Category: Review

Posted on

DavidsTea’s Mango Matcha

Mango Matcha by DavidsTea
Green Tea (Matcha) / Flavoured
$9.98 for 50g

First Impressions

Mango Matcha is a matcha drink mix from DavidsTea. It came to me in the mail in a sealed, resealable pouch. Firstly, I’d like to address the change in the labelling from DavidsTea. I found that the teal of the DavidsTea branding to be a bit difficult to read from the green background – along with the white text on the green background (but not as difficult as the teal on green). I’m no longer surprised by the fact that Mango Matcha has sugar as the first ingredient, because I’ve gotten used to that now and am a little bit less annoyed by the presence.

Mango Matcha is a lovely spring green colour, with a hint of sparkle from the sugar. The aroma is strongly mango with a bit of grassy undertones. Mango Matcha consists of: cane sugar, matcha green tea, natural mango flavouring with annatto extract.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends repairing Mango Matcha in 85°C (185°F) water with a whisk. I followed the temperature recommendation and whisked it directly in my cup. The nice thing about the DavidsTea matcha drink mixes is that you don’t have to sift the powder first because it dissolves quite easily.

If you’ve never made matcha before, I’ve got an article for you that discusses The Basics of Preparing Matcha.

First Taste

Mango Matcha whisks into a nice deep forest green. Not a whole lot of frothy bubbles regardless of how much I tried, but it’s a vibrant green with a very strong mango aroma from the whisked up powder. I found it to be quite sweet, strong mango flavours, with subtle grassy notes in the background. It’s a pleasant drink hot.

I did end up adding some milk to it (organic soy milk) to make it to matcha latte – it helps cut the sugary sweetness down significantly, while adding a nice level of creaminess to it and the mango isn’t muted at all.

A Second Cup?

As a matcha is a suspension, there were no second steeps at all.

My Overall Impression

&

I loved and liked DavidsTea’s Mango Matcha. I liked it hot and plain – but the sugary sweetness was just a bit too much for me, even though I have a really strong sweet tooth. The addition of soy milk really helped to lower the sugar content down a bit, just by adding a little something to help cut the sweetness level. I think Mango Matcha would be great if you like a super sweet drink, but definitely utilize this as a latte base if you’re wanting something that’s got some good mango flavour, a nice grassy background, but not too sweet. Matcha latte is definitely the way to go with this one.

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

Posted on

Sunny M’s Cascara Tea

Cascara Tea by Sunny M
Herbal Infusion / Straight

Sunny M has provided me with Cascara Tea for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Fun fact, Cascara Tea is not a tea at all – it’s a tisane! It’s also called coffee cherry tea, and is made from the dried skin of the coffee fruit. Inside of the fruit is where you find the actual coffee beans themselves – but that’s a story for another day. Cascara Tea came in a sealed, resealable pouch from Sunny M with some information about the product. I did a search for Cascara Tea on the Sunny M website and it’s not currently available. But no matter, that’s what the internet is for, right?

Cascara Tea is from the Costa Rica Sonora Estate, it’s a nano lot and only consists of cascara. The aroma of Cascara Tea is a bit like a roasted chocolate aroma, with a hint of fruity sweetness. It’s definitely intriguing! And check out the look of the dry leaf itself – the tisane consists of these pieces of the dried coffee cherry fruit skin.

Preparation

No preparation information from Sunny M available at this time, but I opted to steep in 93°C (200°F) water for 5 minutes. 200°F is the ‘French Press’ temperature setting on my variable temperature kettle.

First Taste

Cascara Tea steeps to a orange-brown colour. It’s clear, has a nice aroma to it that reminds me a bit of chocolate and fruitiness, which is appealing. There’s a nice smoothness to it, with a slight bitterness at the tail end of each sip. I find that it has a thickened mouthfeel to it, which is smooth, and has a great flavour to it – I find it to be a blend of chocolate-notes, with some fruity notes that remind me of a bit of currants and rosehips. The sweetness that I find in this cup is really nice and pairs well with the flavour of currants.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Cascara Tea and found that it tasted like a very watered down version of the initial steep. I’d recommend sticking to the initial steep for Cascara Tea for maximum flavour and to leave it with a pleasant taste in your mouth.

My Overall Impression

I liked Sunny M’s Cascara Tea. I found it to be really pleasant, and was nothing like coffee (bonus!). The chocolate notes and the fruity flavours that remind me of currants made for a pleasant cup to drink. I did find some hints of bitterness at the tail end of each sip, but it wasn’t enough to keep me from finishing the cup. Cascara Tea has a really nice smoothness to it, that I think is enjoyable as an alternative to coffee if you’re trying to get away from it – since cascara does naturally contain caffeine, but not as much as coffee.

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

Posted on

Dessert by Deb’s Lemon Sugar Cookie

Lemon Sugar Cookie by Dessert by Deb
Black Tea & Rooibos / Flavoured
$16.00 for 75g

Lemon Sugar Cookie is an exclusive blend for Dessert by Deb subscription subscribers and is available for purchase by subscribers only at this time.

First Impressions

Lemon Sugar Cookie is a black tea and rooibos blend that came to me as part of my subscription box. This blend is a subscriber exclusive, hence the labeling of The Tea Society Club. I find the exclusivity of tea blends to be a really neat treat for being a member. The blend comes in a pale pink pouch with a familiar and colourful label.

Lemon Sugar Cookie consists of organic: black tea, fair trade rooibos, lemon peel, vanilla, Canadian maple, and brown sugar. When I ripped open the packaging, the first thing I noticed was the citrus notes. The lemon is really bright and inviting and honestly smells like fresh lemon zest. The maple notes and brown sugar are blending well together in terms of fragrance, and it reminds me of baking. I can smell the rooibos base more than the black tea, which is unfortunate for me because rooibos just isn’t my favourite ingredient (to drink straight up). The vanilla is something I find that kind of lingers in the background, but it’s definitely present!

Preparation

Dessert by Deb recommends steeping Lemon Sugar Cookie in 100°C (212°F) water for 4 to 6 minutes. I opted to do an initial steep for 5 minutes, just going for middle of the road with the steeping time.

First Taste

Lemon Sugar Cookie steeps to nice golden orange. The aroma is a blend of lemon and vanilla. There’s some molasses notes that I find as well when smelling the tea. The flavour is interesting. I can taste the lemon, the sweetness from the brown sugar and maple notes, and I can taste the rooibos. It does have that medicinal quality that I don’t particularly like when it comes to rooibos, but the sweetness from the Canadian maple and brown sugar do a lot to overcome that it and to hide it, so I’m not offended by the flavour of the rooibos (who knew?). The blend steeps really smoothly, and I find that the vanilla notes really pop at the tail end of each sip.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Lemon Sugar Cookie once, adding an additional 30 seconds for the second steep with the same leaves. I found that rooibos base was really flavour forward, so if you’re a fan of rooibos, I would continue steeping the leaves knowing that a lot of the sweetness is gone. If you’re not a fan of rooibos, I’d stick to just the initial steep.

My Overall Impression

I liked Dessert by Deb’s Lemon Sugar Cookie. I found the flavour of the initial steep to be great – I found lemon, molasses-notes, a creamy quality from the vanilla, and enough sweetness to off-set the medicinal notes from rooibos. The blend of ingredients was really great to make me think of a lemon cookie and I think it’s a great representation of the name in the ingredients. I would have liked the black tea base to be more forward and easier to find in the flavour, but the brown sugar and Canadian maple do a great job of hiding things with that high level of sweetness (which I greatly enjoyed!).

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