6444 Tasting Notes
Yesterday I returned to London to get my stuff which meant I now had matcha in my possession again. Then today, my DAVIDsTEA order showed up with this matcha. I decided a strawberry white chocolate matcha latte sounded good so I decided to give it a try.
For the first time, I followed DAVIDs steeping parameters for matcha. Usually I use a half a tsp per 8 oz but this called for 5-7 matcha perfect spoons (which I assume is close-ish to a 1/2 tsp). While steeping the matcha in 8 oz of water, it smelled very grassy so I panicked and used the same 1.5 oz of white chocolate I used in the chai latte the other day. I then topped that with 8 oz of frothed milk.
There was definitely too much white chocolate again. Between that and the strawberry, this is very sweet. Not cloying but trending that way. It’s creamy and a bit grassy but it’s heavy. Also it tastes a bit like a strawberry milkshake made with strawberry syrup so it’s sweeter than it should be. I think the raspberry matcha might be interesting to try this way because I’m hoping that one will be a little tart or just less sweet than strawberry
So this is the first tea ever that I’ve posted twice in my #365daysoftea on Instagram. I actually keeps notes and stuff to make sure I don’t repeat but yesterday I sorta just said fuck it. I decided I wanted to make a while chocolate latte, inspired by the matcha one I had last week. However, I’m at my sisters with only a fraction of my tea stash which means none of my matcha. I decided a chai version of the latte could be good but I only have this chai or a boxed grocery store chai, I think PC brand, that my sister got as part of a gift basket. I debated using the boxed chai just to get that diversity for my photos but then I was like screw it, I’m experimenting and intend on using the good, high quality chai I have lots of and would prefer to drink. So the repeat happened since I also didn’t end up making any other teas.
Honestly, it was the right choice to use this because I’ve never made the white chocolate latte and while I used too much white chocolate, this was really good. This blend of chai spices really suits my tastes and the white chocolate added an awesome creaminess. Plus, since I know what to expect from this blend, when something was off, it was super clear that it was the amount of white chocolate used. And by “off” in this case, I don’t mean bad because this was delicious. Instead, by “off” I just mean that there was an imbalance of flavours that I know I can improve on.
Today my brother-in-law and I are venturing out into the world which we aren’t really supposed to be doing but we are going to London to close down my apartments and get things like my clothes, my textbooks, and my tea/teaware. When we return with all that, I’ll be back into quarantine with my sister while my brother and brother-in-law have to venture into the world for work. Hope everything is doing okay in these crazy times. I know I’ll be happier when I have all my stuff with me…mostly all my teas.
I hope everything went alright!
People in my building SUCK at social distancing but we did whatever we could to avoid people and we walked through the lobby using clorox wipes to touch doors and buttons and then sanitizing before we touched our car and washing our hands as soon as we got into my apartment. Hopefully that was sufficient.
I don’t actually own this blend but it is nostalgic because as Roswell Strange said, it was the tea that we had together in a gong fu session with one of her coworkers the first (and only) time we met in person.
It was a very exciting gong fu session for me because (1) I got to see Roswell Strange in person, (2) I was getting a sneak peek of a not-yet-released DAVIDsTEA tea (3) in the DAVIDsTEA tea lab and (4) I would finally get to do gong fu brewing with someone who knew what they were doing!
The session was back in December but I remember we got through a number of steeps and all were really nice and smooth. I recall this having a medium-full body, with plum-like/stonefruit flavors. No astringency from what I can remember. It actually was really nice, whether that was the tea or company I can’t be sure but it left me happy.
Sipdown (331)
Honestly, I have had several renditions of Rocky Horror Spice tea and they are NEVER good. EVER! This is no exception. It tastes like dirt while also being astringent. It’s a big no for me. So big in fact I dropped some of the leaf (by accident) and tossed the rest (on purpose).
Sipdown (331)
Had the last of this with my eggs Benedict birthday breakfast, though a slightly modified version with regular bacon instead of peameal bacon since that’s my preference and bagels instead of English muffins since that’s what we had. Breakfast was delicious and this tea was nice enough but with age has lost flavour and developed a slight metallic twang to it so it was time to say goodbye.
Sipdown
It’s fine. But it’s chamomile heavy and that’s not for me.
In other news, my university deemed that classes for the rest of the semester will be online so I told my family I need to go back to London to pick up my textbooks…and my tea. Priorities.
At least you know it will be online. We are waiting for some information from teachers and… we will see how it will develop. Nobody knows howl long it will be, people are hoping that it will end in month (ehh, I don’t think so); just stay at home, stay in touch with teachers and that’s all we have here…
Following the lackluster chai latte at the cafe today, I decided to go with something else…a matcha latte. Now, I normally wouldn’t get this because the matcha I drink is almost exclusively flavored matcha. However, this was a white chocolate matcha latte and I figured I would give it a go.
I ended up really enjoying it. They whisked this matcha in some hot water and then dumped a few ounces of white chocolate. Like literal cubes of it. That was topped with steamed milk. It made for such a creamy and decadent latte. The white chocolate really came through and provided a great top note to the more vegetal base of the matcha.
It honestly was so good that I even got a matcha smoothie to go using this same matcha, a banana, and vanilla oat milk. Once again, I am enjoying it but the smoothie is a bit icy and not as good as the latte from before. Nevertheless, I have enjoyed this matcha today and would get either drink again.
I am at a cafe in London where I am supposed to be meeting a friend to study together. We were supposed to meet at 12 and she is still not here. It’s 1 pm. She did mention she was running late and at around 12:40 she said she should be here soon so I am sitting and working while I wait.
When I arrived, I decided to order something rather than just occupying a table like it seems many students are doing. I was pleasantly surprised to find they offer Camellia Sinensis teas here so I went with a tea latte of this tea.
When cafes make lattes here, they put a tea bag of tea in a cup with hot water and foamed milk. So, these lattes are never as good as mine. However, this particular latte has gotten better over time with more chai flavor coming through. It is still weak and this isn’t my favorite chai but it’s certainly better than the 20 I rated it previously.
