3 Leaf Tea

Home – 10:00 AM

Matcha milk of the morning! Prepared using 1 teaspoon of matcha to 8 ounces of soy milk, and sweetened with a half teaspoon of maple agave.

Wow, it’s amazing how good this matcha base is after trying some others… I’m even more impressed with it now. So smooth and sweet, and whisks very well.

It’s unfortunate that this maple version doesn’t have much flavoring (in my opinion), but I just remedy that by adding maple agave instead of plain. ;)

Home – 9:30 AM

Matcha time! Prepared as a matcha milk using soy milk.

I will admit, I’m a bit disappointed in this one. I’m finding very little maple flavor. The banana version definitely has much more flavoring than this one.

It’s still nice enough as a plain matcha, but it’s not supposed to be plain. I guess I’ll just add maple agave to this one. ;)

I’m also picking up on some seaweedy notes since there’s less flavoring.

Very smooth, tasty matcha but it’s not flavored in my opinion.

Sipdown! (26 | 387)

Another old favorite from 3 Leaf, and possibly my all-time favorite of their flavors. Such a lovely creamy banana flavor that tastes much more like actual bananas than Runts. Maybe we’ll settle on banana-flavored pudding. Prepared iced, shaken with oat milk and a bit of maple syrup, it’s a morning treat that feels a bit decadent but isn’t.

I probably won’t be buying more flavored matcha, at least for a while, as I haven’t been drinking matcha lately, and I also tend to prefer a nicer plain matcha when I do. Tastes change I guess ha ha.

Sipdown! (11 | 47)

I’ve defeated the flavored matcha! As I mentioned in a previous note, I’ve been trying to sip through my matcha stash because I just haven’t been drinking them lately, and I don’t want them to end up brown and sad. So this was the last of my 3 Leaf flavors, woo! \o/

Saved the best for last, obviously (I always do that, lol). 3 Leaf does such delicious banana matcha and hojicha, it’s by far my favorite flavor from them. It tastes very, very close to an actual banana, and thankfully not an overly ripe one (I prefer greener bananas). And it just goes so perfectly with cold oat milk and a drizzle of maple syrup, for a banana smoothie sort of vibe.

Will definitely be reordering this one at some point, but for now I’m happy to have sipped it down before it oxidized too much. :)

Sipdown! (51)

I forgot to write a note for this earlier! I finished off my last serving of this delicious matcha by making a chocolate banana iced matcha latte!

I prepared the matcha with about 6 ounces of water, and then frothed 6 ounces of milk using the cold froth setting on my new milk frother (thanks VariaTEA!). I drizzled some dark chocolate sauce into a glass and added a few ice cubes, then poured in the matcha and then the milk. Of course, I had to add another dark chocolate drizzle to the top of the latte.

It was scrumptious! I love chocolate and banana together, and was so happy that I could still taste the matcha underneath all of the decadence. It was a great way to finish off this packet! And I got my new 3 Leaf Tea matcha order today too! \o/

https://www.instagram.com/p/CKPmkn0giK4/

For the second day in a row, I was feeling a bit tired when 3 o’clock rolled around. Today I think it was because I got up earlier than usual this morning, while yesterday was shopping fatigue. So midday matcha it is!

I prepared this with half water and half milk, which is a bit more milk than usual for me. It frothed amazingly well even before I added the milk, which is always encouraging. And the finished latte has a great balance of sweet creamy banana pudding and grassy matcha flavors. This matcha is so smooth with only a hint of pleasant bitterness.

I only have a couple of servings left in this bag. I’ll definitely have to order some of their other flavors, as well as their flavored hojicha powders, once I’ve sipped down all of my leftover Bird & Blend mini tins…

365 Days of Tea Challenge – Day 4/365

Matcha day! ❤

This matcha from 3 Leaf is so lovely, especially after drinking so much Bird & Blend matcha last month. Not to complain too much about B&B’s version, they have some nice and interesting flavors but their matcha base is quite weak.

