52teas

I didn’t taste any of the vanilla flavor, but there’s no denying the mint! This tea is STRONG in the mint department, and has a wonderful aroma in the leaves that lasts through, and may even be stronger in, the final cup.

It’s also a smooth tea that goes down cleanly and doesn’t leave a lot of aftertaste. There’s a hint of mint that leaves you feeling clean and fresh, but it’s pleasant, and doesn’t overpower your taste buds like the aroma would lead you to believe.

All in all, this is a great tea for any mint lover, and a nice green tea to drink if you’re looking to become one.

I took a break from this tea to see if I was accidentally trying to taste banana… I’m back and I’m still getting banana.
sigh
This is still pretty yummy, but the banana is killing me!

having it now with out sugar and the hint of banana is still there… I find it interesting that it wasn’t due to excess sugar

wow… this is pretty amazing.
So far I like it better hot than iced because I almost get a little tinge of banana when it’s iced which is probably the left over taste from the mate… but it is faint at best.
When it’s hot it really does taste creamy without any milk in it which is awesome.
more notes to come.

Great way to start the AM ! W/the extra kick from the Mate, good replacement for coffee. Although I do not taste the malt flavor (but then again I like my shakes extra malt-y), it is a nice round chocolate flavor…

I was worried this would be too sweet or overly coconutty, But it was just right. I had it with organic sugar and a splash of organic whole milk. Dessert in a mug. I drank it pretty late in the evening and it kept me awake, might have to think about getting decaf…

I had couple cups hot and straight this morning, and while I like it, I wasn’t blown away. I like this with milk because it’s round yet refreshing. The flavor remains strong when chilled, so I would love to make a shake out of this, except that my dingy student apartment is kinda cold, reflecting the usual Michigan weather. For now, I think I’ll try some more straight before making my final decision. But even if I don’t “love” this tea straight, I’d buy this again to drink with milk… Will be great in summer, too.

I was hesitant to try 52 Teas because I’m rather conservative when it comes to flavored tea and their blends sounded too complicated or exotic. So it’s rather strange that I ordered this, especially considering that I’ve never had mate before. But chocolate and malt, those two can’t go bad, I thought, so I gave it a try.

And I’m happy I did. I opened the pouch and immediately smelled rich chocolate with a hint of malt, mixed with the mint (not exactly mint, but a distinct refreshing scent that I think comes from the mate). I’m sure this is great straight, which I will try perhaps tomorrow, but today I enjoyed it with milk and sugar. It has a lot of flavor but doesn’t get too heavy because of the mate base. I made a big mug-full so I left a bit to chill to see how it’d taste iced, and it’s very good. I can see myself making iced tea latte or shake with this one.

This is my favorite tea at the moment, but I’ll see how I like it straight and if it’s still as good as the first time after several more tries. As of right now, I would love it added to the permanent collection, esp. 52 Teas has yet to add a yerba mate!

Nice. My first cup was steeped for 4 minutes and I found it to be a little too light on flavor. 6 minutes was perfect for me. My 13 year old brother had a cup of this, his first loose leaf experience d’awwww.

This tea is nothing short of a sweet tasty miracle in a cup. Well, almost.

I would highly recommend it. I love the smell, love the taste. You will too.

Yesterday was an awful day – so much drama and issues with just about everything. Let’s start over today…That being said:

“Back to the grind Steepsterites, and with the extra running around and activity during the day from the new job and schedule, I have been dragging a bit. Still having tea daily, but neglecting my matchas and chais – teas I cannot easily make and take with me in the morning.

Today I started to rectify that with a protein shake:

2 scoops Vanilla Dream Whey Protein Powder
8 ounces of cold Skim Organic Milk*
1 tsp Mandarin matcha

Blend until smooth. Consume. Go to work. I will be revisiting an old favorite on my drive to work today, look for the review later in the morning!

*I note that the milk is organic not because of any fundamentals I have against normal milk, but the different pasteurizing process makes a creamier milk, so even at 0% (or negligible) milk fat it still tastes, feels and foams like a higher-fat content milk. I have heard it compared to whole milk, I do not agree with that, but definitely 2%."

The orange and cream flavor from this is incredible, I still love the strawberry (more in this protein shake than the mandarin) but alas, it is running dangerously low…It appears I can still order it, so maybe that is in order today…

Absolutely awful morning, but no reason to bother you with that…had my protein shake again today and as promised made it with mandarin matcha..

2 scoops Vanilla Dream (VPX Powder)
8 ounces water
1 tsp mandarin matcha
1/2 banana

Blended until smooth in my Magic Bullet, the mandarin matcha clumped a little more than the strawberry, probably was too cold with the chilled banana and the water, but overall was very good. The usual bitterness of the matcha is overrun by the vanilla ice cream flavor of the powder, but the slight tartness of the mandarin, is still there, it shines through, just barely to make a whole new flavor to this protein shake.

Here’s to a better afternoon!

Had this matcha this morning with my protein shake and I HAD to post. I was definitely skeptical about the mandarin matcha with milk, however everyone had assured me it should be fine.

