imTulip said

Tea newbie - Need some matcha and loose leaf infusion advice.

I never drank tea my whole life until a month ago when my friend told me about the wonders of matcha. I don’t do hot drinks so what I have been doing is:

In a blender bottle, take 1 tsp of Matcha, a packet of truvia, add ice, add cold water, add lemon juice. Shake shake shake.

This has worked well and is easy to do at work in the morning.

Somehow my matcha disappeared at work and I was at a mall today and walked into suckerville AKA Teavana to see if they had some matcha. I walked out with mactha plus 3 bags of loose leaf herbal tea infusions. They made me a cup of matcha with peach infusion and it was so good. I asked them how to replicate this at work and when they told me I didn’t understand at all.

I came home and did lots of google searching and came up with nothing. I got some suggestions from friends. Ended up going to another Teavana and got the Perfectea Maker.

So now I am trying to figure out how to mix everything together at work without having to leave my clients for too long.

I am wondering should I first hot brew the loose leaf in the tea maker and then pour it into my blender bottle with the matcha and ice and then shake?

Does this sound right? Is 1tsp of each tea good? My blender bottle is 16oz.

I was getting lots of different opinions today as to when and how to add the matcha so I thought I would run it by you all.

Thanks in advance.

10 Replies
AllanK said

If the perfect tea maker is 16oz you need two to three tsp for most teas.

imTulip said

It is 15oz but since I am just making 1 serving I was thinkigng 1tsp with half the pitcher full? And 1tsp of matcha with the other 8oz of water/ice

imTulip said

I mean 16oz. Sorry

AllanK said

If you are just filling half the Perfect Tea Maker you will need between 1 and 1 and 1/2 tsp depending on personal preference. This is a general guide and nothing absolute. You may find that more or less tea works for you.

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Uniquity said

I would say it’s your preference. I don’t find matcha ‘dissolves’ well with cold liquid but you were doing it that way and liked it so if you want to add it in at the end, that works.

I also might be misunderstanding you… I think you want to make iced tea with matcha? You can either do as you said above (brew the tea hot, pour over ice, add matcha at whatever stage works for you) or do cold brew of the tea (and again add the matcha whenever works for you). To cold brew, just put your desired amount of tea in cold water, put it in the fridge and steep it until you like the taste. With an herbal, I’d leave it a day but I do things differently. I would add the matcha individually when drinking (you could do a pitcher of iced tea this way) but you can probably add it at the start. I just think it would try to ‘separate’.

Anyway, whatever way you choose to go, it’s good if you enjoy it.

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Knowing Teavana’s track record, use 3 times the amount of loose herbal tea as your base (in your case, the peach tea) than whats on the package. Teavana makes their samples really strong, so it’s quite misleading. http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/191252151.html

I wouldn’t steep it together as herbals generally need much hotter water, which will bitter your matcha. You then more or less gotta get your iced tea method down. This is what I do for iced teas:

1. Steep the herbal in the gravity steeper, don’t fill it that much with water, say 1/3 at most. Oh and use what sounds like 6 tsp of tea (LOL teavana!)
2. Pour it in your blender bottle full of ice (or chill the tea if you have time)
3. Add matcha and your sweetener of choice.
4. shake

I get good results with cold matcha + blender bottle, I used to make matcha all the time like this. I haven’t tried mixing matcha with herbal iced teas, but I can see it being pretty good.

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imTulip said

Thanks so much for the tips.
I tried it today pretty much like Awkward Soul suggested and it was delicious. I think tomorrow I will add a little more of the peach herbal tea.

I will dig around here more looking for cheaper Teavana alternatives so that I don’t go broke.

Are you in the US? Upton is pretty cheap http://www.uptontea.com/ Looking at their herbals, it’s $7.80 for 125g / 4.4oz (almost half price). Teavana also does a big online 75% off sale around New Years.

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Frolic select said

If you like flavored matcha’s try Red Leaf.

One of my favorite summer drinks is a little spoonful of coconut matcha and one of cheesecake. Put them in a blender bottle with ice and water, shake and enjoy.

Makes a pleasant tasting cold caffeinated beverage with very little effort.

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If the matcha doesn’t dissolve quickly, use a bit of warm water and make a paste. Then you can easily mix it with your other ingredients.

Since you’re mixing the matcha, don’t use an expensive one. A cooking grade matcha will do.

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