Tag: Matcha

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DavidsTea’s Cream of Earl Grey Matcha

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

First Impressions

Cream of Earl Grey Matcha was one of those purchases I did because I had decided to get the Earl Grey Matcha already so… why not? Full disclosure, I’m not a huge fan of most Cream of Earl Grey tea blends. I find there just to be something a little bit off about it that doesn’t make me enjoy it as much as I do a ‘plain’ Earl Grey blend. Which is a bit interesting, since I love trying out inspired by Earl Grey blends that have an assortment of other ingredients added into it (e.g. lavender, rose, orange). What can I say? I guess I’m occasionally a contradiction.

That said, I really do smell the Earl Grey in this Cream of Earl Grey Matcha. In comparison to Earl Grey Matcha, the bergamot is not as strong and there’s a bit of creamy or buttery quality in the aroma, which isn’t unexpected. Cream of Earl Grey Matcha consists of: cane sugar, matcha green, natural (cream, Earl Grey) flavouring. The colour is a nice spring green, there’s not a whole lot of sparkle in it despite consisting of cane sugar.

Preparation

DavidsTea recommends whisking Cream of Earl Grey Matcha in 85°C (185°F) water. I followed the preparation instructions.

The nice thing about a matcha drink mix is that it easily mixes in heated water. You don’t necessarily need a fancy whisk to make it work.

First Taste

Cream of Earl Grey Matcha isn’t the prettiest green colour when mixed into heated water. It has a bit of yellow-green colour to it that reminds me an awful lot of pea soup. It does settle somewhat quick, which was surprising to me, and I needed to give it a stir to get the colour more uniform throughout. It was easy to suspend into the water though, and there were zero clumps despite not sifting the powder. The aroma is that of Earl Grey, the flavour is a creamy Earl Grey with some grassy undertones from the matcha, but the cane sugar is very prevalent and the sweetness does overpower the matcha throughout each sip. It’s definitely a sweet drink!

I couldn’t resist turning Cream of Earl Grey Matcha into a latte. It definitely helped it out a bit – adding even more creamy flavour and tempering down the sweetness that the cane sugar naturally brings to each cup. It made it more of a treat and made for a nice twist on a London Fog.

A Second Cup?

As Cream of Earl Grey Matcha is a suspension, there was no second preparation with the same powder.

My Overall Impression

I liked DavidsTea’s Cream of Earl Grey Matcha. I was pleasantly surprised by Cream of Earl Grey Matcha, mostly because I’m not generally a fan of Cream of Earl Grey preparations. I found that the flavour to be nice, but I did find myself wishing for more of the bergamot to shine through over the cream notes in the drink. I greatly enjoyed it as a matcha latte, and definitely think that I would have it again as a latte drink over having it straight up, as I do think that the cane sugar was added with a heavy hand. Overall, I found it tasted like Earl Grey, with a big helping of cream and just hints of matcha throughout. It’d definitely be perfect for the match and Earl Grey fan with a huge sweet tooth.

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Dessert by Deb’s Minty Matcha Meringues

Minty Matcha Meringues by Dessert by Deb
Green Tea (Matcha) / Flavoured
$6.00 for 25g

Minty Matcha Meringues came as part of my November/December subscription box from Dessert by Deb.

First Impressions

Minty Matcha Meringues came to me in a lovely pale pink matte metallic sealed (and resealable!) pouch. Yes, this was from my November/December box, yes, it’s holiday-themed, and yes, I’m aware that it’s March in two days. That said, this cookie-inspired tea is still available on the Dessert by Deb website, if you’re wanting to give it a try. Nice colourful label – lets me know the important details (ingredients, steeping instructions, the recommendation to prepare as a latte), and is easy to read – my favourite type of product label.

Minty Matcha Meringue consists of organic: green tea, coconut, toasted coconut, peppermint and ceremonial matcha. So when I first opened the packaging, the first thing I smelled was the peppermint. This shouldn’t surprise anyone – mint is a very strong aroma. It’s very recognizable and just very capable of overpowering other ingredients. Then I smelled hints of coconut and the familiar grassy notes that could be attributed to either the green tea or the matcha. I just love how the matcha coats everything though, look at the coconut!

Preparation

Dessert by Deb recommends steeping Minty Matcha Meringues in 200°F (93°C) water for 4 to 5 minutes. I followed the steeping instructions and did an initial steep for 5 minutes.

First Taste

Minty Matcha Meringues doesn’t exactly look the prettiest when it’s steeped (see, below). It’s a bit of a murky yellow-green, there’s some oils floating on the top. Coconut naturally has oils in it, so the oils isn’t surprising, nor is it excessive like when you try to dissolve sprinkles or chocolates in a tisane or tea. The aroma of the tea is primarily mint, with some grassy undertones. I found the flavour to be a bit curious. I could definitely taste the peppermint, along with some of the coconut and some grassy and vegetal notes from the green tea and matcha combination. It doesn’t really scream meringues to me though, because I think of meringues as being very sweet and sugary and hurting my teeth. This… doesn’t. Which isn’t a bad thing. I do wish that the coconut flavour was more forward compared to the peppermint, but mint flavours are just always at risk of taking centre stage in comparison to other ingredients.

Since Dessert by Deb recommended having Minty Matcha Meringues as a tea latte, I had to give it a go. My general rule of thumb for creating a tea latte is to go with one third frothed milk to two thirds steeped tea. I also add sweetener to the tea portion of it. It does add a level of decadence to the tea (doesn’t improve the colour situation though, if anything it might make it worse). I did had some sweetener (vanilla agave syrup) and topped with frothed milk. It adds some creaminess, and the vanilla in the agave helps me think of it more of a baked good, which helps me think of meringues a bit more.

A Second Cup?

I attempted to resteep Minty Matcha Meringues, but found the flavour to fall a bit flat – I think a lot of the flavours that I enjoyed in the initial steep were just all used up in the initial steep (like the mint, the coconut, the matcha). I would recommend Minty Matcha Meringues for just one steep.

My Overall Impression

I liked Dessert by Deb’s Minty Matcha Meringues. There are aspects of this tea that I really enjoyed – the mint forwardness, the matcha undertones, the hints of coconut throughout – but it didn’t really make me think of meringue. It really needed some extra sweetener (and if you can get your hands on some vanilla syrup or vanilla agave, it really takes it over the top) to make me think of meringues since those are just sugary sweet and cavity-inducing desserts. I would recommend following Deb’s recommendation of turning this into a tea latte – it just makes it that much better and helps temper down how forward the peppermint is.

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

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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.