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Steepster Freeze 2021 #1: 01/11/21

Since I have a large bag of this one, I decided to use up the full sampler bag from the advent for my breakfast smoothie. With the raspberry I’m fairly sure I kept my “1tsp per 1 cup” ratio and only added the rest of the powder in when I threw in my other smoothie ingredients, but this morning I CBA with that and dumped the whole package into the cup of plain oat milk for whisking. And… it was a lot better that way! I normally never use that much powder, but it seems that is the only way to combat all the sugar and actually get some matcha, because, I think for the first time ever so far with these DAVIDsTEA matchas (which I make in milk alternatives, not water), I only ever taste sweetness and flavor and not matcha. I still got mostly that today with the blueberry (it was the kind of sweet blueberry I’d expect to find in a pastry, but a pleasant enough flavor), but I did get a subtle under-note of umami vegetitation/seaweed. Still lacked the bitterness of a straight matcha that I’ve always found so unpleasant (hense why I always make matcha as lattes/smoothies) due to the sweetness of the powder.

As far as the fruity flavors I’ve tried thus far, I think I like this one a smidge more than the strawberry, with the raspberry beneath both of those. As far as blueberry matcha goes, I do like B&B’s “Super Matcha” better, but due to its ridiculously high price, I would probably never buy that one for my stash…

Flavors: Blueberry, Pastries, Seaweed, Sweet, Umami, Vegetal

Preparation
Iced 3 tsp 8 OZ / 236 ML
Cameron B.

Yeah I have that issue with DAVIDsTEA matcha too – by the time I use enough for it to taste like matcha, it’s way too sweet…

Mastress Alita

I’m thinking I may have to “cut it” with my plain culinary matcha in the future! At least for smoothie use it isn’t as big of a deal, but for plain latte drinking, I need a better balance between flavor/sweetness/matcha taste.

Cameron B.

That’s a good plan. Luckily I finished all of my advent matcha, so I don’t have any left. And I just ordered from 3 Leaf, yay!

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Comments

Cameron B.

Yeah I have that issue with DAVIDsTEA matcha too – by the time I use enough for it to taste like matcha, it’s way too sweet…

Mastress Alita

I’m thinking I may have to “cut it” with my plain culinary matcha in the future! At least for smoothie use it isn’t as big of a deal, but for plain latte drinking, I need a better balance between flavor/sweetness/matcha taste.

Cameron B.

That’s a good plan. Luckily I finished all of my advent matcha, so I don’t have any left. And I just ordered from 3 Leaf, yay!

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Bio

Hi! I’m Sara, a middle-aged librarian living in southern Idaho, USA. I’m a big ol’ sci-fi/fantasy/anime geek that loves fandom conventions, coloring books, simulation computer games, Japanese culture, and cats. Proud genderqueer asexual (she/they) and supporter of the LGBTQ+ community. I’m also a chronic migraineur. As a surprise to no one, I’m a helpless tea addict with a tea collecting and hoarding problem! (It still baffles me how much tea I can cram into my little condo!) I enjoy trying all sorts of teas… for me tea is a neverending journey!

Favorite Flavors:

I love sampling a wide variety of teas! For me the variety is what makes the hobby of tea sampling so fun! While I enjoy trying all different types of teas (pure teas, blends, tisanes), these are some flavors/ingredients I enjoy:
-Dessert/chocolate/vanilla/caramel/cream/toffee/maple
-Sweet/licorice root/stevia
-Vegetal/grassy
-Floral/lavender/rose
-Spices/chais
-Fruity
-Tropical/pineapple/coconut
-Bergamot (in moderation)
-Roasted/nutty
-Tart/tangy/hibiscus/rosehip

Disliked Flavors:

There are not many flavors or ingredients that I don’t like. These include:
-Bananas/banana flavoring
-Hemp/CBD teas
-Smoke-scented teas/heavy smoke flavors (migraine trigger)
-Perfumey teas/extremely heavy floral aromas (migraine trigger)
-Gingko biloba (migraine trigger)
-Chamomile (used in blends as a background note/paired with stronger flavors is okay)
-Extremely spicy/heated teas
-Medicinal flavors/Ginseng
-Metallic flavors
-Overly strong artificial flavorings

With the exception of bananas and migraine triggers, I’ll pretty much try any tea at least once!

Steeping Parameters:

I drink tea in a variety of ways! For hot brews, I mostly drink my teas brewed in the western style without additions, and for iced tea, I drink teas mostly brewed in the cold brew style without additions. Occassionally I’ll change that up. I use the https://octea.ndim.space/#/ app for water-to-tea ratios and use steep times to my preferences.

My Rating Scale:

90-100 – Top tier tea! These teas are among my personal favorites, and typically I like to keep them stocked in my cupboards at all times, if possible!

70-89 – These are teas that I personally found very enjoyable, but I may or may not feel inclined to keep them in stock.

50-69 – Teas that fall in this range I enjoyed, but found either average, lacking in some way, or I’ve had a similar tea that “did it better.”

21-49 – Teas in this range I didn’t enjoy, for one reason or another. I may or may not finish them off, depending on their ranking, and feel no inclination to restock them.

20-1 – Blech! My Tea Hall of Shame. These are the teas that most likely saw the bottom of my garbage can, because I’d feel guilty to pass them onto someone else.

Note that I only journal a tea once, not every time I drink a cup of it. If my opinion of a tea drastically changes since my original review, I will journal the tea again with an updated opinion and change my rating. Occassionally I revisit a tea I’ve reviewed before after a year or more has passed.

Inventory:

My Cupboard on Steepster reflects teas that I have sampled and logged for review, and is not used as an inventory for teas I currently own at the present moment. An accurate and up-to-date listing of my current tea inventory can be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/xjt9ptx3 . I am open to tea trades (within the United States only!) at this time. Note that I will not trade teas that I currently have in a quantity less than 50g (samplers, 1oz packages, etc.) or any teas that are currently still sealed/unopened in my cupboard.

Contact Info:

Feel free to send me a Steepster PM, or alternatively, check the website URL section below; it goes to a contact form that will reach my personal e-mail.

Location

Idaho, United States

Website

https://teatimetuesdayreviews...

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