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.
Cranberry Blood Orange from Jade Monk
Tea Type:
Matcha (Matcha Based Product)
Where To Buy:
Jade Monk
Product Description:
A thousand years ago in Shinto belief, the Tengu were dangerous spirit-animals. Over the centuries they’ve evolved into benevolent protectors and allies of humans. This particular Tengu-Cranberry Blood Orange instant matcha green tea powder-employs the impossibly potent antioxidant potential of Jade Monk®. Matcha, the tang of cranberry and bright citrus of blood orange, with a dash of sweetness. Traditional, pure, entirely natural ingredients with the fortified polyphenol strength of Jade Monk®-that’s a spirit to believe in.
Tasters Review:
I love how it’s unique and completely different from anything I have ever tried as far as a Matcha Novelty Product is concerned.
I also love the art work on each package!
I used cooler water…near lukewarm…this makes everything work better than trying it piping hot! I do like the flavors in this one! I can taste the blood orange AND the Cranberry and both are lovely. It’s hard to find Blood Orange flavored things that actually taste like Blood Oranges but this is right up there with the goodies! The Cranberry is pretty awesome, too! It sort of has a cotton candy type feeling about it but it all seems to work well!
Thumbs up on this one!
Chai Spice from Jade Monk
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green (Matcha)
Where to Buy: Jade Monk
Tea Description:
Leave It to Tanuki, the mischievous raccoon-dog of Japanese folklore, to mix the subtle spices of Indian chai and the powerful health benefits of Jade Monk
®matcha green tea. Chai Spice captures the playful, unexpected spirit of Tanuki with a hint of sweetness and a balanced taste of cardamom, cinnamon, and clove. Lurking behind the complex flavor is the enhanced antioxidant power of Jade Monk®matcha, ready to help fortify the body and clarify the mind. Keep the legend alive-celebrate Tanuki and Jade Monk®, with a cup of Chai Spice, hot or cold, today.
Learn more about this energy drink mix here.
Taster’s Review:
Since my most successful samplings of the Jade Monk products have been when I stirred the finely ground powder into cool water, that is what I chose to do this time. I think that the stevia tastes better when it’s cold than when it’s hot … and after a couple of conversations with other tea drinkers, I’ve discovered that I’m not the only one who feels this way.
First impression: this is sweet. Beyond the sweetness, though, there’s a pleasing set of spices. Leading the spice charge is cinnamon, followed by the cardamom and clove. I like this simple list of spices. I think that this would have been an interesting drink if there were some ginger – it would have given the flavor a bit more of a peppery spice. As it is, the spices here seem to be on the sweeter, more exotic side. That’s enjoyable too, but, I think a contrast with some ginger-y heat might be nice.
I don’t taste a lot of the Matcha, here, but, I guess that’s the point. Matcha tends to be an acquired taste – not everyone is as crazy for it as I am … and I’d consider myself to be moderately crazy for it. There are some people who MUST have their daily matcha, while I can go a day or two … sometimes even a week or two without really thinking about it. But lately, I’ve been on a bit of a Matcha kick – I love the energizing effect it has on me.
And THAT is the point of this powdered tea mix. Energy! These Matcha drink mixes allow the drinker to enjoy the benefits and energizing power of Matcha without the strong vegetative tones that some people find off-putting. So, while I do find myself missing the flavor of Matcha here, I know that there are those that will find this tea to be right up their alley.
As for me, I found it enjoyable. It goes down easily, tastes good, and motivates me to get the things done that need to get done! (And I’ve got a lot of stuff that needs doing!) So, for this burst of energy, I have to thank Jade Monk!
