Tag: Green Tea

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Purdys Chocolatier’s Matcha

Matcha by Purdys Chocolatier
Green Tea (Matcha) / Chocolate
$11.00 for 6 pieces (70g)

First Impressions

I love chocolate as much as the next girl, but when it comes mixed with tea? You know I had to give it a try! If you’re not familiar with Purdys, they are a chocolate company based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Their stores feature chocolates, candies, ice cream, and more. The purple and gold store fronts can also be found across Canada, and I picked up this box of Matcha at a store near me.

Inside the box, there are six beautiful chocolates. Each one has a unique speckled design on it – according to the product page, Purdys uses a spirulina-based dye mixed with cocoa butter to create the colours. Matcha is a unique truffle that consists of a blend of white chocolate and matcha green tea powder, inside of a milk chocolate shell. Each chocolate is nestled in its own brown paper cup. The aroma that I get from the chocolate is milk chocolate.

The ingredients in Matcha are: sugar, milk ingredients, cocoa butter, unsweetened chocolate, coconut oil, matcha powder, natural and artificial flavours, soy lecithin, turmeric, spirulina concentrate, apple concentrate, titanium dioxide, water, sunflower oil, maltodextrin, and citric acid.

First Taste

I cut my first Matcha chocolate in half. The green centre of the Matcha has a sweet, grassy aroma to it. The flavour reminds me a lot of a matcha latté – there’s a touch of honeyed sweetness, grassy notes, a touch of saltiness, and the milk chocolate shell just melts in your mouth. Despite it being a fairly hefty chocolate, it’s quite light in terms of the mouthfeel – there’s a nice decadence to it.

My Overall Impression

I loved Purdys Chocolatier’s Matcha. I think that the matcha flavour really shines through. The speckled decoration is beautiful, and I really like how they used natural dyes to create the colours. The milk chocolate shell is superb, but as someone who’s grown up eating Purdys, I don’t expect anything less. These are nice for a treat, at the price of $11 for 6 pieces, it’s definitely not something that I’ll have around all the time, but they’re quite tasty and I would recommend trying it out if you’re a fan of matcha and chocolate.

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The Chinese Tea Shop’s Blooming Green Tea

Blooming Green Tea by The Chinese Tea Shop
Green Tea / Flavoured
$35.95 for 200g

First Impressions

The Chinese Tea Shop’s Blooming Green Tea was a purchase at the most recent Vancouver Tea Festival (and I’m just writing about it now – shame on me!). If you’ve been reading here for a while now, or following me on Instagram (@onemoresteep), you will know that I’m a sucker for a good blooming/flowering tea. The unfortunate thing about blooming teas is that they are just not cheap – it takes skill to make them and they’re just beautiful to watch unfold and bloom in your teapot. I always recommend steeping one of these in a clear glass teapot (or teacup, if that’s more of your style) just so you can watch the magic happen.

So the bag I had bought contains seven different shapes (designs). These tea leaves are tied together, by hand, using silk thread. There’s not even a little hint from the dry tea ball about what colour the flowers are on the inside. The aroma from this little ball is sweet floral, with a light background of the green tea.

Preparation

There weren’t any steeping instructions on the packaging. I filled up a glass teapot with water that was heated to 79°C (175°F) and dropped the ball in. I waited until it had fully bloomed prior to pouring myself a cup – the whole process took about 2 minutes (120 seconds).

First Taste

Blooming Green Tea steeps to a pale orange, with a pleasant floral aroma. There’s a nice sweetness to this tea, which is capitalized by the fact that there is no bitterness or astringency given the length of time I steeped it for. This flowering tea made for a smooth cup of tea and it was very pleasant to drink.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Blooming Green Tea twice (three times total) and found that the floral flavours stayed present throughout. A few petals and tea leaves were knocked loose each time I filled up the teapot, which wasn’t too much of a hassle for me to pull it out.

The flowers are really quite beautiful. I’m not an expert, but I believe they are globe amaranth, chrysanthemum, and jasmine.

My Overall Impression

I loved The Chinese Tea Shop’s Blooming Green Tea. There is just something really relaxing about watching a ball of tea open up and ‘bloom’. If you’ve never had the opportunity to try one, I definitely recommend it. It’s just a lovely experience to watch – and the fact that the tea is tasty and holds up to resteeping doesn’t hurt either!

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Yunomi’s Yakushima Cedar Wood Smoked Hojicha

Yakushima Cedar Wood Smoked Hojicha by Yunomi
Green Tea / Flavoured
$7.00USD for 20g

Yunomi has provided me with Yakushima Cedar Wood Smoked Hojicha for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

Yakushima Cedar Wood Smoked Hojicha came to me in resealable kraft paper bag. This green tea comes from the Kaneroku Matsumoto Tea Garden, one of the things that I realy like about Yunomi is that they list the tea gardens that their products come from – so it’s super easy to figure out the specific tea farms that each tea comes from.

When I opened the bag, I was greeted by the smokey aroma of the tea. There are a lot of short twig pieces that are mixed in with the tea leaves. The smoke aroma isn’t as astringent as a lapsong souchong, if you’re familiar with that smoked tea.

Preparation

Yunomi recommends steeping Yakushima Cedar Wood Smoked Hojicha in 90°C (194°F) water for 1 minute. My initial steep was for 1 minute in 91°C (195˜F) water.

First Taste

Yakushima Cedar Wood Smoked Hojicha steeps to a beautiful golden orange in a very short period of time. There’s a strong smokey aroma to this tea. On first taste, I notice that beyond the smokey flavour is a touch of bitterness and a mild astringency at the end of each sip. The aroma reminds me a lot of liquid smoke – I think it’d be a great tea to use in cooking to add some depth of flavour (e.g. to a barbecue marinade).

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Yakushima Cedar Wood Smoked Hojicha twice, adding an extra 30 seconds for each subsequent steep. I found that the flavour remained consistent throughout. I think it would have held up for a few more steeps.

My Overall Impression

I thought that Yunomi’s Yakushima Cedar Wood Smoked Hojicha was just okay. I think if you love smokey flavours, this would be a great tea for you. I personally prefer more floral notes, which is why it’s just not a favourite for me. I can definitely see myself utilizing the tea in cooking though, to add a bit of liquid smoke flavour to a dish. The smokey flavour is strong, and this tea could probably be steeped for less than 60 seconds if you’re sensitive to bitterness in teas. I think that the aroma and taste of Yakushima Cedar Wood Smoked Hojicha match very well, so if you’re a fan of smokey teas, give this one a try!

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