Category: Review

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California Tea House’s Imperial Gyokuro Genmaicha

Imperial Gyokuro Genmaicha by California Tea House
Green Tea / Flavoured
$13.00USD for 4oz

California Tea House has provided me with Imperial Gyokuro Genmaicha for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

I love a good genmaicha – for those who aren’t in the know, genmaicha is a green tea with toasted rice. California Tea House has a little twist on this traditional Japanese green tea by using a higher quality green tea in the blend, they’ve used gyokuro (a high quality sencha) instead of sencha or bancha. Imperial Gyokuro Genmaicha came to me in a resealable foil bag that has a clear plastic side so I can see all of the tea. The aroma from the dry leaf is primarily nutty, the toasted rice is quite fragrant!

Imperial Gyokuro Genmaicha consists of gyokuro green tea and toasted rice.

Preparation

California Tea House recommends steeping Imperial Gyokuro Genmaicha in 180°F (82°C) water for 3-4 minutes. I opted to do an initial steep in 175°F (79°C) for 2 minutes.

First Taste

Imperial Gyokuro Genmaicha steeps to a pale yellow, the aroma that comes off from the tea is primarily that of the toasted rice. I found the tea to be pleasantly sweet, with a hint of nuttiness and just a touch of vegetal goodness that reminds me a lot of gailan (Chinese broccoli). It’s a very pleasant green tea – there’s a smoothness to the tea that makes for a nice mouthfeel, and there’s zero bitterness at the temperature and length of time that I opted to steep this green tea for.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Imperial Gyokuro Genmaicha a total of four times (five steeps total), and I increased the steeping time by 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. I found that the colour deepened for the first two resteeps, and started to get paler for the last two resteeps. The flavours intensified as the colour of the steeped tea darkened. The nutty sweetness from the toasted rice remained present throughout all of the steeps and the tea remained smooth.

My Overall Impression

I loved California Tea House’s Imperial Gyokuro Genmaicha. I found this twist on a classic Japanese green tea to be quite pleasant. I really enjoyed the nuttiness and sweetness that I found in the flavour profile, and it resteeped well. The vegetal flavour of gailan was a nice surprise, and it was provided a nice savoury green tea base to go with the toasted rice, which made it quite tasty.

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Pluck’s Spa Day

Spa Day by Pluck
Herbal Infusion / Flavoured
$8.00 for 30g

Pluck’s Spa Day came to me as part of a subscription box from The Sugared Teacup.

First Impressions

Sometimes it’s nice to have a cuppa and unwind, and sometimes it’s also nice to have a cup of something that isn’t caffeinated before bedtime. I was really excited when I found Spa Day in my subscription box from Deb at The Sugared Teacup, because I’m always looking for new herbal infusions to try out to see if they’ll fit the bill for me. Spa Day comes in a resealable bag that’s see-through on the front so you can see all the ingredients. The aroma of this blend is primarily that of mint, mint, and more mint.

Spa Day consists of peppermint, spearmint, honeybush leaves, chamomile, hibiscus, calendula petals, osmanthus petals, rosebuds – all organic. It’s not surprising that the first (and last) aroma from this bag is minty. I think if I were to have been blindfolded when sniffing it, I would have thought it was a pure peppermint tisane!

Preparation

Pluck recommends steeping Spa Day in 100°C (212°F) water for 4 to 6 minutes. I did an initial steep of Spa Day for 5 minutes.

First Taste

Spa Day steeps to a beautiful almost ruby-red colour – I attribute a lot of the colour to the hibiscus in the blend. The aroma of the tea is primarily that of the mints – peppermint & spearmint, which I don’t find surprisingly considering those were the overwhelming fragrances coming from the dry leaf. On first sip, I found there was a tartness that gave way to sweet very quickly. The mint leaves a refreshing cool finish to each sip. Unfortunately, I found that the floral notes that should have been present were quite lost, but I think the tartness might be from the hibiscus – and possibly the sweet flavours from the flowers.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Spa Day and found the flavours to be quite muted compared to the initial steep. I would say that Spa Day is good for just one steep.

My Overall Impression

I thought that Pluck’s Spa Day was just okay. I was anticipating something a bit more floral, considering there were five different floral ingredients in this blend. If you’re looking for a minty tea that has a touch of tart & sweet, I think this might be the blend for you! It does have some nice refreshing qualities to it, and the mint is so, so strong if you love mint flavours and enjoy a good mint tisane. I do like the sweetness to this tisane, I just wish the flower ingredients had a stronger presence.

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DavidsTea’s Matcha Miso

Matcha Miso by DavidsTea
Green Tea (Matcha) / Flavoured
$12.00 for 100g

First Impressions

A tea is a tea is a tea is a soup? DavidsTea recently released Matcha Miso, which is their latest tea soup mix offering. Described as being an “umami bomb”, I was curious enough to try it out even though you have to buy it in prepacked 100g pouches. The pouch itself has a kraft paper outside with a silver foil lining, with a see-through bottom so you can see the green powder of the soup mix. The aroma of this tea soup mix reminds me a lot of miso soup, which I love having when I’m out for sushi so I do have high hopes for this.

Matcha Miso consists of: matcha green tea, white miso powder, seaweed extract. For those with allergens, it does contain soy (in the miso powder). The aroma of the powder is mostly that of the miso with a hint of vegetal goodness from the matcha itself.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends using 1-2 spoonfuls of Matcha Miso and mixing it with hot water, which is described as “near boiling” on their product page, which is 90-95°C (194-203°F). 1 cup is said to have 390mg of salt, which is 16% of your daily recommended intake. I opted to use a small spoonful of the Matcha Miso powder.

First Taste

Matcha Miso stirs up to be a very greeny-yellow looking colour, it’s not as bright as you would expect a matcha to be which is fair considering that’s not the only ingredient. If you’re familiar to miso soup, you know if you let it sit it starts to separate, which is the same thing that happens here so you do have to stir it to keep the powder suspended throughout. The aroma reminds me a lot of miso soup, and has a nice vegetal fragrance to it.

The taste of Matcha Miso is very much a flavour bomb. I would say the miso is on the forefront, while the matcha plays understudy very well in terms of the balance of flavours. It’s tasty, and I really enjoyed it. I did use less powder and more water to dilute it a fair bit though, and still found it to be quite flavourful. I think using two spoonfuls of the powder would be incredibly salty – but to each their own!

A Second Cup?

Because Matcha Miso is a powder that gets mixed up and then drunk, there are no second steepings!

My Overall Impression

I loved DavidsTea’s Matcha Miso. I was pleasantly surprised by this tea soup mix, I think it’s incredibly flavourful. I think it would be a great soup base for ramen (think noodles, cubed up tofu, bean sprouts, maybe an egg on top) or for some miso soup at home (adding some cubed tofu, seaweed on top) to go on the side of your rolled-at-home sushi. I could see this tea soup mix being versatile in how you could change it up every time to get a different type of soup. The matcha adds such a nice vegetal flavour that it sort of adds an extra level of flavour experience.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.