The matcha here is much more flavorful, with nice sweet grass and vegetal notes with a hint of seaweed. It’s very smooth and sweet with no bitterness, yet is strong enough to be prepared as a latte.

With the added soymilk, it has a wonderful banana pudding flavor!

I’ll definitely be ordering more flavored matcha from 3 Leaf once I finish off one of my two current pouches. :)

https://www.instagram.com/p/BsODW5XlQ1c/

Home – 9:30 AM

I received my small order from 3 Leaf Tea yesterday – it included a 30g packet each of Maple Matcha and Banana Matcha.

So banana matcha milk it is this morning! I used one teaspoon of matcha for 8 ounces of soy milk, and sweetened with a touch of granulated Splenda. This matcha whisked up quite well, with only a few teeny lumps at the bottom of the bowl.

It came out really yummy. The matcha is sweet and grassy with just a touch of bitterness, and the banana flavor seems very authentic to me. It’s like having a ripe banana smoothie with matcha in it. I’m also very happy with the level of flavoring, it’s not overpowering but I don’t have to search to find it either. The texture also seems very smooth and not grainy.

Overall, would definitely recommend! It seems fairly well-priced too, at $12 for 30g.

Can’t wait to try the maple version! :D

May Flowers! Seeing as I’m a huge lavender fan, of course when I found some lavender matcha I had to get some. I like my matcha latte-style, since the vanilla almond milk adds a bit of sweetness and creaminess all at once, so I tend to prepare my matcha very lazily by putting a sifted teaspoon into my milk frother with a cup of milk and letting it mix and heat up at the same time.

The dry matcha had a very strong lavender scent, but my finished latte pretty much just smelled like an average matcha latte, without a lavender aroma… I’m not sure if the milk made that much of a difference, or if the flavoring was more subtle than it seems once out of the bag. Most of the cup I was just getting a very sweet, grassy matcha taste, but toward the end of my cup, I finally started getting a distinct lavender flavor. I stirred up my cup with a spoon even after its frothing, but it seems the flavor still settled toward the bottom of the cup. Once I did reach the lavender flavor, it was quite nice though. The flavor goes nicely with the sweet grassy flavor of the matcha, and I’m looking forward to trying some other things with it, like matcha lemonade.

This one was also from this afternoon. I haven’t had matcha in an eternity, so made this one in to a latte. Overall as a result this one was totally fine. I probably should have had it straight but flavoured matcha for me was always more about lattes and smoothies :) Thanks VariaTEA!

Final Count: 39

Good matcha, I like the mint flavor. It is unsweetened which is nice.

From #matchamonday yesterday!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CeeC_oAuCga/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTEF1Ii4BH8

From this past #matchamonday! I had Monday off because it was a stat day, so I decided to have my matcha in the part – which was really nice and relaxing. I picked this one because the really fresh, crisp finish of the mint was just the cherry on top of the warm and gentle breeze of the afternoon! Nothing quite like sipping tea with the feeling of grass between your toes.

Also increasing my rating from the 60 it was at – in the past I may not have enjoyed this tea, but clearly there’s been a shift in my impression.

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

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpbm7JOP7mE

I’ve had this matcha before but it’s been three years, so the refresher was very welcome!

I’m not sure if the formula has changed or just my tastes but this was much, much better than I remembered it tasting – so fresh and crisp with a punch of cooling menthol peppermint on the finish. I felt the chill as I exhaled, and I loved it!

I ended up mixing myself up a cup of this, cardamom matcha, and cinnamon matcha in equal thirds – it tastes like Spruce! Very interesting combination of flavours that I enjoyed deeply. Now I find myself strongly craving a spruce or fir flavoured matcha that’s more “properly” put together – am I alone in thinking that would taste good?

Sipdown (514)!

