Chamberlain Coffee

A huge thank you to my IG tea friend teainfusiast for having me as a speaker for her Story Of A Teacup charity livestream this past Sunday, and to my fellow storytellers @at.the.teatable, @herbthetravelingteaturtle, & @brewteafullybrewed (all also from IG) for sharing the heartwarming tales behind their teaware as well. It was incredibly moving to hear each of you speak! Though it was very hard to pick just one piece of teaware, I ended up selecting this mug, which was commissioned by @droseos shortly after the passing of my grandmother and inspired by all my favourite memories of the summers spent at my grandparent’s house with my brothers and cousin.

Across the mug, you can see many images inspired by the time spent in my grandma’s garden, such as fresh flowers, vegetables, berries, and even lawn gnomes, as well as homages to my late grandpa like the bowl of black licorice and jellybeans he kept on the side table next to his recliner and my cousin’s buttery yellow house. As I shared today, whether it’s through tasting notes observed through gongfu or all the memories that this piece of teaware triggers, I spend a lot of time revisiting those childhood memories through my tea practice. The garden, in particular. Something I didn’t share, however, is that we lost one of the family members at the center of so many of those memories to suicide. So, I want to ESPECIALLY thank everyone who attended or otherwise supported this event, which held a deep personal significance you couldn’t have known about.
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It was a very, very good way to spend a Sunday afternoon! I kind of alluded to it during the event, but I chose this tea specifically to drink in my mug because of the lavender flavour, which was a favourite of my Grandmother’s. I don’t know if she ever had a matcha or would have appreciated it, but I do know she loved lavender tea so it seemed like a nice nod to her during the story telling.

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/DCfNM6lSNwc/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW-WZjpm8x4&ab_channel=EwanJPhillips

Made this on the weekend as a hot cashew milk latte with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream in top. I came to two conclusions. Conclusion one was that lavender and cashew are not a combination that I much enjoy. I felt like something here was drawing out a savory sort of note instead of the soft, creamy floral I was going for. Conclusion two? Adding a scoop of ice cream to a hot latte is a brilliant idea and made for a wonderful sipping experience. Plus, the lavender and vanilla went together nicely so that helped with the weird savory situation happening in the rest of the mug.

Iced Oat Milk Latte!

If the strawberry was my favourite and the blue my least, then this new instant matcha latte mix from Chamberlain is right smack dab in the middle.

As I said in their respective tasting notes, I thought the blue flavour was lacking flavour and the strawberry was very flavourful. So, with that in mind I think this one gets it half right. It does taste like lavender, but the flavour is a little weak and it’s also just not very good. If I’m drinking a lavender tea I want that note to be either soft and very soothing or very fresh, aromatic and floral to evoke a feeling of Springtime. This was a bit muddied and kind of made me think more of dried lavender that would be pressed in an old book. Not necessarily the worst association to lavender I can think of (at least it wasn’t soapy), but that’s definitely the WRONG vibe for a latte…

Also, my coworker who has been trying these matcha latte mixes with me had previously expressed that she found the oat milk in the strawberry sort of paste-like. I hadn’t really experienced that quality when I tried the strawberry, but with this flavour I did very much get that filmy sensation on my mouth after each sip that she’d described to me. I didn’t much like that.

EDIT: The front of the package also mentions “mint” as a tasting note for this blend even though there’s nothing on the website, product copy, or ingredients to imply that it should taste of mint. I didn’t personally taste mint at all either, so I just find it kind of a weird front of packaging call out.

Iced Oat Milk Latte!

This was easily my favourite of the three new matcha latte instant mixes. From the moment I opened up the pouch the sweet, creamy strawberry aroma had won me over. It was kind of serving “strawberry shake” vibes and actually making it into an iced latte only amplified that.

The coworker that I’ve been sharing these Chamberlain teas with didn’t agree with me at all. Though we both thought the sweetness level of this flavour seemed the best balanced with, well, actual flavour she found the oat milk base to be kind of paste-like and said it made her mouth feel filmy. I didn’t really experience this, so there was nothing to detract from my own experience. I will be curious to see if I do pick up on it the next time I make this though – just because I was spared that experience one time does not mean I will be every time.

