Mocha Matcha

Another “not terrible, but not for me” matcha. The smell of the chocolate is more noticeable than the taste, but the taste of seaweed and chocolate combined is very interesting. Not terrible, just interesting. I don’t get ay coffee taste from this, but that could be because I tend to drink strong coffee.

This one is sweet and generically desserty. With milk and whipped cream, it was enjoyable, but its vision wasn’t super clearly realized. It could have easily been caramel or some other dessert. I ended up feeling pretty medium about it. Again, not much flavor from the matcha itself.

Day 9 of 24 Days of Matcha

This tea was already on my tea shelf and that is because of the mocha flavoring in this matcha. Absolutely delish

Hot – Yes
Oat Milk Latte – Yes
Tin – Yes

My first tea (and sipdown, as I’m sure I’ll use up the last serving after I drink through this cup) of the year! Mainly because I slept terribly last night (I’m an old lady that can’t stay up until midnight and went to bed at my “normal bedtime” but then faded in and out during all the fireworks, and then was woken an hour before my normal waking time by the cat who was upset by her food dish situation…) When I’m this tired, my brain still goes back to my old coffee associations rather than tea. But I don’t think I have any coffee teas in my cupboard anymore…

Then I remembered I had this matcha, couldn’t really think of anything smoothie-wise it was going to easily pair with anyway, and decided I’d drink it as a latte this morning. Mixed straight into plain oat milk, no water, on the hot setting of the milk frother, 1 teaspoon per 8 oz of liquid.

It’s very creamy and sweet. I expect my coffee flavors to have a bit more bite to them (I was a coffee drinker for years until I started having some GI issues with it, and I still love the flavor of it) so while I don’t really mind sweetened matchas because I don’t like how bitter the taste of matcha is, I just don’t expect a coffee flavor to taste so sweet! It’s like… it doesn’t really taste like coffee to me? I suppose that would be a good thing to a lot of people on here! I get more of a really sweet coffee creamer vibe… I suppose a mocha is a chocolate coffee, but I’m not getting a chocolate flavor, either. Just… sweet and creamy, vanilla or honey-like, with a hint of something toasty hidden beneath that, and nothing tasting of sharp, bitter coffee, grassy matcha, or chocolate.

It’s a fine latte, but not what I was expecting. Perhaps for my last serving I’ll try doing a half-and-half water/oat milk infusion and see if I get a stronger coffee flavor to pop.

DavidsTEA Matcha Advent Calendar 2020 – Day 18

Backlog from this past Friday – um, so I don’t know what happened with this tea when I made it, but I do need to make it again because the first cup was disastrous LOL. It smelled funky when I opened it, honestly…like cat food? LOL. So I was like ok…..let’s try making it. So I made it in my usual way, 175 degree water, whisk, top up with hot, drink. It did not froth at all, but since it’s a coconut nectar matcha, I’m not surprised lol. But what the heck, still smelled wayyy off. So tried a sip, BLECH. Also tasted off HAHAHA. So not sure what was going on or if my taste buds were having a moment, but this got dumped. I do want to try it again, in case it was just me….but this one and I did not have a good start lol.

Will try again another day, but for now definitely not a favorite haha.

DAVIDsTEA Matcha Advent Calendar – Day 18

Happy Friday, everyone! I was excited to see this one out of the advent this morning, as I tend to enjoy coffee-flavored teas and it seems like the roasty flavor would go well with matcha. Prepared as a matcha au lait with 8 ounces of warm water and 4 ounces of warm milk.

I think this may be my favorite of the advent so far? Although the maple was also good. I don’t know if it’s just my imagination or the way the flavors combine, but this tastes less sweet to me than usual. I know it has coconut nectar instead of cane sugar, so not sure if that’s the difference?

Anyway, I love the combination of the roasty coffee flavor with the matcha, it really blends well with the sort of toasted seaweed umami notes. The chocolate part is fairly present as well, and ups the sweetness a bit. I do taste the matcha, which is a big plus for me, and there’s just a hint of bitterness at the end of the sip. Really like this one, and would consider ordering it… The rating is awful, which is surprising, maybe people didn’t like the stronger umami note? (shrugs)

For jam, we have Cherry-Christmas Spice Spread, which sounds amazing. I love cherry jam, and have has Bonne Maman’s before so I know it’s yummy. Yum, this is so good. A lovely rich but somewhat tart cherry flavor with warming spices – definitely cinnamon and clove at the least. It’s reminding me strongly of something specific, and I’m annoyed that I can’t recall what it is… Hmm… But I wish this was at least a seasonal flavor that they offered!

