Product Review: Cranberry Blood Orange Instant Matcha Green Tea Mix from Jade Monk

JadeMonkCranberryProduct Information:

Where to Buy:  Jade Monk

Description:

A wake-up call in every cup. Before the first drop hits your lips, the bright aroma of our Cranberry Blood Orange powdered green tea will have you amped.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

Browsing my local grocery store’s funky drink isle is one of my favorite pastimes. I came across this little green packet and tossed it in my cart for giggles. I am intrigued by the flavor, the illustrations on the front and back, and well, you had me at matcha!  I love the packaging of this tea, it really grabs you. The artwork is really fun, the intense eyes of the fierce ogre is powerful, and according to it’s claims, it’s ready to bestow all it’s power to you!

Now, I am not a fan of selling tea as a health product, the camellia sinensis plant is so much more than a diet aid. Sure, it was used as such during the first cultivation of the wild tea trees growing in China, but we have stepped up in our appreciation and cultivation of the lovely little plant. Yes, I do make my own functional herbal blends, but I don’t expect to be cured of cancer, or to have my waistline shrink like plastic wrap in an oven, either.

I chose this matcha green tea drink mix because of it’s convenience. I needed something that would give me that boost without waiting for water to boil and tea to steep. I was in a hurry this morning and whipped this up on a whim. I found the first fault to this mix when I took way to long to shake up all the little clumps of matcha. Mixes instantly? Not quite. Maybe my water was too cold?

The color of this match is an encouraging shade of key lime green. The smell is really quite nice, fruity, citrus, and refreshing. I take a sip and the first thing to hit my taste buds is sugar. Oh. Well. The first ingredients in this is sugar. While it is much, much too sweet for me, my ravenous thirst assists me in finishing my 24oz. bottle in no time.

The smell of the powder in the packet smells very matcha, but the finished product is lacking somewhat. The flavorings were very much there, in all their juicy citrusy glory. For me, If I wanted a flavored instant matcha, I’d like for the first or even second ingredient to be matcha. but of course if I was completely new to matcha, or didn’t like the taste, I would be all over this concept like brine flies to a can of soda.

Mango Sticky Rice Green Tea from Ette Tea

MangoStickyRiceTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Green

Where to Buy:  Ette Tea

Tea Description:

Mango Sticky Rice is a blend of genmaicha, black tea, roasted barley, mango dices & candied coconut. Very much inspired by the Thai local dessert, the tea brews like a platter of roasted glutinous rice with the coconut and mango coming in towards the finish on the palette. 

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

Mango Sticky Rice green tea from the Singaporean tea company Ette tea hits the nail on the head. I have not had a tea this interesting in a long while. The aroma of the dry leaf is underwhelming, but once you dunk those deep dark emerald leaves, teeny tiny toasted rice kernels, and the stray mango or coconut piece in water, something wickedly good this way comes. The aroma of the steeped leaf is also deceiving, but I must plough through! I still smelled normal genmaicha. Sigh. How could I have let my hopes up when I was feeling a bit betrayed? But then, I took my first sip. And was transported back in time.

I am sitting at a kitchen table, my nose barely peeking over the tabletop. It is a blistering hot summer evening. I must be what, 6? 5? My mother is stirring chunks of irregularly cut mangoes into a pot of rice, sweetened with coconut milk and plenty of sugar. I am absently chewing on the skin of one of her slashed mangoes, trying to suck out all the mango goodness. I wait patiently for her to finish, chomping on my mango skins and gnawing on the massive, surfboard pit. When my mother places a small bowl of mango sticky rice that she learned how to make from her mother, I eagerly grab a spoon and begin to devour all the sweet, fruity, coconutty goodness. I could lick a bowl clean in a matter of seconds.

To me, compliments could not be higher. This tea is so spot on with it’s sticky rice-ness, it’s light hint of mango, and coconut, that I am taken back in time. You know a tea is good by it’s time travelling qualities! I love how straightforward it is. I can pick out each flavor easily and distinctly. The name tells you what you’re going to get, nothing mysterious. But the only mystery to me is, “How did they make this tea so good?”

Pineapple Upside Down Cake from Southern Boy Teas

SBT-GREEN-Pineapple-Upside-down-cakeTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Green

Where to Buy:  Southern Boy Teas

Tea Description:

Our premium buttery sweet organic Chinese fannings green tea blended with organic yellow cake, pineapple, brown sugar, and a hint of maraschino cherry flavors. This is ridiculously delicious. Don’t miss your chance to grab one.

Learn more about this tea here.

Learn more about SBT’s subscription here.

Taster’s Review:

Pineapple Upside Down Cake used to be one of my favorite desserts my mom would make as a child.  Growing up, my brothers and I were never fans of the traditional birthday cake.  My poor mom would always ending up baking a pie or some other dessert (she tried once to make orange fluff and put candles in it-true story).  She would ask us if we were sure we didn’t want a chocolate cake and we would always say no, we want pie or we want cheesecake.  Or we would ask for Pineapple Upside Down Cake.  Which was a little different than the traditional Pineapple Upside Down Cake.  My mom would make it as a cheesecake instead.  To this day, even as adults,we devour that dessert whenever she makes it.  And she makes a healthy version of it now too- so you don’t have to feel guilty about cramming huge bites of it in your face.

