3 Leaf Tea

My new phone arrived, yay! Of course the yay is also prefaced with an annoyed groan because I have to learn how to use this one, get all the settings to where I like them, get all the apps, and contacts, and all that fun stuff situated. Electronics can be so complicated in their enjoyment!

Today is Monday, meaning a Matcha day! Today we are looking at 3 Leaf Tea’s Ceremonial Grade Matcha, a vibrantly green little number from Uji, Kyoto. The color on this Matcha really is quite fantastic, the photos don’t do it justice, it is luminous in its greenness, which is a good sign. The aroma of the Matcha pre-whisking is very sweet and creamy, notes of hay and sweetgrass mix with sweet cream and a distant fruitiness. Somewhere between berries in bananas, very light but it adds an interesting depth.

After a sifting and whisking I am greeted with some excellent froth and morimo-algae green liquid. Also, as a side note, when did morimo algae balls get so expensive? They used to be fairly cheap little aquarium friends. Anyway, the aroma of the now frothy Matcha is very sweet and creamy with a slightly green kelp note, very pleasant on my nose. Ok, moment of truth, I have had so many bad Matcha lately that I kinda live in fear now…and yeah, I had nothing to fear, this is some good stuff! It starts sweet, stays sweet, and end sweet, not a hint of bitterness to be found. The underlying notes are intense green, like kelp, zucchini, lettuce and freshly cut grass. On top of that is creamy squash and sweet cream, this Matcha has a lot going on, and I like that, this Matcha was a breath of fresh green air, a pleasant return to tasty form!

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/08/3-leaf-tea-ceremonial-grade-matcha.html

Sample was provided for this review.

I loosely followed the directions on the packet. Brewed the packet’s entire contents on the stove top in 8oz of water, brought to a boil, simmered on low for ten minutes, added four ounces of milk and a tablespoon of sugar, and finally brought to a boil again. In the end, an eight-ounce cup was produced, the total amount as the directions recommended.

I’m pleased with the spices included – they are typical, but there are also a good number mixed in. I smelled the clove and the cinnamon as the leaf brewed. As far as taste goes, I’m loving it. I usually don’t add so much milk (even though that’s what one is supposed to do with traditional masala chai) because I’m afraid that the spices would be heavily muted – for blends I purchase from vendor, that is. I have had experiences in which pre-made blends even brewed with only ONE ounce of milk are very weak. So disappointing. But the spices in this blend, especially the black peppercorns, taste fresh and come through strongly. They linger minutes after I swallow and touch the back of my throat.

I’m finding it difficult not to down all of my cup at once. This an excellent blend. Many thanks to 3 Leaf Tea for the free sample!

The weather has been brutal the last week (compared to the rest of winter so far) but today we are getting a brief reprieve. The temp hit abt 50 F! The snow is quickly going away and I am happy happy happy. Tuesday night went to band practice and almost didn’t get out of the car. The sidewalk was excellent but the parking lot was pretty scary.

Anyway, almost grabbed a coke but tea won the debate over lazy. Just a little of this left. Brewed it western style. The instructions say 3 minutes but I went 2. 3 would be better, it is a little light. Dry it smells fruity and of hay. Once steeped the cup is between damp earth and barn. The taste is light and a little dusty with wood, earth, and mild leather notes there is more than a hint of fruit towards the end. It is coating my throat with a sweet syrupy feel.

Note overly complex but more satisfying than what I started to grab.

3 Leaf Tea offered samples for review. I asked for this one in particular as I have never tried a tangerine pu’erh. The brewing instructions are for a western style brewed cup. 1 tsp of leaf and a cup of boiling water with a 3 minute steep.

The dry leaf is very pleasant to sniff. It is hay and fruit. The steeped leaf is barnyard but I know this seldom translates into the cup. The brew is almost ‘tea’ colored but a little more ruby tinted than your average orange pekoe.

The taste is dusty dry spiciness with a hint of tangerine zest. It is not astringent or bitter. There is a gentle but deep earthiness that confirms this is pu’erh. The second cup was pretty much like the first except maybe a touch more towards sweet. Goes down easily.

