448 Tasting Notes
I’ve had this twice now, once with milk and once without, and I can’t seem to get much flavor out of this either way. Before steeping I ate a chocolate chip and it was extremely orangey flavored, so I’m not sure what’s happening. I might try a cold steep to see if I can find the flavor on this one. I’m sad that I can’t seem to steep this one right :(
I loved this one. It tastes just like it says it will, with sweet maple flavors and roasty nutty flavors. This is probably TMI but while drinking this I burped and it tasted just like I had eaten a pecan
I had this one last night, and was extremely excited for it. However, I was really let down. I just got tea flavor, and not really any flavorings at all. I thought maybe it just needed to cool down, but that didn’t really help any. Judging from the other reviews, it looks like I probably just did something weird when brewing this, so I will definitely tinker with that and see what I can do
This one is my morning cup, and my second A Quarter to Tea blend. I love banana nut bread, and my dad used to make me banana nut pancakes all the time, but in the past few years I found out that I can’t really have wheat so I haven’t really had those treats recently. So this tea is perfect!
Brewed up, this tea smells intensely sweet and buttery. It’s making my whole office smell good. The flavor is very buttery and walnuty, without having that bitter flavor some teas get from walnuts. The banana flavor isn’t very strong, but the flavor I do get is great. It doesn’t taste like fake sweet banana, but tastes like you had some overripe bananas that you mushed up and added to some batter. The buttery flavor really helps to create the idea of pancakes. The base tea takes a back seat and just seems to be there to support the other flavors, which to me really works in a blend like this. Overall I’m really loving this one, but I would love it even more with more banana.
Flavors: Butter, Walnut
Preparation
My order from A Quarter To Tea came in yesterday, and by the time I got home it was definitely too late for any of the caffeinated blends I got, but this one sounded perfect for an after dinner tea!
I can be iffy about rooibos but this sounded so good I took the chance anyway. The woodsy rooibos flavor is there in the background, but not too much. To me, it’s just enough to add a little extra substance to the tea as a whole. There is a sweetness, but I’m not getting specifics, like vanilla, strawberry, etc. I want to try steeping this longer to try to get more of those flavors out, since I did go for the shorter end of the suggested steep time (right at 8 minutes), and I also want to try this with just a bit of milk to see if that changes anything.
Flavors: Sweet
Preparation
I’m currently sipping this at work. It brewed up surprisingly dark!I’m getting some nice mint taste, but then the aftertaste has this odd meaty flavor for some reason? I’m not sure why, and it feels a bit odd with this tea but it’s not necessarily bad
My second tea for soothing the sore throat. I actually did about half this tea, and half spearmint. Chamomile and mint is my absolute trump tea for when I’m sick, but I didn’t have any plain chamomile so I went with this.
It was extremely smooth and soothing on my throat, but one thing that I think I’m learning is that chamomile just isn’t my favorite tea flavor. It helps my throat, but I basically only drink it when I need it.
Oh boy, I woke up with an intense sore throat today. I just wanted something warm and comforting, preferably with mint to sooth the throat. This did the trick, and I sipped on it while getting ready for work. This wouldn’t be my go-to sick tea, but it’s definitely what I wanted this morning.
I’ve had this for quite a while, but just haven’t been bothering with matcha at all. Um, how long does matcha stay good?
So I don’t actually know exactly how lattes are made, but I did my best this morning. I combined 3/4 hot milk with 1/4 boiling water and 1.5 tsp of this matcha, and then used my little frother device to get it all mixed up. That’s probably completely wrong, but hey it tasted good and isn’t that what truly matters?
So this definitely has a sweetness, that with the milk is almost too much for me, but I don’t like my drinks to be overly sweet. There is also a bit of a buttery flavor that makes me think of popcorn. This isn’t bad, but isn’t my favorite. However, I don’t know enough about matcha to really say much about the quality
Flavors: Butter, Sweet
Do you keep it in the fridge?
I read it’s good for about a year? I can’t imagine you’d need to absolutely throw it out at the 365 day mark, though.
Yeah I’m sure it’s fine :)
Does keeping it in the fridge preserve it? And I really don’t remember when I got this, but it might be right around a year actually
I keep mine in the fridge. But I know there are conflicting schools of thought on matcha storage especially flavored matcha!
The downside of refrigerator storage is that when you open the packet, the cold interior attracts water, which then remains with the tea. The water attracts oxygen and the tea can in theory go bad in ways it wouldn’t in the room.
On the other hand, the main way that a tea ages is via oxidation, a chemical process. One fact that has stuck with my from my physical chemistry class so many years ago is that the rate of a chemical reaction doubles with every 10 degree C increase in temperature. So going from room temperature (about 18 C) to abut 3-5 C in the refrigerator should reduce the aging to roughly 30-40% of what you’d get at room temperature.
My morning tea for today. This one just feels cozy to me. The orange spice makes me think of winter, Alaska, and being with people I care about. I know that’s a very personal interpretation and probably not very helpful, but oh well! I’ve had a slight cold for about a week now, and the weather is getting colder, so this is the perfect warm-me-up and make-me-feel-better tea
I’ve found this one (and most of the chocolate blends for whatever reason) do better at a slightly cooler temperature (195-200) with a longer steep 5+ minutes. The flavor should get more pronounced as the cup cools as well. :)
Thanks for the tip! I’ll definitely try that next time!