17147 Tasting Notes
Iced oat milk latte!
Added just a touch of agave to this and it really tied it all together. It’s definitely a rich, smooth cocoa flavour with a cooling, sweet mint undertone. Very fresh but also decadent and nostalgic. I think I’d rate it higher, but the finish does have quite a raw green/vegetal peppermint leaf note that’s hard to ignore. It reminds you in a not totally good but not totally bad way that you’re drinking a ‘healthful’ latte made with real microground ingredients. Not gross, but noticeable.
It’s a pro, however, that as a latte there are zero noticeable texture issues with this powder!
Iced oat milk latte!
I’m pretty pleasantly surprised with this one. The ingredients list is strange and not at all what I’d expect in a Thai iced tea so the fact it works as well as it does is a huge win in my books. Very, very malty black tea base with a bit of earthiness to it as well – though that’s certainly also from the beets that are contributing so beautifully to the cup colour. It’s definitely rich and saturated and in the right ballpark of a Thai milk tea, but slightly more pink-y red than the orange/brown you’d expect. Totally fair and reasonable though – this is done naturally versus through dyes. I thought the sweetness level was really good, it was easy to whisk up and the texture unproblematic.
Overall very solid!
A Thai iced tea powder sounds really interesting. How close is the flavor to traditional Thai iced tea? The “natural” Thai tea mixes I’ve tried seldom match the real thing.
Definitely less sweet and syrupy, and more earthy from the beets but without tasting side by side I felt it was close enough that I certainly would be more than happy drinking it as a replacement.
Nice. I’ll have to pick some up with my next Rishi order.
So I’m on day two of a wicked tension headache and for the most part one of the only relieving things has been ICE COLD drinks. However, I just had this back of my head (pun not intended) feeling that I should make this hot. Y’know what, it worked. Not, like, in the sense that it got rid of my headache but it didn’t make it worse either! In the moment the almost borderline “raw” sweet, resinous notes of carrot with that subtle maple and allspice flavour was pretty soothing. I almost made a second cup, but then I moved on to something cold instead…
Sipdown (2184)!
Yesterday I finished off a sample of Momo Usucha, aka “thin matcha,” that I received from Momo Tea at TO Tea Festival this past January!! It whisked up a beautiful bright green with a thick layer of froth, and a perfectly rich and velvety mouthfeel! In addition to a beautiful umami flavour I found this matcha to be particularly creamy with notes of freshly churned butter complimenting the notes of fresh, leafy collard greens and snow peas. So tasty, and perfectly evocative of the Spring!!
Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CrtxABeI3Ze/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewE4qzvWEGY
Gongfu Sipdown (2185)!
Sipping down the last of this with some soft boiled quails eggs topped with just a pinch of black pepper and hot sauce!! This yancha is so roasty and robust with deep, dark mineral notes of petrified wood, charred chestnuts, cinnamon, stewed plums, oak and just a bit of aromatic vanilla sweetness on the tail end of the sip. The borderline burned notes of chestnut, in particular, stand out with the early steeps – just so heavy and pleasantly bitter. The quail eggs, in contrast, are gamey and unctuous. The thick, golden yolks take the edge off the astringency that crops up as I push for longer and longer steep times, but also don’t drown out the flavour of the tea itself!! As the leaves get closer to being spent and start tasting more plum-y and floral with less of the “back of the chest” roast I did have to pull back on the hot sauce as the pairing was becoming more competitive than complementary. However, all in all this was a great Sunday brunch session!!
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/Crq7iKBIYu2/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_leRVDIZ9E
This is not my first time trying smoked white tea, but even though this first tasting was just Western style I can already tell this is the best smoked white I’ve tried yet! The dry leaf aroma was potent but sweet, with notes of over ripe honeydew and sweetgrass mixed with the camfpire-like overtones. The cake is a little brittle and flaky, but I love the more loose compression. It was very easy to get a good piece off despite the more fragile leaves.
Steeped up the taste strongly reminds me of the sweet mineral aroma of rain; the kind that comes suddenly in heavy sheets like a whip crack in the dead of night. Combined with the smoke notes, which flood the nose and mouth before quickly moving on, I’m transported to the feeling of waking up the morning after a thunderstorm when camping. Groggily opening the tent to rain soaked earth and the lingering smell of last night’s crackingly bonfire still hanging in the air. Fresh, clean smoke. The sip closes out with a faint bit of honey. If it’s not evident, this tea made a pretty striking first impression. Already can’t wait to brew it up again…
Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CroeT2EIhXP/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iypuEbVCcc8
Gongfu!
Since I knew I’d be brewing this up in between working, I knew I was going to need something smooth that could really withstand long, careless brew times. This tea is just so perfect for that style of steeping because the longer you let those leaves soak the more rich, golden and honey-like the liquor gets!
Tea Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/Crl93keIrSt/
Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Zvfj1XJeis
Couldn’t remember if I’d tried this but, of course, it looks like I have. I must have grabbed a bottle a previous Spring/Summer when it started popping up in grocery stores around this time of year. Very, very good though – really spot on taste to the name. Almost felt thicker than a normal kombucha but not in a weird or gross way. More like it was a bit more “juice like” with real fruit puree.
After months of being curious I decided to try out Sakura Co – which is a monthly subscription snack box service with different Japanese sweets. This month was all cherry blossom themed, and it’s been super cool tasting through the box.
This tea was included, and I was excited to try it out. Much to my surprise when I opened the packaging, it wasn’t dry but was instead soaked in some type of liquid. I wrongly assumed sugar syrup of some kind when, in fact, I think it was a saline solution to preserve the flowers. They were, after all, just pure cherry blossoms – and just so beautiful when steeped. One of the most stunning flower teas I’ve ever seen. Subtle pale pink, ethereal, and just breath taking.
The tea tasted like trash, though. Not literally – but it just wasn’t good. Very, very salty and perfume-y to near gag worthy level. Even when a tea is bad I usually try to finish it to not be wasteful and for education’s sake – but I couldn’t make it through this one.
Yikes! What a shame. All flash, no substance.
I love sakura, but hate the salt/saline notes that many sakura teas have from being salt-preserved. I have to find ones that don’t use the salt preserve or use sugar instead. I have made very good sakura-flavored white rice using the “salty” sakura blossoms, though.
How weird, since it’s called “sweet sakura tea” I would assume they were coated in sugar.
FYI, the company that makes this tea also has a Sweet Sakura Black Tea which is so much better – very enjoyable. I found it at Mitsuwa market, so maybe if there is a Japanese grocery near you, you may be able to find it. Just the Sakura flower “tea” is usually too subtle/floral/weird tasting for me as well.