Not a deeply complex tea but a nice everyday sipper. Seems like a good base to play with your herbs and spices to see what you can invent.

Having this with anime, as it’s not movie time yet. It smells sweet, and nicely floral. There is a floral (perhaps orchid) flavours, with some vegetal/ herbal notes.

Thanks for the sample.

My samples arrived pretty quickly. At about the same time as my DVD from Texas, actually. The leaves have that pretty gold hue. There is lovely yam scent, with a bit of sweetness. It has a mostly sweet potato flavour, with hints of honey. I need to try more later to see how well it goes with historical Chinese movies. Because science?

Thanks to 3 Leaf for this sample. :)

Can’t wait to get home amd make this with some almond milk. Just mixing it with water in a cup I can tell it’s good but doesn’t quite do it justice.

On a trip right now so have to brew the matcha in whatever fashion I can. Most of the time it involves dumping it into a small water bottle and shaking vigorously. This I brewed with hot water and stired with a plastic stir stick. Real fancy…

Definitely getting some hints of sunshine state oranges in there. Not as much…. Uh… Orange zing? As I thought there would be though.

After a few months of gazing longingly at 3 Leaf Tea’s website, I finally decided to place my first order. I ordered butterscotch matcha (60g package) and this raspberry hot chocolate (1/2 Ib package with sugar, not raw cacao). The weather here was pretty bleak, so I decided to try the hot chocolate first…..and now I’m in love.
My first impression of powder was that it smelled divine. The biggest fear I had was that I wouldn’t be able to taste the raspberry, but I was pleasantly surprised. The raspberry was definitely there, but it didn’t over power the taste of the cacao itself. I also think the amount of sugar in the hot chocolate is just the right amount, it takes the bitter edge off the cacao, but not so much that it tastes like your eating a chocolate bar. I definitely look forward to trying 3 Leaf’s other flavors!!

I tried this orange matcha from the Matcha and Green TTB. It’s pretty good, but I wish it had more of the citrus spark from the orange. It tasted more like plain old matcha with a hint of orange. The base was good though – not bitter.

Sipdown (116)!

SO MY EDUCATION FUND TRANSFER OFFICIALLY WENT THROUGH! AS OF YESTERDAY I AM REGISTERED FOR TEA SOMMELIER CLASSES STARTING EARLY JUNE!!! IF YOU CAN’T TELL I AM QUITE EXCITED!

Thank you TheLastDodo for the sample!

This is a fairly new company, and one I actually wanted to order from since they’ve got a pretty diverse selection of flavoured matcha and I was interested in seeing how it differed from what Red Leaf Tea offers. Unfortunately they don’t yet ship to Canada, so it was great that TheLastDodo was able to send some for me to try!

Instead of my usual matcha in milk I prepped this cold shaken in a timolino with plain old water. Since this is a new company to me and I’m not familiar with their base matcha I wanted as much of a “plain” taste as I could get.

I liked this; I thought the raspberry was very sweet and natural tasting with just a tease of natural tang to it. It also didn’t seem to eclipse the flavour of the matcha itself which tasted subtly grassy and very, very floral. It had me thinking loosely of both orchids and peonies. The flavour and base together worked very well – the floral components absolutely complimented the natural tasting raspberry.

It definitely makes me wish I could try more flavors from this company – in particular I’m curious about the pineapple matcha and the apple matcha. I love the pairing of pineapple and floral flavours like orchid so I can see that working really, really well. Basically, I’m saying people should give this company a little bit more love because hopefully then they’ll be able to expand their shipping into Canada!

Thank you so much for the sample thelastdodo!