I added it to my vanilla ice cream protein shake. 1/2 teaspoon matcha to 16 ounce shake (the shakes are premade). It was a pale green, and the mandarin blended extremely well with the vanilla ice cream flavor, almost like a creamcicle, you know the orange and vanilla swirled ice cream you can get down the shore, with just a hint of matcha flavor at the end of each taste.

Very good way to have this, definitely started my morning off right!

Tough day, lots of work today, got home and saw all the comments on the posts. Tried to make this again as a smoothie. A different type of smoothie this time:

1/4 cup frozen Dole mixed berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries)
2 tsp. Mandarin Matcha (I will have none left at this rate)
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup cold water

This was a little thicker than yesterday, as in I used less liquid, and one such liquid was milk instead of all water. The milk worked well with the mandarin flavor in the matcha, I was pleasantly surprised because I had been hesitant all week. This version however, seems like it needs more milk if anything. I am going to look into yogurt for tomorrow and maybe orange juice to give this another go.

Definitely still worth experimenting with.

So I first tried this one on Saturday. We made it thick, with hot water and no additives. It is a dark green color, and smells heavily of mandarin and matcha. The main thing I got out of it was thick and bitter. Which it should be, mandarins are not always sweet, but the thickness of it was off-putting. So I decided not to rate it based on this (because it would not be good) and would try it again.

Tried it again on Sunday, using less matcha with more water. The color and fragrance were the same, but the matcha was definitely better. It was not as bitter, and if flowed more easily. The matcha flavor is strong and tends to overpower the mandarin a bit, I think I need to adjust something.

Today, I decided I did not want to be bothered with making the matcha in the bowl with this whisk and went straight to my smoothie:

1/4 cup of frozen mixed berries (no blackberries this time, avoiding the seeds)
1 tsp. Mandarin Matcha
Pinch of Splenda
3/4 cup of water

The frozen berries helped to keep this thick. I did not want to mix citrus with milk, so I used all water, in hindsight, I could have used orange juice, but I did not have any. I added the splenda because that is what I usually do make sure the berries do not make it bitter, this was especially important because I find the Mandarin matcha to be bitter.

The smoothie was the best way I enjoyed this. The Mandarin actually contrasted the sweetness of the the berries (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries) and then the Splenda helped to brighten the flavors.

I would love to get this right as a straight matcha, if you have any suggestions, they would be greatly appreciated.

Carolyn said this is like eating a Girl Scout Thin Mint cookie. Her description fit my experience. I was able to notice a nice chocolate flavor and there was a trace of mint. I thought there was enough mint, but it wasn’t MINT, if you catch my drift. I put in some soy creamer, so mine tasted kind of like Thin Mints dipped in milk. It was definitely delicious and I’m looking forward to trying it again!

I’ve found that it’s really hard to compare this to plain, unflavored matcha—they’re two different animals. Even though Mandarin Matcha isn’t the same as regular matcha, it’s still wonderful in its own way. The powder is olive green, rather than the bright, radioactive green of fresh matcha. I’m guessing the color is due to the pulverized dried orange that is mixed in with the matcha, and not just the quality of the matcha itself. The smell is flowery and sweet.

Today I’m using two scoops and 4 ounces of hot water. The color of the tea is a murky green, and quite a bit different from that characteristic jade green color of regular matcha tea. Mandarin Matcha does not foam, no matter how hard or how long I whisk it. Only a few weak bubbles appear at the surface.

The taste is a bit weaker and sweeter than regular matcha is at this concentration. I’m guessing this is because of the orange that’s mixed in with the matcha dilutes it. The orange taste is light and not artificial tasting. There is a strange sharpness or sourness near the back/middle of my tongue, but it’s bearable. Happily, there is no bitterness.

In exchange for the orange note, you do lose some of the vegetal/grassy flavor of regular matcha. At the same time, there is an interesting blossomy component to it that I didn’t taste in the plain matcha I have on hand. And oh, the smell! The smell of Mandarin Matcha is divine. Juicy orange, tart and sweet, cream, and matcha.

I think it’s a good change of pace from regular matcha. The novelty of the orange flavor certainly makes it worth trying. While I don’t know if I’d consider it the best matcha I’ve ever had, it has earned a place in my cabinet.

Today was my first time trying matcha as a drink. I was a little disappointed with the color of the tea—dark, olive green, instead of radioactive looking—but I gave it a pass since it’s blended with pulverized dried orange. I prepared it very thin and weak, just so I could get a feel for what matcha is like. Didn’t taste bitter at all to me. It seemed sweet, and maybe the littlest bit sour/astringent/bitter. I couldn’t get it to froth (I didn’t use much matcha) and my water was too cool, I think. The cup was powdery and unblended as well. I’m leaving the rating off until I can try non-flavored matcha and can prepare this better.

I should preface this by saying that the way I’m use to getting chai is as a chai latte from the likes of *bucks and I’m pretty sure they use some sort of a mix instead of whipping out a teapot and loose leaf on the spot. :P So when I looked in my tea drawer and saw this in there, I thought I’d try it and go legit.

