Thank you to Nuvola Tea for this sample
I shared this sample with experienced tea drinkers in a side by side comparison with a very high quality matcha. At the end of the tasting a few people arrived not knowing which tea was which and made comments also. (This was all done in a tea shop)
The Nuvola Tea had a distinct fishy scent and flavor, as well as a very bitter taste. The aftertaste was grassy which I didn’t mind.
The late arriving tasters commented that the tea was bad.
I felt that something must have gone wrong with this batch of tea for the comments to all be so unfortunate so I’ll leave this unrated.
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I wonder if it underwent oxidation? I bought some powdered green tea, I knew it would not be high quality matcha, but still, the odor and flavor and even color is just off. I read that just the way apples turn brown once they are cut and exposed to air, same kind of thing can happen to teas that have been ground, if I’ve got that right.
That’s sad :( I have three Matchas at home… I cant really comment I don’t know enough about Matcha to rate its taste. I went to Japan and had several over there some I liked more than others but I guess I’ll have to ask you and Azzrian for guidelines some day.
One of my friends teaches Japanese green tea classes so I was not out here on my own. Anyway, they are not tea snobs either which I can’t abide. I think it’s unkind really to put down tea unless there is something terribly wrong. So, this was a sealed packet and opened at the tea shop with me watching. All was done carefully. So, there must have been something wrong with the tea. It was darker than matcha when brewed so it may have oxidized as you said. Smelled fishy as soon as he packet was opened and tasted fishy.
Bonnie, are you into Matcha much? If I thought pu’erh was a challenge, Matcha completely baffles me!
I’ve never ordered those flavored ones everyone is into. I have some powder that’s straight matcha that I’ve used in the Summer for smoothies that I make myself, and I have the guys at the tea shop make me hot chocolate matcha with a chocolate that comes from a Colorado Chocolatier (very old company).
I’ve never tried those either, I might like them (so many seem to be crazy about them) but it has become some kind of tea-challenge for me, I want to see if I can truly enjoy a straight one before… But it’s not likely to happen since I’m not planning on purchasing any! Hey, maybe I just don’t like it, and until I’m lucky enough to come across semeone knowlegable enough to really teach me in person about it, I’m afraid It will remain an ongoing project :-)
To me matcha was mostly enjoyable as a ‘with food’ drink. But then again the ones I have here may not be the best. In fact I have one that haven’t even opened from ‘got matcha?’. But as I said I don’t know enough of it. LOVE Genmaicha though!
Oh no! Something must have gone wrong because mine was really good.
Glad yours was good, and I’m glad mine wasn’t the only opinion. About 6 people drank it and said the same thing not knowing which was which so I’m not nuts. Well, yes I am nuts but that’s another story.
I wonder if it underwent oxidation? I bought some powdered green tea, I knew it would not be high quality matcha, but still, the odor and flavor and even color is just off. I read that just the way apples turn brown once they are cut and exposed to air, same kind of thing can happen to teas that have been ground, if I’ve got that right.
That’s sad :( I have three Matchas at home… I cant really comment I don’t know enough about Matcha to rate its taste. I went to Japan and had several over there some I liked more than others but I guess I’ll have to ask you and Azzrian for guidelines some day.
One of my friends teaches Japanese green tea classes so I was not out here on my own. Anyway, they are not tea snobs either which I can’t abide. I think it’s unkind really to put down tea unless there is something terribly wrong. So, this was a sealed packet and opened at the tea shop with me watching. All was done carefully. So, there must have been something wrong with the tea. It was darker than matcha when brewed so it may have oxidized as you said. Smelled fishy as soon as he packet was opened and tasted fishy.
Bonnie, are you into Matcha much? If I thought pu’erh was a challenge, Matcha completely baffles me!
I’ve never ordered those flavored ones everyone is into. I have some powder that’s straight matcha that I’ve used in the Summer for smoothies that I make myself, and I have the guys at the tea shop make me hot chocolate matcha with a chocolate that comes from a Colorado Chocolatier (very old company).
I’ve never tried those either, I might like them (so many seem to be crazy about them) but it has become some kind of tea-challenge for me, I want to see if I can truly enjoy a straight one before… But it’s not likely to happen since I’m not planning on purchasing any! Hey, maybe I just don’t like it, and until I’m lucky enough to come across semeone knowlegable enough to really teach me in person about it, I’m afraid It will remain an ongoing project :-)
To me matcha was mostly enjoyable as a ‘with food’ drink. But then again the ones I have here may not be the best. In fact I have one that haven’t even opened from ‘got matcha?’. But as I said I don’t know enough of it. LOVE Genmaicha though!
Oh no! Something must have gone wrong because mine was really good.
Glad yours was good, and I’m glad mine wasn’t the only opinion. About 6 people drank it and said the same thing not knowing which was which so I’m not nuts. Well, yes I am nuts but that’s another story.