3 Leaf Tea

For some reason I’ve found this tea a little difficult to nail down the two times I’ve had it. At first, I mostly only tasted milk. Now I taste slightly bitter matcha with something like sprinkles flavor mixed in there. I didn’t enjoy this as much as the DavidsTEA ones I usually drink. I bought my friend the raspberry flavor for her birthday, and she loved that, but this one isn’t for me. It also stays clumpy and doesn’t mix well so you’re either drinking plain milk or bitter clumps. I know people love this brand, so I wish I’d enjoyed it more!

I only drank this as an addition to smoothies. It added very nice fresh blueberry flavor and hopefully gave me the afternoon boosts I needed. Today was a sipdown, although I still have a few of their others flavors left.

For flavored matcha and powdered hojicha both flavored and unflavored, I would definitely buy from this company again. I have enjoyed everything I tried from them.

I start every day with a smoothie that includes a teaspoon of matcha. I’ve tried experimenting with using flavored matcha before, but because they are always chalk full of sweetener, they made my smoothies waaaaaaaay too unbearably sweet. 3 Leaf Tea has the only unsweetened flavored matcha I could find, so I grabbed a couple of their flavors not long ago and added this as a sample to reach free shipping.

One of my favorite smoothies is a combo of blended coconut milk, mango, vanilla Greek yogurt, and lime juice. I decided to add this matcha instead of plain matcha to go for a mojito vibe, and it worked well! The flavor of the matcha holds out nice and strong against all the smoothie ingredients and adds a very refreshing minty note to the drink. I was expecting a strong peppermint flavor, but I’m actually getting more of a spearmint note. It’s really complimentary with the tangy lime. I can’t comment on the actual matcha itself, as I don’t really taste the grassy matcha taste in smoothies and I pretty much never drink it as a plain drink.

There is only a little left in the sampler pouch now, but I’d definitely be willing to get this one again. I may use what is left paired with a strawberry smoothie to see how much versatility I can get with a strong flavor like mint.

Sipdown! (34 | 189)

Finished off my sample pouch of this one, but I’ve already ordered a bigger size. :D

I’ve been enjoying mixing my matcha flavors together recently, and this one really lends itself to that as lemon can go well with so many things. It’s delicious mixed with birthday cake (I love lemon cake!), but my favorite so far is mixing it with raspberry and then adding some cereal milk-esque Chobani Sweet & Creamy oat creamer. It tastes just like Froot Loops cereal milk!

Definitely one I will stock from now on.

So I had a matcha craving the other day, and since I didn’t currently have any flavored matcha in my cupboard since sipping it all down, I made an order from 3 Leaf. I was pleasantly surprised to see that she offers sample sizes now! Not sure how long those have been available, but you can get 15g instead of the usual 30g for just a bit more than half the price. Sold! :P

Anyway, this is one of the samples I picked up, along with full-sized bags of flavors I already know I love. Having it iced with oat milk this morning, and loving it! It seems like a lemon drop sort of flavor, and combined with the creamy milk it reminds me of lemon pudding or maybe a lemon marshmallow. Exactly what I was hoping for!

Next time I’ll have to try it iced with sparkling water! Also pondering mixing it with birthday cake for a lemon cake vibe…

Shook a teaspoon of this into my iced water for a hike in Malibu Creek State Park. The usually-dry riverbed is deep, the rapids painted neon with massive seaweed blooms. Creekbed to sky, everything is so green. I didn’t plan the color coordination, but bright matcha was right at home.

Sat down at our turnaround point just as I was getting the sugar lows; some gooseberries, an apple, and this refreshing little splash were a perfect pick-me-up. I look forward to having this warm with almond milk, as I think the berries will jam up and really shine.

My first note on this, and it is a sipdown!

This wasn’t bad and I see nearly everyone else loved it. I don’t hate it, but it was the least favorite among the 3 Leaf Teas I have on hand. The reason is butyric acid. Sometimes I can smell it so strongly. It doesn’t come through in the taste. I used this almost exclusively in smoothies so it could blend in with the fruit there.

Butyric acid smells like vomit, and it is in a lot of “natural” flavoring because it occurs naturally in these food in small amounts. I smell it in Lupicia’s Strawberry Black and Fraisier, but not in Carol or Merci Milles Fois. There are other examples, can’t think of them right now, but that aroma was in this tea for me.

Don’t be afraid of this, though. It tastes good, even though the smell made me throw away the first latte I made with it thinking the milk was spoiled!

I am still working up to enjoying powdered teas without additives. Almond milk and a tipple of maple made this taste like a bowl of cheerios with sliced banana.

I got an email for this tea and jumped on it. I love lavender.

I ordered it Friday afternoon. It arrived this morning. Wowzer.

I made my first glass with cold water, a tiny bit of simple syrup, and two scoops of the chashaku and whooshed it with my Aerolatte. I added a little splash of milk. Delish. Then a friend came over and wanted to try it and I did it all over again! Yums!

I felt like the aroma of lavender light when I opened the pouch, but it didn’t get lighter in the actual drink. I like the amount of flavoring, and since two of my good friends who drink tea with me prefer things that are not heavy on flavoring, this will be much to their liking.

