3 Leaf Tea

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L is for…Lemonade Matcha

Thank you for sharing this with me, Roswell Strange! It was fun to break out not one but two Lemonade Matchas to try side-by-side for #MatchaMonday and “L” day. Both came from you, so thank you so much!

This one I made hot…hours ago. So it’s cooled. Oops.

As for the matcha itself, it’s very grassy. I am getting hardly any lemon here and any I am getting is coming off Pledge-like when mixed with the thicker grassiness. It’s also a touch chalky. If I am being honest, a lot of these 3 Leaf Tea matchas haven’t been for me because my favourite part of flavored matchas is the flavouring. These are light on flavor and just not for me.

This was picked by the random selector and I cold brewed it but this did not go well since it mostly tastes like grass. Thanks for sharing Roswell Strange but cold brewing was not the way to go with this one.

Last week my brother-in-law and I decided to try the Dalgona coffee recipe or I insisted he try it since I don’t drink coffee. We had one failed attempt due to using coffee grinds that claimed to be instant but weren’t and then we bought actual instant coffee and had a lot of success with it. So much that it’s been his go to coffee drink in afternoons and we have blasted through 1/2 of the instant coffee.

I tried to use the same dalgona coffee recipe to make dalgona matcha and it was a disaster. Here is my tasting note for the failed attempt: https://steepster.com/rachel12610/posts/401164 and also, my photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/B-PwSjCgGV5/

Today, I found a new recipe that used an egg white and a sugar/water syrup. Lookswise, it is definitely improved. You can see that picture here: https://www.instagram.com/p/B-cmqxCAf8Q/

Tastewise, it is crazy sweet which is to be expected in light of the 1/4 cup of white sugar that went into it via a simple syrup. If you can get over the sweetness though, it is creamy af. It’s basically like drinking a cardamom milkshake with the slightest hint of matcha. It’s interesting, to say the least. I think the Banana Matcha or a more fruity flavor would have worked better though since a cardamom milkshake is more odd than a strawberry or banana one. Nevertheless, it was a fun experiment and one made possible by Roswell Strange who share this with me. Thank you!!

I may try this again with a fruitier matcha. As for the cardamom matcha, it definitely has potential and would maybe work better in a white chocolate latte or made hot. I will play around with it since the cardamom flavor is definitely there.

I’ve had this one as an oat milk latte quite a few times this week. I sweeten it with a bit of honey and it’s wonderful. 3 Leaf does flavored matches really well.

Made an oat milk latte (3 parts banana, 1 part birthday cake), sweetened with rock sugar. So tasty!

Iced!

Made this as one of my post-lunch teas at the office today with just a little bit of added agave to perk up the flavours. It was a really nice and refreshing iced tea with zesty lemon notes that complimented the grassy, umami profile. I’ve not always loved this flavour from 3 Leaf Tea (at least compared to many of their much stronger blends), but this cup was really, really good. One of the better I made of this flavour! I think that subtle agave add in made a pretty big difference, to be honest.

I own this matcha so I have had it a solid handful of times now but it kind of always varies between tasting average to not great – and this cup was definitely closer to that “not great” end of the spectrum. Very pithy/more lemon rind in terms of taste – not quite the freshness or tang/sweetness needed to convey lemonade, in my opinion.

Whisked up hot and straight Monday morning for #matchamonday…

I’ve bee drinking a lot of DT’s Yuzu Matcha this summer, which has a lot more bite and acidity to it – which, I mean, makes sense because that blend has citric acid. There’s a time and place for that level of intensity, but I think what I really appreciated Monday morning about this tea was that it didn’t have that level of punch to it. The flavour was still fresh and citrusy with a brightness to it, but it was calmer and smoother with more of the grassy flavours of the matcha itself coming through. Yuzu Matcha might be a “slap you awake” kind of citrus flavour, but this is more a “soothe you into your day” approach.

Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CBLOtqkATKT/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiRnHRw_i6U

Y’all ever sometimes have the idea to make a tea a specific way and in the back of your mind you’re like “I’m almost certainly not going to like this…” but you still do it anyway!? Yeah, that was me this afternoon when I decided that I wanted to make this tea as a latte…

Honestly; it wasn’t as strange as it sounds – like a “Lemonade Matcha Latte” sounds gross, but it actually tasted more like lemon meringue pie!? Slightly creamy, thick and a bit sweet. Could have used a touch more sweetness or creaminess to smooth out some of the rougher edges though in my opinion. It was also really grassy alongside that lemon meringue type of profile, and I didn’t love that either.

