Tag: Green Tea

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DavidsTea’s Wild Honey Matcha

Wild Honey Matcha by DavidsTea
Green Tea (Matcha) / Flavored
$9.98 for 50g

First Impressions

Wild Honey Matcha intrigued me enough to buy it because I have a huge sweet tooth and the idea of trying it seemed like a good idea. Wild Honey Matcha comes in a sealed, resealable foil pouch with a green and white label on the front. It’s considered to be a ‘drink mix’ because, yet again, it has cane sugar listed as the primary ingredient.

This grassy-green powder is easily sifted and has a slight sparkle to it – thanks to the cane sugar. It has an inviting sweet floral aroma to it. Wild Honey Matcha consists of: cane sugar, matcha green tea, and natural wildflower honey flavouring. I was hopeful for dehydrated honey in the blend.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends using 5 to 7 matcha spoonfuls per drink (16oz/475mL), whisked in 85°C (185°F) water. I opted to use 2 spoonfuls (1 matcha spoon = ½ teaspoon) in my matcha bowl, sifted, and whisked in the appropriate temperature water.

First Taste

Wild Honey Matcha has a dark green colour when whisked, but it doesn’t forth very easily when whisked. I found that Wild Honey Matcha has a very sweet, floral aroma to it. On first taste, I mostly taste the sweetness from the sugar. On further sips, I can find the floral flavour and a light grassy background to the matcha.

I think this would be a great matcha to have iced or as a latte (or an iced latte?) as the milk would help temper the sweetness a bit since it has plenty of sugar in it! I did pour some of it into a cup with milk and found it to be very pleasant as an iced latte, and the milk helped to cut the sweetness considerably while retaining the floral flavours.

A Second Cup?

As always, there was no second steep for matcha.

My Overall Impression

I thought that DavidsTea’s Wild Honey Matcha was just okay. I found it disappointing that a matcha blend called Wild Honey had cane sugar as the primary sweetening agent instead of dehydrated honey – which is a possibility. The floral flavouring from the natural wildflower honey flavouring was quite enjoyable, but I do think that it was overwhelmed by the cane sugar in the blend. I would recommend having this with milk to make it into a latte, it will help lessen the sweetness overall.

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DavidsTea’s Rose Matcha

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

First Impressions

Rose Matcha was one of my online purchases when I put in an online order a couple months ago. The nice thing about purchasing the tea online is that you get the fun coloured label on the bag – but it’s also difficult to read with the white print on the light green background. Rose Matcha comes in a sealed, resealable pouch.

Rose Matcha is described as being a ‘drink mix’, which isn’t too surprising when you consider the fact that matcha is not the first ingredient listed for this tea. The matcha blend powder is a bright green, with vibrant grassy and rose notes. Rose Matcha consists of: cane sugar, matcha green tea, and natural rose water flavouring.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends using 5 to 7 matcha spoonfuls of Rose Matcha per cup (16oz/475mL) and to use 85°C (185°F) water and to whisk it. I opted to use 2 matcha spoonfuls for my matcha bowl and I did use water that was 85°C (thanks to my handy variable temperature kettle). I sifted the powder into my bowl and then added the water and whisked it.

1 matcha spoon from DavidsTea is equivalent to ½ teaspoon.

First Taste

Rose Matcha whisks to a olive green colour. There’s a sweet, floral/rose aroma from the whisked matcha. It has a very floral flavour to it – which is great if you love the taste of roses. The matcha base provides light grassy notes in the background. I do find Rose Matcha to be on the sweet side, I would prefer it to have a bit less sugar. Rose Matcha is a great candidate for making into a matcha latte as the milk would help temper the sweetness. It isn’t as perfumey as I thought it might end up being, especially considering how floral the dry matcha powder was.

A Second Cup?

Like with all matchas, Rose Matcha cannot be resteeped as all of it is drunk following the initial preparation.

My Overall Impression

I liked DavidsTea’s Rose Matcha. I thought it had some great floral notes, and I did enjoy the fact that I could still taste the matcha base despite the cane sugar and rose water in this blend. I do wish that it had less sugar though, as I find it to be very sweet (and I have a huge sweet tooth!). I’ll definitely be having this one as a matcha latte in the future – and think it’d be great iced as well!

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DavidsTea’s Blackberry Jasmine Blast

Blackberry Jasmine Blast by DavidsTea
Green Tea / Flavoured
$9.98 for 50g

First Impressions

Blackberry Jasmine Blast was a tea that I had gotten to sample in store and really enjoyed it, so I decided to buy some to steep at home. This green tea blend has a really nice berry aroma with lovely floral notes. I found that it smells more like roses and hibiscus to me than jasmine, which is likely because those two are just much stronger in fragrance compared to jasmine petals. I got to try this one iced in store and thought it was great.

Blackberry Jasmine Blast consists of: apple, green tea scented with jasmine flowers, hibiscus, rosehip shells, blackberries, and natural flavouring. While I can definitely see the apple pieces, I don’t really smell them too much – which I don’t think is a bad thing since apple is often an ingredient that’s present for a general fruity flavour and sweetness.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends steeping Blackberry Jasmine Blast in 85°C (185°F) water for 3 to 4 minutes. My initial steep was for 4 minutes.

First Taste

Blackberry Jasmine Blasts steeps to a gorgeous deep berry pink colour – a quality that I fully attribute to the hibiscus flowers in the blend. There’s a lovely hint of floral from the tea, but it’s primary a berry aroma that I smell. On first taste, I note that Blackberry Jasmine Blast is quite fruity – it has a nice ‘mixed berries’ kind of flavour to it. I found it was light on the floral notes, although it is still present. I taste the hibiscus the most, and very little of the green tea base and the jasmine, which is a bit disappointing (but not surprising given that hibiscus is such a strong ingredient.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Blackberry Jasmine Blast once and found that the colour and taste was really weak in comparison to the initial steep. My recommendation would be to just steep Blackberry Jasmine Blast once.

My Overall Impression

I thought that DavidsTea’s Blackberry Jasmine Blast was just okay. While I really enjoy this green tea blend as an iced tea, I’m a bit disappointed by the lack of green or jasmine in the flavour of the steeped tea. It’s mostly the berries and hibiscus that run the show when it comes to Blackberry Jasmine Blend. However, as a fruity hibiscus iced tea blend, I would definitely give it a 4 out of 4 since it makes the tastebuds happy as an iced tea – just not as a green tea.

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