Nittoh Tea – One More Steep

Royal Milk Tea by Nittoh Tea
Black Tea / Flavoured
$6.99 for 140g (10 x 14g sachets)

First Impressions

Always one to look for new tea to try, I found this at a local grocery store and knew that I had to try it. After all, milk tea is one of my favourite ways to enjoy tea (check out my recipe for Hong Kong-Style Milk Tea if you want to DIY this and control the amount of sugar in your milk tea). The packaging is bright, with strawberries all over, and came with ten sachets.

Each sachet is bright red, and has 14g of powder in it. Royal Milk Tea consists of: sugar, skimmed milk powder, dextrin, palm oil, black tea extract, whole milk powder, butter oil, milk protein, strawberry powder, black tea, salt, artificial flavour, lactic acid, and soy lecithin. The aroma of the Royal Milk Tea powder when I opened it reminded me very faintly of strawberry – otherwise it didn’t have much of an aroma.

Preparation

Nittoh Tea recommends preparing Royal Milk Tea with hot water. I opted to use 100°C (212°F) water to mix, but the packaging does say to use 120mL of water per one sachet.

First Taste

Royal Milk Tea mixes up well, to a pale brown of milk tea. The aroma is strawberry, black tea, and milk. The flavour itself is sweet, strawberry, with black tea in the background. The strawberry flavour is strong, and the sweetness is almost too much. I think I would choose to water it down even further instead of only using 120mL of water because it’s just so sweet when prepared as suggested. Interestingly enough, each sachet is 14g, but each sachet consists of 9g of sugar! So probably not the most ideal of prepared tea mixes.

A Second Cup?

As Royal Milk Tea is a tea mix, there were no second steeps or preparations with the same tea.

My Overall Impression

I thought that Nittoh Tea’s Royal Milk Tea was just okay. The strawberry flavour was surprisingly good, and didn’t taste as artificial as I was initially expecting. The sweetness though was something that I could have done without – I find it very sweet compared to the milk tea that I make for myself from scratch. I do think the strawberry flavour works really well with the black tea base, and it’s a convenient option for those who want milk tea on-the-go. I will likely end up taking the rest of the sachets to work to drink when I have the opportunity, but I don’t think it’ll be an at-home staple.

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

Matcha Au Lait by Nittoh Tea
Green Tea (Matcha) / Flavoured
$6.99 for 120g (10 x 12g servings)

First Impressions

Nittoh Tea’s Matcha Au Lait was a fun little Asian grocery store find, it was staring me right in the face because it was eye level. The package doesn’t show off much – there’s an image of a bowl of matcha on the front, and clear side that show off the individual packets. There’s 10 packages in the bag, each containing 12g of powder.

The individual packets are light weight, after I opened it, I found that they feel a bit metallic in nature (the packaging). The powder itself is light green with a very light aroma – a bit grassy. It’s very mild. Matcha Au Lait consists of: sugars, dextrin, palm oil, whole milk powder, green tea powder, salt, sodium caseinate (milk), carboxymethyl cellulose, sodium lactate, soy lecithin.

Preparation

The packaging for Matcha Au Lait has Japanese text on it, with a printed English and French label across the back (to adhere to language laws in Canada to make it eligible to be sold). I did have to find the preparation instructions online, which recommend using 120ml of hot water for a hot matcha latte or cold water for an iced matcha latte. I didn’t find a temperature recommendation, so I used 175°F (79°C) water.

First Taste

Matcha Au Lait becomes a spring green cup of matcha. It dissolved and suspended quite easily with hot water with the stir of a spoon in my cup. I found that the aroma is milky and grassy at the same time. The flavour of Matcha Au Lait is sweet, with a light creaminess throughout, and grassy notes from the matcha base. It lacks the creaminess that I would have created in a matcha latte from scratch, but it is also possible that I was a touch heavy handed with the water when preparing it.

A Second Cup?

As Matcha Au Lait is a suspension, there are no second steeps with the same powder.

My Overall Impression

I liked Nittoh Tea’s Matcha Au Lait. It’s an easy preparation to make, and the additive of whole milk powder makes it easy to have a matcha latte on-the-go. I found it not as sweet to my liking, nor as creamy if I had prepared a matcha latte from scratch. However, I think it’s an easy way to make a matcha latte when out and about, so the rest of the package will definitely be making their way into my work bag so I can have an easy matcha latte during breaks.

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