Tag: Matcha

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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!

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

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DavidsTea’s Maple Matcha

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

First Impressions

Maple Matcha was a tea that I opted to buy when I was placing an online order. It intrigued me mostly because I do love maple so I was curious as to how it translated in terms of flavour in a matcha blend. It came in a sealed, resealable foil pouch with a light green label on the from with all of the information about the tea. DavidsTea refers to Maple Matcha as a drink mix, although it is found under the matcha category on their website.

Maple Matcha has a bit of a dull pistachio green colour to it. There’s a pleasant maple aroma, but it’s not as strong as say a maple syrup would be. I can’t really make out the aroma of the matcha base. Maple Matcha consists of: cane sugar, green tea, and natural maple flavouring. I am a bit disappointed that cane sugar is the leading ingredient, because that does mean that it is the most prominent ingredient in the blend.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends whisking Maple Matcha in hot water, which is 85°C (185°F). I prepared Maple Matcha by sifting the drink mix into my matcha bowl, and then whisking it. If you’re new to matcha, I have an article about preparing matcha.

First Taste

Maple Matcha easily whisks up and it was easy to create a fine layer of broth on the top of the matcha. There’s a sweet maple aroma from the tea. The flavour of Maple Matcha is primarily sweetness and maple, with a slight grassy background that is noticeable with each sip. I found it to be quite pleasant, although I feel like it could have had a little bit less sugar in it because it was almost too sweet.

I feel like Maple Matcha would lend itself well to being added to a glass with ice and lemonade, or as a latte (either hot or cold). I don’t feel that Maple Matcha needs any additional sweetener added to it, unless you have an even larger sweet tooth than I do.

A Second Cup?

As Maple Matcha is a (matcha) drink mix, it was fully used up in my initial cup.

My Overall Impression

I thought that DavidsTea’s Maple Matcha was just okay. While I really enjoyed the maple flavour, I found this drink mix to be on the sweet side and I was hoping that the matcha would be more prominent in the flavour profile. Maple Matcha is great if you’re looking for something sweet to drink that’s easy to prepare, it would make for an excellent matcha lemonade or a latte. Bonus points if you have it as an iced latte on July 1st in Canada.

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

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Whisk Premium Matcha’s Be My Rose

Be My Rose by Whisk Premium Matcha, in collaboration with The Good Chocolatier
Green Tea (Matcha) / Flavoured
$10.00 for 1 bar (42g)

Whisk Premium Matcha has provided me with Be My Rose for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

Like a lot of other people in the world, I’m a fan of chocolate. I first tried Whisk Premium Matcha’s Matcha Cremsicle chocolate (plant-based matcha white chocolate) when I bought a bar at the 2018 Vancouver Tea Festival. I was absolutely tickled when they very kindly sent me a bar of Be My Rose, which is a very similar chocolate bar – plant-based matcha white chocolate with dried rose petals embedded into the chocolate.

The bar of chocolate itself came in a plastic sleeve that’s resealable. The chocolate is molded into square segments, with a floral and leaf pattern molded onto the front, while dried rose petals are present on the backside of the chocolate. Be My Rose consists of: Ecuadorian raw cacao butter, coconut cream powder, coconut sugar, organic matcha, rose petals, maple syrup, and vanilla. Each bar contains a 1.5 servings of matcha per bar of chocolate. There’s a strong matcha aroma from the chocolate, with a very light, sweet floral fragrance that comes off from the rose petals.

First Taste

I broke off a few squares of the Be My Rose to try. There’s a very strong matcha flavour in this chocolate. I love white chocolate, and often find it sweet compared to milk or dark chocolate. Be My Rose is surprisingly not that sweet. It has a rich matcha flavour, with a floral flavour through each nibble from the rose petals. The chocolate has a nice creaminess to it – I don’t taste coconut in it, in case anyone doesn’t want to taste coconut in their chocolate. The matcha flavour has nice sweet notes to it.

My Overall Impression

I loved Whisk Premium Matcha’s Be My Rose. I really enjoyed eating the chocolate, found it to be delicious. It’s definitely unlike any other chocolate that I’ve had before – a lot of matcha chocolate is often sweet, and the label specifically mentions that it is free of refined sugar – finding the sweetness from coconut sugar and maple syrup. It’s a fun little treat, although I don’t find myself eating more than 1-2 squares at a time, due to the richness in the chocolate itself – so despite the cost for each bar, it goes a long way!

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