Tuesday 29 January 2013

Tea Review: teapigs organic Matcha Green Tea

Prompted in part by the prospect of a year of free matcha, I'm trying the matcha sample sent to me by teapigs a while back.

As a hot brew:
Green matcha tea in cup
Brewed at 85C, 1/2 tsp, whisked in while pouring the water, with a metal whisk I had on hand.

Smells like seaweed, but the aroma isn't strong. Tastes faintly bitter and astringent, but not overly so. Slight fishy taste also. Definitely tastes like a green tea. It gets stronger tasting towards the bottom of the cup, where most of the powder has settled. Ideally, you're supposed to consume all the powder, but I had quite a bit left in the cup after the last mouthful of tea, and that last mouthful wasn't all that nice - gritty and lumpy.

It doesn't taste all that awesome, to be honest. As far as personal taste goes, I prefer the teapigs yerba mate or  jasmine pearls for a morning cup, I think. Especially with either having to whisk between mouthfuls or get a mouthful of dregs at the end.

As a shot:
Room temperature, 1/4 tsp, whisked in a cup first then put in a shot glass.

Difficult to keep from going lumpy - I see why the kit comes with an electric whisk. Much more bitter than the hot brew, and again rather a lot of residue in the glass (which I added more water to, swished, and drank down). On the other hand, it was a shot - so it wasn't bitter for long. A lot less fuss than whisking every other mouthful.

Effects of drinking so much matcha in the morning, after my morning cuppa: Well, I've definitely woken up (no mean feat for me). As far as the other touted benefits go (weight loss, happy skin, etc) - well, they're more long term, and I'm doing other things with my life right now that supply confounding variables. We'll have to see.

Verdict: It's effective (at least in the short term), and although it doesn't taste all that nice, it doesn't taste all that bad, either. I've ordered a pot of it and try the Matcha challenge (one dose every day for two weeks) and then report back. I'm going to try drinking it with coconut water, I think, to see if the sweetness offsets the bitterness any.

About teapigs:
They produce really awesome whole-leaf fine teas, of which I drink many. You should go sign up for their newsletter (there's a box in the footer of all pages) if you're interested in discounts and news about forthcoming products and competitions.

Speaking of discounts, use discount code at the checkout "BLOGGERS12" to get 15% off. It applies to full price products, not cheeky deals and gifts, as they have an inbuilt discount already.

teapigs ships internationally, so no-one gets left out.

3 comments:

  1. There are several matcha's I've already tried. Some of them are Choice green matcha and Twinnings. But my favorite right now is a tulsi tea herb from Mercola. I think they do have a green matcha but when it comes to the taste. I love them all and I think I will try this one too.

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  2. Thanks for the post. As green tea don't have caffeine so it doesn't harm to your body and keeps you healthy.

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