1442 Tasting Notes
This one’s from Sil’s super matcha pack. 1 scoop, 8oz of almond milk, half a banana.
This was unfortunately not a hit with the two roommates. Roommate A said it was too sweet and then proceeded to guzzle down a huge mug of black coffee (she’s of that alliance). Roommate B said it tasted floral, almost like soap, and then asked for a cup of black coffee from Roommate A, which she added a lot of sugar to. It was a landslide win for the coffee party today.
Although I liked this more than the roommates I found it kind of sweet too. While I know what butterscotch hard candies are (roommates don’t) and I can taste it, I’m unfortunately not a fan of said candies. I think I’ll put this one aside when I’m feeling more inclined.
I wasn’t expecting to like this one, but I’m a sucker for butter and florals. I’m not well acquainted enough with grass, veggies, and green teas to say where this one falls but it’s good and that’s good enough for me.. One of the roommates likes this as well, so two recommendations!
Flavors: Butter
Preparation
I made some pretty stupid choices and said some dumb things this weekend, but drinking this wasn’t part of that, thankfully. I used 2 servings worth for a banana smoothie, and another serving as a cold almond milk mix. The rest I rubbed over some white chocolate covered pretzels.
I’ve never actually had amaretto before, although I’ve had a few amaretto flavoured things. I gather that it’s cherry-like. It’s not an everyday flavour, but I’d consider picking some up. Thanks, Sil! Here’s looking to a fresh week filled with new tea (and school assignments).
As long as you restrict your stupid to the weekend, I’d say you’re doing really well. ;P
As for the amaretto, it’s true that amaretto and cherry is a classic combo, but the amaretto itself is pure almond goodness. Just very very almond.
How did the midterm go?
If there’s any almond in it I didn’t notice, except in a marzipan kind of way? I really need to try actual amaretto one of these days :P
I think it could’ve been a little better, with less strangely worded T/F, but I’m not too worried about it anymore. Thanks for asking! :)
Well, amaretto tastes of bitter almonds, and marzipan consists of almonds and sugar, so that sounds about right.
Amaretto (at least, what we usually get here) is made out of apricot pits. :) The more you know! Google tells me that there’s sometimes cherry in it too. Hmm. Cherries soaked in amaretto might need to be a Thing this summer.
Yeah, that’s what amaretto is. =) Inside stone fruits like apricot or plum, for example, there is a pit, and inside that, if you bother to crack it open, is a small, lovely, fresh almond that is sometimes used for cooking. Or, you know, to flavour amaretto. There is no cherry in classic, basic amaretto, aside from the possible addition of random fruit pulp for added sweetness during production, and it absolutely shouldn’t taste like cherry (or you got yourself a not so stellar kind) but there are a few weird variations, so who knows what you could find if you went looking… (Maybe there is a tea amaretto!!!)
Thanks for all the information on amaretto, Anna! You’ve made amaretto tasting and experimenting with roommates a priority this month.
Looking through the other tasting notes, maybe there is an almond note to this matcha. I know I’m bad at picking up the nut notes in Red Leaf (I didn’t taste peanut in the peanut butter matcha), and tea/food in general. If any of you love amaretto this is worth a try, regardless of what I think taste! :)
I’m excited about this one, actually. When I get my Sil samples, I might try this one first. :)
This one’s from Sil! It’s not bad at all as long as you like Swedish Berries or raspberry candies (jelly belly or Hasbro gummies). I do like those things, so this didn’t last long.
Preparation
:)
Haha! So not so raspberry au naturel?
courtney..nope not in my opinion either.. i dont like it
Good to know haha. I’m always looking for the natural tasting ones.
Yeah, not so much. The closest it comes is raspberry jam, but that’s a bit of a stretch.
I tried it but haven’t reviewed it yet. Yeah, I personally find it artificial. Crowkettle, how many cups did you get out of it?
There were 3 scoops but I threw it all in one big two portion smoothie. It was very concentrated and left a sugary aftertaste for a good hour.
Holy crap, no wonder! Because I was like daaaaamn, there were around four servings worth in there. It must have been concentrated, indeed.
I’m just super classy when it comes to matcha prep.. I used to be conservative with the portions, and still am with the warm lattes, but tend to go all in with the milkshakes and morning smoothies.
Wow! I can taste the sweet, and slightly sour, whip cream, as well as the strawberries. It all makes for a pretty decadent and rich breakfast smoothie (bananas and strawberries pair so perfectly). I like how easy and straightforward this one is, and will consider picking some up for myself in the future.
Thanks Sil for sending all of this matcha to this side of the country, and Fjellrev for repackaging and distributing all of it!
Flavors: Berries, Cream
Backlog. This is another generous matcha sample from Cavocorax!
I had this twice the other day; once in a banana almond milkshake, and a second time by doing a warm whisk and then mixing it with cold almond milk. The banana version definitely trumped the warm whisk method, which didn’t carry much bubblegum flavour until the very end of the cup.
The banana milkshake version made me feel like I should be chewing. I have mixed feelings about that.
I whisked a spoonful up in warm water and then mixed it up with some almond milk. It’s crazy, maybe even slightly horrifying, how much this tastes like buttery caramel popcorn. With extra butter.
Thanks, Cavocorax! Not all the flavoured matcha I’ve tried from Red Leaf accurately represent what they are named, but this one certainly does!
Flavors: Butter, Caramel
Preparation
Backlog. This made a good banana matcha smoothie, adding an extra degree of cream and sweetness. I’ll have to pick up a little more of this, since I’m below sustainable portions of flavoured matcha anyways.
Thanks, Cavocorax, for letting me try some of this!
Thought I was going to get “puerh” and ended up getting the world’s most glorious nut and raisin trail mix instead. I was not expecting that twist, but I don’t resent it at all.
Setting: a pretty big mug. Temperature: boiling. Time: 1 minute rinse (maybe that’s too long to be termed a “rinse”), 30 second steep. I’ll write a more serious note later.
Second steep of 40 seconds at first tasted more like olive oil and wood smoke, but took on sweet finish which made the earthy trail mix of my mind materialize again.
Flavors: Berries, Earth, Nuts, Olive Oil, Raisins, Spices
Preparation
mmm trail mix!
I read somewhere here 5 sec rinse couple min rest then 5/5/10/15 etc. I hope you don’t mind me telling this . This works pretty good for me for shu. Sheng is tricky. Short steeps always work.
Oh, no, I actually really appreciate the advice! It’s part of the reason I record the time/temp. and check everyone’s puerh notes. Sometimes I get lucky and it comes out tasting great despite the experimenting, like this one did, but I’ve wrecked a few too. Thank you :)
for shu cha I typically do 2 rinses,the second being long enough to draw just a little color out of the leaf…steep times will vary quite a bit from tea to tea,depending on leaf size,bing vs.loose,lao cha tou etc..
there really is no wrong or right way though…I tend to brew “heavy”,I like to overleaf oversteep most teas…it just comes down to personal preference..
@cryptickoi. i agree there is no right or wrong. im a beginner so its easier for me to do shortest steeps and see how flavors develop. i’m more in control. once i know more or less what to expect from this particular tea i can increase the time. so many people are turned off by pu because of long steeps. i still dont feel comfortable with sheng :(
