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:
Green tea’s smooth and fresh green flavor. Enjoy traditional Japanese green tea!
Learn more about this MatchaBooster here.
Taster’s Review:
I was very excited to receive my shipment of MatchaBooster products from Maeda-en. I have all four “flavors” – Sweetened, Yuzu, GenMai and this Unsweetened – and I figured that I’d start off with the basic Unsweetened variety and go from there.
This is a very versatile product! Unlike traditional Matcha, it requires no sifting. Just add it to whatever you want to boost with Matcha!
For the purposes of this review, I started out simply. I made it in my favorite water bottle that holds 16.9 ounces of water.
It was very easy to prepare. To promote your humble bottle of water to a bottle of Matcha on-the-go, just add 1/2 teaspoon to each 8 ounces of water. So, for the typical 16.9 ounce bottle of water, I took a swig of the water – it leaves enough “mixing” room that way – and then I add 1 teaspoon of this unsweetened MatchaBooster to the bottle and gave it a vigorous shake. It mixes quickly and easily. Instantly even! There are no lumps and no sediment at the bottom.
It tastes a lot like I added Matcha to my water bottle. Only I didn’t have to sift it, and when I add Matcha to my water bottle, inevitably … there are lumps. Little ones, but still, there are lumps and/or sediment at the bottom of the bottle. (Exception: when I’m using a Matcha product like this that’s intended for cold water bottle mixing – no lumps! That’s what makes this product great!)
It’s a little “lighter” in flavor than a traditional bowl of Matcha. It doesn’t have quite as much of that thick, creamy texture that you’d experience with a chawan of Matcha. It isn’t as dense or rich as that traditional Matcha would be. Instead, this is light and very pleasantly sweet. It’s a natural sweetness and unlike some Matcha, this isn’t “bittersweet”. There is no bitterness at all. It has a pleasant smoothness. It has a light vegetal flavor. It … well, it tastes like Matcha, except that it tastes and feels a little lighter, an extra thin Matcha.
It certainly makes that boring bottle of water taste a lot better!
So I decided to try this product in something else. I grabbed a bottle of pomegranate juice and I took a drink of the juice (again, to make room for the powder and the shake) and then I added 1/2 teaspoon of MatchaBooster to the bottle and shook vigorously. My thoughts: I could taste the Matcha but it wasn’t a strong presence. The flavor of the juice was strong and I could taste hints of the vegetal quality of the MatchaBooster. If you want more Matcha flavor, you would want to add a little more than 1/2 teaspoon.
That said, I certainly felt the energizing quality of the Matcha in the juice! I really felt invigorated after drinking the juice.
And from there, you can let your imagination be your guide. Want to give your orange juice a boost? Add 1/2 teaspoon or more of MatchaBooster powder to eight ounces of juice and stir. Or add some to your coconut water. Or your almond milk. Or your breakfast smoothie.
There are some intriguing recipes on the Maeda-en website. Already, I’m thinking that this would be really good in my tomato soup! Or try stirring a scoop of it into your favorite hummus! This is a great way to add the goodness of Matcha to your favorite foods.
Product Review: Organic Lime Pomegranate Lightly Sweetened Iced Green Tea from steaz
Product Information:
It starts with certified organic and fair trade green tea sourced from around the world – we then brew our tea with the most flavorful fruits that are rich in antioxidants and finished with a hint of organic cane sugar for a healthy and delicious refreshment that will enhance your senses. And becuase our farms are Fair Trade Certified™, we ensure equal pay, better health care and equal opportunities for our farmers – so they too can reach new heights as well.
Learn more about this product here.
Taster’s Review:
I’ve said before that I’m not the biggest fan of RTD (Ready to Drink) teas that are available in just about any convenience store or grocery store. Most of them are crafted primarily of sugar or other sweeteners. They tend to be so full of sweetener and flavoring that the drinker can’t even taste the tea!
Occasionally, I come across one that’s different or at least, I come across one that seems to promise to be different. This can of Organic Lime Pomegranate iced green tea from steaz says “Lightly Sweetened” on it, and that’s what immediately caught my attention about it. Other eye catching features: “Organic” and “Fair Trade.” Two other things that I appreciated.
So, I’ll give it a try.
The description above states that there is a “hint of organic cane sugar.” However, the ingredient list tells a slightly different tale:
INGREDIENTS: Filtered water, organic evaporated cane juice, natural pomegranate & lime flavors, organic lemon juice, fair trade certified™ organic green tea.
