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Tea Experience: Adorabelle Tea Room

Adorabelle Tea Room
Steveston Village, Richmond, BC
Afternoon Tea $36 for Adults, $30 for Seniors (65+), $16 for Children (≤10)

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I recently went to Adorabelle Tea Room, located in a heritage building that used to be the Old Courthouse (built in 1925). If you’ve never been to Steveston Village before, which is part of the city of Richmond, it’s a very quaint waterfront community that almost makes you feel like you’ve gone back in time. Fun fact, Steveston was the location for many of the Storybrooke scenes in ABC’s Once Upon A Time. Continue reading “Tea Experience: Adorabelle Tea Room”

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DavidsTea’s Ceremonial Matcha

Ceremonial Matcha by DavidsTea
Green Tea (Matcha) / Straight
$34.00 for 50g

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First Impressions

Ceremonial Matcha from DavidsTea came to me in one of their standard resealable silver foil bags. The matcha itself is a bright green, and I can see some clumps of powder in the bag and after I scooped it out – who knows how long it’s been in there for?

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Ceremonial Matcha is made up of matcha green tea from Nishio, Japan. The aroma from this matcha powder is primarily that of grassy notes to me. The description suggests that this matcha is creamy, sweet, and delicate.

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Preparation

The packaging for Ceremonial Matcha is of their older label style – this one includes an actual temperature guide (74°C/165°F). On the product page online, the temperatures suggested are 167-176°F (75-80°C). Both packaging and online page suggests preparing Ceremonial Matcha with a whisk (their online page also suggests their travel-friendly matcha maker if that is more your style).

When preparing Ceremonial Matcha, I sifted the powder into my bowl and then whisked it with a small amount of water that had been heated to 165°F until the powder was mixed in, then added more water until it was thin enough.

First Taste

Ceremonial Matcha whisks to a beautiful bright green that’s on the darker side – it reminds me of emerald green. There’s a slight layer of foam on top from the whisking action. At first sniff, I can smell grassy notes, and a very familiar seaweed smell. On first taste, the first thing that hits my tastebuds in the umami notes from this matcha. It has a very strong grassy flavour, mixed with the seaweed flavours. I don’t get any sweetness from this matcha, nor do I found it creamy.

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I wound up adding a bit of agave syrup to it, to help tone down the umami notes, which helped to make to more palatable. Also, turning it into a matcha latte helped a lot as well.

My Overall Impression

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I didn’t like DavidsTea’s Ceremonial Matcha. I really wanted to like this one, but found it was just too strong of the grass and seaweed flavours for me to be enjoyable. In order to finish the cup that I had made, I needed to add a sweetener to it to make it more palatable to my taste buds. I’ve had better matchas before, and since this one is so expensive per gram, I can’t see myself wanting to buy more of it.

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

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Lazy Meadow’s Japanese Treasure

Japanese Treasure by Lazy Meadow
Green Tea / Flavoured
$7.00 for 100g

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First Impressions

I picked up this bag of tea by Lazy Meadow at the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) in the summer of 2017. Unfortunately, I’ve been unable to find a website for this tea blender, so I will be doing what I can with the information that I have. The label states that Japanese Treasure is “a green Darjeeling blended with marigold blossom, lemon grass, papaya, and ginger”.

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While it does appear to be a green tea, I see jasmine blossoms, rose petals, and some kind of red berry. No lemon grass, papaya, ginger or marigold to be seen. It’s a bit concerning (perhaps a packaging mishap?), but it does smell good nonetheless so I’ll continue with the review. I’m unable to go back and exchange it, since the PNE only occurs in the last two weeks before school begins. It does smell really good – very floral, sweet, and fruity.

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Preparation

I did my initial steep of Japanese Treasure at 79°C (175°F) for 2 minutes.

First Taste

Japanese Treasure steeps to a pale golden yellow. The aroma that wafts up from this tea is primarily that of floral sweetness, with some berry fruit fragrances lingering in the background. When I first sipped this tea, I found that there was a floral sweetness, although the fruity aromas don’t come through very well. The tea base itself has a bit of a salty vegetal taste to it, which isn’t overwhelming compared to the sweetness from the other ingredients.

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A Second Cup?

I tried resteeping Japanese Treasure again, but found that the second steep of the same leaves were mostly that of the tea base – salty, vegetal. The sweet floral flavours were mostly gone or overwhelmed by the umami flavour of the green tea base.

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My Overall Impression

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I didn’t like Lazy Meadow’s Japanese Treasure. Aside from the fact that this is probably the wrong tea blend in the packaging (based on the description of the ingredients), this tea had a nice sweetness to it, but I found the saltiness/umami flavours of the green tea base to be a bit distracting from the floral and fruity notes that this tea did have. I did cool this one down to have iced, and found it was marginally improved (it may do better sweetened and iced).

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