Tag: Oteas

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Oteas’s Organic Matcha with Mint

Organic Matcha with Mint by Oteas
Green Tea (Matcha) / Flavoured
$8.99 for 12g (12 packets)

Oteas has provided me with Organic Matcha with Mint for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

I was quite excited to find Organic Matcha with Mint in the package that Oteas so kindly put together for me. I’ve gotten quite interested in matcha recently – as evidenced by the influx of matcha reviews. Organic Matcha with Mint comes portioned into 1g “serving sticks”, which is nice for those who want to drink matcha on-the-go.

The packaging for Organic Matcha with Mint is more blue-green compared the other packaging it the review I had done for Oteas’s Organic Pure Matcha. Organic Matcha with Mint consists of: organic Japanese green tea leaves, peppermint powder, licorice root powder. The colour of the powder is a dark spring green, although there’s little fibrous bits throughout that I believe to be from the licorice root. It smells quite strongly of the peppermint – although not too over-the-top that it reminds me of toothpaste.

Preparation

Oteas recommends whisking the contents of 1 serving stick of Organic Matcha with Mint in 80-90°C (176-194°F) water “until a smooth, creamy consistency”. I used 85°C (185°F) water and prepared it in my matcha bowl with whisk.

First Taste

Organic Matcha with Mint whisks to a dark green. Small flecks of the licorice root fibres float within the cup of matcha, which makes it a bit pretty to look at. There’s a strong minty aroma from the tea, which I can appreciate. On first taste, I notice the minty sweetness. The matcha base is slightly grassy, but I mostly taste the mint. I don’t really make out the licorice root too much, but I suspect it does attribute some sweetness as I often find it to be sweet.

A Second Cup?

As always, matcha cannot be resteeped as it is a suspension.

My Overall Impression

I liked Oteas’s Organic Matcha with Mint. I really enjoyed the minty flavour of the peppermint in the blend, and I do like the single serving style – it makes it easier to have some matcha at work since I can’t have my full tea set up there when I’m busy with the hustle and bustle of work. For travelers or people with equally restrictive work spaces, you may appreciate the single serving nature of the Oteas matcha “sticks”. I had wished that the flavour of the matcha would have been stronger and more prominent. I really enjoyed the flavour of the matcha in the Organic Pure Matcha and wish that more of that flavour came through. If you’re a fan of peppermint, I think you’ll enjoy this matcha blend – it’s not too strong that it reminds me of toothpaste, which I think we can all appreciate.

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Oteas’s Organic Pure Matcha

Organic Pure Matcha by Oteas
Green Tea (Matcha) / Straight
$8.99 for 12g (12 packets)

Oteas has provided me with Organic Pure Matcha for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

Organic Pure Matcha comes individually portioned “single serve sticks”, which each contain 1g of matcha. This makes it ideal for the matcha lover on the go since you don’t have to fiddle with spoons and whatnot – although I made this at home so I definitely bothered with the spoons and whatnot.

Organic Pure Matcha consists of 100% organic Japanese green tea leaves in powder form. The packet was easy to open because of the notch at the top of the packaging. It comes out of the packaging easily. The matcha powder has a light grassy aroma and is a nice bright green colour.

As a side note, the packaging says that the tea is handpicked – which is important to note because all the good matcha is. Being mechanically picked means that there’s often sticks/twigs and other unwanted vegetal matter that winds up in the mix.

Preparation

Oteas recommends mixing 1 single serve stick of Organic Pure Matcha with 80-90°C (176-194°F) water and to whisk until it becomes a “smooth, creamy consistency”. I used 85°F (185°C) water and whisked it in my matcha bowl until I got a layer of bubbly foam on top.

First Taste

I found that Organic Pure Matcha becomes a nice dark green when whisked with the water. There a light grassy aroma from the matcha. When I drink it, I note that there are some grassy and vegetal notes – it reminds me a lot of spinach and other dark green leafy vegetables. There is a bit of salty/savoury quality to the matcha that hints to some lovely umami notes.

A Second Cup?

As always, matcha cannot be resteeped.

My Overall Impression

I loved Oteas’s Organic Pure Matcha. I really enjoyed the travel-friendly nature of these pre-portioned ‘serve sticks’ -i it just makes for an easier time making matcha wherever I go. I don’t work in an office setting, so I don’t have a designated desk where I can keep a cup of tea or tea stash at work, so I’ve tucked a packet of matcha into my lunch bag in order to make a quick cup of matcha during my break and it’s just so handy. I really enjoyed the flavour of this straight matcha. If you’re not as big of a fan of the salty qualities of matcha, I would recommend turning it into a latte with a bit of sweetener and milk to help temper the salty notes (and maybe add some ice for a real summer treat!).

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Oteas’s Moroccan Mint Tea

Moroccan Mint Tea by Oteas
Herbal Infusion / Straight
$6.95 for 24g (12 sachets)

Oteas has provided me with Moroccan Mint Tea for the purposes of providing an honest review.

First Impressions

Moroccan Mint Tea has a very strong minty aroma – and that’s without me even removing the plastic wrap from the cardboard box! Once I peeled off the shrink wrap, I was welcomed with a strong mint aroma to breathe in, which is really quite pleasant. This minty tea comes in tea sachets that are biodegradable – which is awesome! I can definitely seem some nice big pieces of mint leaves in the sachet, which is always a treat to see in a sachet product.

Moroccan Mint Tea consists of Moroccan mint. The smell is vibrant and inviting. It reminds me of summer days when my dad used to mow the patch of mint that was left to grow unattended in the backyard (as a side note – don’t let your mint grow unattended because it will spread because that’s just what it does).

Preparation

Oteas recommends steeping Moroccan Mint Tea in 100°C (212°F) water for 5 to 8 minutes. Because this is a tisane, I opted to do an initial steep of Moroccan Mint Tea for 8 minutes.

First Taste

Moroccan Mint Tea steeps to a brownish orange, with the most inviting mint aroma. The flavour is undoubtedly mint, I found it to be bright, refreshing, and sweet from the natural mint flavour. Traditionally, Moroccan mint tea is made with green tea (typically Chinese in origin), with mint leaves and sugar. This tea sachet is straight Moroccan mint, which makes it naturally caffeine free. If you want the more traditional option, you can always pair it with a green tea (Gunpowder would be preferred) and sugar. I found that the Moroccan Mint Tea had a lot of natural sweetness to it, which made it quite palatable – but as a person with a sweet tooth, I can see why adding sugar to a int infusion would also be delicious.

A Second Cup?

As Moroccan Mint Tea is a tisane, I found that a resteep of the same leaves yielded a weak cup of tea compared to the initial steep. I would recommend steeping it for the full recommended 8 minutes and sticking to just one steep.

My Overall Impression

I loved Oteas’s Moroccan Mint Tea. As the weather warms up, I’ve been really enjoying ‘cooler’ drinks – and even though I had Moroccan Mint Tea as a hot beverage, I found that the refreshing nature of the mint to be quite cooling. The flavour of the Moroccan mint is delicious, and I can see it being both delicious hot and iced but I really enjoyed it hot and think that others would like it this way as well. If you’re looking to make this mint tea a bit more in the traditional manner, I would pair it with a Chinese Gunpowder green tea and some sugar (and steep in a silver teapot!).

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