Cranberry Blood Orange from Jade Monk
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green (Matcha)
Where to Buy: Jade Monk
Tea Description:
A thousand years ago in Shinto belief, the Tengu were dangerous spirit-animals. Over the centuries they’ve evolved into benevolent protectors and allies of humans. This particular Tengu-Cranberry Blood Orange instant matcha green tea powder-employs the impossibly potent antioxidant potential of Jade Monk
®. Matcha, the tang of cranberry and bright citrus of blood orange, with a dash of sweetness. Traditional, pure, entirely natural ingredients with the fortified polyphenol strength of Jade Monk®-that’s a spirit to believe in.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
This is the second flavor that I’ve tried of the four flavors that Jade Monk offers. And as I continue to try these instant green tea powders, the more I learn about them. With the Palau Peach, while I did enjoy it, I found that the stevia offered a bit of a funky taste to it. Because of that, I decided that I’d try preparing this Matcha mix with cold water rather than the traditional chawan & chasen method. I poured about 12 ounces of cold water into a tall glass, and stirred the Matcha mix into the water … stirring vigorously. It took about a full minute to stir this and get it completely mixed (there were a few clumps that rose to the top of the glass, but these were easy to break apart with the back of the spoon, and the clump then easily dissolved into the rest of the tea)
Prepared this way, this tastes a bit more like a green tea power drink than a Matcha. It is sweet, fruity and refreshing. It doesn’t taste strongly of tea, but I do taste the green tea in the background. I do still taste the stevia (and I am still left wishing it wasn’t there), but it tastes much better with the cold water rather than the hot. And, as far as alternative sweeteners go, I’d rather this be sweetened with stevia than something like aspartame, which I cannot consume.
What I really like about this flavor particularly is the combination of cranberry and blood orange. The blood orange is sweet and tastes juicy, and it offers a very pleasing contrast to the tartness of the cranberry. Overall, it is just tart enough to keep it interesting, with the tartness really emerging at its strongest in the aftertaste. But mostly, it is sweet and refreshing … and very energizing. I can feel the power of the Matcha really working, even if I the taste of the Matcha is not very strong.
While I don’t expect tea purists to find much enjoyment from these tasty little power packs, I do think that they’re enjoyable. If you want the powerful benefits of Matcha but find that pure Matcha tends to be a bit too much for you (it is a rather unique flavor and not something that everyone enjoys!), these Matcha products from Jade Monk would be the perfect alternative for you!
Palau Peach from Jade Monk
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green (Matcha)
Where to Buy: Jade Monk
Tea Description:
Legend says an elderly couple, while strolling in the countryside, discovered a small boy inside a peach. Upon opening the fruit, the revealed little man explained he was sent from heaven– they named him Momotaro, or “peach-son,” and he’s been an integral part of Japanese folklore ever since. His most famous exploit involved defeating a giant ogre, with the help of a monkey, a dog, and a pheasant. Jade Monk
®matcha and Momotaro offer a slightly more peaceful experience with their Palau Peach flavored matcha green tea, a fragrant, refreshing breeze of fruit. Standing guard behind the sublime flavor are abundant polyphenols and the mind-calming effects of Jade Monk®, the “meditation tea.” Not bad for a boy found inside a peach!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
Hmm… this is much different than I was expecting it to be. That’s not a bad thing, really, it’s just different! I was expecting it to be much more like a flavored Matcha, but, this reminds me a bit more of one of those green tea power drinks … only it’s served hot.
I prepared this the same way I would matcha – in my chawan, using hot water and whisking. The whisking produced no real froth … which was the first indication to me that this was not a typical Matcha.
It smells really good. The peach essence is abundant, and just the fragrance is making my mouth water.
The flavor is very peachy … no big surprise. With as strong as the peach aroma is here, if the peach flavor was lacking I’d be really disappointed. As it is though, the flavor is just as abundant as the the fragrance led me to believe.
The texture is a little bit thinner than I’d expect from other Matcha teas, but that isn’t disrupting my enjoyment of the drink. It is still smooth and slightly creamy, just not quite as creamy as traditional Matcha. As with the other green tea power drinks, this does taste more like flavoring than green tea … as if it has been made for those who typically do not enjoy green tea but still want the benefits of it.
But that isn’t really a bad thing. I LOVE green tea, and I LOVE Matcha, but, that doesn’t make me enjoy this any less. It is peachy sweet and delicious! I guess if I were going to change anything about this – I’d change that it had stevia in it. As I’ve said before, I’m not big on stevia, and while some of the funkiness of the stevia is curbed by the cane juice, I can still taste the stevia and I wish I didn’t. But, really, this is really a minor complaint, because overall, this is really, really tasty, and I’d be happy to drink this again and again! YUM!