On the front of the package for all three flavours there’s a list of tasting notes. Something I find interesting in the case of this flavour and the lavender one is that they include very specific flavours that aren’t mentioned anywhere else such as the website, product copy, or ingredients list. For this one they say “citrus” so, before tasting, I thought this might have a loose strawberry lemonade sort of vibe. I really, really didn’t pick up citrus at all though…

Overall this is fine. Expect sweet, but for a quick mix I think it’s very serviceable. Still such a different product from the very impressive Vanilla and Mango matchas though, and my preference as a consumer would 100% be to see the company release more matcha in that style. If I had to guess, though, this probably sells much better with her existing customer base though. It makes sense as a line extension with the brand.

Iced Oat Milk Latte!

Emma Chamberlain recently released three new matcha latte products so, since I enjoyed her last matchas so much, I had to try these too. The formulation is definitely very different so I knew not to expect a directly comparable experience. These matcha latte mixes are presweetened and have a significant amount of oat milk powder used as a base – not like the unsweetened flavoured matchas.

Obviously the big selling point for this “flavour” is its brilliant blue colour, and it delivers on that ten-fold. The butterfly pea flower is well incorporated and without seconds of adding water or milk to the powder it quickly becomes a deep, deep blue colour. Very stunning to look at. It is, expectedly, sweet but I’m not anti sweetened matcha. My main thing is that this is kind of advertised as a vanilla flavoured blue matcha latte and it doesn’t particularly taste of any flavour other than sweet and whatever milk or alt milk you’ve mixed it with – in my case oat milk.

I personally felt the aesthetic of the drink wasn’t cool enough to out weigh the fact it was missing a flavour to go alongside it – and unfortunately the matcha itself didn’t taste all that strong. So, for me, this was a bit of a let down.

Y’know when I said I was done reviewing teas from Chamberlain Coffee, like a month ago? I fully lied because I had just forgotten that I’d yet to write a review for their plain/unflavoured matcha… Oops!

I made this one up as an iced latte with oat milk. I probably should have tried it straight for a first tasting, but I just really wanted a matcha latte on the day I had whisked it up. I thought it was very good, though! Smooth, fresh umami flavour with a lot of natural creaminess even without the oat milk addition. One of the better matcha lattes I’ve had in a long time, actually!

Overall, I was actually pretty happy with all of Chamberlain’s matchas. They’re a coffee company first and foremost, so I was skeptical about the teas in general but I think the matchas are worth exploring. Mango, in particular, was quite tasty! Ditch the tea sachets though, if you’re gonna order. They’re fine quality, but way over priced.

Last tea that I had left to try from Chamberlain.

There’s honestly SO MUCH tea leaf packed into these sachets and I feel like, on paper, that sounds like it should be a good thing!? Like, it seems like companies are skimping on filling their tea bags waaaayyyy more than the reserve. However, it produces a STRONG cup of tea. So, so, so terribly chamomile forward but also really aggressively lemongrass forward too. It made me think of citronella candles and I know that some people love those, but for my it’s not a good comparison.

This one, however, I really think is just coming down to a lot of bias from personal taste preferences. If you like chamomile and/or lemongrass and you want a STRONG bedtime brew then I think you’d be really pleased.

Oat milk iced latte!

So, at the same time as I was making my Blume iced latte another coworker was making this one into an iced latte – then we portioned out little sample cups so we could try each other’s drinks. I believe that she just followed the packaging directions for this tea, so I’m not entirely sure how much of the powder ended up being used for the beverage. It was very sweet though! The texture was nice and thick and there was a pretty delicious note of vanilla that was extra prominent, but I thought it was reallllyyyyy missing the spice elements. There was a hint of cinnamon, but very little. In fact, the cinnamon and “spice flavour” are actually the last ingredients in the blend – even after vanilla flavouring. So, it makes sense that this was an ultra sweet beverage that tasted more like a decadent vanilla pastry with a hint of cinnamon than a cinnamon chai with a hint of vanilla.

