Green Tea + C Citrus Ginger from Sencha Naturals is an effervescent drink mix made with green tea, ginger, and orange flavoring. Like other immune-system-boosting fizzy drinks, this powder bubbles and hisses when mixed with water, like seltzer tablets. The powder and the drink smell super spicy with ginger and tangerine citrus. Drinking this beverage, there is a tart bite of citric acid, like the sourness in chewable vitamin C tablets. The ginger heat comes through in the aftertaste, bringing a warm and buzzy mouthfeel.
As a green tea, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend this product. The green tea base is lost among the orange tartness and slight chalky consistency of the powder. However, I would recommend trying this out an alternative to fizzy, immune-boosting drinks. Green Tea +C is unique in that it is the first effervescent drink mix I’ve used that includes green tea in the ingredients.
At the end of a weekend, when I’m tired and facing another week, I sometimes feel like I need a boost, both mental and physical. That’s the time of day that I’d reach for something like Green Tea +C. The bubbles and tart orange flavor are energizing and zesty and I like the idea that I’m powering myself up with some Vitamin C, ready to face another Monday.
Here’s the scoop!
Leaf Type: Green tea powder
Where to Buy: Sencha Naturals
Description: We believe that nutrition should come from whole food ingredients, versus synthetic vitamins. Whole leaf green tea, acerola cherry, coconut water, and supporting herbs to help you stay well. Serve hot for a gingery warm and citrus-y bright cup of tea.
Learn even more about this tea and tea company here!
Sangria Matcha from Red Leaf Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green/Matcha
Where to Buy: Red Leaf Tea
Tea Description:
Sangria Matcha is the perfect answer for those adults looking for a fruity platter treat that has a dash of exotic Matcha and tastes of refreshing spices. This delectable treat is a perfect after hours drink that brings its well rounded charm into the palate. It can be taken with a fine assortment of many snacks and meals to add to their overall flavor and also make things more exciting. This fine treat is great for adults who love the tangy tasty combination of many fruits on their palates.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
I’m adding Sangria matcha to the many flavours under my belt because I thought it would make for a really great summer flavour to have stock up; and obviously it’s not a flavour that screams “try me in milk” like how I normally prepare my matcha so I made it as a Matcha Soda instead.
This is the ‘recipe’ I used:
– 1 tsp of matcha whisked into approx. 2 ounce of hot water
– Dissolve approx. 1 tbsp. of sugar into the concentrated matcha to create a ‘matcha syrup’
– Cool down the syrup, and add a can of Club Soda
Just being perfectly honest, as soon as I took my first sip I knew that I didn’t like this flavour of matcha. There was a lot that I personally felt was wrong/off about it – for one the fruit flavours are incredibly muddled on top of tasting really artificial. I know Sangria is a combination of different fruits but I couldn’t pinpoint any of the individual fruits that traditionally make up Sangria. In addition, the vegetal/grassy notes of the matcha were far too pronounced for my liking (despite this being Distinctive flavour level) and took on a ‘swampy’ kind of flavour when compared with the weird/chemical tasting fruit notes.
I’m definitely disappointed by this flavour; it’s nothing like I’d hoped it would be and if you’re looking for an accurate Sangria flavour I think you’re best off looking elsewhere. The worst part is that I’m almost certain that Robust flavouring would taste even more chemical/artificial since that’s the way fruit flavoured matcha tends to go but, while delicate level flavouring might reduce the fake fruit flavour, I think it’d make the Sangria flavour even less distinct than it already is.
Using the rest of this will certainly be a challenge for me.
Yerba Mate from Chi Whole Leaf
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Yerba Mate
Where to Buy: Chi Whole Leaf
Tea Description:
A perfect addition to your morning routine, Yerba Mate is beginning to catch on as a extremely healthy substitute to coffee. This tea has a sweet, earthy taste that will keep you coming back for more!
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The last of five samples from Chi Whole Leaf!
I’ve been on a bit of a Yerba Mate kick these last few weeks, so I’m both very excited to try this blend but also kind of feeling like I’ve overdosed on yerba mate and need to take a break from it for a few weeks. What’s better than a powdered caffeine buzz though? Hell that’s half of why I love matcha so much – so I’m ignoring those feelings of being all yerba-d out, and excitedly trying this!
The dry leaf doesn’t smell anywhere near as fragrant as the other four samples have been; just subtly grassy. My observation thus far is that the blends from Chi Whole Leaf fall on one side of a spectrum, either “very intense” or “surprisingly muted”. I’ve yet to really find a blend offered by them that rides the middle, and if I had to guess I’d wager this is going to be a bit more muted.
Like anticipated, this is pretty mild as far as Yerba Mate tastes; it’s grassy and earthy with a touch of natural sweetness. However, the licorice root and ginseng are definitely stronger – actually, they do a great job of finding a happy medium between tasting mild or robust. The combined sweetness of both begin to creep in at the end of the sip in a typical licorice root fashion. It almost has a honeycomb taste to it. However, if someone dislikes licorice root, ginseng or both they’re really going to be turned off by that taste.
Interestingly, I found that of all five samples I had the biggest issue with the dry powder for this one. It was really, really clumping together but it wasn’t as sludgy at the bottom of the cup as I was drinking it.
