I wasn’t sure how to prepare this tea at first. It’s matcha, so you should be able to just put it in the hot water and shake/whisk it up, right? Well, no, because there are lumps in it as well. The green lumps (I thought they might just be matcha powder caked together that would come apart in the cup) turned out to be bits of citrus peel coated in matcha, which made me realize that there was less matcha in my cup than I at first thought, so I just went ahead and dumped the rest of the sample in too.
When dry, this tea was green, but once steeped it turned a super-muddy brown. By that I mean that it was not just brown but also opaque even before I added milk. I’m going to assume this was from the chocolate. I could taste a hint of chocolate in the tea, although it was hidden way down under the mint still.
There is some bitterness to this tea, but I think that’s from the mint (because it tasted to me like mint tea that has been steeped a bit too long) rather than from the matcha. So next time I’d be more careful not to steep it quite so long. I was trying to give the citrus peel a chance to wake up, but I don’t think it stood a chance against the mint anyway.
Once I added some sugar and lots of milk, it tasted primarily of mint-chocolate, but still very heavy on the mint. I could hardly taste the matcha itself at all because of the mint, which could be a good thing if you don’t especially like matcha flavor but still want the energy that comes from it. With the addition of milk, the citrus became almost nonexistent– although not totally gone– kind of like a ghost. Sometimes I thought I caught a hint of it but I’m not totally sure and it wasn’t a very substantial hint anyway.
Looking at the ingredients list, I notice that there was black tea in this as well. I didn’t really notice it (as I said, before steeping everything was coated in matcha and afterward everything tasted strongly of mint). Maybe there wasn’t very much of it, because it certainly didn’t have a very strong presence in this tea blend.
So in conclusion, I’d say that if you like strongly minty mint chocolate matcha, this could be great for you. It would also be great as a functional breakfast tea because it has all the refreshing qualities of mint plus the caffeine from the matcha. I’m not sure I’d buy this particular blend but I sure had fun with the sample!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Moongleam Tea Shoppe
Description
The rich, earthy flavor of matcha meets the sweetness of cocoa, mint, and orange peel.
The flavors combine wonderfully to create a wonderful interplay.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Bates’ Brambleberry Black Tea from The Republic of Tea
In addition to being a fandom tea that I’m sure everyone who watches Downton Abbey will love, this tea has a wonderful flavor and is an awesome eco-friendly offering from the Republic of Tea. It comes in a round unbleached tea bag with no strings, staples or tags, and can be composted after you use it. It looks insubstantial enough that you could even throw it in your own non-industrial-strength compost pile (I understand some municipalities have compost pickup along with trash and recycling pickup, but mine is not that lucky so I do my own composting).
It smells excellently of berry, so I greatly enjoyed the fragrance as it steeped. I steeped it about five minutes using boiling water and it turned out reddish-brown with that very pleasing fragrance and a wonderful refreshing berry taste. It does, as advertised, remind me of summer and berry-picking. It’s called “brambleberry” so I would have expected mostly blackberry flavor (because those are the type of berry that people call brambles in England, right?), but there’s definitely a serendipitous raspberry tinge in there as well. The tea information says that it also has strawberry and blueberry flavors, but I found those to be less obvious than the raspberry and blackberry flavors.
I considered adding milk but then decided against it. I don’t think this tea is acidic enough to actually curdle the milk (although I could be wrong), but it’s definitely acidic enough to be interesting and I don’t want to dull that edge, which milk is likely to do.
Overall I really enjoyed this tea and wished I had more of it! I’ll definitely consider purchasing it if I ever get around to ordering from The Republic of Tea while they still carry it. (So many tea companies, so little time!)
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type:
Where to Buy: Republic of Tea
Description
This bold yet smooth premium black tea is perfectly coupled with a handful of summer fruit – blackberries, raspberries, strawberries and blueberries. A touch of sweetness to this cup will bring out the full, ripe flavor. A casual refreshment served hot or over ice with biscuits or sandwiches.
The award-winning TV series, Downton Abbey® has entranced millions of viewers and become a modern media sensation. Every episode is an explosion of drama, relationships and intrigue. Downton Abbey is home to the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants. From the pen of Academy Award® winner Julian Fellowes, Downton Abbey is the most watched drama ever on PBS!
This tea is an online exclusive
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
White Chocolate Samoa by The NecessiTeas
Yay, a white chocolate coconut tea! With caramel! And it’s caffeine free, so it’s great as a nightcap.
