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My mum-in-law gave this to me for Christmas, and I apologize to you tea because I have been on a Japanese tea kick for the past year. Good news is I haven’t opened it yet

Dry aroma: Hmmm, I’m not sensing the usual notes. Perhaps it’s the packaging? I know it’s not because of where it is stored. I’m taking it out of the bag and adding a desiccant pack in to see if it reveals something better tomorrow.
Dry Appearance: Tightly rolled into balls. Mix of dark and light greens.

Quickly rinse with boiling water. Then 10 second infusion.
Flavor: Mineral. Wet rocks. Granite. Floral. Vibrant greens and tropical floral notes.
I can definitely tell my palate for oolongs has lessened with my insatiable appetite for Japanese greens. But I do love oolongs, so I want to get it back.
Wet Leaf aroma: A bit vegetal with hints of butter and slightly sweetened water.
It’s good but just not as good as I was hoping. Will try again tomorrow after the bag aroma has dissipated.

My mom bought this matcha. She doesn’t listen to me and store it properly. But according to the bag she is storing it properly. Granted even with proper storage this matcha wouldn’t be considered anything over lower grade. Culinary. Maybe slightly premium. If you are using western grading.
Color: muted green.
Aroma: metallic
Made for latte
The flavor is bad. Can’t do on its own. Metallic. Harsh winter veggies that have become bitter.

I need to write to Marc and thank him for this, and Davidsons’, and finish the Substack… and post on the MN Tea socials… But sometimes after a busy morning what our brains need is a moment to just chill.

First I need to reiterate that this was a sample Marc sent to me. I interviewed him about his company, Ooika, back in February and I tell you this guy is going to shake up the matcha industry!

We opened and tried it for the first time at the MN Tea Society on Mar 22nd. (Free to the public). The first brew was great. However, what was more interesting were people’s reactions. The lady who preferred Diet Coke, you could tell this was too much for her. But the lady who practices Urasenke, she could tell this was top of the line. We were split between liking it before or after the higashi (a dry Japanese sweet made entirely of very fine high-grade sugar).

Freshly gound matcha… you guys. If you haven’t tried some yet even just the color will blow you away.
Dry Aroma: Creamy. A bit nutty, more along the lines of a pecan. Lovely hints of fresh cut grass.
Dry Appearance: GREEN. So very green. The powder is smooth.
Whisking. Fairly easy to whisk into a foam. I’d say this is a slightly lower-grade milling because of the 3 or 4 bowls I’ve made each has contained a fair amount of big clumps. Could just have to do with this cultivar or something.
Taste: Like crystal clear water with delightful creamy and nutty notes.
Suspension: Stays for quite awhile. Not that I generally have long enough to see it sink because I just want to drink it ^^;

Please do check out Ooika: https://ooika.co/
And if you have time read his interview while drinking a cuppa: https://teatiff.com/2025/02/14/ooika/

VRBO cupboard tea. Good dry leaf aroma through the tea bag. Notes of various spices and a nice touch of vanilla. The infusing aroma is pleasent ntes of german christmas cookies.
Oh man. Licorice root! You know how some poeple think (me) cilantro tastes like soap? And others can only taste stevia when stevia is involved? Well I’m adding another one to the lise. Licorice Root. It overpowers this blend like a dictator. The spices and the black tea try to muscle themselves in but the licorice root is like a little mob boss. Overall, it’s a decent blend and I’ve learned a good lesson.

After my last teabag, I don’t have high expectations but one can always hope. This is, again, a cupboard tea from the vrbo in Kauai. The aroma starts kinda peachy, kind of grandma’s potpourri in the bathroom, and part very synthetic candy. The wet tea bag… It’s like a mix of wet leaves and someone decided to be funny and sprinkle peach flavoring on them. The taste. Nope. Just a lot of nope. I didn’t even steep it the entire time. It’s one part bitter, one part compost that is not being taken care of properly, and the last part is all synthetic notes.

When we went to Kaua’i on vacation, we stayed with my parents at a place similar to a VRBO. Long story short, they had this in one of the cupboards. It doesn’t look too old, and the aroma of the bag is pleasant—full of dried strawberries and bits of vanilla. The infusing tea smells of fruit roll-ups and those generic strawberry gummies with a slight tannic hint of leftover pieces of tea. The first, very careful, sip was reminiscent of Play-Doh. Subsequent sips have revealed nothing of note. Dead strawberries, plaster, cunk vanilla. I keep drinking it hoping I’m missing something.

I have no idea of what they were trying to do with this blend but I think this is a fail.

Dry, dusty looking leaf. Curled and twisting.
Most of this will be used for a nitro infusion later this morning after I get the kids up for school.
This is the end of the bag. Lots of chopped leaf and bits that look more like a ctc tea. I’d really have to dive more into Nepal greens to get a better feel for them. But it’s difficult to do when you feel like you have a good grasp on teas feom another country. Maybe it’s just because it’s the end of the bag? The flavor is top dusty and dry for me. Hay, grass that was cut weeks ago and left to compost in a pile.
Nitro: on its own it’s nothing special. No foam and thus no cascade. The taste is fresh and would be nice for a hit summer day.

On the island of Kauai, in the town of Kilauea, there is a shop called Kauai Juice Co. They are well known for their kombucha, and I attest to the fact that it is delicious. But they also have other companies that they host, like this one. I had not heard of Lake&Oak before so I decided to give them a try. The aroma of the dry mix is nice and toasty with hints of cola and sugar cane.
1st Steep: 5 Minutes. Straight up. 2 Mins to cool down. Think I used about 1/2 tsp and while the flavor has a bit of nie zest and spice to it I also find it… somewhat boring. Needs more punch and flavor. Adding more next time and trying with coconut milk.

Nothing says adventure like trying a random black tea from a vrbo share area in America where tea is not well taken care of. I fear for the flavor simply by looking at how crunched and smashed and broken the leaves are. Also they were sitting in a plastic bag. The aroma is next to nothing for the dry and wet aroma of the leaves. The flavor is heavy with cigarette and dark woods. Bland.

Last tea from Marshall. Thank you again for the trade. I saved this one for last because it is the category of tea I am least familiar with. Quite excited to try this one. And I do enjoy the videos from Nannuoshan. Actually, this is the first time I’ve had one of their teas!

Dry Leaf: Dark tones. Dark browns and dark yellows. The yellow disappears in the dark a bit, so make sure to put it under good light to view it. Medium and large rolled leaves. Lots of tricomes.
Steeping aroma: Very nice. Mellow wood tones, bready, barely? some type of grain… malt? Yes malt.
Flavor: Yeah, that’s good. Oh man. Hay, malt, bitter chocolate 85% dark, a bit of herbaceous notes.
This one you really have to sit with. Can’t walk away.
Wet Leaf: Summer floral, summer herbal, raisiny…