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Matcha

Fruit Tea Green Tea Iced Tea Matcha Recipes

Sparkling Matcha Melon & Mango Lemonade Cocktail

24th May 2018

Hey guys!

Whittard of Chelsea asked me if I’d like to make a recipe for my readers using some of their products, I jumped at the chance and decided I’d like to put together a deliciously refreshing iced tea recipe for the summer!

To make this recipe I’ll be using Whittard of Chelsea’s Mellow Melon alongside their Matcha Mango & Moringa tea. I decided to use Mellow Melon as the base with Matcha Mango & Moringa ice cubes, blended with lemonade for some extra sparkle!

Ingredients

5 teaspoons of Mellow Melon

5 teaspoons of Matcha Mango & Moringa

1 litre of lemonade (diet lemonade or sugar free lemonade is best)

Method

I’m using my cold brew bottle which I highly recommend if you make iced tea on a regular basis but you can also use a normal bottle and strain it at the end.

  1. Add 5 teaspoons of Whittard of Chelsea Mellow Melon to the bottom of your bottle, fill with lemonade and put the lid on. Place the bottle in the fridge and leave overnight to cold brew.
  1. Add 5 teaspoons of Whittard of Chelsea Matcha Mango & Moringa to a tea strainer and top with just enough boiling water to cover the tea and leave to steep for 5 to 10 minutes, this will make a superstrong concentrated tea for the ice cubes.
  1. Leave the Matcha Mango & Moringa concentrated tea to cool and pour into your ice cube mould. Place your ice cube mould into the freezer and leave overnight.
  1. The next day simply add the ice cubes to the cold brewed Mellow Melon and either pour directly from the bottle if using a cold brew bottle or strain if using a normal bottle. Find some sun and enjoy!

Final Thoughts

I hope you’ve enjoyed this recipe and had fun making it, it really is the perfect iced tea for the summer months ahead and is super easy to make!

The products used in this recipe are Matcha Mango & Moringa, Mellow Melon and either a cold brew bottle or any tea strainer/infuser but I recommend Whittard of Chelsea’s Mug Infuser or a simple sieve to strain the tea and an infuser to steep the tea.

A huge thanks to Whittard of Chelsea for sending me the tea to make this recipe and thanks to all of my readers!

Bye for Now! xXx

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Fruit Tea Iced Tea Matcha Recipes

Christmas Matcha Mojito Non-Alcoholic Tea Cocktail

25th November 2017
Christmas Matcha Mojito Non-Alcoholic Tea Cocktail

This is my recipe for an amazing non-alcoholic matcha mojito tea cocktail that is perfect if you want an exciting cocktail with a little kick for this festive season, without alcohol.

The key ingredient is the Bloom Mojito matcha which gives an amazing flavour to the cocktail alongside the matcha vibes. You could probably use unflavoured matcha but the mojito matcha really does bring a special something to this cocktail and is one of the best flavoured matchas I’ve tried (see my matcha comparison post).

Ingredients

Half a chopped lime
6 mint leaves
3 teaspoons of sugar
Crushed ice
1 gram of Bloom Mojito matcha sieved and whisked in water
Soda water

Method

Cut the lime into segments and crush with mint leaves and sugar. Add crushed ice on top to stop the mint from floating to the top when you drink. Sieve and whisk the mojito matcha in a little water and add over the ice, top with soda water.

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Matcha

T2 Vanilla Flavoured Matcha Review

22nd September 2017

Hey!

I’ve been working on a flavoured matcha comparison post for the last few weeks that’s growing and growing so I’ve been on the lookout for new flavoured matcha.

A while back T2 launched a few flavoured matchas including cinnamon which I reviewed and added to my comparison. A few weeks ago I posted a pic of my collection on Instagram and one of my followers said there was new T2 matcha flavours. I reached out to T2 and they were awesome enough to send me their vanilla flavoured matcha to review for you guys.

Review Time!

I adore T2’s packaging, everything they sell looks awesome and this is certainly true of the tin for their vanilla matcha. It’s a sleek black tin with a baby pink embossed pattern and a nice double-lock airtight lid to keep it fresh.

