Awkward Soul

WOOOWWWEEE!

I made an iced soy latte this morning with the eggnog matcha. Tried it on the tea hating husband (who dislikes any form of tea taste). He’s tried the bavarian cream, caramel, cookies and cream, cheesecake matchas – all of them he disliked as he could taste the tea.

He took a sip of my eggnog matcha. Long pause, looking confused.
“I guess I could drink this..” he quietly said.
“Really? How about I make a cup for you with your whole milk?”
He pauses again. “Maybe on a weekday to keep me awake.”

I then asked him what it tasted like. “Sweet egg? I dunno.” DERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRP!

Well, I guess this was a success.

Oh my! As soon as I saw this tea up for sale I had to get it!

DRY: Smells strongly like pumpkin pie spices, I can really pick out cloves! Reminds me of my dad’s pumpkin pie – lots of spice!

STEEPED: A nice dark brown, smells like more pumpkin pie spice with a hint of caramel sweetness.

TASTE: Spices (clove, nutmeg) with a depth of pumpkin taste. Also caramel flavor. The pumpkin taste I find impressive as I could almost sense the texture in my head, it’s that spot on. The cheesecake flavor is really in the background. Sometimes I notice it, other times I can’t – might be from the spices being pretty forward. Bit of bitterness, but I always seem to wrestle with 52 teas’ black teas for steeping times and temperatures.

Sweetened, the caramel comes out and virtually no bitterness.

COMMENTS: Very good pumpkin tea, that’s for sure! Great use of spice, the caramel is nice too! I wish there was more cheesecake twang, but could be moreso with tinkering with temperatures and steep time.
Great fall tea! yum yum! I love fall, but I wish here in southern california it was more fall looking. Apparently over the next few days it’s another 105 degree heat wave. UGGG!

I love eggnog! I’d drink the stuff all year round if I could! But I cannot drink it. I was vegan during university and vegetarian for a couple years after that and of course during that time I ditched dairy. When I stopped being vegetarian I found out I’m lactose intolerant, since I lost the enzymes to drink milk. Higher fat content milk hits me the worst. I still don’t drink cow milk. Plus, actual egg nog has CRAZY amounts of calories and fat. My husband, last year, trying to get some extra calories, spliced leftover egg nog with leftover heavy cream for a high calorie drink. Ew.

While being vegan/vegetarian I’ve ventured into Soy nog. IMO, the stuff is terrible! It’s watery, barely flavored, no depth and the eggy part tastes stale and weird. I’ve tried a bunch of different brands and never found one I remotely liked. When I saw Red Leaf Tea’s Eggnog matcha, hey.. this might have some potential to have an eggnog on my terms! I’ve been wanting this matcha for awhile, but kept procrastinating on purchasing it.

Specs on the matcha I’m drinking:

Eggnog Matcha
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/eggnog-matcha.html
Quality: Classic (Basic Grade)
Flavor: Robust

Out of the package, the eggnog matcha smells slightly eggy and spicy. I thought it would smell stronger, like the pistachio matcha I got recently.

Prepared as a traditional hot matcha, I can taste the eggnog, but in matcha form! The base of bold green tea is there, with a eggy taste second, with a vanilla and nutmeg hit. This matcha is also slightly sweet. No bitterness or astringency.

Now the best part, a Red Leaf Tea Matcha prepared as a latte! I made mine cold, whisking 1/2tsp of egg nog matcha into some soy milk and a little sweetener. I find the eggy taste is the strongest! I love eggy taste! Next is the creamy vanilla and a hint of spice. This was really sweet, so I’d go a little less on sweetener next time. And next time I should add a sprinkling of nutmeg or cinnamon ontop.

The flavoring in this is really strong, as a Robust flavor, I cannot taste the matcha in this in the latte. Good for me as I love the egg nog taste, but for others who want the matcha taste, I’d go to distinctive or delicate.

The only thing missing for this to be perfectly like eggnog is the consistency. This might go well with a thicker soy milk (like the very vanilla Silk soy milk) or whisk in a little instant vanilla pudding mix. Of course, this egg nog matcha latte is green, so more festive!

Tea peeps, give this one a shot!

Pistachio Matcha.. what, no one else here has tried this one? Psshhhhhh! I’m a pistachio fan, I doubt I’m the only one!

