Tag: DavidsTea

Posted on

DavidsTea’s Gyokuro Yamashiro

Gyokuro Yamashiro by DavidsTea
Green Tea / Straight
$22.98 for 50g

Gyokuro Yamashiro was sent to me by DavidsTea, a review was not requested by the company.

First Impressions

One of the ways to my heart is with some tea, and the DavidsTea team was very kind in reaching out to me and asking if I’d be interest in receiving a care package from them. Several other tea bloggers on Instagram also received one, and it looks like each of us received different teas! I had received Gyokuro Yamashiro, Anji Green, and Emerald Jade (previously written reviews linked!) – along with a Perfect Spoon and a glass Nordic Mug. Someone on the team definitely did some clever sleuthing though, to determine that I love green teas and I was pretty excited to dig into the box.

As always, Gyokuro Yamashiro came to me in a sealed, resealable silver pouch. There is that familiar colourful label on the front. As always – I still find the print is unfairly small in size, but the printing quality might have been sharpened up because it seems a bit crisper in comparison to some older packaging labels that I have at my house. Gyokuro is a form of green tea from Japan that is grown with the plants being shaded – so it is a form of sencha, but involves more labour in the growing process of it. The tea leaves are dark, short, flattened in appearance but an overall uniform shade of dark pine needle green. The leaves have a sweet grassy aroma to it, and it appears to be all leaf pieces, with minimal or no tea dust. Gyokuro Yamashiro consists of organic steamed green tea from Kagoshima, Japan with no other ingredients. As per the packaging label, this product is organic as standards in the USA and Canada.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Gyokuro Yamashiro in 80°C (175°F) water for 1 to 2 minutes. I opted to follow the steeping instructions and do an initial steep in a pre-warmed tea pot for 1 minute.

To pre-warm (or pre-heat) a teapot, pour hot water (plain) into the tea pot to allow the glass or ceramic tea pot to warm up. Then pour the water out, put in the tea leaves (in an infuser…?) and pour in the water for steeping the tea. This allows your tea pot to hold the tea at a warmer temperature for a longer period of time.

First Taste

Gyokuro Yamashiro steeps to be beautiful sunshine yellow colour. It’s vibrant – that’s the only way to describe the colour. The tea has a delicate flavour to it – lightly floral with a honey sweetness, grassy and ends off each sip with a buttery/creamy quality to it. Gyokuro Yamashiro has a slightly thickened mouthfeel to it with zero bitterness or astringency. It’s just a very pleasant cup of tea with all the flavours that I enjoy and would want to highlight to someone.

I would hazard a guess that Gyokuro Yamashiro might do even better with a cooler steeping temperature and even shorter steeping time, as a lot of green teas do. I’m definitely going to save some of this to do a cold steep with because I think it might be really good as an iced tea (when the weather warms up a bit more!).

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Gyokuro Yamashiro a total of seven times (eight steeps total with the same leaves). I used the same water temperature, and started off my first two resteeps at 1 minute each, and then added 30 seconds to each subsequent steep. The colour stayed that sunshine yellow for most of it, although waning at the end. The flavour remained true to the initial steep, although getting more buttery by the end. I would recommend resteeping Gyokuro Yamashiro to get all that flavour out of those leaves.

My Overall Impression

I loved DavidsTea’s Gyokuro Yamashiro. I’m often a sucker for a good quality traditional/straight tea, and Gyokuro Yamashiro is no exception to the rule. The flavour is well-balanced, the leaves resteep well, and the tea just resteeps well. This is definitely one of the more expensive offerings from DavidsTea, and I’m really pleased that they decided to send a bag of this my way to try out. I know there are some people who are shy about trying more expensive teas (because why spend $23 on 50g of green tea when you could spend $10 or less on another green tea?) – but the difference in price is often a reflection of the quality and this tea makes up for the price tag by resteeping beautifully and making many cups of tea from the same leaves.

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

Posted on

DavidsTea’s Raspberry Matcha

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

First Impressions

Another Monday, another matcha review! Raspberry Matcha comes in a sealed, resealable silver pouch. I just mentioned my opinions two reviews ago about the labelling colours and text, so I won’t flog a dead horse here (but feel free to read my review on DavidsTea’s Earl Grey Matcha for more opinions…). I love a good matcha blend, and the idea of a Raspberry Matcha intrigued me, so here we are!

The aroma is very fruity and does remind me of berries, but not necessarily raspberry. If anything, it reminds me of blue raspberry candy (which is also pretty much acceptable in my eyes). The powder itself has a bit of a olive green colour to it, and I can see the sugar crystals from the cane sugar so I am expecting this one to be on the sweeter side. Raspberry Matcha consists of: cane sugar, matcha green tea, and natural raspberry flavouring.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends whisking Raspberry Matcha in 85°C (185°F) water. I followed the preparation instructions for this matcha drink mix.