The first thing I thought upon opening the tin is how much it smells like cake mixture, like a really sweet cakey victoria sponge kinda smell with a vanilla buttercream hint 😍

The matcha is good quality vivid green matcha, as can be expected from T2.

I was intrigued to see how the sweet vanilla flavouring blended with the matcha and it seriously couldn’t of been better! There’s a slight vegetal hint which I always enjoy from matcha but the vanilla sweetness is heavenly.

The sweet flavour lasts through each mouthful with no bitterness, making this perfect for anyone new to matcha.

I recently popped in to a T2 store to spend a gift card my boyfriend bought me for my birthday and found the perfect matcha accessory. It’s a matcha flask that is perfect to use on the move, due to it’s built in whisk. You simply add matcha, add water, shake and you’re good to go! Since buying this I’ve been drinking a ton of iced matcha and T2’s vanilla matcha is incredible for this ☃️

Final Thoughts

I simply adore this new matcha from T2, it’s one of my favourite flavoured matchas I’ve tried so far (and I’ve tried a lot😜). If you’re new to matcha I’d highly recommend this for it’s sweet cakey flavours. If you’d like to try it you can find it on their website or in their stores.

I was really excited to try it as vanilla isn’t a matcha flavour I’ve tried before so I was looking forward to adding it to my comparison post, which you can view here.

A massive thanks to T2 for sending me their vanilla matcha to review, it’s much appreciated 💚

Thanks for taking the time to read my review, come find me on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook for more tea fun!

Bye for now! xXx

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Matcha Tea Reviews

Bluebird Tea Co. Salted Caramel and Ice Cream Matcha Review

19th September 2017

It’s been a while since my last post, I’ve been having problems with my wrists and as a result not been able to type and have been off work for a while. Luckily I was able to set up Dragon Professional on my Mac so I’ve been able to speak my reviews but had difficulty with the photos, I hope to be back to my normal workload soon.

On to the review! 🙂

I’ve always particularly loved bluebird’s flavoured matcha so I was super excited when they sent me samples of their new salted caramel matcha and ice cream matcha. They were also awesome enough to include one of their new Tote bags and a matcha measuring spoon, which is the nicest I own!

Review Time!

Salted Caramel

The first thing I noticed about this amazing salted caramel matcha is the smell! It has a strong  hit of pure caramel goodness alongside the traditional matcha aroma. I like that the salted caramel flavour doesn’t overpower the matcha flavour like some flavoured matcha, Bluebird always manage to get the balance exactly right. As well as the sweet caramel flavour and the natural matcha flavour there is a subtle saltiness that is the perfect strength.

Ice Cream Matcha

Next up is ice cream matcha, a gorgeous, sweet, syrupy and vanilla flavoured matcha. As always the base is good quality vivid green matcha, which you’ll find across the whole Bluebird lineup. This matcha blends well with lots of froth and really tastes amazing!

The ice cream flavour is stronger than the salted caramel matcha but you can still definitely taste the matcha, which I always prefer with flavoured matcha. The flavour is primarily a syrupy flavour with a nice vanilla ice cream vibe. Another unique and exciting flavoured matcha from Bluebird.

Final Thoughts

I’m always excited when a Bluebird delivery arrives, and this is no exception! I adore their matcha so it’s always nice to try the new flavours and they never disappoint. If you’d like to try these flavours for yourself you can find them on the Bluebird website.

A massive thank you to Bluebird for sending me these new products to try and thanks to all my readers, I hope you’ve enjoyed this review!

As always you can find me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook so come say hi!

Bye for now! xXx

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Matcha Reviews Tea Reviews Top 10's

Ultimate Flavoured Matcha Comparison, Find Out Which Are The Best!

4th May 2017

I love matcha! it’s the best breakfast boost I’ve ever found, there’s nothing better to get you through that groggy morning feeling.
I’ve noticed flavoured matcha popping up more and more, my collection keeps on growingso I thought I’d do a flavoured matcha comparison post!