When the ingredient is second on a list five ingredients, that suggests to me that maybe there’s a little more than just a “hint” of sugar in this. Also, after reading the ingredient list, I’m a little disturbed by the fact that the green tea is the LAST ingredient on the list! What?!?
And unfortunately, with this tea, you can taste the ingredients as they’re listed. I taste more sweetener and flavoring than I do green tea.
That said, this drink does have some redeeming qualities. It is a tasty drink. The lime is the strongest of the flavors, but I taste a sweet-tart pomegranate note in there too. While I do taste more sugar than I do tea, it isn’t TOO sweet or cloyingly so. This isn’t as sweet as say … the typical soda pop would be. My teeth don’t feel as though they’ve been coated with sugar as I drink this beverage.
It’s a tasty, refreshing beverage. I do wish I could taste more tea than sugar or pomegranate and lime. I feel like this has been marketed as a tea product and as an organic product for the health appeal without any real focus on the tea. Those who are trying to make “healthier” choices while shopping would probably buy this. This isn’t a drink for tea drinkers, it’s a drink for those who probably have never really tried green tea and think that this is what green tea is supposed to taste like.
Product Review: Tea Box Express Monthly Subscription!
Product Information:
Where to Subscribe: Tea Box Express
About Tea Box Express:
Tea Box Express is more than a box of tea. It’s an experience. Each month brings a new box brimming with surprises that always include quality brand-name tea and three or four fun tea-things. We are dedicated to bringing you the best teas and the niftiest tea goodies. Our mission is to bring a tea party to your door every month.
Save 20% off your first month’s subscription! Just use the code SORORITEA20 in the coupon field at check-out to save!
Review:
This is a review of Tea Box Express’s debut box – October 2014 – which hasn’t yet begun to ship. The box came to me early so that I could review it and share my thoughts with you so that you can get in on the goodies right from the very beginning!
This box is near PERFECT for people like me. As some of you may know, besides writing about teas, I’ve also written about other subscription boxes (specifically, foodie/yummy goody boxes) on my Hungry in Portland blog. I’ve pretty much discontinued those reviews mostly because I find that my time has become limited and tea is more important to me than the goodies, so, I devote my time here. But that doesn’t mean that I’ve stopped getting in on the goodies!
What’s so great about this box is that it combines the best of both worlds! It’s a tea of the month box and it’s a goody box, plus there are some really neat accessories to go along with it. For the October box, I received a tube of Teatulia Black Tea, a jar of “Tea Honey” from Savannah Bee Co., an adorable bee shaped, festively frosted sugar cookie from The Decorated Cookie Co., plus a bright yellow, ceramic teapot-shaped teabag caddy and a tea honey dipper/server which allows you to drizzle honey no-mess-style into your cup of tea. I’ll be reviewing the “tea party” including the tea later, but, for now I wanted to review the experience of receiving this box!
Let’s see what these items would have cost me if I bought them separately:
- Teatulia Black Tea: $8.99
- Tea Honey: $5.50 (although to get the 3 oz. jar, you need to buy 2 at $11.00)
- Bee Cookie: $5.62 (approximately)
- Teabag Caddy: $4.50
- Honey Dipper: $4.98
Total retail price would be approximately $29.59 if these items were purchased separately, although some of the items can’t really be purchased separately, and these prices do not include shipping charges. To subscribe to this box, you can pay month-to-month $25.50 plus $5.99 for shipping, or if you pay for 3 months, the monthly cost comes out to $24.67, or for a six month subscription, the cost works out to be $23.17 per month.
So there is a savings benefit to subscribing, but to me the real benefit is the joy of receiving the box. The fun part of these boxes is that they’re curated for you. This month’s theme (if it’s not obvious with the Bee and the honey), is “Bee Happy”! When you first open the box, the first thing I saw was this card (to the left) that says, “Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.” ~Abraham Lincoln.
Inside the lid of the box is a “theme card” that offers some suggestions on how to be happy. Nurturing our positive emotions like joy, gratitude and serenity can make us happier, and I love the suggestion on starting a happy list!
My happy list:
Tea.
Yeah, there are a few other things that I’d add to that list, but tea is right up there at the top of the list. Tea is joy. And this box is all about TEA. Receiving a box like this every month would be like getting joy in the mailbox!
Product Review: Lime Zero Unsweetened Guayusa from Runa
Product Information:
Step into the limelight – experience bright and refreshing flavor with zero calories.
Learn more about this product here.