I actually drank this one yesterday for breakfast. Lately I’ve been doing a lot of unsweetened cold matcha lattes for breakfast with flavored matcha. I’m convinced that coconut is the BEST possible flavor to add to matcha. It has been so long since I’ve tried Red Leaf Tea’s coconut matcha that I couldn’t tell you for sure which one I prefer. I should have saved this one to do a side by side comparison since I have some of Red Leaf Tea’s on order right now and should be here soon! Oh well…I still enjoyed this one very much :)

I had this hot this morning! I added a pump of coconut syrup to my latte and ohhh yeaaahhhh. that hit the spot. I used some of my homemade almond milk to much success. (on a side note, I have finally splurged on an actual nut milk bag! I have been using and reusing the same sheet of cheesecloth for a month. Making nut milk twice a week with a holey piece of cheesecloth is not ideal. Now that I have this new fangled thingie and I love it!! Instead of a half and hour it take me ten minutes to make almond milk! woohoo! /end rant)
The base match 3 Leaf Tea uses is excellent. I have had my fair share of bad matcha in my day, and I can just tell that by looking at this lush, blue-green powder that this will be a very good experience. The base by itself is very nice, it is vegetal and fresh. It’s really got that umami thing down. If I am not careful, I do get some clumping, but it is an easy fix. The taste is smooth, no graininess, and although the flavor is light, it is a creamy hint at the end of each sip that just feels so right. I really enjoyed the flavor, the texture, and the latte I made was gone before I knew it. Looks like I will have to make some more almond milk soon!

Full review here:
http://sororiteasisters.com/2015/04/14/coconut-matcha-green-tea-3-leaf-tea/

You know, I am a bad geek, maybe. I have a fancy kindle fire just loaded with books, but I have not read much lately. Each night when I settle into bed, my kindle is there waiting for me, but instead of reading I play games. I have been lately addicted to Plague Inc (though that game has been frustrating me immensely) Mini Warriors (it is tempting to throw all the moneys at this game, it is so much fun) and Townsmen (even if I find the description of women spend all day at the market and men do all the work rather tasteless) I dabble with a few others, but those are the big time sinks.

So today is the last of my Matcha weekend binge, and I finish off with Blueberry Matcha from 3 Leaf Tea, and fun fact, I used to be hardcore addicted to blueberry green tea, I went from consuming a lot of it to it being a fun nostalgic treat. Mainly I gave it up because my favorite one is nigh impossible to get, ugh! Like the Orange Matcha I had the other day, the aroma of the green pile of powder is only faintly the flavor, like having a pile of Matcha sitting next to a pile of blueberry waffles and fresh blueberries. The Matcha is both sweet and grassy, very green, which I think compliments the Blueberry aroma. Adding water and whisking it really brings out the blueberry notes, it has a tiny bit of tartness to the aroma, much like blueberries have at times, but it also has that super sweet blueberry jam note that I love.

And again, like the Orange Matcha, the Blueberry Matcha is really quite tasty as a traditional whisked up bowl of tea. The blueberry taste is fairly light, like eating a mouthful of blueberries and then drinking Matcha. It is green, grassy, with fresh hay and growing things. The finish is where most the blueberry taste it, and it lingers into the aftertaste.

Yay, there is milk, meaning I am making a latte! I have a wicked sore throat (thank you allergies, or whatever, maybe just breathing in the raining tree pollen is irritating my throat) so a bit of creamy cold sweetness sounds perfect. Well, it is delicious, as expected, like a Matcha latte but with a scoop of fresh blueberries and blueberry jam, which is great by me. See, I love blueberries, but I really hate tart blueberries, give me those super sweet juicy ones any day. Adding sugar and making it into a latte gives it a bit of that blueberry candy taste, but I am ok with that (turns out it is one of my favorite candy flavors) and it works well with the greenness of the Matcha. I really liked the blueberry, but I am pretty sure the orange stole my heart.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/03/3-leaf-tea-blueberry-matcha-tea-review.html

So, I am pretty sure I have no life anymore, and by no life I mean that I have devoted every moment I am not ‘teaing’ to gaming. Ben coerced me into being a playtester for Seafall, an age of sail legacy game, and we have to (along with some friends of course) playtest 15 games in 10 weeks. On top of that I have decided to pick up at least one more wargame, and god help me I think it might be Warhammer 40K. Everyone knew it would only be a matter of time! Oh awesome! I am listening to Pandora and the ‘dancing Turian song’ came on, meaning yes, I HAD to go watch it, I suggest everyone go watch the dancing Turian and be in awe of his sweet moves.