It’s drinkable, for sure, but I think the most disappointing tea related product so far from Chamberlain Coffee – and also super overpriced for what it is. Again, like I’ve said in other tasting notes, you’re really paying for the branding and “influencer name” over the product itself – but I think it really shows in this one. I guess, if you’re someone who likes the ‘idea of chai’ more than the actual drink or if you’re used to more of the Starbucks style Chai lattes you might enjoy this, though…

Happy Matcha Monday!

This morning, I started my morning with a rich and delicious almond milk matcha latté made with some homemade mango and vanilla jam on the bottom. Fresh, juicy, tropical, sweet, and creamy. It was like the mango equivalent of a Creamsicle. You can even see the little speckles of vanilla caviar throughout that bottom layer!

Tea Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/C9cqFcZOaTu/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZsNXLqsoHs

For a first tasting I probably should have just made this hot and plain, but instead I went with an iced prep and a pump of agave. It was super delicious, though! Even straight from the tin, the matcha has a light but very fresh tropical mango aroma. Whisked up, it’s really quite clear.

I know the agave was doing some serious heavy lifting in terms of making the mango sweeter and stronger tasting but the actual type of mango flavouring used was just delightful. Not candy-like, floral, or even the more resinous green mango notes – just pure, tropical and clean. Like, the most classic mango to mango. Very natural.

I think it’s probably the best mango matcha I’ve come across yet! I’d be very, very curious to see if it’s as impressive when just made plain.

Iced Latte!

This is the latte that I made this morning that used up most of the 2% milk in the office fridge. Yes, I shamelessly started my day with two iced tea lattes. This one was excellent though – light and fresh with a creamy umami flavour from the matcha complimented by a soft, silky French vanilla note. Just enough flavour to not be missed, but still very natural and with most of the emphasis on the matcha itself.

Sipping on a smooth and silky cup of Vanilla Matcha from this afternoon!! Perhaps unsurprisingly given just how much tea I had yesterday, I didn’t sleep super well last night. The result was that today I had a lot of matcha while at work. This was one of my favourites – it’s smooth and fresh with just enough vanilla. Bonus points for being unsweetened.

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

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

Not gonna lie, I was pretty impressed with this matcha!

The vanilla itself is light but that’s to be expected when you don’t have anything else in the match to act as a carrier for the flavour, like sugar would. I find the taste itself, though delicate, very pleasant though. It’s silky and has an almost vanilla cake batter quality to it. Not necessary “true vanilla” but definitely not just cream/custard. I bet it would make an exceptional latte (hot or iced), though I was just having it plain. And I really appreciate that the absence of sweetness means full control with prep!

Yeah, I’d probably drink the shit out of this one again.

So Emma Chamberlain’s very TikTok viral coffee line has (relatively) recently branched into tea as well, so of course a bunch of people around the office were curious what the quality would be like. I think we ended up ordering one of everything – just for the tea though – so reviews on all of those eventually…

This one comes in overwrapped sachets – I love the cute like praying mantis on the packaging. Each of her products has an animal motif assigned to it, and I thought this one was just really fitting. There’s very little that frustrates me more, though, than incorrect or incomplete ingredient lists and I definitely think that’s the case here. On the box, overwrap, and website this tea is explicit described as a straight green tea with “citrusy and jasmine notes” but open opening up the sachet it’s immediately apparent that it’s actually just blatantly a jasmine green tea.

It’s actually kind of hard to tell, drinking the tea, whether it’s jasmine scented or flavoured – but I didn’t see any evidence as the tea was steeping to indicate flavouring (sometimes you can see oil/alcohol based flavourings ‘separate’ in the liquor as the leaf steeps). I only wonder if it may have been flavouring because the jasmine was quite intense in taste and also a little too “perfectly sweet”. It was actually pretty nice though! Very smooth, and no off notes. I’m not sure that the quality seems evenly matched with the price tag but I suppose half of what you’re paying for it more the branding and name of the influencer and not the product itself.

I just wish the tea was actually described as a jasmine green tea because that’s 100% what it is…