No notes yet.
256 Tasting Notes
No notes yet.
No notes yet.
No notes yet.
I’ve been having some issues with a bit of bitterness the last couple of times I’ve prepared this matcha, which is really weird because I’ve been doing everything exactly the same. When I figure out the issue, I’ll post an update.
By the way, I got a nice tea thermometer for Christmas, so now I can get more accurate temperatures. I thought I had been steeping this at about 180 F, but it turns out it’s more like 170 or 165. So much for Den’s Tea’s method of cooling in 20-degree increments by pouring the water into a cup before adding it to the tea in the bowl I use for matcha. Maybe I need thinner cups or something.
I was given this tea as part of a gift set from Second Cup. The package claims it’s an estate tea, whole-leaf, and packaged in pyramid tea bags. Well, they got the pyramid tea bags right, at least.
The black tea tastes like your average bagged black, and rather than being whole leaf, it looks like someone took whole leaves and crunched them up awfully vigorously. I had a hard time tasting anything other than the black tea base and the cough syrup cherry flavour, although there’s supposed to be orange flavour and some spices. It really wasn’t what I expected from a holiday blend, although maybe cherry lollipops are some people’s idea of the holidays.
If the packaging hadn’t made this tea sound like it was going to be something special, I likely would have rated it higher. Not impressed. :P
No notes yet.
No notes yet.
No notes yet.
No notes yet.
No notes yet.
No notes yet.
No notes yet.
No notes yet.
This tea was disappointing after the enjoyable regular matcha I got from Got Matcha. I haven’t tried it with milk yet (it’ll be soy, almond, or rice milk when I do try it), but I’m not sure it would improve it much anyway. I don’t like that it’s pre-sweetened, the spice blend isn’t as nice as some chais I’ve had, you can hardly taste the matcha, and you get to drink gritty sediment by the time you get to the end of the cup because the spices haven’t been ground finely enough.
Also, don’t even bother trying to sift it through a strainer and prepare it like regular matcha: you’ll be left with spices that won’t fit through the strainer, and it doesn’t froth at all with a whisk.
I’ll up my rating if it tastes better with milk, but I’m not holding my breath. I’m also reluctant now to try the pumpkin matcha that also came with the package. Thank goodness the full-sized regular matcha was excellent!
I’ve finally rated this tea. I love it thick and extra frothy. As I mentioned in my previous note, it’s a little clumpy, though, like there’s a bit too much moisture in it. That’s my only qualm, and I’ll likely reorder when I’m done the package, which will probably be fairly soon at the rate I’m going through it. I’m finding I’m craving matcha now.
No notes yet.