Got this one in my Sipsby box! I’ve never actually found a mint flavoured matcha I’ve liked so I wasn’t so much excited about the particular flavour of the matcha I received BUT I was excited to get something from this company. I’ve been fascinated by them for a while but since they don’t offer Canadian shipping I haven’t been able to do anything about it…

Added a little bit of milk to this one.

Flavour wise? This actually MIGHT be the best mint matcha I’ve had to date but that said I still don’t like it that much. I think mint matcha just isn’t my thing- but it’s well balanced with the natural taste of the matcha itself and quite smooth/creamy. Not overly sweet, either. I think if you were someone who actually liked the idea of a mint matcha that this would be a really solid, enjoyable option. For me though? It’s just kind of average.

Upon opening this sample packet of Peach Matcha from 3 Leaf Tea I was smacked in the face with intense peach aroma. I LOVED the scent of this Peach Matcha! It made me wonder if it was going to be ALL Peach and NO Matcha when it came to flavor. Let me tell you that was NOT the case. Once I whisked my hot matcha up in my cup I took my first sip and what I found was MAJOR defined and STRONG green matcha flavor with an underlying peach flavor! This strong matcha base is not for wimps! It’s of the stronger matchas I have sipped on that is for sure!

Full Scoop:
http://sororiteasisters.com/2016/05/21/add-tea-review-title-6-3/

This is kind of a unique tea. I find it hard to define. It is listed as a white tea. The dry leaf resembles jasmine pearls with a lot of silver buds and without the jasmine. The steeped leaf has a lot of leaf in addition to the buds. The liquor is bright golden yellow after a two minute steep. The aroma is nutmeg and floral. Tasting it has a strong bite of the good kind of bitter. In this regard it reminds me of Chinese green tea. There is a fair amount of the nutmeg and floral in the taste. These notes, though no where near as intense, remind me of a green high mountain oolong. Under everything runs an earthy woods flavor. This is the note that most seems like a white tea. The flavor is strong but has good depth.

I really had no idea what to expect. It kind of boggled my mind trying to picture LS without the heavy smoke. Would it be more like a Jin Jun Mei or Bohea? It is pretty much neither. When I first sniffed the open bag, I got a light note that seemed kind of grapey like a Nepalese tea. This quickly passed and was replaced with a hefty roasted aroma along with subtle cocoa notes.

3 minute steep in 195 F water produced a deep orange cup with ruby undertones. While the mug had the roasted aroma the taste was more woods and deep forest leaves. The roastiness is much less hardcore than the aroma. No bitterness and only a mild briskness. Hearty and rich came to mind.

Halfway through the mug I added a tiny amount of sweetener. It took it really well. Burnt sugar and cocoa notes are more obvious now. I did not try but would imagine it would handle milk well.

Contemplating trying this again as an iced tea.

So in the last few days I have survived preparing my taxes, fixing a candlelight steak dinner for my wife on Valentine’s Day. Yes the smoke detectors were going off during the meal as apparently stove top iron grills smoke – a lot. Later it snowed like mad. Very little stuck but looked near white out at times. This morning the fog was extremely thick. The worse part of the weekend is my frother suddenly stopped working. I think the batteries are too big around to fit properly. If different batteries don’t get it up and running I will immediately order a new one. I need my morning froth.

None of that has anything to do with this tea. 3Leaf blends their own flavored matcha and hot chocolate. They also have a select amount of loose leaf. Furry Peak is a Mao Feng. The leaf is really dark with light green and yellow streaks. It is covered in fine hair. Dry scent is grassy, ocean, and malt. Once steeped the aroma becomes a wonderfully hefty umami. I just want to get a fork and eat the soft delicate spring green leaves. The brew is green tinted yellow. The taste is fresh, crisp, and lightly grassy, with a mild clean bite. Seems far more savory than sweet to me, but I have no desire to mess with this beautiful cup by adding anything to it. If you are a Mao Feng fan, this is worth considering.

