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Granny Smith is my favourite kind of apple! I love how in a candy apple, it peeks out and holds its own with a juicy tartness! The flesh is refreshing and never mushy as with some unnamed Red/yellow varieties. Second only to the Granny Smith is the Crab Apple! Ohhh Crab Apple trees of my past, how I miss you! How is it that each of these flavoured matchas reminds me of my childhood in some way? Haha way to be Matcha, way to be.

When I opened up my matcha package I was greeted with the strong scent of apple! I knew my only challenge with this tea would be making it tart instead of just sweet. It’s easy to sweeten a tea – just add sweetener! Has anyone tried the Hibiscus Matcha from RLT? I am really curious to see if it is tart – because it would be the PERFECT addition to this apple tea!

I used my usual 175 degree water – ah, perfectly smooth, vibrant green and SO much frothy foam. Of course I’m not surprised by this – I’ve come to expect this level of quality with my Red Leaf Tea orders and, as usual, am not disappointed. The scent is strong (I went with the normal amount of flavouring) and very apple-y. It is akin to an apple candy, but not super sweet like you would expect it to be. Actually, it’s more in between a Granny Smith apple and an apple candy (minus the tartness). I added a bit of sugar and drank it down – my matcha cup is always empty before I can blink it seems!

I would be lying if I said I didn’t buy this solely to mix with the Caramel Matcha. Inspired by the infamous aisling of tea who came before me, the Caramel and Apple matchas were meant to be together. Now Red Leaf Tea has a great system where you can order your own mix of flavours! I’m tempted to make an order of Coca Cola and Cherry – it may just make my summer matcha list ;) That said, I probably still would have ordered these two teas separately. I like the option of playing with my own ratios and finding the perfect combo! I definitely have enough of these teas to play to my heart’s desire. Now if only I could find an easy way to add a tartness to this matcha – that would add the perfect 3rd dimension to the caramel apple matcha mix! You can find this Green Apple matcha here at Red Leaf Tea: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/green-apple-matcha.html

One last note about this tea – as I’ve said before, I’m collecting fruit matchas for all of my smoothie needs. I’ve tried this one in a few different combos. So far it goes really well with both Blueberry and Mango. I can’t wait for my next order, where I will most certainly try out some tropical matchas and find my paradise gateway matcha. Hello vacation in a glass, momma’s coming for you.

Banana!!! I am going to tell you a (probably too long) story about my relationship with Bananas. I think it’s important to see my thought process that lead to choosing this matcha! Haha bear with me.

Bananas and I have a curious relationship. I don’t particularly enjoy them. Or their flavour. But sometimes I do. I crave them! What?! I loooathe those banana marshmallows, and banana runts were my least favourite! But that was when I was a kid – now I crave them! I despise the texture of eating a mushy banana, but I have fond memories of a Banana Curry I once had in Tonga. Sometimes I crave a peanut butter banana sandwich on soft white bread – oh, and I always love banana bread of any kind! I slather it with butter, yes, but I always love it! Bananas Foster in Cuba – that is also on my good list. Banoffee Pie? Yes. Frozen Banana from the fair? Yes. Banana in a smoothie? No. Somewhat strange and phallic cheesecake/phyllo banana dessert? Absolutely.

Phew – there’s my banana history in a nutshell. So I like bananas sometime! That’s the moral. Anyways – I was very curious about Red Leaf Tea’s Banana Matcha. I wondered what the flavouring would taste like – more like a banana-bread or more like a banana candy? Either way – I’ve been on a fruit flavoured matcha kick, and I knew I would prefer throwing some banana matcha into a smoothie as opposed to a real banana. Or even both – maybe I wouldn’t mind a real banana in there if there was some matcha too! A delve into the confusing workings of my mind x_x

Well! I do conclude that it leans more towards the sweet candy side of bananas – and for that I am a very happy camper! It smells so so sweet, just like the banana marshmallows I’ve come to crave – but the genius part is that you are in control of the amount of sweetener you add. Drinking a cup of this won’t have the same effect as eating a giant bag of candy marshmallows – although you will get a different kind of energy from the matcha :D
As always, you can find this matcha at Red Leaf Tea! ( http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/banana-matcha.html )

This matcha is amazing on its own, but I’m a masochist so I like to add just under a tsp of sugar. JK. It’s a perfectly acceptable amount of sugar and I do what I want. ;) As with most matchas, my favourite way to enjoy is in a hot latte. I’m still figuring out the logistics to a perfect iced latte or frappaccino, but when I do rest assured I will take a ton of pictures and blog it immediately :D

Made icing with this Matcha!
Madagascar Vanilla Buttercream. I almost wept!

There is no bitterness at all when you make this into an icing for a chocolate cupcake. Just saying – if you want to try it, I will high five you.