Specs on the matcha I’m drinking:

Pistachio Matcha
Quality: Classic (Basic Grade)
Flavor: Distinctive
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/pistachio-matcha.html

The matcha straight out of the bag smells very strongly like sweet pistachio, reminding me of pistachio halva. Hey.. that’s an idea, sweetening this with some honey and a spoon of tahini? Ehh, that sounds a little too nutty. Very intoxicating smell!

The matcha frothed up well during whisking and is a lovely green colour, matching a perfect colour to pistachios too!

As a traditional cup of hot matcha, great strong earthy green tea base holding hands next to the pistachio flavor. The matcha isn’t astringent. Slight bitterness, but it fits the bill almost with a smokeyness of the pistachio. There is a sweet nutty taste at the end of my sip. The best part of this cup is that sweet nutty taste, very well done! I’m thinking I could drink this one as a traditional cup all the time.

As a iced latte (prepared with matcha, ice, soy milk and a bit of sweetner), this pretty much tastes like pistachio ice cream! Creamy, sweet, and nutty with strong green tea base. This one came out sweeter than normal because of the sweetness of the flavoring. With that said, if adding sweetener, be gentle.

I usually order “Robust” flavoring, this being my first “distinctive” flavoring. I found the matcha is near balanced with the flavoring, rather than the flavoring being in your face. This is a great flavoring selection if you want to enjoy the matcha earthyness more.

So my tea peeps, totally give this one a shot. I guess it sounds kinda weird since I think others might associate pistachios as just a salty snack, but this one is sweet, nutty and tasty!

ERRR! I was gonna make this iced, but then added too much hot water in excitement of having this tea. Hot it is then, still delicious, juicy watermelon! YUM!

Blocking the shawl of doom right now, here’s a pic of it I posted on Twitter https://twitter.com/awkwardsoul/status/251725214323445760/photo/1/large

Thanks to Kittena for a sample!

I get to look at my wedding venue today, 2 weeks before the wedding, lol! Yeah, last minute and totally laid back. More excited about eating beef tongue burritos afterward! Heheh! I’m not a wedding person and rather save the cash for a fun honeymoon… once I get my greencard and can leave the country.

I wanted to start my day with a nice black tea and Sweet Velvet Fog appealed to me.

STEEPED: Dark brown colour, malty caramel smell

TASTE: Smooth black tea and surprisingly sweet. Hit of caramel and vanilla. Not getting any astringency or bitterness. I can totally get the caramel and creamy creeping up on me.
Sweetened (not that it needed it, but I already presweetened a batch) the creamyness comes out more. Personally, I think the sweetness in the tea is perfect and does not need further sweetening.

COMMENTS: Very good! I think I might try more of iHeartTeas stuff! Overall, a good dessert tea for peeps who like black teas that are nice and smooth.

I just realized I’ve had this tea for close to a year! SHoot, better drink it up! Though, it looks like I got another couple cups to go.

Still good, but still just as finicky. I still remember the amazing steeping I got one time, tasted crust, spices and pie! Never again.. this cup is close, but not as strong flavored in the apple sense, but heavy on the cinnamon. Might of not added enough leaf. I love the direction of this tea, but I want it to work, mebe I’ll venture into other apple pie teas…

No notes yet.

ICED TEA MODE!

Thought I’d try and kill off older teas before the year ends.

Very oolongy, fruity and kinda weird earthy bite to it that remains as an aftertaste. Not bad iced with agave syrup, but I won’t be getting more of this tea.

I hope my sense of taste has mostly returned. Thanks to Rachel Sincere for this sampling!

STEEPED: Very fruity sweet smell. I think is pomegranate or grenadine. Dark brown colour.

TASTE: Spike of fruityness and slight bitterness over a base of black tea.
Sweetened (and cooled off) I can taste the vanilla and fruityness. Not as bitter.

COMMENTS: Maybe I’m still sick and tasting bitterness? But I could of oversteeped. Taste some good potential if I can get it brewed right!

I’ve been sick for days, but today it is starting to clear up.

Been kinda worried because it was a sinus cold and my sense of taste became bitter for everything! ARGG! So I stopped drinking tea and began crazy creations (straight grated ginger and chili pepper). Today, my sense of taste is returning, but my sense of adventure is still there.