I won’t actually rank them or anything, don’t wanna be mean! 😛  I’ll just give you a general run down of my thoughts about each one and they’ll be in no particular order.

I made sure I used my matcha measuring spoon to ensure all the flavours were made with an equal amount of matcha. I really recommend it if you want to enjoy your matcha at it’s best, it’s really good quality and still looks great after a couple of years use!

 

T2 Tea Cinnamon Matcha

T2’s unflavoured matcha is really good, I find T2 products always deliver! I was excited to find that they’d made flavoured matcha and I reached out to them to see if they would like to be included in my comparison. First impressions were good, amazingly presented and smells awesome. The flavour was just as good as the smell, with a perfect blend of matcha and lusciously sweet cinnamon. Also incredibly frothy which is something I always enjoy in my matcha! Read my full review of T2’s Cinnamon Matcha. Can’t wait to try some of their other flavours and add them to this comparison! 😀

 

 

Bluebird Tea Co. Orange Matcha
The first thing I noticed upon opening the tin is the smell, it’s mind-blowing, like freshly squeezed orange juice. This must be because it actually has orange peal and orange oil in it, which gives it an intensely refreshing zesty flavour. It’s good because it’s not over flavoured, you still know it’s matcha but it just has the lush addition of the orange flavour.

It’s really really frothy, I mainly use an electric milk frother rather than a traditional whisk and the froth is wonderful. It’s very reasonably priced at £15 for 30g (at the time of writing), making it one of the cheaper options and you do get a lot of drinking for that £15.
It’s a good choice for anybody that wants the health benefits of matcha (you must of heard about them by now!), but aren’t fond of the natural taste of it.

 

 

Tea Shop Strawberry Matcha

I found this while travelling when I stumbled in to a tea shop we randomly found in Barcelona. It has a really nice strawberry flavour that is just right, it’s not so sweet that it overpowers the matcha flavour but it’s definitely strawberry flavoured. It has a bit of a pink hue to the froth, which I assume is from whatever they use to flavour it. This is possibly the one that still has the natural matcha flavour the most which could be a good or bad thing depending on your preference.

It’s got a slightly powdery feeling to it, I’m not really sure why, it possibly doesn’t blend as easily as others.  Tea Shop make pineapple, cherry and caramel as well as a couple others that are included below!

 

 

Adagio Teas Raspberry Matcha

Adagio were awesome enough to send me their raspberry matcha and their chocolate matcha (more on the chocolate further down! ;). This is the first Raspberry flavoured matcha I’ve found and I sure was glad to find it! It smells amazing and the tins Adagio use for their flavoured matchas are stunning.
The raspberry scent explodes from the tin before the lid is even removed and multiplies as you fully open it. What I liked most is that the raspberry flavour doesn’t taste artificial at all, it’s really impressive how genuine the succulent raspberry flavour has been captured in this matcha’s dry powder form. Full review here.

 

 

Yunomi – Azuma Chocolate Flavoured Matcha Latte

This isn’t technically flavoured matcha, it’s a flavoured instant matcha latte mix. I love matcha lattes but I find them hard to get when I’m out and about and I’m a bit too lazy to make them at home much. This is where these matcha latte mixes from Yunomi come in, simply add water and you have a matcha latte!

I’ve been a fan of the unflavoured matcha latte mix that Yunomi have for a while now so I was super excited to try the flavoured ones. The chocolate one is definitely my favourite, it smells simply amazing and really does add a nice milk chocolate sweetness to the latte and the convenience of these mixes is amazing! Full review of chocolate, ginger and yuzu matcha latte mixes here.

 

 

Pure Chimp Lemon Matcha

This is one of the most reasonably priced flavoured matchas I found as you get 50g which is more than most others. The smell is crazy strong, I was expecting a zingy lemon scent but it’s actually a really nice sweet lemon fragrance.

