Toasted Maple Green

I spent several hours today reinstalling the OS on my daughter-in-law’s iMac, which she’s selling. When she tried to clear her personal data… she cleared more than just that. I managed to get it all ready for the next person, and she offered to make a dessert. I asked for something with lavender, and she made an amazing cake with lavender, lemon, and vanilla flavors.

I dug through my teas looking for something with lavender and instead found a large, unmarked, thick freezer bag, with a nice maple aroma, and I realized it’s my 2017 purchase of Toasted Maple Green from TeaSource, since discontinued! And when I went to find my old review, I also realized I’ve never even reviewed it.

I was new to buying loose leaf tea, and I bought a freaking pound of it, and I’m happy I did!

It’s not quite as strong as it was four years ago, but it has a nice mild maple scent and flavor. It’s very smooth. The houjicha is just a little stale, but not bad. It’s sweet-tasting and light and refreshing. TeaSource, if you’re listening, please make more! I’m nutty for this.

Thanks to Mastress Alita for this wonderful sample. Wow, this tastes really good. It’s not just a maple tea, as the toasted flavor also comes through really clearly. I would never have known that this is green tea. I steeped it for a long time at a temperature close to boiling, and it’s not the slightest bit bitter. The flavor really lingers in your mouth. I’m so glad I have enough to make a few giant mugs of this. I don’t eat actual maple syrup much, but maple tea is so so good.

Steepster Freeze 2021 #1: 01/12/21

I don’t typically review teas I’ve reviewed before, and I reviewed this one three years ago now (Original review here: https://steepster.com/mastressalita/posts/373785 ). Needless to say, it is getting quite old and really needs some proper sipdown love soon. Though the planed almonds included in the tea do little for the flavor and seem more decorative to me, the overall “nutty” flavor profile of houjicha (and the fact it is one of the few “non-herbal” teas I can safely drink after my caffeine cut-off hour) made this a suitable pick for my evening cup for National Marzipan Day.

Time has definitely not done this tea any favors. It does still have its mapley aroma and some maple notes are holding on in the flavor, it isn’t as potent as I remember it once being. Mostly, the houjicha itself just feels a bit stale and had a stronger “bitter woodiness” that is coming across almost bark-like now. It was time to experiment and see if there are other ways I can creatively use up this tea (I did cold brew it and mix it in a smoothie not long ago with DAVIDsTEA Maple Matcha, which worked great for the remainder of that matcha sampler packet!)

Tonight, I decided to try a latte. 16oz, 12oz water to 4oz plain oat milk, frothed. I steeped two heaping teaspoons of the houjicha in 205F for around five minutes to create a strong infusion, then mixed in the milk. It wasn’t quite the super creamy, indulgent cuppa I was hoping for, so while I normally don’t sweeten my tea, I did add a teaspoon of maple syrup to this one. That was a game changer! It helped bring out the maple notes from the houjicha blend and smooth the edges on some of the stronger woody/barky notes. Now my cup tastes very much like sweet roasted nuts, maple, and smooth (as opposed to biting) wood. Very soothing!