Yuzu Matcha

I taste mostly earthy matcha, but in some sips, I get a nice bright, tangy citrus flavor. I think the matcha flavor is stronger than usual because I let this sit for an hour or two, and the matcha all clumped back together. The citrus is definitely the aftertaste for this one, but it’s really pleasant. I wish it were a little stronger, but I appreciate how fresh it is and how different from other teas I’ve had before. Yuzu is such a fun flavor.

Day 3 24 Days of Matcha

This one surprised me a great deal. I had never had a citrus matcha and don’t drink a lot of citrus teas as well. This tasted crisp and fresh. I feel as though this would make a good morning tea

Pulled this from my advent stash for my breakfast smoothie tomorrow, since I’ve been under the weather and craving ginger, and a lemon ginger profile sounded nice. I figured this could add the “lemon” flavor to the smoothie.

Having learned my lesson, I put the full sample packet (1 tablespoon) into the blender with one cup plain oat milk, whisked thoroughly, and then sampled before adding my other ingredients. I feel a lot about this one that I felt about the raspberry — I like yuzu because it is a tart, puckering sort of citrus flavor, and I actually like those tart/puckery/pleasantly sour profiles. With all the sweetener DAVIDsTEA adds to the blend, it just doesn’t really “taste like” yuzu to me, because it is just too sweet to be yuzu. Instead I’m getting lemon drop candy… which are fine when I’m in the mood for them, but wasn’t really what I wanted here. I was getting at least a little of the yuzu “pepperiness” in the aftertaste, and like before when I used a full tablespoon, I could actually taste the grassy/umami notes of the matcha again this time. Yuzu is another flavor that I think would pair well with those vegetal notes, if it just wasn’t so sweet. Really starting to wish these weren’t pre-sweetened; though I do need some sweetness to curb the bitter bite of matcha itself, I would rather be able to sweeten to taste myself as these just feel like so much they kinda kill the flavoring for me on some of these.

Blended it with mango, peach, half a leftover cup of ginger tea that had gone cold on me from this afternoon (waste not…), and a bit of yogurt. Wasn’t too happy with how this smoothie turned out, as it tastes too sweet and the peach is popping a bit too much, when I wanted the yuzu and the ginger to be the main flavors. Ah well. I’ll still drink it in the morning, and may try to get that flavor profile again by experimenting with other things. There is always another breakfast on the horizon calling for a smoothie…

DavidsTEA Matcha Advent Calendar 2020 – Day 14

Day 14, almost caught up on my backlog of teas! This I had yesterday morning, and in the package it smelled pretty good, lemony…but…it did remind me of NeoCitrane. Not sure about everyone on here, but NeoCitrane is a cold medicine here in Canada that is basically a powered lemon drink with some Tylenol ground up in it, and I have it if I’m super sick and need to sleep. It literally knocks me out. So the fact that this tea smelled like it…not my favorite for an early Monday morning of a busy week lol.

As for the flavor…yep…tastes like NeoCitrane to me lol. A weird tea. If I didn’t associated it with that medicine it would probably be fine…but as is, it is not for me. Might also be better iced so get rid of the comparison. Eh, I’ll finish it off and be okay with it being gone lol.

Prepared in the usual way, 175 degree water, whisk, top up with hot water, drink.

DAVIDsTEA Matcha Advent Calendar – Day 14

I was really excited to try this one. I decided to make it iced because that seems like the best way to go about making a citrus matcha. It’s good but it’s definitely matcha. The front end of the sip is like refreshing lemonade. Then that quickly turns into a strong matcha flavor so it leaves bitter grassiness on your tongue. I wish I liked matcha better than I do. I like flavoured matchas but mostly when the flavor hides the matcha. Here both base and flavor are equally present and while I really like the latter, the former makes me sad.

DAVIDsTEA Matcha Advent Calendar – Day 14

Ooh, well this is an exciting flavor. I happen to love yuzu, especially in green tea, for its sharp lemon/grapefruit-like flavor and its yummy evergreen notes. So yuzu matcha sounds like a good combination to me! Prepared this straight with 12 ounces of warm water.

Wow, this is a strongly flavored one! The citrus just punches you right in the face, hah. I’m not sure I would know right away that it’s yuzu, versus just lemon. I get some some of the pine notes at the end of the sip, though.

My issue with this is the sugar is really odd with the other flavors IMO. It takes something that should be aromatic and fresh, and makes it taste like Country Time lemonade mix. The yuzu/lemon and matcha combination has an almost savory note due to the umami in the matcha and the pine in the yuzu, and the sugar just doesn’t go with it and tastes very cloying.

Nope, not for me.

Almost forgot the jam! :O

Today it’s Orange-Cinnamon Spread. Now, I am not a marmalade lover, it’s always too bitter for me. But I think the cinnamon really helps in that regard, because this was much more enjoyable! The cinnamon adds a lovely warmth and sweetness and really makes it taste like a holiday jam. :3

(today’s advent teas: https://www.instagram.com/p/CIyI3bGAi3z/)

Another new matcha! Tasting new teas has been a welcome distraction. I’m particularly pleased with this one. It’s nice and tart, and the yuzu flavor is distinct. I mixed it with sparkling water and it’s quite a treat.

Sipped on this on Monday for both my #MatchaMonday and #SeptemberSipdown teas; the prompt for the latter being “a discontinued tea”. I hesistated to use this for the day though because it was a seasonal tea and seasonal teas, by nature, are only around for a season. Same as how “limited edition” teas will only be around for a short period of time…

So yeah, those teas aren’t exactly readily available but a discontinued tea in my mind is something that was readily available but now isn’t. The semantics of the wording is something that drives me crazy when I see people complain that DT “discontinues all of their favourites”. It’s bugged me even before I was a DT employee. It’s a fair critique if the teas you’re listing are teas that were “core” teas but if your list is all compiled up of teas that were only seasonal/limited edition then they weren’t really “discontinued”. In fact they were advertised as only around temporarily…

Ah, isn’t language fun!?

Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CE1lv0ng6Kt/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZJzjM9iF-0

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.