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Tea Experience: Tsujiri

Tsujiri
Burnaby, BC
Matcha-Infused Drinks $4.25-9.00

I was spending some time with my sister last month as we’re in each other’s social bubbles, and decided we needed a treat (as one does). So we decided to try out Tsujiri after hearing about it from her husband. Tsujiri is self-described as a “matcha infused restaurant”. Fun fact, you can pre-order on their website, and even opt for local delivery with the various side-gig food delivery services out there (I take zero responsibility if your frappe is all melted by the time it gets to you).

The menu consists of parfaits, drinks, shaved ice, floats, frappes and more. Tsujiri also features drinks with matcha, houjicha, and yuzu (which is not a tea, but is an Asian citrus fruit). The prices aren’t the cheapest, but considering the ingredients in play, it’s not anything to turn your nose up against. It probably isn’t a sustainable treat option for the every day choice though.

My sister ordered a float while I ordered the Matcha Frappe ($7.00) which has the product description of “Rich and creamy blend of Matcha slush and yogurt with a swirl of whipped cream and Matcha crumbs topped with a luscious Matcha sauce”.

Unfortunately, the soft serve ice cream machine broke after we had placed our order, so we ended up getting a refund on the float. Fortunately (for me), the Matcha Frappe that I had ordered did not contain ice cream so I could still receive my order.

The matcha slush and yoghurt comes layered in the drink, topped with whipped cream and then with the matcha “crumbs” on top. I found that the yoghurt adds a nice layer of tangy flavour to the matcha, which is sweetened. The matcha sauce on top has a good amount of grassy flavour and umami, which is tempered considerably with the fresh whipped cream. I really found it to be tasty but the cup isn’t very large (and there weren’t a variety of cup sizes to choose from).

While I did enjoy my Matcha Frappe with the tangy yoghurt layered with the matcha slush, I think the experience was soured a bit by their machine malfunctioning. I would definitely give them a try again, but very wary of going back for a third time if the machine had an issue on the second try. I wasn’t too fond on the matcha crumbs on top though, as I feel like it didn’t add a nice texture to the frappe. That said, I think the drink was tasty, albeit I would have hoped for a much larger drink for the price (I would definitely consider the cup size offered to be more of the “small” size).

 

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Transitioning from Coffee to Tea

I will preface this by stating that I am not a coffee drinker. I never have been, and never really be too interested in coffee (I’m not a fan of the smell!). But I do know that a lot of people enjoy coffee and need or have gotten used to that extra jolt of caffeine in the morning to help them start their day. As a health care professional, I know a lot of people who love their coffee.

There are a few benefits to switching from coffee to tea, here are a few that I’ve brainstormed for you all:

Less teeth stains!
No more coffee breath.
Lower your caffeine consumption.
Easier on the stomach.
Being slightly more hydrated.

Yes, both tea and coffee contains caffeine naturally (herbal tisanes and decaffinated drinks aside). But tea contains less caffeine than coffee, so you will experience less of that caffeine jolt when drinking it. For some, lowering the caffeine consumption may be something recommended to you by your health care professional for a myriad of reasons. And cup for cup, you’ll consume less caffeine with tea than coffee which means less diuretic effects (and helps you stay hydrated).

If you’re the habitual multi-cup coffee per day drinker, how do you make that switch? Start by swapping out one cup of coffee for a cup of tea. Work your way up to no coffee and all tea, or keep that one-cup-a-day and feel good about yourself having transitioned the rest to tea.

It’s unrealistic to quit coffee cold turkey and go straight to tea – you’ll get caffeine withdrawals and the headaches to boot, and unless you’re in a serious health crisis, why do that to yourself? Make the gradual transition by just swapping out one cup a day for tea.

My tea recommendations for someone making the transition from coffee to tea are as follows:

Plain black coffee with English Breakfast or Assam black tea.
Swap your cafe au lait with black tea (Orange pekoe) with milk.
Pumpkin Spice Latte with a Pumpkin Spice Chai Latte.
Iced latte with Iced Hong Kong-Style Milk Tea.
Vanilla latte with a London Fog (Earl Grey Tea Latte).
Shot of espresso with a matcha shot.

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DavidsTea’s Golden Lily

Golden Lily by DavidsTea
Oolong Tea / Straight
$16.48 for 50g

First Impressions

Golden Lily is an oolong tea that was part of an online order I made with DavidsTea. This tea comes in a familiar silver bag that comes sealed and is resealable with a dark blue across the front (and yes, in certain lights I imagine that teal blue lettering with a darker blue background to be difficult to read – I really don’t think it’s very friendly for anyone with vision issues). That said, it’s familiar to me, so I’m a bit used to it by now.

Golden Lily is an organic oolong tea from Thailand, and according to the label is certified organic by the USDA and Canada Organic. The leaves are a variety of shades of green and brown, with very tightly bunched leaves. The aroma is floral with just a subtle hint of sweetness.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Golden Lily in 90°C (195°F) water for 4-5 minutes. I opted to steep with the recommended water temperature and did a steep for 5 minutes.

First Taste

Golden Lily steeps to what I could best describe as a light golden yellow. The aroma of tea has a nice amount of floral notes, with something that reminds of butter. Drinking Golden Lily is quite pleasant as well – I found floral notes mingling along with creamy flavours, stone fruit that reminds of apricots, and just a hint of grassy freshness. The tea itself is smooth with no astringency or bitterness when steeped with the recommended steeping time and temperature of water.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Golden Lily a total of seven times, adding an additional 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. The tea became more darker in golden colour, and had a great buttery flavour that became more deep as I steeped. The flavour is really nice and stays fairly consistent with each steep.

My Overall Impression

I loved DavidsTea’s Golden Lily. While Golden Lily is not the least expensive oolong I’ve tried, I find that the ability to resteep the leaves successfully and the amount of flavour that you get from these gorgeous leaves more than makes up for it because of the quality of the leaves themselves. I would highly recommend resteeping these leaves, as you get a lot more tea out of it and more bang for your buck. The flavour of these leaves are pleasant with a great amount of floral flavour that I really enjoy and would be happy to drink this at any time of day.

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