Here’s the recipe/pictures!!!
http://www.daisychubb.com/recipe-chocolate-cupcakes-with-matcha-buttercream-chocolate-ganache/

I looked into my sample drawer today… um I can finally see the bottom! Yay! Time for more swaps :D I just need to get paid so I can afford to send out a package. VERY excited for my next swap with aisling of tea though. Just so you know ;)

With my stash drawer low I’m feeling almost frugal with my tea, so I didn’t want to waste the leaves of Razzmatazz and Sweet Strawberry from DT. I combined the 2 single steeped leaves into my pot and cold brewed overnight.

The brew is a bit watery, due to being the second steep of both leaves I’m sure, but it’s really nice and fruity! The lemongrass/rooibos flavour of Razz is gone and just the sweet raspberry & strawberry flavours remain. I like that! The white tea lends a nice body to it and the 2 flavours go very well together, despite the bases/blends being totally different!

Happy summer fruity tea, aahhh.

This one smells and tastes like Blue Raspberry! Well, also like fresh raspberries, but I’m loving the tartness that is like a slush puppy with a squirt of shocker. Yum.

The lemon verbena imparts quite a bit of lemon flavour – it took a little getting used to, but I can see why this would be delicious as a fizzy drink. Sweet and tart and refreshing, with a squeeze of lemon in your sparkling water.

All in all, I found the taste a little too “herbal” (maybe the rooibos?) for my tastes, but we will enjoy the rest of this 25g bag!

Also enjoying it iced with a squirt of sweetener. Looking forward to making a tea sangria with this one and lots of fresh respberries!

In comparison with the Strawberry White of old, I find this one very similar (of course), but with more Bai Mu Dan-taste and a bit more strawberry in the taste! Actually, more than a bit more – quite a bit more.

It’s still not the prominent taste of the tea – but that’s what I did like about Strawberry White – it was a delicate white tea with a hint of strawberry. This one fits the bill a bit more in terms of tastiness, but it is definitely similar to it’s mother-tea.

Enjoying it over ice with a squirt of sweetener.

EDIT: Tasting note 300!

Yum! Picked up 25g of a bunch of new teas from Davids today… to celebrate the first paycheck of course :D! (So happy there is no tax on tea here) Also picking up some last minute teas for the tea swap aaand some awesome cute kids stickers! Yay!

This is a pretty decent caramel black. Good job Davids. It’s creamy and sweet – and I looove the addition of the sea salt with the toffee bits. Brewing it at home was great – not bitter at all after steeping for about 3 minutes, and when I accidentally walked away from my resteep for 10 minutes, it was also not bitter! That was very lucky. I added milk anyways :P

Man I am rambly lately. Ramblo. Anyways! Right now I don’t need a caramel black in my cupboard, but when I do I think this one will be it. Lots of toffee chunks, and I loved the rounded flavour the coconut gave it (coconut sucker alert).

Maybe I will try it as an iced latte – but I might just stick to hot. With a dash of rum. OR Caramilk Liqueur? hmm

Would you look at the time? It’s 10:22 am.. whaat? You know what that means?
I have a job where I can pop on Steepster on my breaks! Yay!
Unfortunately I really only have the resources to drink one tea a work-day – the tea I make and bring in the morning. The reason being I can’t leave the reception desk except at lunch time! But anyways – Steepster access is one good perk about my job.

Oh, and this is one good tea! Wow I’m as bad as Rich Terfry at segues! CBC Radio 2 anyone?

I have to jump on the bandwagon with this tea – it is extremely well balanced. It’s what I expect a chai to be when I order it from a coffee house – not too gingery, or clovey, or cardamom-y or spicy! Phew. I would have loved to simmer this in hot milk instead of adding cold milk to the brew – that always brings out a whole other depth of flavour, but this is very enjoyable this morning with some milk and sugar. I do wish it had a little more kick in the butt this morning, but that’s just me being a tired panda ;)

Humongous thanks to LiberTEAS for giving me this tea in our recent swap! It’s been a great treat to try these offerings from Steven Smith Teamaker! Thank you!!!

I am loving this one – it’s such a smooth blend.

The Yunnan base provides such a nice change compared to my usual chais. This chai is lighter (golden!) and I find myself craving the slight kick from the ginger. The brew is sweet and delicious on it’s own – but with a bit of milk and honey it warms me fully from the inside out. The fennel and citrus play together so nicely – they seem to dance over my tongue and make it tingle. Feels like a warm hug from a missed friend.

I can’t say anymore – what is it about Verdant tea that always makes me speechless. Makes for tough tasting notes anyways!

WOW this one is going on my list for sure!
I mean, the eyes didn’t roll up into the back of my head in memorable pleasure – but for the taste alone I would stock up. Because this tastes SO good!

The aroma isn’t very strong, but the taste is full, sweet and oh so creamy. I can hardly put the cup down long enough to tap out this short review! And short it will be, but honest.

The aftertaste is mild, but honey-like! I loooove honey notes – I love that I don’t have to try to hard to coax it out of this tea. It’s very prominent. I would serve this to anyone new to green oolongs, in hopes they would fall as hard as I am for it. :)

Thank you FONG MONG tea for this extra delicious sample!