Yeah, I am in a rambling mood today, not much sleep and lots of tea do that to me, so speaking of tea, Matcha time! 3 Leaf Tea’s Basic Grade Matcha (Unflavored) which is the base Matcha of their flavored Matcha, I figure it would be best to give this a tasting as well as a flavored one, for comparison. The aroma of the nicely green powder is very green, with notes of fresh hay, cut grass, a bit of kale and vegetal notes. The finish is sweet and a bit robust, in my head it is more of a summer aroma rather than a spring aroma, if that makes sense. Whisking the Matcha brings out a definite rich green aroma coming up from the vigorously frothed tea, this is a very green Matcha, and I can see why it is used as a base!

I decided to just have a go with this Matcha traditionally, mainly because I was out of milk (oops) and really was not in the mood for a latte, as much as I love cream and milk fats I just don’t like consuming them too often, and I am going to have one tomorrow (spoilers). So this is a robust Matcha, it seems a bit ‘manly’ with a strong green presence. It starts out with kale and spinach and then moves to sweet fresh hay and cut grass. This is definitely a Matcha I can see myself drinking with a big meal or on a day when I want to feel strong from my tea. This sounds a little odd, but to me Matcha is a tea that has very strong personalities, depending on the Matcha itself, which means I really used the wrong bowl for it, but oh well. Like I said earlier, I can certainly see why this is a the base for flavoring, it has a strong enough presence that flavoring it will not bog down the Matcha itself, that way you can still taste the green along with the flavor.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/03/3-leaf-tea-basic-grade-matcha.html

Guess what I am doing! If you guessed painting my minis then you either read this blog or just know me very well! Currently on the painting desk I have my second Harbinger and my various other unfinished units (yes, I still have not finished my Alphas, for shame) and I hope to have them all finished by Monday when Ben and I have our league fight. Also I have a connection at AdeptiCon, meaning I might be getting my Oppressor early, the excitement is real, to the point that I about had a faint when I found out I might get it early. I just need to settle on a paint scheme since I kinda want to do my command units as different (Desolator not included, it has other special plans) and very showy.

I have decided since it is the first weekend of Spring, that I need some real green in my life, like really green, meaning it is going to be Matcha weekend! Starting off with Orange Matcha from 3 Leaf Tea! This is a Matcha that blends regular ol’ Matcha with orange flavoring (and thank you 3 Leaf Tea for listing that it is Gluten free! A lesson to all tea companies, list if yours contains allergens!) They also sell sample sizes, which I really like, because from experience, flavored Matcha can be VERY hit or miss, and a lot of places only sell massive piles of them, meaning you really have to gamble. To start off, I decided to give this one a try as a traditional whipped up Matcha, this is because after opening the pouch the color and aroma struck me as something I wanted to try as both a latte and traditional. The aroma of this bright green powdery goodness is a blend of sweet grass, freshly mown hay, and very delicate orange undertones. Like a nicely sifted pile of Matcha with a sliced orange sitting next to it! As I give the Matcha a good whisking (and I am sad to announce I am a few bowls of Matcha away from needed a new Chasen, me thinks) the orange aroma almost effervesces up to my nose. It smells like a Matcha and an Orange Julius, and why is this not a thing yet?

I love green tea (especially Sencha) with various citrus fruits, so I am really excited to see what I think of Matcha with orange, it just sounds like something I will like. Upon sipping it, well, imagine a good Matcha that blends a slightly bitter robust taste (kale bitter, not burnt green tea death bitter) and sweet, creamy, hay and sweetgrass notes with orange juice. It is like someone made a normal Matcha and squeezed an orange in with it (I need to try this) while whisking it up. It adds a sweetness and brightness, I could see this being awesome for breakfast!