First Taste

Raspberry Matcha mixes up to a dark green, easily forms a layer of bubbles on top when I whisked it up using a hand held frother. The aroma is very much a sweet, fruity/berry aroma, and it screams blue raspberry candy to it rather than a natural raspberry aroma. The flavour is (very) sweet and has that blue raspberry candy taste to it. I think it may almost be too sweet for me, which isn’t necessarily a terrible thing as I can still turn it into a tea latte (which I did), but it’s too sweet for me to drink straight.

Raspberry Matcha takes to being turned into a tea latte pretty well. The addition of frothed milk helps temper down that cloying sweetness from all that cane sugar in the blend. It definitely reminds me of drinking candy when straight, but as a tea latte it reminds me of a dessert because it’s not nearly as sweet.

A Second Cup?

As it is a suspension, as all matcha are, there were no second steeps with the same Raspberry Matcha powder.

My Overall Impression

I liked DavidsTea’s Raspberry Matcha. I did find it to be on the overly sweet side, which is why I think I just had to dock some points there. I love sweets of all sorts, but there’s sometimes just too much and that’s what I found here when I was drinking Raspberry Matcha straight. Once it was a tea latte, I found it delightful, like drinking liquid blue raspberry candy. I do wish that there was more of a natural raspberry flavour to it – more fruity, less candy-like, but it does make for a nice dessert-esque cup of tea.

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

Posted on

DavidsTea’s Earl Grey Matcha

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

First Impressions 

Have you ever come across a tea that you needed to try – not because you actually thought it might taste good, but because you hoped it would? This is one of those teas. I love Earl Grey and I love matcha – what could possibly go wrong? Well, I’m sure a lot. I didn’t really get this tea with a lot of high hopes because I was anticipating it being not that great. I had high hopes, but low expectations. Part of this is because sometimes flavoured matcha mixes can often just fall short, or I’m just super picky – take your pick.

Earl Grey Matcha comes in a very similar sealed, resealable silver pouch. It has the green label on the front – with the same pitifully difficult to read white text on a green background (again, nobody asks my opinion before committing to print something, but I’ll still mention this from an accessibility point of view). The matcha drink mix (as it is called) has a really nice aroma to it – very bright citrus notes that do make me think of bergamot and a hint of black tea, perhaps, lingering in the background. There are some grassy undertones to this matcha blend from the matcha base itself. Whatever was used for the Earl Grey flavouring, it smells right.

Earl Grey Matcha consists of: cane sugar, matcha green tea, and natural Earl Grey flavouring. Not sure what is in that flavouring, but the aroma is spot on and I’m a bit impressed about it over here. The colour of the powder drink mix itself is a light grassy green colour. I can definitely see the sugar crystals in the light from the cane sugar, so I am expecting it to be sweet (and hopeful that it’s not too sweet).

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends whisking Earl Grey Matcha in 85°C (185°F) water, and that’s what I ended up doing.

Instead of using a traditional bamboo whisk, I ended up using a handheld milk frother. I find that drink mixes, because they’re not pure, unadulterated matcha, they tend to mix easier in warm water and don’t require sifting as often. So I did skip that step as well. If you are preparing a traditional matcha, I highly recommend sifting to help get rid of the clumps before you begin. Head over to my post on The Basics of Preparing Matcha for more tips and tricks on whisking up your cup of matcha.

First Taste

Earl Grey Matcha whisks up to be a dark grassy green colour. It does still have the Earl Grey aroma, the nice bright citrus notes of the bergamot flavouring are quite evident in the tea when prepared. The things that I noticed when sipping this is that it’s quite sweet, almost too much for me and I have a sweet tooth. There’s some pleasant grassy undertones in the flavour profile, but primarily I do taste the sugar, bergamot notes, and just something about that flavouring that was used that reminds me of the robustness of a strong Earl Grey.

Because I did found it a bit sweet when drinking it straight, I ended up trying out Earl Grey Matcha as a tea latte because… why not? I found it to be pleasant because the addition of frothed milk allowed the cane sugar to be more diluted and help temper down that sweetness, plus the extra level of creaminess from the milk just helped elevate the drink as a whole. Not a necessary step in enjoying this tea, however.

A Second Cup?

As Earl Grey Matcha is a matcha, there are no second steeps with the same matcha drink mix.

My Overall Impression

I loved DavidsTea’s Earl Grey Matcha. I found myself impressed with the level of Earl Grey aroma and flavour in this matcha drink mix because it is at a strength that I really appreciate. There’s just a nice sunshine brightness with the bergamot, and something in it that hints of being black tea. I do think that the amount of cane sugar could be less, but I’m not overly fussed about it because I know a lot of people don’t pick up a matcha drink mix expecting it to be health food product. I do recommend having it as a tea latte though, because you might as well go all out and treat yourself properly.

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