Happy Planet

There are two other Happy Planet drinks in the Steepster system that I added in back when I was still working at Sobeys and living in Saskatoon, both of which have tea in them. I swear I added this into the system around the same time – it has yerba mate in it along with a jumble of mostly red fruits and apple.

I drink this semi often – mostly on days when I don’t have much time/energy to fuss with other things. Not really because of the “yerba mate” but because I do find it fairly energizing and I like the red fruit flavour. I don’t typically log it because I assumed it was already in the system, and I don’t want to flood Steepster with “RTD Smoothie” tasting notes. However, I wanted to log it tonight because I’m drinking one now and it tastes more like yerba mate (and banana) than it ever has before. I’m not sure if there was a recipe change or I got a weird bottle or what, but I took my first hearty sip and was immediately overtaken by the distinct note of mate in it…

Majorly threw me off…

I had heard of this fabled Happy Planet Matcha Smoothie but about a week ago was the first time I ever ran across it. All my friends who’re into the “trendy” health food scene (if that’s even what one would call it) have always told me that I NEED to try this if “I’m into tea”.

I’ve always been on the fence about whether their recommendation had weight to it. I mean, I trust their tastes in food and I actually really like Happy Planet quite a bit as a company, and their products usually don’t disappoint. It’s just that people who aren’t as into tea as Steepster Folk seem to mistake all matcha/matcha infused product as equally good and exciting – and it doesn’t really work like that. Just ‘cause it has matcha in it doesn’t always mean it’ll taste good or that it’s good quality matcha.

My verdict with this one? Certainly not bad, and 100% drinkable but too sweet for my tastes overall. I mean, it IS essentially just matcha milk with cane sugar, and it’s SO easy to make your own matcha milk with better quality matcha that I don’t see why I’d go out of my way again to buy this particular one – especially since I would prefer to be drinking matcha milk without this level of cane sugar. Other than the general sweetness, I don’t think there’s anything inherently unpleasant about it though!

It does weird me out a touch that there’s sunflower oil in the ingredients though. Why is that necessary!?

So normally I’m a fan of just about everything that Happy Planet creates; I love them as a brand and really enjoy their food/drink…

But this is gross. It’s honestly probably the most bland/watery “Chai” I’ve EVER had to date. Premade or otherwise. I’ve been working on finishing off a bottle of it for three days now ‘cause I can’t bring myself to toss it it’s so damn expensive. It’s been a battle, though.

I buy this smoothie whenever it goes on sale at my local IGA. I’m not too sure about how healthy it is (looking at you, sugar, oil, and carrageenan!), but it really is delicious! The matcha flavour comes through really nicely, and the slight sweetness does help boost the flavour. I drink about a third of the bottle with my lunch or during breakfast, and helps to fill out those last hungry holes in my stomach. :) Yummy treat!