Category: Review

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Gold Kili’s Matcha Latte

Instant Matcha Latte by Gold Kili
Green Tea (Matcha) / Flavoured
$6.95 for 250g (ten 25g sachets)

First Impressions

Instant Matcha Latte was purchased on a whim one day when I was at the grocery story. The box was bright green, definitely eye catching and intrigued me enough to buy it. It’s a box with ten portions of Instant Matcha Latte drink mix. The box itself is a glossy cardstock, each packet feels like a plastic-coated foil.

Instant Matcha Latte consists of: sugar, refined fully hydrogenated vegetable oil, green tea powder, skimmed milk powder, matcha powder, dipotassium phosphate, mono- and di-glycerides of fatty acids, salt, silicone dioxide, natural flavours, and carotene. It weirds me out how low on the ingredients list that matcha shows up – green tea powder shows up earlier than it does, and sugar is number on! For those curious, there is 14g of sugar per packet and each one is only 25g. The aroma of the powder is really light on the matcha aroma, it otherwise doesn’t have much of a smell to it at all.

Preparation

Gold Kili recommends to pour the contents into a cup, add hot water (180mL), and stir. To make it iced, dissolve in 90mL of hot water and add ice. I opted to have it hot, and I used 185°F (85°C) water since there wasn’t a temperature specified.

First Taste

Instant Matcha Latte is a pale pistachio green, it has a nice lightness to the colour of the matcha that makes me think of a matcha latte. It’s not as deep of a green that I would honestly prefer, but I think it has a lot to do with the amount of matcha that’s present in the mix. The aroma is that of matcha, it’s light on aroma as it is on colour. The flavour is sweet first, grassy notes second. It lacks the umami notes that I look for when it comes to a nice matcha latte.

A Second Cup?

As matcha is a suspension, there were no second steeps with the powder.

My Overall Impression

I thought that Gold Kili’s Instant Matcha Latte was just okay. It’s a quick and easy to make – just heat up some water and stir in the mix. The lack of information about recycling the packaging is a bit disappointing, also the sheer amount of matcha not present in the mix. That said, I think it’d be great for someone who’s always on the go, or for the person who can’t keep matcha making equipment at work. I think it’s a touch too sweet for me, but I think it’d be nice iced and makes for an easy matcha latte when you’ve got a time crunch. It’ll definitely be something that I end up taking to work for an easy matcha latte in the staff room since I don’t get the time needed to whisk and find some zen.

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Masters Teas’s Shi Feng Long Jing

Shi Feng Long Jing by Masters Teas
Green Tea / Straight
$29.00USD for 1.5oz (43g)

Masters Teas has provided me with Shi Feng Long Jing for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Shi Feng Long Jing is an offering from Masters Teas from this year’s spring harvest – which is entirely something I’m interested in because who doesn’t want access to newly harvested tea? Long Jing is also known as Dragonwell (which you may have heard of before), and is one of the more well known types of teas to come out of China. This particularly one comes from Zhejiang, China and is grown at 500m above sea level, and was hand picked, which helps to minimize damage to the leaves and the plant itself.

The tea itself has some beautiful light spring green colours – the leaves are long and flattened, which is a familiar characteristic for dragonwell teas. The colour is incredibly vibrant, and there’s just the slightest nutty aroma coming from the tea.

Preparation

No steeping instructions on the packaging, but from their product page, Master Teas recommends steeping Shi Feng Long Jing in 170°F (77°C) water for 2 to 3 minutes. I opted to do an initial steep with 175°F (79°C) water that had been cooled for about 5 minutes and then used to steep Shi Feng Long Jing for 2 minutes.

First Taste

Shi Feng Long Jing steeps to a very pale yellow colour. There’s a definitely grassy and nutty aroma to it. The flavour is quite subtle, but it’s a smooth cup of green tea for sure. The grassy notes are more prevalent while the nutty flavours linger at the tail end of each sip. There was zero bitterness or astringency at the water temperature I used, and the length of steeping time that I used – something greatly appreciated.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Shi Feng Long Jing seven times (eight steeps total), adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. The tea itself became more yellow as I steeped it, and the flavour got stronger. The grassy notes get strongest by about the third or fourth resteep, which is pleasant to experience.

My Overall Impression

I loved Masters Teas’s Shi Feng Long Jing. I’m a sucker for a decent cup of dragonwell, and Shi Feng Long Jing surpassed my expectations. I loved the opportunity in getting to try a newly harvested tea, and it stood up very well to being resteeped over and over again, so I would highly recommend doing that in order to experience the subtle flavour changes, and getting your money’s worth from this tea since it isn’t on the cheaper side of things. The savoury notes from this year’s dragonwell would make it a great pairing for a meal.

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Dessert by Deb’s Marmalade Thumbprints

Marmalade Thumbprints by Dessert by Deb
Green Tea / Flavoured
$6.00 for 25g

First Impressions

I received Marmalade Thumbprints as part of my Dessert by Deb subscription box, but this one is not subscriber exclusive! Marmalade Thumbprints comes in a soft pink metallic pouch with a colouful label on the front. The packaging is sealed and resealable. This green tea blend is part of the Cakes & Treats Celebration collection, and is one of many blends.

The aroma of Marmalade Thumbprints is delightfully full of citrus aromas – it’s really bright and fresh smelling and reminds me a lot of summer. You can clearly see the green tea and the orange slices in it. Marmalade Thumbprints consists of green tea, orange peel, oranges, Canadian maple, and brown sugar. The green tea base is lovely to look at, and all of the ingredients are organic.

Preparation

Dessert by Deb recommends steeping Marmalade Thumbprints in 200°F (93°C) water for 4 to 5 minutes. I opted to do an initial steep of Marmalade Thumbprints for 4 minutes.

First Taste

Marmalade Thumbprints steeps to a lovely light shade of sunshine yellow. There’s a strong citrus/orange aroma from the tea itself. The flavour is sweet, it is orange-forward. I found that the brown sugar is noticeable in the steeped tea, lending that sweetness to the tea and it really evokes the feeling of baked goods with having that brown sugar be present. This green tea blend did great being steeped at 200°F (93°C) with zero bitterness and being pleasantly smooth.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Marmalade Thumbprints twice, I found that the best steep was honestly the first one because the brown sugar flavour was gone after the initial steep. Which, to be fair, means you taste more of the green tea base… but I kind of fell in love with the brown sugar notes with the citrus flavours.

My Overall Impression

I loved Dessert by Deb’s Marmalade Thumbprints. I really enjoyed how intentional the ingredients were in this blend in creating a feeling of citrus and warm baked goods, I love the addition of brown sugar for that and just how strong the citrus notes are from dry leaf to steeped tea. It makes for a pleasant cup of tea. I’m not disappointed that the green tea wasn’t as obvious, because the warmth from the orange and brown sugar more than makes up for it. I enjoyed this both hot and cooled down – I think it’d be great as an iced tea because the existing orange flavour would really lend itself well to that.

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