I am convinced that this is going to make delicious ice cream so that is probably going to happen tomorrow.

I actually had a sipdown of my plain hojicha powder from the this company but I didn’t take it out of cupboard because I got a new and bigger pouch of it with this order, and I am not even sorry.

March Sipdown Prompt – a tea with a leaf in the logo

First of all, I thought this was going to be the world’ easiest prompt, and then the first two teas I pulled to fulfill didn’t have a single leaf in sight. Well, now I have THREE leaves in the logo with this one!

I had this first as a latte and only tasted hojicha. Maybe it was just me, or I put too much maple syrup, or my tastebuds are just old. Tonight I was just craving something, anything, and decided to try it without milk.

Three matcha scoops of powder, about seven or eight ounces of 160F water, and a little splorp of maple syrup.

And wow, I like this so much better! I love this lemon flavor! It is fresh and light, not sour or tart but just…cheering. Now I am eager to have it cold, too. It seems like it will be so refreshing when hot weather gets here.

I am glad I got the large pouch of this one.

Sipdown! (23 | 103)

Ashmanra kindly sent me a sample of this one to try, thank you!

This is definitely my second favorite after the banana (which is a tough one to beat). I love the subtly sweet cinnamon with the toasty hojicha, such a natural combination. I prepared this as an iced oat latte, but I could imagine it being delicious hot in the fall. I haven’t been drinking much matcha lately, but this will definitely be on my list to buy when I make my next 3 Leaf order! I might have to try the cinnamon matcha as well…

I love this matcha. I got it in my Sipsby box. I love the rich dark chocolate flavor. First time had it as an iced matcha latte with a little sweetener. This time I had it as a hot latte with oat milk and mixed it with peppermint honey and topped with peppermint sprinkles. It is delicious this way too. I will definitely buy a bag of this matcha it is one of my favorites.
3 Leaf has my favorite flavored matcha’s.

We tried this one last night. I am happy to say that once again, the caffeine in hojicha did not keep me awake. It must be a truly minuscule amount.

As with the other flavored hojicha, the cinnamon is pretty light here. I like this one well enough and would drink it if offered, but it is not a repurchase for me. Ashman really raved over the chocolate one but really didn’t say anything about this one, just drank it. So he didn’t hate it but it didn’t make an impression for him.

As soon as I get a few more sipdowns I plan to try more of their flavored matcha.

Sipdown!

Served hot in the rocking chairs before bedtime. The chocolate is so good, not strong but enough to mimic the feeling of having a hot cocoa before bed, which I can’t do because the caffeine and sugar would keep me up.

I have already repurchased by request a full pouch of this for Superanna, to whom I had gifted a sampler. I still have some of the plain Hojicha and I was just going to stick with that, but this cuppa tonight is making think I will probably reorder this one. I will try to behave and wait until my cupboard numbers are lower and I have fewer samples and fewer past date teas.

I made a couple of small lattes last night, served cold not hot. I did sweeten this with a little cane sugar. We had pistachios with it.

I thought it was good, and I think I tasted the hojicha as much or more than the chocolate. What surprised me was how much Ashman liked it. He proclaimed more than once that he liked it a lot, so this might be a repurchase.

The big test for me was…would I be able to sleep? Or would the small amount of caffeine overcome the L-theanine? We had it rather late. We both fell asleep pretty much as usual, so if my body continues to respond this way to hojicha, I see more of it in my future.

I have two pouches of this and will be giving one to Superanna to try to see how she likes it. I am really interested in seeing her review.

Sipdown!

Finished by adding to a banana smoothie. This was part of the order that was my introduction to powdered hojicha, and I guess to hojicha in general. I think from here on I will probably always try to keep at least one hojicha around for evening sipping or when I want tea but not lots of caffeine.

June Sipdown Prompt – drink a tea with milk!

I actually had two lattes today – Birthday Cake Matcha in the afternoon and this one as “dessert.” I made a paste of the powder and sugar, divided it between two glasses, added milk and frothed it, and topped it with a little whipped cream and some sprinkles that ChelseaR gave me.

The banana flavor is so mild but really perfect for me. This one is almost gone and I believe it will be a repurchase one day when the cupboard is under control.

I have never tasted anything that wasn’t an actual banana that tasted so much like an actual banana. Everything banana flavored seems to taste like candy Circus Peanuts or Runts.

The aroma was noticeable but not strong in the dry powder. It was a bit subdued even in the whisked tea. The sip was nutty and roasted and then the aftertaste was exactly as if I had just swallowed a bite of a real banana and was still tasting it. Amazing.

I detected no grittiness in the plain hojicha powder and neither did Superanna. This one did have a touch of texture but it doesn’t put me off from drinking this and I did also prepare it differently. Next time I will use maple syrup as a sweetener and use the Aerolatte to froth it and see if the grittiness goes away.

This made me harken back to days when I had a drawer absolutely full of flavored matcha from Red Leaf Tea. (Now called Matcha Outlet.)

This was delicious. The cake flavor is spot on and the matcha isvery nice with no bitterness. Good color and good froth. Would repurchase for sure.