The flavour is also very sweet lemon and the matcha flavour is lost quite a bit as a result, the reason for the sweetness is Pure Chimp’s lemon matcha contains stevia to sweeten it. I’m a bit undecided about the stevia that’s been added, it does make the lemon flavour sweet and very different to the other flavoured matchas.
Personally I’d prefer it to not contain any sweetener so I could add it if I wanted, plus I LOVE the flavour of matcha which is lost a bit. The addition of stevia makes this the perfect matcha for people who aren’t accustomed to the natural taste of matcha, a great way to get the health benefits in a sweeter form. This matcha is insanely frothy, one of the frothiest I’ve found and blends really quickly which is always good.

Pure Chimp donate 5% of all profit to charity which is absolutely fantastic and really admirable. So if you prefer your matcha sweetened, love it frothy and would like to donate to charity this is the one for you. You can buy a jar here or a smaller pouch to try.

 

 

Bloom Teas Tropical Matcha
The first thing I noticed about the tropical matcha from Bloom is how nicely presented it is. A glass pot and a little mini spatula attached to the side are a welcome addition. This matcha smells heavenly, it’s like fresh cut mango, I love it! It seems to have little tiny white balls in it which I assume is flavouring, they dissolve completely and I only noticed them because I sieve my matcha so no biggy. Overall this is definitely in my top three, it might even be my favourite, I’m on my third jar now so it must be good, you really won’t be disappointed with this one! 😀

 

 

Adagio Teas Peach Matcha

I’m not really that much of a fan of peach as a flavour but it does seem to be a flavour that blends well with tea and the other Adagio flavoured matchas are so good I decided to give it a try. The smell explodes from the tin before you even open it (largely because the tins leak a bit in the post :p), it’s a mouthwatering sweet peachy fragrance that I really enjoy waking up to. Adagio’s matcha is always a bright vivid green and this is true for all of the flavours of theirs that I’ve tried.

On to preparation! It froths up really well and the smell gets stronger when water is added, I found myself excited about a flavour I usually don’t enjoy all that much which has to be a good sign! I have to say it really does taste fantastic, it has a stronger flavour than a lot of the matcha I’ve featured here but it works really well with the green tea flavour. This is definitely one to try if you like peach and/or prefer your matcha to be more strongly flavoured 🙂

 

 

Bluebird Tea Co. Blueberry Super Matcha

Next up is Bluebird’s super matcha, I heard so many good things about this so I had to give it a try. It’s a little bit more expensive than the orange matcha from Bluebird but you do get the added health benefits of Blueberry and Acai, which add even more antioxidants to the mix!

It’s a beautiful bright green colour and is clearly very good quality. It’s just so fruity and tastes fantastic hot or cold so will definitely be enjoying this all summer!

 

 

Adagio Teas Chocolate Matcha

Chocolate is without a doubt my favourite food and matcha is easily one of my favourite drinks so I was overjoyed to find that the amazing people at Adagio Teas have combined the two! I must admit I did wonder at first how the two flavours would be blended together and which flavour would take centre stage, so I was thrilled when I found that the two flavours happily share the stage!

This blend isn’t too chocolatey and is still clearly matcha but the chocolate flavour floats alongside the vegetal matcha goodness! Full review here 🙂

 

 

Tea Shop Mango Matcha

This is another flavour I found in Barcelona along with the strawberry flavour above. I loved the strawberry matcha but its downfall was it didn’t blend very well and tasted slightly powdery. Luckily their mango matcha isn’t powdery at all and is really addictive!

The mango flavour isn’t as strong in this matcha as the Bloom tropical matcha so I have to say I prefer the Bloom matcha but if you like a more natural flavour in your matcha this is for you.

 

 

Bluebird Tea Co. Cocoa Matcha

One of my more most exciting finds is Bluebird’s cocoa matcha, I loved Adagio’s chocolate matcha so I was excited to see how Bluebird’s compared. I have to say it’s really awesome! Although the chocolatey flavour in Bliebird’s cocoa matcha isn’t as sweet as in the Adagio chocolate matcha it does have more of a natural flavour to it, which is equally as enjoyable.Bluebird’s is flavoured with raw cocoa powder so it does have a brown tint to it, like anything chocolate should! 😀

I really love both approaches to chocolate matcha so it really depends whether you’re more in to a natural approach to flavouring or a sweeter flavour. Chocolate has to be my favourite food so I’ll definitely be devouring this Bluebird cocoa matcha!