But honestly, I still have to give this a 10/10 in terms of beating my expectations for how it’d turn out…

Last weekend I went to Montreal Pride, which was amazing! I was a little bit surprised to find out that the parade is held in August instead of June or July but in a pleasant way because it meant that I didn’t miss out on it!

The parade was so much longer than any of the ones I’ve experienced back home in Regina, but it was amazing! The floats were so well done and it was just very empowering! The best part, though, was that one of the floats near the end of the parade was a celebration of asexuality/asexual awareness – which just hit me so hard. I almost broke down and cried…

But it was a hot fucking day, so I made sure to pack lots of tea with me for the parade to keep hydrated and refreshing – primarily a water bottle of cold shaken lemonade matcha. This was my first time trying this tea and I may have been a little hyped up by the excitement of the parade – but I enjoyed it a lot. It really did taste like I’d mixed together matcha and lemonade; very bright and citrusy with a pleasant pucked and mouthwatering quality! I’m excited to play around with this one some more; I see some great potential!

Iced Latte!

It’s still so cold in Montreal right now, but despite that I’m on such a huge iced latte kick right now – and typically as my first tea when I get into the office each morning. This was something I’d been craving for a few days and it was so satisfying. Like liquid banana medicine but in, like, such a good way. I finished it off REALLY quickly.

I have two bags of this and one is much older, so I decided to bring the older one with me to try and use it up a bit. Definitely not as fresh as it once was, but the green grassy character of the matcha almost recreates the sharp edge of a slightly underripe banana which is interesting because this has such a creamy kind of banana flavour to it. Almost banana pudding like, though not that extreme in sweetness or creaminess.

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CjqwyAMuqqh/ (Second last photo)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DIP9F6iMHk

Iced Latte!

Made this ice latte with almond milk and it was nice and mellow/not overly sweet, plus with the added rich nuttiness from the almond milk it sort of tasted a bit like banana bread. Just, a pretty banana heavy form of banana bread. Very good, though!

One of my favourite flavours from 3 Leaf Tea – even still after having now tried many more of them. The creaminess of the banana and strength of the flavour are perfect, making this really enjoyable on its own or the perfect canvas for having as a latte!

Another tea from the weekend!

This was nice – I just whisked up a very small amount hot and then added a tiny bit of coconut milk, and it was like having a mug of banana pudding but with that familiar undertone of creamy but grassy matcha. I liked it a lot; and it made me feel a little bit bad from forgetting that this was even in my stash in the first place.

Made a cup of this on Friday, a little watered down just because I know that this is a sweeter banana flavour and I wasn’t in the mood for quite that level of oomph factor. Everyone in the lab was impressed by this one and how smooth and distinct it was, and also sweet and flavourful for a matcha that is actually unsweetened. Someone compared it to banana Runts candies, and at full strength I totally agree with that assessment, but at the level I had made it this time around I don’t think it was actually that strong and banana-candy tasting. Just sort of alluding to the fact it had the potential to be that kind of flavour…

Hot oat milk latte!

I was a bit worried when I cracked open the package because I couldn’t really smell the banana at all from the dry powder, but sure enough the moment the water hit the matcha I was hit with the sweet smell of ripe bananas!

This was pretty good – the oat milk has a strong and distinct taste, and was very much present in the latte so I think I’d prefer this made with either actual milk or a more neutral milk alternative, but regardless the banana flavour was present and distinct. Kind of a mix between ripe bananas and more of a sweet banana “candy” sort of banana. I’ll admit, I adored the Bananas & Cream matcha from Red Leaf Tea so I was personally hoping that this would lean more towards that sweet banana candy/creamy banana side and I wish the latte was a bit more intense and on that level flavour wise, but it’s still really good! I could probably up the amount of matcha used just a little bit as well, and then maybe I’d get a touch closer to the banana profile that I wanted. Overall, I’m happy with this one though!

