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This smells so sweet and buttery, like sweet potato pie, or butterscotch. The flavor is more rugged, showing grain and the peppery side of yunnan rather than chocolate or cream. There is a sweetness though, as I sip longer. The description suggests honey and butter on toast – that seems about right, but it’s a hearty wheat bread, well-toasted and crunchy.

Sometimes when I first sip I’m convinced that I oversteeped this, but then the bitterness never actually materializes, it just rolls into that rumbly dark toast taste.

I’m also going to wager that this is highly caffeinated, from the way it’s going to my head already.

Overall, a good strong black tea to drink straight-up and start the day

ETA: On my 3rd steep now, more mild but still flavorful, getting more sparkly spice and a bit of fruit.

western style, 2 heaping tsp to 8oz water

Caramel Matcha comparison tasting, part 2/2!

This review is for the Royal Green matcha with Delicate flavoring.

The royal, when prepared, is a noticeably more vivid green than the classic matcha. It also whisks more easily into a foam, the foam lasts longer, and it smells… more like green tea somehow, in comparison. The caramel flavor isn’t less, exactly, but the tea flavor is more. On sipping, I can really taste a difference between the grades here. Some of the citrus notes I got in the royal Bavarian Cream matcha are also present here, so that’s actually the royal base. The tea is also sweeter! Really just a whole different flavor profile – think, like, sencha vs. gyokuro. Both good, green teas, prepared the same way, but one has a sweetness and depth of flavor.

A teaspoon of milk seemed to bring out all the flavors in the royal matcha in a really interesting way – not just the caramel but also the green tea. With the milk providing a creamy base, each flavor seems to stand more on its own.

As it cools, the royal/delicate doesn’t get bitter at all, it just shows different flavor facets – less bright citrus, more dark green and cream.

If anyone who’s been playing with Red Leaf’s matcha likes green tea and hasn’t tried the higher grades yet, I recommend doing so at least once! The Royal is different and fun.

This who tasting was fun! And now I have lots of caramel for blending with my other dessert flavors :)

You can buy this at http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/caramel-matcha.html

I set out to compare my 3 caramel matchas side-by-side, so I’m being very precise in my preparation this time: .6g matcha, then 5g cold water and stirring to get all the lumps out, then 2oz hot 185˚ water, then whisk to a foam.

This review is for the Classic Green matcha with Distinctive flavoring.

Now I that I have them both in front of me, I can actually taste the difference between the delicate and distinctive flavorings; it wasn’t immediately obvious to me before. The distinctive smells more strongly of caramel, the delicate more like matcha (duh). The distinctive tastes, not so much more caramel-y as sweeter – the caramel was already there in the delicate, but now it taste truer. I didn’t think to try adding sugar, though many people have said that improves the flavor even more.

I did try adding a teaspoon of milk to each. This really brought out the caramel flavor in the distinctive, where in the delicate it seemed to make the green tea taste a little harsher, oddly enough.

As they cool, the delicate gets a bit bitter but the distinctive really doesn’t – the caramel flavor just takes over more.

One odd thing I noticed was that the distinctive seemed to settle more quickly – I swirled each cup before sipping, every time, and had to swirl this one longer than the delicate to get it re-integrated. Something about the extra flavoring making it denser? Or just coincidence. Either way, a good thing for me to know so that I remember to mix it up before drinking.

You can buy this at http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/caramel-matcha.html

Finally I have time to do the tasting this tea deserves! I had never had Dragonwell tea before, or even a Dragonwell-styled tea, so the appearance of the leaves was quite striking. They’re flat! As if they had been pressed. I prepared it Dragonwell style, with about 3g tea in the bottom of a glass mug, then adding 175˚ water and starting to drink as soon as it’s cool enough. That took a few minutes for me (I’m a wuss – I can’t drink 150˚ water :P) so the liquor was a lovely fragrant pale green by the time I tasted it, and in the meantime I got to enjoy the beauty of the leaves dancing in the water (they float, then some turn vertical and bob up and down a bit, and gradually most sink to the bottom, though several remain upright as if they might float again). It also has the slight haze you get from silver needle teas.

Anyway, once I could drink it this was quite flavorful. I’m not good at identifying green tea flavors, but this is definitely vegetal, some mineral, and a little spicy at times.

I’ve gone through about 16oz water now, and I like this better as it goes on. The flavor waxes and wanes as I add water and let it sit, but overall it gets fuller and sweeter.

Woke up with a little sore throat, so I wanted a plain tea with honey. However, it’s way too early in the day for herbals – I need my morning black! I remembered this one being a bit tart, so it worked out just perfectly with honey.

Strong and yummy black tea base, with lots of true berry flavor. The hibiscus is understated, which I appreciate. It tastes like the tartness is coming from the blueberry and raspberry.