 

Thanks for reading!

I’ll add to this post as I find more flavoured matcha, I have a few lined up and have had a few companies contact me so this post will surely grow! 😀

Comment below with any flavoured matcha I’ve missed or email me if you’d like your flavoured matcha included in the list, I’d love to add it!

Bye for now! xXx

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Black Tea Green Tea Herbal Tea Matcha Rooibos Tea Reviews

TeaTourist Subscription Box Review

3rd March 2017

I’m extremely excited to share another awesome TeaTourist subscription box with you!

If you’re new to tea subscriptions TeaTourist is a great one to start with. You get 6 teas instead of the 4 that you usually get from other tea subscriptions. The packaging is beautiful and a joy to receive through the post, it also slips straight through your letterbox which is super convenient.

All 6 teas come with a brewing card which gives you some information about the tea and the company it comes from, as well as water temperature and brewing times. If you’re getting more immersed in the joys of tea I’d highly recommend a multi-temperature kettle to guarantee you enjoy your tea at its best.

Review Time!

Reggae Refresh – Born Wild Tea

This tea is a really interesting combo of different fruits, including banana chips! It has an exciting zingy mango aroma to it with a hint of banana, giving it a wonderful tropical feel.

The smell only gets more intense once you begin steeping it. It creates a beautiful yellow brew with a deeply satisfying lemongrass flavour, alongside a nice sweet fruitiness. I really enjoy the variation of tea that the TeaTourist subscription boxes offer and this tea is another fine example.

 

 


Pure Ceylon – Exclusivitea

I’m really addicted to flavoured tea, I find it most exciting and I’m always hunting for something new and unique. Every so often I’ll receive some unflavoured tea that blows me away and this is certainly an example of this.

I love the deep rich malty smell of this tea, it’s a tea you just want to cuddle up with a big mug of and enjoy the fragrance. It has a complex flavour, combining a deep maltyness with subtle earthy tones and a sweet aftertaste.

The tea leaf in Pure Ceylon is really fine so I found it slipped through some of my less fine holed infusers but that’s easily resolved 🙂

 

 


Recover Tea – Blendology

This was my least favourite tea in this months box, I’m really not a fan of herbal, floral or minty flavours and this combines them all. That doesn’t mean it isn’t a great tea, the ingredients are high quality and you get a generous amount, it’s just ‘not my cup of tea’😛

I did find that the second mug from each teabag is actually a lot more enjoyable and offers more refined floral flavours and also that this tea is better at lower temperatures. Overall it’s definitely an exciting and different tea which is all part of being a TeaTourist! 🙂

 

 


Rooibos Earl Grey – Tea Leaf London

This is the second rooibos earl grey infusion I’ve tried and it’s a flavour I always enjoy. I love rooibos and drink it a lot at night, I struggle to sleep a lot so rooibos is a perfect caffeine free fix.

The smell of this tea is incredible, it has a gorgeous citrusy fragrance that I could smell all day. I always find rooibos goes a long way and this is certainly the case with this tea. The amber colouring of steeped rooibos is always enjoyable to watch and looks fantastic in my glass teapot.

The citrusy flavour from the bergamot comes through nicely without being overpowering. I like that you can still definitely taste and enjoy the nutty rooibos alongside the citrus tones.

 

 


Gunpowder – Morgan’s Brew Tea Company

I LOVE green tea, it may even be my favourite kind of tea! I love the vegetal flavour, the slight zing and the crispness of gunpowder tea and this tea definitely embodies these qualities. The portion of this tea is particularly generous given how much flavour erupts from a small amount.

The leaf is really nice quality with a deep green colour, it’s a joy to watch the leaves unfurl as the water turns a stunning golden colour. The tea has an addictive crisp vegetal flavour and a nice zing after every mouthful. This is definitely one of my favourites from this box!