I drank all of my uji genmaicha earlier, so I was thinking of making my own.. if that works.
So… a basic Genmaicha + light dusting of Red Leaf Teas “Raspberry matcha, white matcha” = nutty rice, with a tart bit of raspberry, with a slight astringency from the white matcha. Fun! I think this would of turned out better with a green matcha, but I wanted raspberry.
I suggest others to give this a shot with a flavored matcha!

My next plot: 52 teas Cherry Cheesecake genmaicha + Red Leaf’s “Cheesecake Matcha”

No notes yet.

SICK MODE! (still)

Another great sick tea! Something about earthy deep pu’erh thats great for colds. This one has some citrus and ginger too! I made a big pot of the Skinny this morning and it’s already almost gone! The citrus is making my throat better and the ginger is setting my stomach.

Now.. heres to hoping all this extra tea will make me ditch the extra pounds I put on over the weekend, which is probably in snot! EWW!

SICK MODE ICED TEA!

This is even better with fresh lime slices! I really need to try this hot, but I keep making this iced with honey because it is just amazing. The mate is perking me up a bit, as I rather sit here knitting than snoozing all day. Ugg what kind of plague did my husband give me?? Of course, he just has the sniffles.

Thought I’d toss up shawl progress pics
http://awkwardsoul.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/img_1817-e1348425255110.jpg?w=788
http://awkwardsoul.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/img_1819-e1348425282672.jpg?w=788

SICK MODE!
Ugg, sick. So sick I messed up this steeping, so I have no idea how long I did this. However, I was slightly crazy and added a cm or two slice of fresh ginger to the steeping.

The taste? Uhh ginger mostly, the taste buds are shot! It’s making my throat feel better though!

Jacking this tea to 100, as it saves me in the morning, after concerts and now sick days. Looks like I picked up my husband’s cold, bleck!

I jacked this tea up with some lemon slices and honey to help with the throat pain and it’s doing good! Also perking me up from the lack of sleep I had.

Whoa WHOA!

Just made this iced (double strength over ice, honey and lemon slice for appearances) and WHOA! Creamy! Lemony! Smooth! Awesome! Delicious! Not rooibosy at all!

Need to drink this hot, I’m just short on non caffeinated tea. I’ll do a full tasting review at another time.

Yup, I get my Butiki order today, with 4 new teas + some samples to try and I go drink more Watermelon Xylophone cuz I know I have more!
since I ordered 2 more packs of it!

Very juicy, honey and watermelon taste! Love this tea! YAY!

Holy crabby batman! Just feeling cranky with my SHAWL OF DOOOOM! I have to knit the last row then bind off of HELL (picots) and totally sick of this beast! I’m ready to set this thing on fire!

Matcha break?

Tiramisu ice latte matcha, but with a 1/4 tsp of Caramel matcha! It’s like adding a squirt of caramel sauce on your tiramisu, if it wasn’t bad for you already! Super tasty, totally try it peeps if you got both matchas!

Uggg still cranky. Maybe my Butiki order that should be here in 1 – 2 hours will cheer me up.

3 more rows left on the crazy shawl, however each row takes at least 40 minutes. The edging is supposed to take over 5 hours! GAHHH! It will be done in time, but it’ll be a horrible weekend. I’m going to break it up repainting tea tins and folding paper flowers.

DRY: Smells of chocolate and candied strawberries!

STEEPED: Chocolatey and sweet strawberry smell – Dark brown tea.

TASTE: Black tea base and chocolately upfront. Then a sweet strawberry tang taste pops out. I’d say this is pretty chocolately. Sweetened, it’s a bit creamy and brings out the strawberry more.

COMMENTS: slightly reminds me of DavidsTea’s Love Tea #7, without the floral. However, CCS black tea base is gentler with stronger chocolate.
Tasty, and I think others would love this tea, but not for me as it needs a bit more going on.

I love tiramisu! However, I’ve eaten it only a few times in my life. The best one was actually a matcha tiramisu that I ate at the Richmond Night Market, in Richmond, BC Canada. The green tea tiramisu was so creamy, eggy, green tea, and sweet! I was excited to see that Red Leaf Teas http://www.redleaftea.com/ had created a tiramisu flavor! I’m all over that!

