Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green
Where to Buy: Chi Whole Leaf
Tea Description:
A cleansing blend of Chinese Green Tea, Mint Leaves, Indian Eucalyptus and Milk Thistle Seed from Bulgaria.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Thanks again to Will at Chi Whole Leaf for the samples!
I’ve decided I’m going to review 3/5 here on the blog, though all five will be reviewed on my Steepster account. If you’re interested in learning about the 2/5 I’m not reviewing on this blog here they are: Ginger Chai & Chamomile. I had a few biases going into those tastings, which is why I’m leaving them out on this blog.
This was one of the samples I was pretty stoked about; I really like eucalyptus (if I could be reborn as an animal it’d probably be either a Sloth or a Koala) and the pairing of eucalyptus, mint, and green tea makes me think of a day of being pampered at a Spa or hot spring; cool, refreshing and very stress relieving.
Normally I think this is a blend I’d have opted to try cold, but since I’ve made the other three blends I’ve tried hot I did the same with this one just to have some consistency. I thought dry this smelled pretty minty, but as I was tasting it the green tea base was actually the strongest flavour with both the eucalyptus and the mint providing a refreshing, cooling aftertaste. It was very pleasant and did have a calming “Spa” sort of affect. However I personally didn’t feel totally satisfied with the flavour either; I liked the level of grassy, vegetal green tea notes but I really craved a stronger more “menthol” feeling mint notes, and a touch more eucalpytus. I think both were a little light handed for what they could have been.
That said; I enjoyed the blend and I did feel like my hope of a refreshing hot spring-esque tea was met. And again, I can’t stress enough how much I really like the convenience of these powdered teas; it’s a huge part of why I’m so drawn to matcha as well. But unlike the flavoured matchas I enjoy, these ones a more nuanced and layered instead of fairly monotone flavours!
If nothing else, I’m a big fan of the concept.
Floral Herb Tisane from Chi Whole Leaf
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Herbal Tisane
Where to Buy: Chi Whole Leaf
Tea Description:
A beautiful blend of Indian Rose Petals, Egyptian Hibiscus and Jasmine.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I keep wanting to call this matcha…
Honestly; I was a tiny bit scared to try this one. Hibiscus is one of three ingredients in this one, but frankly the entire thing looks like ground up, powdered hibiscus and unless you’re really into hibiscus in the first place that sounds pretty horrible.
That said, after the hot water hit the powder in the bottom of the mug and I had this all whisked up all of that fear melted away. The aroma is very floral and feminine but maintains a wonderful delicateness. How often do you get to call a blend with hibiscus delicate!? Not often – that’s for sure. More so than anything else I thought the rose was the most flavourful component of this tea but it’s not even close to the intensity necisarry for this blend to come off tasting chemical, artificial, or even perfumey. As a whole, it’s actually delightfully mellow.
Maybe it’s because hibiscus is so often paired with berries, but in addition to the sweet and supple floral notes I feel like there’s a hint of watered down berry flavour. The jasmine is the hardest part of this for me to taste; it’s blending in with the rose very well. I really enjoy this blend a lot. My only word of caution would be for people who dislike overly floral teas; but even they might like this because it’s been tastefully done. Even people who are generally turned off by hibiscus would likely like this. Bonus points for being quite affordable; $10.00 for 100g, and it really doesn’t take much at all to make a mug – approximately 1/2 tsp.
Also, many thanks to Will at Chi Whole Leaf tea for sending me the full range of teas currently offered on their site for reviewing! He was very quick to ship things, and in addition to the tea itself he included a very informative pamphlet that broke down the ingredients of each tea. I look forward to trying the rest of the set!
Product Review: Cranberry Blood Orange Instant Matcha Green Tea Mix from Jade Monk
Product 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.
Product Review: Genmai MatchaBooster from Maeda-en
Product Information:
MatchaBooster is a ready-to-use matcha-based powder. It mixes easily in your favorite drink and can used as a cooking ingredient.
Boost up your lifestyle with Maeda-en MatchaBooster♪
Where to Buy: Maeda-en
Description:
Genmai is roasted rice often used in tea. Its savory, toasted flavor goes nicely with matcha.
Learn more about this MatchaBooster here.
Taster’s Review:
I like! I’ve tried at least one or two other powdered Genmaicha teas in the past and have enjoyed them. I really like how well this MatchaBooster mixes in to the cold water in my water bottle! It makes a really good drink to go!
