had this cold so I think that added to the ease of me finding that quality.

Hey, Frank… what about a tzatziki tea?