Again, I have to really thank Will from Chi Whole Leaf for the samples! I had a really fun time exploring them, and while I definitely didn’t love them all I was surprised by a few which I thought I’d dislike but where really, really good. Namely Floral Herb!
Oh, and just an FYI; right now you can check out the Chi Whole Leaf website and click the “free samples” button there, fill in your address and you can receive a free sampler to try out as well! Since you’re not even paying for shipping it’s definitely worth checking out!
Almond Matcha from Red Leaf Tea
Tea Information:
Leaf Type: Green/Matcha
Where to Buy: Red Leaf Tea
Tea Description:
The well recognized and much loved taste of sweet almonds can be heightened and made vibrantly unique by adding the exotic Matcha blend. Almond Matcha makes a slightly sweet treat that can be perfect for those looking for a combination of the nutty flavor combined with an interesting twist of oriental Matcha. Almond Matcha is perfect for many desserts, cakes and any other snack because of its naturally sweet taste that blends well with most snacks. This makes it a very popular treat for young kids anytime of the day or night.
Learn more about this tea here.
Taster’s Review:
The final flavour from Red Leaf Tea’s sampler! Like the penultimate flavour (Cotton Candy), this is one I’ve tried before – however it’s been over a year since I first had it. Just like Cotton Candy matcha, I also prepared this one in cold milk but for the purposes of this tasting I’ll be doing it in cold cashew milk to stay consistent with the rest of the teas in the sampler.
Here are some snippets from my Steepster review to see if my old observations are in line with the observations from this tasting:
“…really strong … very rich and marzipan like“, “I found that there was a faint chemical edge to the aftertaste“, and “almost too much almond concentrated into … one cup“.
Remarkably, I made almost the same observations this time as well. Even before opening up the sample packet and measuring out the matcha I was sure I could faintly smell the almond aroma – and once that packet was cracked I couldn’t smell anything but. This matcha is very strongly flavoured; I didn’t taste any vegetal or grassy notes from the matcha itself and for, I think, the first time since starting this sampler the flavour of the matcha completely eclipsed the taste of the cashew milk.
The one part where my observation from last time differs is that I didn’t think it tasted chemical or artificial at all; just really, really strong. Of course, like often comes with concentrated almond flavour, I did think this was quite sweet with definite marzipan notes – but apart from that I think this is just a very true, accurate and BOLD flavour. Fans of almond will love it, and people who dislike almond to start will cringe because of the intensity.
Personally, if I didn’t already own a large quantity of Pistachio matcha I’d probably add this to my list of flavors to buy in my next order – but you really only need to own so many nutty matchas at a time.
Final rankings of the five flavors of matcha from the sampler:
1. Almond
2. Butterscotch
3. Coffee
4. Cranberry
5. Cotton Candy
Latte Matcha Tea from Teanobi
Tea Type:
Matcha (Green Tea Base)
Where To Buy: Teanobi
Product Description:
This Matcha is specially blended for a Matcha Latte. This blend provides a smooth rich texture and deep green tea flavor to make a full bodied Latte, just add milk. This blend dissolves quicker than any of our other products for instant use. Can be used both steaming hot and iced.
Our Premium Latte Matcha is made with a higher grade of gyokuro leaves. This yields a finer texture and more delicate flavor. The aroma is sweeter and the flavor is less bitter than our standard matcha. Both are a delight to drink they just have a slightly different flavor profile.
This tea is made from Gyokuro grown exclusively in the Shizuoka region of Japan. There are no preservatives or additives of any kind. Imported directly from Japan to preserve peak freshness.
- Imported in small batches to guarantee peak freshness
- No preservatives, additives, flavorings or sweeteners of any kind.
- Grown, harvested and processed in Japan
Tasters Review:
Let me start this review off my saying…I’m a rebel child. I have a hard time following instructions. Especially with my teas! I like to do what I call a DOUBLE SHOT – twice the amount for the same amount of time. I was really tempted to with this but forced myself into following the instructions the first time I tried Teanobi’s Latte Matcha!
Therefore…I did 1 cup of hot milk with 1/4 tsp of this latte powder. It had a very pale aroma before adding to the milk and afterwards as well. I will say that the milk/powder color is beautiful! It reminds me of a “Grasshopper”. You know like the frozen-adult beverage type. This powder paired with the milk froths up very nice without much work at all! All I had to do was stir! There were a few small clumps which was more my measuring cups fault than this lovely powder and it was fairly easy to take care of with a few more stirs! No Problem!
This is VERY frothy and milky-smooth! It’s creamy, too! I noticed as it cools for a little bit at room temperature the flavor was enhanced slightly. I could taste more of the ‘green tea’ come thru. The green veggie type green tea that is…much like broccoli and along with the milk it sort of reminded me of cream of broccoli soup! It’s quite FAB!
I wanted to try this with Almond Milk but I didn’t have any. I used regular milk. I am also going to try this without milk and try it with water instead just to see the difference! And because I am a Rebel Child…will probably try a DOUBLE SHOT just for kicks!
I think this is a very good matcha powder product – I love that it was created with Latte’s in mind! This is very nice! And another winner from Teanobi!