What I ordered:

Tiramisu Matcha
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/tiramisu-matcha.html
Quality: Starter (Basic Grade)
Flavor: Robust (because I love my tiramisu)
Small Tin
By the way, appears there was a packaging change, now it’s in a silver foil bag, still non resealable.

The matcha powder on its own is very sweet and chocolate coffee smell.
Prepared as a regular hot matcha, the froth didn’t maintain itself – something I’ve been noticing whenever I ordered a “robust” level matcha. Without sweetener, it is coffee – like bitter with a hint of chocolate. It was a little too strong coffee bitterness for my liking, so I added a bit of sugar, which made the matcha taste smooth, creamy, little mocha and chocolately. I’m thinking this would be better as a hot latte.

Now onto my favorite part: iced matcha latte! (sifted tiramisu matcha + soy milk + sweetener + ice). This is spot on tiramisu, almost ice creamy since my matcha is cold. I can taste the whipped cream middle, which leaves a creamyness sensation on the tongue afterward, chocolately and slightly eggy. I don’t taste any bitterness and very slight coffee taste. The green tea is very background, from the “robust” flavoring.

Overall, not sure which Red Leaf Tea matcha I like more, Bavarian Cream or Tiramisu. Both and nice and complex. For the tiramisu, it be easy for it to be just mocha flavor, however this matcha pulls off the various elements of tiramisu, impressive! I wanna dust this matcha ontop of a real tiramisu! Oh heck, make my own tiramisu with this matcha, ehhh maybe on a well planned cheat day!

What, no ratings on this tea yet?! This was the tea I was most pumped to try from Della Terra! White chocolate in tea is the freaking bomb!

DRY: Mmm chocolatey – white chocolate smell. Reminds me of a kinder egg chocolate. There are cute thin squares of white chocolate (I ate one).

STEEPED: Mysteriously smells like hot cocoa, milk chocolatey. All the white chocolate appeared to dissolve into the tea, SCORE! I hate when chocolate doesn’t dissolve in my tea. I was a little worried it wouldn’t dissolve because of the cooler water temperature. Thus, a slightly spotty/cloudy golden cup of tea.

TASTE: Very Creamy! Strong malty chocolate taste, with a great white chocolate aftertaste. The white chocolate lingers in my mouth staying all creamy. I did do a longer steep time (2.5 minutes), maybe with that I’m getting some kind of slight astringency or bitterness, hard to explain, but I figure I can try a shorter steep next time. Past the creamyness, this tea is light and works well with the chocolate.

Sweetened lightly, more a mellow even malty white chocolate taste. It really does a super creamy mouth coating feel.

COMMENTS: Chocolate tea lovers, give this one a shot! I’m not sure if I like it sweetened or not, with no sweetener the maltyness was good. Sweetened, more creamy! Grrr! I drank this cup up in record time!

Woot a Della Terra Teas order! OOH YEAH! So much fun looking teas!

I thought I’d share my fav oatmeal cookie recipe http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Oatmeal-Raisin-Toffee-Cookies/Detail.aspx

DRY: Ultra spicy cinnamon smell! WHoa! Lots of raisins and bits of oatmeal.
Weird oatmeal isn’t inthe ingredients list.

STEEPED: MMmmm smells just like an oatmeal cookie! Good amount of cinnamon, buttery, sweet! Light brown colour.

TASTE: Cinnamony spicey hitting the tongue, buttery, brown sugar. Raisin is slightly present but not too strong.
Sweetened, the flavors aren’t as strong, but sweet. I prefer the unsweetened version, but might be interesting sweetened with brown sugar crystals instead.

COMMENTS: Very good and unique! I’m impressed how close to cookie this tea is! I totally recommend giving this tea a shot, I’m going to enjoy each cup!

8 MINUTE STEEEEEP!

Finally decided to try this at the 8 minute steep. Smells much stronger and fruity grape/raisin.

Yeah, that’s ice wine all right – not as sweet as the ice wines I’ve had, but flavor wise it’s pretty close. The longer steep has a strong woodsy and fruity raisin taste. Much sweeter but not overly sweet. It’s just barely starting to go astringent.

YUM! I like both the 4 minute and the 8 minute steep! 2 different personalities!