This tea brought all those warm and fuzzy memories to me.  This tea reminds me of that dessert my mom makes minus the cheesecake part.  So good! The green tea provides a rich buttery base.  The pineapple flavor is mixed in with just the right amount of brown sugar and maraschino cherry flavoring.  You can seriously taste each flavor separately.  But they do mingle very well together.  The only flavor I didn’t pick up was the yellow cake but I’m wondering if that was a flavor that the green tea kind of overshadowed.  Oh well.  Regardless I am really enjoying this one.

I cold brewed this one and was very happy with the results.  I didn’t try making it up like a hot beverage because I ended up steeping this one until there were just no more infusions in the poor little tea pouch.  I  see myself picking more of this one up for sure.  This one is going to be a fantastic addition to those teas I keep on hand to keep my sweet tooth from demanding a piece of candy or junk food around 2pm each work day.

Bananas! Black Tea from 52Teas

BananasTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Black

Where to Buy:  52Teas

Tea Description:

Lots of people have commented on our banana tea blends in the past. We’ve used banana in a few blends inspired by banana pudding, bananas foster and even banana bread, but I thought this week we would really go bananas and just go with an all out banana tea. We’ve blended our Pettaiagala Extra Long Leaf OP black tea from Sri Lanka with real freeze-dried bananas and organic banana flavors, and this, my friends, is bananatacular! It’s bananaramic! It’s enough to leave you humming the Batman theme– “Nana nana nana nana nana nana… Batman!”

Learn more about this tea here.

Learn more about 52Teas’ subscriptions here.

Taster’s Review:

While I was sipping this Bananas! Black Tea from 52Teas, I wasn’t thinking of the Batman theme, I was thinking that this sh** is Bananas!  B-a-n-a-n-a-s!

And it definitely IS bananas.

And unlike so many of the various banana flavored teas out there, this doesn’t taste overly candied.  It doesn’t taste like banana runts (I hate banana runts) and it doesn’t taste like banana (insert any other banana flavored candy here).

What it does taste like is black tea and banana.  It’s a little on the sweet side, like a sweeter banana – perhaps one that has been lightly sprinkled with sugar and caramelized under the broiler.

The black tea is really nice here, it’s a rich, robust black tea.  Somewhat astringent at the tail, but not too astringent.  There are even hints of a slightly bitter intonation.  I think that the bitterness and astringency helps this blend because it cuts through some of the sweet notes and makes this more like black tea and banana rather than an artificial banana flavored candy with hints of black tea in the background.  The hints of bitter and astringency offer balance to this cup.

I really enjoyed this.  I brewed a large pot of it so that I could have some served hot and some iced, and I like it hot and cold.  I think that if you’re going to drink it hot, I’d recommend letting the temperature drop to a drinkable temperature.  In other words, pour the cup and let it cool for about 4 – 5 minutes before you start sipping.  This is long enough to let the temperature drop but it’s still nice and hot.  The wait time allows the flavors to develop in the cup and it really gets the bananas going BANANAS!

If you like bananas, this tea will have you singing like a minion.

Papaya Mango Mate Herbal Tea from The Tea Guys

papaya-mango-mateTea Information:

Leaf Type:  Green Tea, Yerba Mate & Rooibos

Where to Buy: Tea Guys

Tea Description:

South American yerba mate makes the perfect base for this wonderfully tropical blend with sweet chopped papaya, apples, and refreshing lemongrass. The addition of green tea and organic rooibos helps to smooth the blend and create a healthful, antioxidant rich tea that is a wonderful way to re-balance anytime.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

When I look for an energy boost to get me through a challenging day at work, I usually bring with me a nice large jug of cold brewed tea. I absolutely love cold brewing. It’s the perfect lazyman’s way to prepare a nice cold beverage for the next day. I don’t have to double the leaf usually, and the results are almost always satisfying. All I have to do is dump some cold water over some leaves overnight and bam! Great results with little effort.

I like using tropical-themed teas for cold brewing, and Tea Guy’s Papaya Mango Mate certainly fits the bill. Smelling the dry leaf, there is something so nicely fruity about it. The papaya in this blend is most certainly the star. I have had plenty of other blends like this from Tea Guys, and I am sorry to let the cat out of the bag; most of their tropical/fruity teas smell the same. I wish the mango was much more present in this tea, I feel like the combination is really great and should not be forgotten when blending the tea. Looking at the dry leaf, I see a lot of flotsam that may only be 50% necessary. I see more blue corn flowers and safflower than I do yerba mate or green tea. While I do see plenty of lemongrass in this blend, I have had ones that have overwhelmed the loose with it, so see less of it is quite refreshing for a change.

What this tea promises in the dry leaf, it delivers in the cold brew! I get a herbaceous dry grassy note snuck into the body of the tea that alerts me to the Yorba. The tropical papaya shines through in both aroma and main flavor component. The lemongrass is leading lady, and lends a brightness to the tropical flavors. I must have been thirsty, because I gulped down the entire quart in my mason jar pretty quick without complaints. While I think that their Golden Grapefruit is a better iced tea, I would still recommend this tea for the cold-brew fanatic who needs a nice summer change up to their routine.