I missed posting my “Teas I Drink In A Day” roundup on IG last week, so this week I’m setting the goal of posting two before Sunday. I’ve already got one in the bag with today’s “Work from Home” edition. I still snuck a few cozier teas in the mix (like this matcha), but for the most part it was bright and fruitier flavours that were calling my name – and even when I wasn’t drinking something fruity I was pretty much munching on this insanely delicious pomegranate for most of the day. Don’t sleep on the combo of pomegranate and cardamom; this pairing was sublime!!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cz4fs9mOA2Y/?img_index=1 (1st Pic)

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY-owPnLKc0

This has been my favourite matcha from 3 Leaf Tea for a long time now, and after now trying basically the whole line up I am doubling down on that – it’s so close to perfection! Accurately and strongly cardamom, but not drying or offensively intentense. Great on its own, amazing as a latte… Really unique!

Have to increase my rating here – this matcha just gives me all the warm fuzzies!

It is a very cold, grey and rainy day today so I pulled out what I think is arguably the most cozy matcha that I own for Matcha Monday this morning…

It’s hard to describe this as tasting like anything else but Cardamom, because the flavour is just so accurate and so strong. It works with creamy, frothy matcha though and whisked up in a teacup I felt perfect warm (inside and out) while I listened to the rain and cozied up at my desk wrapped in massive blankets.

Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CGh6zAqAGye/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4o_16DpGbY&ab_channel=Thestate51Conspiracy

I said I was going to be having more matcha infused marscapone on my morning bagels and I meant it – though I thought I would experiment a little bit with matcha outside of the DT ones. This actually mixed in a lot better than I anticipated it would (the DT ones dissolve into the marscapone because of the sugar). Though, there were still a few small clumps I couldn’t get totally worked in…

The flavour I think just wasn’t the best one – it has a hint of cardamom but really the elements that were mostly drawn out were the grassy flavour of the matcha itself. I don’t hate the taste of matcha, but I don’t love it either – that’s why I typically opt for drinking the flavoured ones. So, this was edible but not amazing either.

I may try with some of the other 3 Leaf Tea matcha flavours, though!

Hot oat milk latte!

I really, really enjoyed the oat milk lattes I was making a few months ago – however, I also didn’t go through the litre of oat milk I had purchased fast enough and it did this super gross thing where it fermented. So, I stopped buying it – that is, until a few days ago when I was at the grocery store and I saw that they were now carrying oat milk in little 250ml tetra packs – the kind a kid might take to school in a lunchbox. Perfection! I bought one of the smaller sets of three, because I realized that they’re the exact perfect amount for a latte! So, I can cut one open into my Breville and froth it, with zero waste of the milk itself (and then just recycle the tetra pack). What a wonderful solution to the problem I had!

So that’s exactly what this was; small bit of matcha paste whisked up and then mixed with the 250ml pack of frother oat milk. It’s fucking delicious too; cardamom oat milk!? Oh hell yeah, don’t mind if I do! It was creamy, and a little sweet and very warming/comforting. Couldn’t have planned it better if I’d tried!

Photo (because the swirl was just so pretty):

https://www.instagram.com/p/BzLH0NAAKh6/

Coconut Milk Latte!

I recently ordered three different matchas from 3 Leaf Tea as I was looking to diversify my matcha options a little bit, and I also wanted unsweetened matcha. I chose this one because I had never tried a cardamom matcha before and I was really intrigued by the idea of it – I’m really into cardamom right now and I pictured it being this really lovely flavour profile for lattes!

It does smell and taste very distinctly of cardamom and it’s so warm and cozy feeling! I like the level of cardamom flavour in this a lot as well as the natural sweetness. In a lot of ways, it reminded me of drinking liquified halva! The only complaint I have is that the finish of this was incredibly peppery – like black pepper? I didn’t hate the taste, but it detracted for my cardamom loveliness.

I wonder at what point 3 Leaf Tea started shipping to Canada? I remember years ago they sent samples out for people to review – I think it was the raspberry I tried and really liked? I’ve tried ordering from them a few times in the past, actually, only to see that they don’t ship to Canada – so it was a very nice and delightful surprise to peep their website when I was trying to determine what new matcha I wanted only to see that ordering was FINALLY an option…

I’m excited to try the other two flavours I picked up.

I got this in a Sipsby box and thought I could sort of recreate a tangerine mojito I had at a restaurant in Toronto. I did this by putting this matcha in tangerine lemonade except I got no mint that way. So, I tried the matcha just in water and basically it tasted like grass. This just wasn’t great.

Check out my full review here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2019/01/29/mint-matcha-from-3-leaf/