For the purposes of this review, I grabbed my water bottle (which holds a little more than 16 ounces of water) and filled it about half way with water. Then I added a level teaspoon of the Genmai MatchaBooster powder to the bottle and secured the lid and shook it until the powder was well-incorporated. Then I topped it off the rest of the way with water and shook again. Now it’s time to enjoy!
No lumps. No unincorporated particles of tea. It mixes thoroughly – quickly! And it stays incorporated. You don’t need to shake it every time you take a drink. I did shake it a couple of times while I drank, but this wasn’t to incorporate the tea (I didn’t notice any settlement during the time that it took me to finish the bottle), it was to sort of aerate the tea and try to froth it.
Because that’s probably the only thing that I felt was missing. When I drink Matcha, I do like that froth. This doesn’t have a lot of it.
That said, this does have a really good flavor and the lack of froth isn’t keeping me from enjoying it. Yeah, I miss the froth, but I like the energizing feeling I experience when I drink this, and I love the sweet, toasty flavor of the Genmai together with the light, grassy and buttery notes of the Matcha. It’s a tasty drink!
It’s really good with just plain water, but if you’re looking to elevate it – try it with coconut water! Wow! I love the combination of this Genmai MatchaBooster with coconut water. The coconut water adds another level of creamy sweetness! It’s a very refreshing and rejuvenating beverage!
Product Review: Sweetened MatchaBooster from Maeda-en
Product Information:
MatchaBooster is a ready-to-use matcha-based powder. It mixes easily in your favorite drink and can used as a cooking ingredient.
Boost up your lifestyle with Maeda-en MatchaBooster♪
Where to Buy: Maeda-en
Description:
Refreshing green tea flavor with a light sweet taste!
Learn more about this MatchaBooster here.
Taster’s Review:
Not long ago, I reviewed the Unflavored MatchaBooster. Now, I’m going to try the sweetened version of this tea product from Maeda-en. The sugar to sweeten this MatchaBooster adds 60 calories to each serving (a serving size is one tablespoon), whereas the unsweetened MatchaBooster has no calories per serving (a serving size of the unsweetened version is 1/2 teaspoon).
I outlined the versatility of this product in that previous review, so for the purposes of this review, I decided to start simple and add 2 tablespoons of product to my favorite water bottle (which holds 16 ounces of water) and give it a vigorous shake.
Even with the sugar addition to this product, it still mixes up easily. But because you need to add a bit more of the powder to the water bottle, I recommend starting with half a bottle, pouring in the 2 tbsp. of MatchaBooster and then shaking it (this leaves plenty of room for the shake!) and adding more water after the powder is well-integrated. I was actually surprised at how easily this amount of powder mixed into the water – I expected sediment to settle at the bottom of the bottle quickly but it didn’t.
Not surprisingly, it’s sweet. The sweetness is a little jarring, really, because I think that there’s too much sweetener in this. I’d be happy with about half the amount of sweetener used. Then again, I have often said that I prefer to sweeten my tea – or not sweeten it, if I so choose – and on the rare occasion that I do sweeten my tea, I usually go with a light hand. It almost reminds me of a cane sugar soda – it’s that kind of sweetness but without the fizzy bubbles.
But even though this is sweet and I can actually taste the flavor of “sugar” here, I can also taste the green tea goodness of Matcha. It is light and vegetal, buttery with notes of cacao. It’s an invigorating drink.
Where this product would really excel – I think – is in recipes, like the Frappe. This is going to be like the coffee shop’s Matcha blended ice drinks – only for a fraction of the price. Really, the price of this package at $5.90 is probably about what you’d pay for a “tall” drink at the coffee shop. (It’s been a really long time since I’ve bought one of those drinks so I really don’t remember how much they cost!)
In my opinion, this Sweetened MatchaBooster really is a little sweeter than I like my Matcha to taste, so, I recommend mixing this with the Unsweetened MatchaBooster to “boost” the sweetness of the unsweetened without going super sweet. I prefer it with about 1 tbsp of this Sweetened MatchaBooster and 1 tsp of the Unsweetened MatchaBooster in my water bottle with 16 ounces of water. This has been my favorite way to enjoy both of these products. I like the combination of the two products better than I like either one on its own! It’s sweet but not too sweet and I get more of the Matcha flavor that I adore.