Taster’s Review:
I don’t often buy RTD teas/tisanes. But usually when I’m in the supermarket, I do look over the varieties of teas and tisanes that are available in the ready to drink section.
My biggest issue with RTD teas/tisanes is that they’re usually so loaded with some type of sweetener and often more than one type of sweetener that I can’t taste the tea. Then it begs the question for me – what’s the difference between this and a soda? Nothing really, except that the soda has bubbles. So really, the sweetener has changed the tea into a soda that is more expensive than the typical commercial soda … an expensive soda without bubbles.
So, last week when I was in Chuck’s Produce, this ready to drink Guayusa caught my attention.
The first thing that caught my attention was the price. It was a featured item that was priced competitively ($ .99 for a bottle, not bad.) The second thing that caught my attention was the word unsweetened on the top of the label. This isn’t zero calories because it’s made with stevia or an artificial sweetener that will make me feel queasy. This has zero calories because there is NO SWEETENER in it at all.
In fact, here is the ingredient list:
INGREDIENTS:
Brewed organic guayusa (purified water and organic guayusa leaves**), organic lime juice concentrate, organic lime extract, natural flavors, Vitamin C (ascorbic acid).
Now that’s my kind of ingredient list. OK, I’d like a little more details on what the “natural flavors” are, but, I like that this is has no sugar, no cane syrup, no corn syrup, no stevia, no aspartame, no saccharine, no nothing to make this taste like some sticky, sickeningly sweet, syrupy soda without bubbles.
And what I’m tasting is lime and Guayusa. The Guayusa has that smooth, slightly earthy and coffee-esque taste that I’ve come to recognize as Guayusa. The lime is strong in this, but it tastes like real lime juice. It’s bright and refreshing. The drink is cool and energizing and it feels clean on the palate, not heavy or inundated with too much sweetener.
I’m really happy that there are some companies out there who are willing to celebrate the flavor of the leaf – even if the leaf in this instance happens to be the leaf of Guayusa and not Camellia Sinensis – my point is that this is the way RTD teas/tisanes should be. They should be about the leaf and not the sugar!
Product Review: Stur Liquid Water Enhancer Black Tea & Lemon
Product Information:
Where to Buy: Stur
Product Description:
Brewed Black Tea + Lemon – a mouthwatering and naturally sweetened blend of real, brewed black tea and fresh lemons! It just tastes natural, not chemical or processed. Add Stur to your tap water, bottled water, Sodastream/ sparkling water, even cocktails.
Learn more about this product here.
Taster’s Review:
During a recent shopping trip to my favorite produce market, Chucks, I came across a end-cap display of Eternal Bottled Water. Attached to several of these bottles were little trial size packets of Stur products. Most were fruit flavored, but I found a couple of Black Tea & Lemon trial packets, so I grabbed one of those.
These Stur products are similar to the popular “liquid water enhancers” that you can find in most grocery store aisles where juice is sold (or alternatively, where bottled water is sold.) My daughter has recently “discovered” the liquid water enhancers because I’m not fond of her drinking a lot of sugared sodas or fruit juice (which has a lot of natural sugars and really isn’t that much better for her than soda, in my opinion). Sure, I do make tea for her on occasion, but she doesn’t want tea that often, so, I find that these liquid water enhancers – many of which do not contain any sweetener in them – are something I’d prefer for her to drink over the over-sugared soft drinks.
This Stur product does have a sweetener in it: stevia. I would rather that not be in there, because … there’s something off about the stevia in this. Either there is too much stevia in it or the stevia used in this product is a lower quality stevia because I’m tasting chemical-y taste … not just “aftertaste” but chemical while I’m tasting and then chemical that is lingering in the aftertaste.
It reminds me a lot of the drink mix that my step-mother would sweeten with saccharine. Not my favorite taste.
And unfortunately, because of the off tasting sweetener, it’s hard to really talk about the black tea flavor or the lemon. The lemon is there – and it’s a tart, acidic flavor (as if someone squeezed lemon juice into my water bottle). The lemon is actually the best part of this “liquid enhancement.”
I don’t taste a lot of the black tea flavor, and that could be because the sweetener flavor is blocking my ability to really taste the black tea. I don’t know, but I’m finding it hard to enjoy this particular beverage because of the stevia in it.
There is either too much stevia in this or the stevia product used is not a high quality product. I wish I could say that I like this, but I just can’t … because … I don’t. And I feel as though I ruined a perfectly good bottle of Eternal Water.