Tag: Green Tea

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Lazy Meadow’s Vanilla Sencha

Vanilla Sencha by Lazy Meadow
Green Tea / Flavoured
$7.00 for 100g

First Impressions

A second tea that I purchase last summer at the PNE from Lazy Meadow (the first being Japanese Treasure, which I reviewed earlier this month). Vanilla Sencha came in similar packaging – simple folded top-bag with a label on the front with some information about the tea.

This tea smells richly of vanilla bean, which I love. Vanilla always makes me think of baked goods (especially cake!), so I was quite drawn to this tea when I first smelled it last summer, and I’m still quite drawn to it now. The green tea base is overwhelmed by the vanilla.

There is no ingredients list on the label, unfortunately, but based on my best guess I would say that Vanilla Sencha consists of sencha green tea and vanilla flavouring. My nose isn’t that adept to determine if it’s artificial or natural flavouring, unfortunately.

Preparation

I steeped Vanilla Sencha using the green tea setting on my Breville IQ Kettle – 175°F (79°C) for an initial steep of 2 minutes.

First Taste

Vanilla Sencha steeps to a beautiful light orange, the aroma from the tea is mostly that of vanilla. It reminds me of baking in the winter (mostly because that’s when I do most of my baking…). The tea itself has a sweetness to it, which I’m attributing to the vanilla, with a very light grassy flavour to it. There’s a touch of umami to it, just a bit of a saltiness that reminds me of seaweed snacks. Overall though, the flavour lends itself to be on the sweet side, due to the flavour of the vanilla.

A Second Cup?

I resteeped Vanilla Sencha once, and found the flavour to be primarily that of the sencha green tea base itself. Unfortunately, the vanilla flavouring and sweetness was lacking in the second steep. I would say that Vanilla Sencha is good for just one steep.

My Overall Impression

I thought that Lazy Meadow’s Vanilla Sencha was just okay. While the aroma of the dry leaf was very inviting, I did enjoy the first steep because of the vanilla notes. Once the vanilla flavouring was all gone, I found the sencha base to be lacking in flavour in comparison to the first steep – especially considering how much I enjoyed the vanilla smell and taste in this green tea blend. I think it’d be a good afternoon tea candidate, since the vanilla notes would play off of the smell of vanilla in the cupcakes and cookies.

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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.

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Yunomi’s Organic Uji Matcha G1, Ceremonial Grade

Uji Matcha G1, Ceremonial Grade by Yunomi
Green Tea (Matcha) / Straight
$49.99USD for 30g

20180122-yunomiujimatcha Yunomi has provided me with Organic Uji Matcha G1, Ceremonial Grade for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

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Organic Uji Matcha G1, Ceremonial Grade, came to me from Yunomi in a beautiful gold foil resealable bag – the match was inside in a separate foil packet for me to rip open (and I tried so hard not to spill any of the matcha out – I did fail a little bit). This organic matcha comes from Wazuka, Kyoto and was harvested in spring 2016. My personal experience with preparing matcha is quite limited, but I did my best!

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This matcha consists only of green tea. The powder is a bright spring green, I noticed a few clumps in the dry powder – probably from being compressed in the packaging. I would describe the smell of this tea as being grassy – it reminded me a lot of the smell of a freshly cut lawn.

Preparation

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Yunomi recommends mixing 1g (¼ teaspoon) with a small amount of water (70°C/158°F) to make a paste, and then to add water to the desired thickness. What I did was use a bamboo scoop to put a small amount of the matcha into my bowl, and then whisked it with a small amount of water. Once it was clump-free, I added some more water until I had about ¾ of a bowl of match to drink.

First Taste

I’m quite the novice when it comes to matcha, but I did try my best with this one. For the whisking motion, I do a repeated M shape back and forth in the bowl until it seemed clump-free and well mixed in, although I never did manage to get a very good froth going so I suspect that I might not have used enough for the matcha. Live and learn!

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Uji Matcha G1 mixes to a beautiful green. The aroma is subtle from the whisked green tea though, I found it not as strong as expected, but my matcha experience prior to this has been primarily matcha lattes prepared for me which were probably full of more than just matcha, water, and dairy products. I found to the flavour to be surprisingly sweet, it reminded me of honeydew melon, with some grassy/vegetal notes. There’s a nice smoothness to this tea, and I must have mixed it enough because there was no graininess or clumps noted as I drank it. There was a touch of bitterness that I noted at the tail end of each sip, but it’s not enough to be off-putting.

A Second Cup?

As matcha is a powder that you mix into the water to drink, there were no second steeps here!

My Overall Impression

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I loved Yunomi’s Organic Uji Matcha G1, Ceremonial Grade. I found this matcha to be really enjoyable. The mix of sweet and grassy flavours made this complex and quite fun to drink. The process of mixing this matcha was fun for me, and I found it to be a great way to slow down and enjoy the tea making process. I realize that Uji Matcha G1 is on the more expensive side, however it is quite tasty. I would consider this to be more of ‘treat’ or special occasion matcha due to the associated costs. However, if you consider it by servings, you get 30 servings in a 30g bag, and that works out to be $1.67/cup – probably a lot cheaper than a matcha at your local café.

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