Out of the bag I get a spicy-spice smell more than a hot-spice smell. Cardamom, cinnamon, maybe the almond or cocoa in the background and then something that smells like whole peppercorns (versus the sharp peppery smell of cracked or ground pepper). Not bad.

11/2 teaspoons for about… 9-10 oz water? I should make a habit of measuring. Anyway, this steeps up with a nice spiciness filling the kitchen, and I’m kind of jazzed about trying something new. 4 minutes are up. The game plan is to try this on it’s own and then add dairy to mimic my lattes. Decant. Sniff. Sip.

WHOA.

For all the spicy-spice I smelled, I’m totally shocked at how the hot-spice grabs the back of my throat. I almost choked in surprise. I guess that’s where the cayenne was hiding. Of all the dried peppers I cook with, my ground cayenne adds more heat than any actual flavor in my opinion. It’s the case here too, I feel. Swishing, I get a tingliness at the back of my throat and sides of my tongue from the pepper, but the tea is there as a definite foundation- which I can appreciate. Sip. A swirl of spices keeps me interested. I close my eyes and try to slowly find and hold onto each individual spice, but …there’s something else here too. What is that??

Okay, so now I add a little half & half and a splash of skim milk. The skim is way too thin for a creamy mouthfeel. Sip. Okay, so now I add a lot more half & half and another splash of skim. Thaaats about right. Half tea/half dairy? Sipping now, the pepper is still there but much calmer now that my milk is beating the capsicum into submission. :) The cinnamon and cardamom are still there, more distinct now that the pepper isn’t in the way, and if I concentrate I can kind of find the cocoa lingering here and there, but never long enough for me to get a hold of it. What has rushed to the forefront of my tastebuds, however, is that taste . What is that?? I glance at the ingredients list.

Oh. ginger.

I blame my mother for this. She gets heartburn from ginger and never used it when she cooked for me when I was a kid. So now anytime I get a load of ginger in my mouth, my tastebuds are beset with this alien taste they have no idea how to cope with and they then proceed to throw a small tantrum. Now anytime I take a sip, all I can register is ginger! ginger! ginger!

Well, show’s over kids. Mayan chocolate chai goes back in the drawer for now. Perhaps I’ll pull it out again another day when I feel up to the challenge of acquiring a taste for this stuff they call ginger.

This tea is good, though I feel as if my palette isn’t refined enough to pick out specific details of each of the flavors. For me, it’s more of a slightly bitter black tea that has a fruity sweetness to it, and hints of chocolate in the aftertaste.

The leaves definitely look the part though, with large pieces of dried fruit mixed in, and a wonderfully chocolaty aroma.

The taste did expand a bit as the tea cooled, so I’m interested to see what happens with another few steeps using different water temps and steep times.

Today I tried this as a latte, and boy was it delicious. I steeped the tea at double strength, and frothed an equal amount of milk, then combined with the addition of some sweetener. Now that tasted like coconut cream pie, much more so than just a regular brewing of it.

I finally made this today. I wanted to brew and evaluate the tea a few times before writing anything so that I could give it justice. Here goes:

The dried leaves smell chocolatey and spiced, but not too spiced, you are not getting hit in the face with chai spices here, it just smells spiced. Like all chais, the tea is a jumble of leaves and pieces of tea that are assorted and pretty. I used 1 scoop (it is the wooden bamboo spoon from teavana, I have no idea how much tea it holds, but it is my usual tea serving size) of dried tea and was able to get three solid infusions out of it.

The first infusion was hot with no additives, brewed three minutes. LOVED it! good level of spice here, not overpowering, it is not the only thing you are tasting, here you can actually taste some of the chocolate but then there is spice, and varied spices, I am picking up cardamom mostly, but there is a hint of pepper with it. The spices actually come in waves or layers, however you want to interpret it. There is an upfront spiced flavor (not spicy, spiced), then chocolatey flavor with a hint of almond, then pepper spice (which is more of a spicy spice).

The second infusion was hot with sugar added, brewed three minutes. Still loved it, was ecstatic to get a second steep out of the same leaves. The spice seemed a little stronger here, so immediately after brewing (based on aroma) I added some rock sugar. Definitely did not hurt the batch at all. Still a good level of spice and the cocoa/almond flavors are a little more prevalent.

The third infusion was hot with a tiny amount of the sugar upfront into the brew basket. I do not think this changed anything, I feel the level of spice was about the same as the last two brews. The cocoa and almonds were not hurt and the pepper and cardamom were still well balanced. The reason I mention this one is because I got distracted (by shiny things) and forgot about my cup of tea, I left it about an hour. It is cold now, but still delicious and this has never happened to me before! Normally, I cannot handle a chai that is cold, the spice becomes overwhelming and I can no longer drink it. This is NOT the case here, it is still delicious. The spices are still there, they are upfront, then comes the chocolatey flavor and the hint of almond, then as you swallow, BAM! pepper! Fantastic!

I will keep brewing this, in varied methods, Cofftea has given me a ton of ideas about how to keep drinking this, thank you :)