 

 


Matcha – Teaologists

I was absolutely thrilled to find matcha in this box. Matcha is one of my favourite things in the world, I drink it every morning with my breakfast and often have another bowl with lunch. The inclusion of matcha in a tea subscription box is definitely something I haven’t seen before and a really unique idea from TeaTourist.

The matcha is packaged in a little tin and knowing how expensive matcha often is I was pleasantly surprised by how generous the sample was.

I love to see the vivid bright green colour of good quality matcha like this matcha from Teaologists. It froths up nicely and blends well for a smooth and easy to prepare treat. This matcha has the enjoyable vegetal, slightly savoury tones as well as the sweeter umami flavours that are only found in higher ceremonial grade matcha. This is an excellent inclusion by TeaTourist 😀

 

Final Thoughts

I loved the this box, it’s probably my favourite so far! The inclusion of the matcha leaves me excited to see the other unique blends TeaTourist include in future boxes. I’ll have a review of the next TeaTourist box up on my blog soon, I’m a little behind as I’ve been crazily busy at work and with uni but it’ll be up ASAP 🙂

If you haven’t tried a tea subscription box yet I’d highly recommend choosing TeaTourist as your first tea subscription, take a look at their website for more info. TeaTourist have even been awesome enough to provide a discount code for my readers to get 30% off their first box, simply use RUSSTEAS30 at checkout!

A big thank you to TeaTourist for sending me this box to review, I’ve really enjoyed it 😀

Thanks for taking the time to read my review. If you’d like to talk tea or get regular updates from my blog you can find me on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook and sign up to my mailing list below.

Bye for now! xXx

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Fruit Tea Matcha Recipes

Huel Review, Including How to Flavour with Matcha & Tea

17th December 2016

A while back I became interested in finding some kind of meal replacement that’s super easy and good for me at the same time. I found Huel, a nutritionally complete food that I can make in minutes and not feel guilty about it’s effect on my body, I may even lose a little weight too!

Huel has received rave reviews and been featured in numerous newspapers but I wanted to try it for myself and have some fun experimenting. It contains all of the necessary proteins, carbs, fats and essential vitamins and minerals. Huel is also vegan which was one of my other requirements 🙂

The main reason for this post is to do a quick review of my experience with Huel as well as some recipes to get you started, they’re tea related of course! I wanted to see if I could use matcha and tea to add flavours and some extra health benefits to Huel

Review

When I stumbled upon Huel while researching fast healthy meals I thought it seemed like a great idea but was a bit sceptical if it would fill me up and how it would taste. I ordered a little to try and was pleasantly surprised, so I reached out to Huel and they were awesome enough to send me some more Huel to experiment with for you guys.

The best thing about Huel is how easy it is to prepare, it really does only need a few minutes, making it perfect for busy schedules! You can make it using just the Huel shaker bottle or a blender of some kind. I found it did take quite a bit of shaking so I moved on to using my Breville Blend Active, this guarantees almost instant lump free Huel and doesn’t leave you with a messy blender to clean afterwards.

I’ve only tasted the vanilla flavoured Huel, I figured vanilla is a pretty enjoyable flavour and would be easy to add other flavours to. The flavour is overall very pleasant, the vanilla flavour is sweet and enjoyable, there is a little bit of an unusual taste behind the vanilla but it’s so easy to add other flavours that this really isn’t an issue. The consistency is good and it does blend well, it reminds me a bit of a really runny porridge but it’s definitely a positive experience.

I found I could use 2 scoops of Huel (76g) and that would be enough to fill me up, the most surprising thing is it really does fill you up.  Two scoops works out to be 304 calories, so I was quite amazed I could replace a main meal with Huel and still be full. Huel works out to be only £1.33 for 500 calories so its also pretty good value and it lasts for over 1 year so you’ll never waste any by it going out of date.