I approximated the steeping instructions for this tea, noticing as I did so that there’s plenty of coconut visible in the dry tea. It has a sweet creamy smell even when dry. Once the tea is steeped, it turns out to be about the color of apple cider, but a bit darker. It has a light, pleasant flavor and fragrance from the very first sip. I found it to have a creamy flavor and aftertaste (presumably from the coconut).
Altogether I found this tea very enjoyable, although I don’t think it’ll end up in my rotation for daily drinking. It’s very heavy on the coconut (since it contains both actual coconut and coconut flavor) and on the sugar factor, so it’s a sure winner if coconut is your favorite flavor ever and you take lots of sugar in your tea!
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Honeybush/Herbal
Where to Buy: The NecessiTeas
Description:
Growing up I was a Girl Scout and I was great at “selling” cookies. I would polish off a box of Samoas after school while working on my homework. Chock up another “sale” my parents had to chip in for. Gone are the days when it was okay to eat an entire sleeve of cookies. So here’s my guilt-free version of the classic Samoa. As always, I like to put a spin on things so I used white chocolate instead then added sweet caramel and toasted coconut to recreate an old favorite.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
S’mores Genmaicha Green Tea from 52Teas
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: 52Teas
Tea Description:
I reblended this tea to fulfill part of our start-up Kickstarter campaign’s add-on offers! This was part of the Genmaicha 3-Tier collection – a yummy blend of Matcha infused Genmaicha green tea and chocolate and marshmallow flavors. I added cacao shells & nibs, mini vegan chocolate chips and marshmallow root to the blend. This is yummy!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This gemaicha is a perfect tea for the weather out there today! I’ve battened down the hatches and hunkered down, because the outside world has turned completely white. I’m living in a surreal ghost town of powder. It certainly doesn’t help that the wind keeps whipping up the 3 feet of snow that has already fallen. I can’t even open my front door! And to think it was almost 70 degrees yesterday. That’s Denver spring for ya.
I can’t believe I have already finished this package! I received the 3-tier genmaicha tin set from 52Teas’ initial kickstarter not too long ago. At first I didn’t care for the flavor, especially with the chocolate pieces. It’s a personal pet peeve of mine to have chocolate chips in tea. But I love the flavors of marshmallows and graham crackers, and I did not want to allow these chocolate abominations to keep me from enjoying this tea. So I just picked out and straight up ate the chocolate chips. May I just say that they are a great compliment to the tea – better than if they were in the blend, fusing to the sides of my teapot and creating an odd sludge.
I quickly became addicted to this blend. I think I drank nothing but this tea for about a week straight. It’s so on point – each flavor is well developed and distinct, from the smooth and mellow marshmallow to the crisp and sweet graham cracker right up to the vegetal grassiness and toasty rice flavor of the genmaicha. I love flavored genmaicha, and this blend is a great combination of a funky flavor idea and the classic Japanese green tea.
Milky Oolong from ChaTale- A Kickstarter going on now!
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Oolong
Where to Buy: ChaTale
Tea Description:
This debonair drop has all the smooth buttery goodness of an oolong base with a slick creamy aftertaste.
Support Cha Tea’s Kickstarter campaign here.
Taster’s Review:
I have to start off this review with a comment about the logo and packaging for these teas. They are fantastic! The logo is clean and they use colors that draw you in and are so very attractive. It is the first thing I noticed about their teas.
ChaTale currently has an active kickstarter campaign running thru December 13. They originate out of the UK and seem to know what they are doing when it comes to tea. ChaTale will be offering a monthly tea subscription box hoping to steer consumers away from the tea bag and more into loose leaf tea. That alone makes me happy!
I couldn’t wait to dive into the box and see what fun teas await me. The first one that caught my eye was the Milk Oolong. I mean the description alone makes you drool!
Brewed this up like I do my oolongs with water at about 195 deg or so for around 4 minutes. The whole time the tea was steeping, gorgeous vanilla notes were wafting thru the air. The fragrance almost reminds me of homemade sugar cookies. . . . and who doesn’t love that smell?
Took my first sip and I am greeted with this amazingly smooth creamy flavor with just a hint of sweetness. This tea is charming and cozy giving you that feeling that you just want to snuggle up with a good movie or a good book. So very good and addicting! I’m loving the smooth flavor that delivers from beginning to end of each sip. You couldn’t ask for a better oolong on a cold rainy day like it is here today. Rich, creamy, and smooth with a sweetness that really just reminds you of home baked cookies. Yum! Delicious!
I think I need to go back this one on Kickstarter!
