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White Chocolate Latte Sipdown…sorta (325)

i made this as a white chocolate latte topped with chai sprinkles and even still I’m not loving it. I want more sweet and less nutty/rich and it just hasn’t delivered, even with sweet additions. As such, the rest of this is going to Sil.

Used my chawan for the first time with this matcha. It didn’t froth but it was still nice: https://www.instagram.com/p/B-fJuNpghI_/?igshid=1af66mlle5upn.

Thank you Roswell Strange for sharing this. It made for a nice minty treat. It is a whole lot of spearmint flavour while still being smooth. So it was quite nice despite the lack of froth.

Super Sad Cold Brew Sipdown (326)

So I love this tea and saying good bye to it is heartbreaking enough since I can’t just order more when I want. But, I think I slightly understeeped this sipdown so while it still has a lot of candied ginger yumminess to it, the cola is a little less prominent than usual. Still delicious though, and still a sad one to say good bye to.

Even worse is this is also the last cold brew I made in my beloved cold brew bottle before I knocked it over on the counter and it exploded into a bizillion pieces. My anxiety seemed to be running a bit high today which has had me distracted and rather klutxy. And when I say exploded, I mean it. One topple over on the counter and glass literally went flying all over the place…the counter…the floor…even the couch. I have the small one still and I ordered a replacement via amazon but there is no more decorative designs like the one I had from Bird and Blend. Sad, sad day (though I know there are much worse things happening in the world right now so I guess if that is the worst I need to deal with then fine).

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.

This tea’s best before date is 36 months after harvest. It’s harvest date is Spring 2017. As such, I have it as best before March 2020 since that’s when Spring officially starts. That means this tea has sat sealed for 3 years and isn’t getting tried until after its best before date has almost passed. I am sorry tea for neglecting you!

This is a nice enough black tea. Smooth and no astringency. Slight malt and a touch of caramel. It’s not in your face flavorful or particularly memorable but that could be the age. Also, I steeped it slightly lower than it should have been steeped and on the shorter time of the suggested range so it could be that at play too.

I like this. I’m getting a lot of caramel and sweet citrus. It’s thick, almost syrupy and while I don’t love Dammann’s black tea base but it works well here.

I had 2 teabags of this, this one with a best before date of January 2020 and another with a best before date of September 2020. When deciding where to put them (since one was past best before and thus should be in my focus box and the other wasn’t and thus could be in the regular caffeine free drawer) it made life much easier to drink this one and put the last teabag into the sipdown box. So that’s what I did.

This tea is a little muted. Tbh I don’t know what tulsi should taste like but I haven’t loved any blends that had it so I guess I’m not a fan. This blend is no exception. I’m not loving the flavour and while I’m not entirely sure if it’s the tulsi, the one thing I am sure of is the kick of ginger. Also, there isn’t much orange. It’s not the worst blend but not really a favourite either. Still, it’s always fun to try something new so thank you Roswell Strange for sharing!

This is today’s cold brew since for some reason, I have been cold brewing daily during the quarantine. This tea sat next to me for the hours I spent inventorying my teas…so.many.teas. Except I was so into what I was doing, I actually didn’t drink at all.

So now my job is done and I am enjoying a glass of this fruity and tropical blend. it’s not my favorite if I am being honest but I have a lot of it and so cold brewing is a good way to power through…not that it uses more leaf, it just seems easier to drink for some reason.