ETA: I think it’s reminding me of apple butter, but with cherry instead of apple?

(today’s advent teas: https://www.instagram.com/p/CI8bVHGAmpT/)

Adventaggedon Day 18 – Tea 3/6

I’m not a huge fan of the coconut nectar based matchas from DT, but I do this this is the best of them – and it’s nice as a latte. I didn’t make it as a latte today, though I would have liked to, because I slept in and didn’t have much time before needing to leave for the metro.

So, I whisked it hot and straight – was a little sad it didn’t froth, but the coconut nectar matchas rarely do. It tasted fine – with those Coffee Crisp sort of notes I often get from it. I wish I would have had more time today to really enjoy it, but it was the little boost I needed before taking off for the office.

Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/CI9HTxrAALU/

Friendly reminder that I do not numerically rate DAVIDsTEA blends as I’m currently employed there and it would be an obvious conflict of interest. Any blends you see with numerical ratings were rated prior to my employment there. These reviews are a reflection of my personal thoughts and feelings regarding the teas, and not the company’s.

I got about 20g to try from somebody, so I’d get what everyone thought was so great… But honestly it wasn’t the best matcha I’ve had. I tasted the mocha a little bit, but it was subdued. And maybe it’s because it’s older, but still… Wish it was better. I think Steeped Tea’s is better than this. Even if it isn’t sweetened.

One thing I want to say is I used the mini matcha maker for this and my goodness is this a small amount of matcha. It is like a tiny shot of it. I guess I normally make 16 oz mugs and the mini matcha maker holds 8 oz but where the line is, it just seems like such a small amount.

Anyways, I am drinking this plain today so I can compare it to the NecessiTeas Chocolate Pear Cake in my March sipdown tournament inspired by Mastress Alita! I am calling this battle the battle of the chocolate-ish green teas (sorta). Fitting that I am having matcha today also since it is Matcha Monday. That was an unplanned but happy coincidence if I am being honest.

Like Chocolate Pear Cake, there is stuff I like and don’t like here. When the matcha first hit my mouth, it was almost like drinking a hot chocolate because it was creamy and milk chocolate-y and nice, especially since there is no milk added. As the sip continued though, this started to get a touch more bitter. I don’t know if I should blame the matcha for this or the coffee component of the inspiration but it sort of leaves a chicory type vibe on the tongue – toasted, bitter, chocolate adjacent. Unfortunately that seems to build as I continue to drink and it is drowning out the chocolate note I enjoyed so much. As a result, I am not only declaring Chocolate Pear Cake the winner, I am also dropping the rating of this one from 78.

Check out the review for Chocolate Pear Cake here: https://steepster.com/rachel12610/posts/416152

I went to DavidsTea to try their flavored matchas-mocha, mint and vanilla. I figured it was about time as I love their other matchas – ceremonial, matsu, and grand cru. This tea did not disappoint! I had it with my matcha whisk gadget thingy. You add a perfect matcha spoon into the container (comes in 2 pieces-the long thin cup and the whisk part) and add 2.5 oz of boiling water. Add the whisk part and press to operate. Makes a perfect matcha shot! It only cost $12! I don’t think it tastes like mocha though-more like chocolate. I then made a protein smoothie for breakfast with this mocha matcha as well. I made it with 8 oz milk, 1 scoop of protein powder-vanilla, 2 perfect matcha spoonfuls ( I’m going to try 3 tomorrow as it was a tad weak), 2-3 scoops vanilla frozen yogurt and half a banana (optional). You can add ice too if you want but my blender doesn’t mix it very well. This was DELICIOUS!! I must warn you though that this is an expensive tea for the amount you get-it’s a heavy tea. I got 100g and got slightly less than half a small bag. Usually, you can get a silver tin full of tea on most teas they have in stock at the store. But it was worth it to me. I went back the next day to get some more as they are discontinuing this tea. I’m so sad about that. WHY must they get rid of my favorites-especially the ones I recently discovered! sigh C’est la vie I guess. At least I’m stocked up for awhile and still have the mint and vanilla to try-which I was told by the Tea Guide are safe for the moment from being retired.