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:

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.

Tea Review: Teapigs Yerba Mate

Brewed at 75C, steeped for four minutes, no additives. First impressions: it smells toasted. A kind of not-sweet nutty aroma. It tastes savoury, and delicate, and very slightly bitter. There's a hint of the vaguely fishy smell and taste that I've encountered in Japanese green teas, but it's only barely there. It reminds me a little of gen maicha, but it's much less aggressive, and much more interesting. With the low brewing temperature, however, I don't have a lot of time to savour it, not in this climate. The first cup went down fast, that's for sure.

The second brew has a much stronger fishy aroma, and the toasted aroma is hiding somewhere. This follows through to the taste, although it's still quite subtle. The bitterness is also slightly more pronounced.

Yerba Mate, so the internet tells me, has quite a lot of vitamins and minerals for a tea. It's also supposed to be awesome for weight loss and similar endeavours. As health supplements go, it's pretty tasty. 

The verdict on this one is that I'm going to give it another go when I don't have a cold - it's quite possible I'm not tasting or smelling it fully. Initially, however, this is quite a nice tea. It's not flashy or showy; it's not floral like green jasmine or sweet like white tea. It is actually kind of a tease, as teas go. Still, my first impression of a delicate savoury tea is still sticking with me. 

Teapigs is a UK company that does fine teas. They have whole-leaf teas, and their teabags are biodegradable temples of something that looks like muslin rather than paper. I've been drinking their Ting Tung Oolong, Jasmine Pearls, Tummy Tonic (peppermint) and Lazy Day (Chamomile Flower) teas, and getting their Everyday Brew (plain black) blend for the dearly beloved.

I decided to order a sample pack of some of their teas, and it arrived today.  So expect maybe a few more of these!

 

Note: I'm not a representative of Teapigs, just a happy customer.

Achievements 7

More doing stuff! Including some things I forgot to include in earlier posts.

• Signed up for a 12 week 'Lose and Shape Up' program at my gym. This is a theory and a group training session a week; the training seems to be mostly bodyweight suspension exercises, which fits nicely in with my endpoint fitness goals.
• Signed up for a 6 week amazingly nerdy challenge at Nerdfitness. 
• Got 10hrs sleep.
• Had a cup of oolong tea. I think it's nice, but ... not as nice as jasmine pearls. Since I can't have much caffeine, I'm going to go back to my jasmine as soon as this packet is finished.
• Figured out an outfit for interview tomorrow. May post a photograph for review later.
• Read all the website from my prospective employer.
• Finished reading "Diaspora" by Greg Egan.
• Got up to Ch 11 of "Agile Web Development with Rails".
• Nerded some more about my Ardvino design.
• Got a fair way through Book 1 of A Song of Ice and Fire. 
• Got clothes out for tomorrow.
• Packed gym bag for tomorrow night.
• Packed handbag for tomorrow day.

365project: Week 1 runner-ups

I'm going to post all the photos I consider second-best from the past week. I don't have any for a couple days, because I either didn't get a chance to take many photos, or the ones I did take are not worth posting here. If you're really curious, go to my full gallery.

Feb 26, Day 1.


This is a cropped version of one of the photos I took that day. I think it's better than the original.

Feb 27, Day 2.


This was a very hard choice. One of those days where I took lots of great photos. So I'm going to post another couple that I also really liked.





Feb 28, Day 3.


I liked this photo a lot, but not as much as the photo I chose for this day. The other photo I liked from today is this one, taken with completely the wrong whitebalance setting:



March 1, Day 4.


Today was a hard day. I disliked or screwed up most of the photos I took, but aside from my lizard-on-a-globe photos, I liked this one.

March 2, Day 5.


Another day where I took lots of really good photos. Here's a few more.







March 3, Day 6.
Nothing for today - I didn't get an opportunity to take enough so I had a second good one.

March 4, Day 7.


A bit of silliness at BTUB last night, which I fortunately caught on camera.


And that's all for this week, I think.