I also decided to make myself a small iced latte, though I am moderately annoyed that there is just skim milk in the house, I am more of a whole milk kinda gal, or ya know, just give me cream and I am happy! I am also someone who only rarely drinks milk, so it is no surprise that I am out of my milk of choice. The instructions for how to make a latte on the website are just boss, this is how I am making lattes from now on, much easier than having to break out the hand mixer or god forbid, my terrible blender. I did forgo the ice, because I do not want something that cold, plus icecubes get in the way of chugging, I am such a delicate soul. Anyway, making this into a sweet latte is delicious, it is like orange ice cream and Matcha, sweet, green, and delightfully citrus. Not sure which one I liked more, both were quite delicious, and an excellent start to Matcha weekend!

Blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2015/03/3-leaf-tea-orange-matcha-tea-review.html

Yum, coconut fan checking in! This flavored matcha is really tasty – very creamy sweet coconut that satisfies all my creamy cravings (I love creamy food and desserts, omg). The coconut flavor is light, but tasty and works well with the matcha.

I’m excited 3 Leaf does samples, I am tempted to try a couple more flavors! (Their hot chocolate is amazing btw)

Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/3-leaf-teas-flavored-matchas-tea-review/

Mmmmm, this matcha made as a latte is like drinking peaches and cream (with matcha!) The flavoring on this one is light (lighter than the other one I tried, coconut) with a white peach flavor, mostly in the aftertaste. With light flavoring you can enjoy the matcha more.

Full review on Oolong Owl http://oolongowl.com/3-leaf-teas-flavored-matchas-tea-review/

Okay, this isn’t really a tea, but I decided to add it anyway. Let’s just think of it as a tisane.

I was craving something sweet tonight and remembered I had gotten this as a free sample with my matcha order, so I thought I would give it a try. Right off the bat I knew it was going to be too sweet for me, so I decided to use half the packet (they recommend the whole packet) and sub it with a TBS of cocoa powder. I whisked it in about 10 oz of unsweetened soy milk for a cold hot chocolate. Surprisingly the sugar dissolved well even in the cold milk. It’s really delightful. Still a bit on the sweet side so I’m glad I halved the mix. The maple isn’t very noticeable but that is certainly because I didn’t use the recommended amount.

I’m happy 3 Leaf took customer option into account and added flavored raw cacao (customer service like that counts for so much IMO). I probably wouldn’t buy this due to the added sugar, but I think I will get some of the flavored cacao the next time I order from them. I love blended hot chocolates as dessert and I think it would be nice to have a flavored option or two.

Wow, impressive flavoring in this matcha. As soon as I started whisking the scent of strawberries wafted up out of the bowl. It’s much stronger than I expected.
The strawberry flavor isn’t artificial tasting at all, but it doesn’t exactly taste like a fresh strawberry (that would probably be impossible). More like the strawberry you’d find in strawberry milk. And I mean that in the best way possible. Mixed with the vegetal creamy matcha it’s really delightful. I made this as a cold latte, and the more I sip the more I’m reminded of strawberry ice cream.

I’m very excited that 3 Leaf Tea has ended up being a viable option for flavored matcha. There are so few companies out there who do it, it will be nice having more than one place to go to.

I was so excited for this tea I hid out by the window all morning so I could snatch it up as soon as the mailman dropped it off. Of course he was running quite late today! But, thankfully he eventually made his way to my house and dropped this off for me. I immediately whipped myself up a cold soy milk latte.
There’s not a ton of maple flavor here, but I only used 1/2 tsp per 8 oz, where they recommend 1 full tsp. So of course I can’t take off points for that. Where this tea really shines is with the matcha they use. It is so creamy and quite noticeable even over the flavoring and soy milk. It whips up well and I get a nice head of froth. I’m no matcha aficionado but it seems to be much higher quality than the standard base from Red Leaf or the bases in other flavored matchas I’ve come across.

I really love this one and am super glad I picked up 30g rather than a sample. I can’t wait to try the strawberry I also ordered.