Man, the last day has been a whirlwind of emotions! Last night my computer had an accident and I thought, well crap, there goes the blog since I lacked the funds to get a new one for at least a month, let’s just say I did not go to bed happy…or woke up happy. But lo and behold Ben fixed it (at least temporarily) so hooray for that! To celebrate (and get my agoraphobic self outside of the house…going to try for at least once a week) we did my favorite thing, visited a thrift store. I got a really cute little cup, oh yea, and A FRENCH HORN!!!!!!! For those who don’t know, this is a really big deal, I go into a full explanation of why here, but after many years I own a French Horn, its a double so it is what I played, needs a mouthpiece and some oiling, but wow. I am practically exploding!

Ok, I can focus long enough to blog (and then go back to playing Ark because it is all I do, it is all I know) and today I am looking at 3 Leaf Tea’s Golden Eyebrow (Jin Jun Mei) and for those who have been reading my rambling for a while, you know how excited I get over my favorite Wuyi Red Tea (sorry Lapsang, I love you too, but that is Ben’s favorite) with its oh so delicate fuzzy leaves. The aroma is delicious. blending sweet notes of cocoa and sweet potatoes with malt and peanuts. Jin Jun Mei has a resinous woody quality that reminds me of pine sap, and the finish is starchy and sweet.

Into my dear little Petr Novak pot the leaves go for their bath, the gold is no longer fuzzy, but it is worth altering their appearance. The aroma of the soggy leaves is really sweet, nice notes of brown sugar and sweet potatoes with malt and peanuts. The finish is sappy and pine like adding a bit of woodiness to the sweetness. The liquid is a sweet blend of dates, malt, brown sugar and sweet potato with a roasted peanut finish. These aroma notes please me.

First steeping is made of yum, it starts soft in both texture and taste, with notes of malt and molasses and I swear a touch of maple syrup. Towards the end it picks up notes of sweet potatoes and dates with a touch of roasted peanuts. The mouthfeel at the end almost has a sticky quality, reminding me of sap, not sure why but this tea always comes off as very resinous to me.

For the second steep the aroma is rich and malty with a strong resinous and roasted peanut undertone. This is carried over into the taste as well, it starts rich and sweet and stays that way til the end, luckily this is a rich tea without a hint of bitterness, no astringency either which is probably why I prefer Chinese reds to the more robust Ceylons and such. The finish is a blend of molasses and malt, with a lingering honey aftertaste.

Third steep, though it was not my last, this tea had a few more steeps in it. Sadly I find that Red teas are kinda in the middle with longevity, I have never really had one that lasts more than seven (and not just tasted so watered down and boring) where as most Puerhs, Whites, and Oolongs can go much longer and most greens putter out at about three-four. This steep carries on from the second, going strong with rich and malty notes, not really changing but being very tasty and soothing. The fourth steep is the real change, it looses some of its rich maltiness and is replaced with wonderful honey sweetness that lingers.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/02/3-leaf-tea-golden-eyebrows-jin-jun-mei.html

Another day, another day of me frolicking with dinosaurs in pixel land! Today was better than yesterday, I was able to redo my ‘Mobile Oppression Yacht" which is a boat with crazy ’Species X’ plants that are essentially turrets so I wreck the dinos getting lots of meat, and I tamed a little derpy Dimorphodon to ride on my shoulder. Yesterday would have been the most epic, except for my massive ‘hitting the wrong button and ruining everything fail’ that I am STILL salty over. I was well into taming a Spinosaur, a very resource intensive process, hit the wrong button and wasted all that time and resources by ruining the tame. There was some serious raging after that!! I also spent a good chunk of today trying to hunt down and tame an Argentavis with no luck, but soon I will be the queen of the skies…and swamp if I get another go at a Spino! Life in Ark is full of hardship and joy.

Today we are looking at a tea that reminds me of prehistoric fuzzy pine cones or maybe little catkins, yes it is the beloved Wild Pu’erh Buds (Ya Bao) this one comes from 3 Leaf Tea. This tea is made from the very young buds of trees from Yunnan in very early spring, way before they have the chance to open into tea leaves. I have seen a bit of debate among vendors and drinkers alike over whether or not this tea (like Moonlight and Yunnan Silver Needle) is a white tea or a puerh, and I like to think that this is just magic stuff that overlaps and joins both types of tea into something epic. I can see a valid case for either side of the debate so I have never been able to make a clear decision. The aroma of the little buds is very crisp and light, this is one of those teas that smells very pure (not saying that others smell unclean, but it is like comparing the clean smell of the air after snowfall and the smell after a spring rain) There is not a lot going on with the aroma, crisp cedar, gentle apricots, and a touch of lettuce. The comparison to a snowy day’s aroma is not entirely false, this type of tea has such a winter deep in a forest quality to me, even with the sweet notes of apricot.

Gaiwan time, for no reason other than feeling like using this set I went with my Ru Yao, though I can say with the perfectly clear liquid, my camera had a fun time trying to focus thanks to all the crackles! The aroma of the wet leaves is fairly faint and quite sweet, blending fresh apricot and clover honey with lettuce and cedar. I do love that cedar note, it has a slight sap like quality to it as well. The liquid is sweet and juicy, like a honey drizzled fresh apricot, eaten on a cold day in a cedar forest.

The first steep is as light as the aroma, it is one of the really endearing qualities of Ya Bao, it is a subtle tea. It is smooth in the mouth and starts a bit crisp with notes of cedar wood and lettuce. This moves to wonderful light sweetness like fresh apricot and very light honey. The end of the sipping is crisp and refreshing cooked celery with a little bit of a cedar sap aftertaste.

Second steep and the aroma has gained a bit of a wildflower note, perhaps this tea that is so synonymous with winter is now fading into spring? Nah, it was a false thaw. The taste has the same wonderful crisp cedar notes and sweet fruitiness, but it starts to pick up a cucumber and squash blossom quality at the finish. The aftertaste lingers and at the very end it fades into apricot which is pleasant.

For the third steep nothing really has changed in aroma or taste. I find that Ya Bao does really change in taste notes, but only in intensity. This steep is more mellow, more similar to the first, and the next steep after as well. One of my favorite ways to steep Ya Bao is to grandpa/bowl steep the tea after the first two steepings, I will just transfer the little buds into a bowl or sip them from my gaiwan, it never gets bitter and only ever gets sweeter.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2016/02/3-leaf-tea-wild-puerh-buds-ya-bao-tea.html

Jin Jun Mei… Need I say more?

OK, I will. Dry leaf scent is malt and brownies. The steeped leaf aroma is honey and molasses. The brew is a deep reddish brown. It tastes of honey and malt with hints of sweet potato. I notice a crisp briskness running through the sip but it stays out of the limelight. I also thought it neat that the more I sipped, the more I caught a citrus type fruitiness. This is a pretty solid example of the type.

I’ve finally made my way over to this brew. I’m going to start off by saying that I brewed gongfu, and I believe this should be brewed western (I have trouble listening). Anyways, this is still a decent brew. The leaves have several tangerine husks scattered throughout. The dry leaf has a citrus scent with earth mixed in. I placed a small amount (didn’t have much) in my warmed gaiwan, and I gave it a shake. The warmed scent is sweet and dry with, of course, tangerine aromas. I washed the leaves and prepared for brewing. The liquor is a clear crimson. The taste is nice and sweet. There is a lot of broken leaf, so the brew made quite a mess. There is a numbing sensation of the tongue, which is followed by a light tangerine creme flavor. This is a nice drink, but it is not overly complex. I strongly believe this would be more appeasing if brewed western. I was able to pull about five steeping sessions from this brew. The flavor is still dessert like, earthy, wooded, and heavily drying. It’s a good experience, but it’s not something I’d personally own. Also, I just learned that this company is not too far from, so I may be stopping by for tea.

https://instagram.com/p/8rWQmGTGf_/?taken-by=haveteawilltravel