Flavouring with matcha

As soon as I tried Huel I was anxious to try and flavour it with matcha! I always start the day with matcha and didn’t want to have to prepare my matcha and then make Huel as well and then drink both and the vanilla flavouring of the Huel really lends itself to matcha. I found that the correct amount for my personal taste was half a teaspoon of matcha per scoop of Huel, this was enough to still leave it tasting of vanilla but add a nice hit of matcha alongside it, and with no bitterness.

I use matcha from Kiss Me Organics for all my recipes, it’s good enough quality to taste amazing but priced low enough to not be crippling when a recipe requires large or regular amounts of matcha.

Flavouring with fruit tea

Next up I wanted to try and use fruit tea to add fruit flavours to Huel. You can just cut fruit up and blend it with Huel but I felt that adds an extra level of preparation to the process.

To flavour Huel with tea simply steep 2 teaspoons of fruit tea in 200ml of boiling water per scoop of Huel. Adding a teaspoon extra of tea for every scoop of Huel you’re using.

Any fruit tea you have will work, preferably loose not teabags. My favourites were Vanilla Slice from T2 & Strawberry Serenade from Whittard of Chelsea but have fun experimenting with any tea you have and let me know what your favourite is in the comments below!

 

Huel Matcha Grape Smoothie

While experimenting with matcha I found that I wanted some way to add a little more sweetness, without using a sweetener or sugar. I tried different fruit but found that grapes were perfect alongside the matcha and added a little extra excitement to Huel. These were the amounts I found perfect for me but you can test it out and adjust accordingly.

It was a little late in the day and the light was fading so the photo doesn’t really do it justice, it tastes amazing though! 😛

Add the following to your blender:

3 scoops of Huel

550ml water

1 – 2 teaspoons of matcha

10-15 grapes

Then blend throughly.

To keep things quick and hassle free I really recommend using the Breville Blend Active to prepare your Huel, it’s great for smoothies too so well worth buying:)

 

Final Thoughts 

I’ve really enjoyed my time with Huel as it fits perfectly in to my lifestyle, has helped me lose a little weight and is also amazingly convenient. It works as a meal replacement and really does fill you up, I’ve been having Huel a couple of times a week at dinner time but you can really have it as often as you like.

You can find the full range available from Huel here and a super helpful guide for using Huel here.

I’d like to say a massive thank you to the guys at Huel for sending me these products to review and experiment with. Also a huge thanks to my readers, I hope you’ve found this post useful 🙂

Bye for now! xXx

 

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Green Tea Matcha Tea Reviews

Review of PureChimp Ceremonial Grade Matcha

10th November 2016

Hey!

Today I’ll be reviewing PureChimp’s ceremonial grade matcha, which they were awesome enough to send me. I’m always on the look out for new matcha to try, so I was thrilled to receive this a couple of weeks ago! 🙂 Now I’ve spent some time with it and tried it extensively I think it’s time to get my thoughts written up for you guys!

The first thing I noticed about their matcha is that the price is really reasonable at only £6.95 for a 30g pouch at the time of writing, this is especially impressive given the quality of the matcha. There’s also a 50g pouch and a 100g pouch that are equally well priced.

It’s a nice bright green colour, a quality I always like to see from my matcha, with a clean crisp smell. I feel that it definitely deserves it’s ceremonial grade, which isn’t always the case with some other brands.

from-above

Another quality I’m always keen to judge is how frothy the matcha is once prepared and also how well the matcha blends. Purechimp’s ceremonial grade match is insanely frothy, I tested it with my chasen and a mini electric whisk and both were able to whip up a nice amount of foam! It also blends well so I didn’t have that overly powdery last mouthful that settles at the bottom with lesser quality matcha.

Before I tried their ceremonial grade matcha I purchased their lemon flavoured matcha and although I enjoyed the lemon flavour I was a bit disappointed that PureChimp chose to add stevia to sweeten it, so I was really glad that they didn’t go down that route with this as well. I found that their ceremonial grade matcha has a really nice natural sweetness to it with an enjoyable aftertaste, which made me I wonder if the stevia was added to the lemon flavoured matcha to counteract the sourness of the lemon.

Another thing I always judge a matcha on is how easy it is on the throat, I was pleased to find very little bitterness with PureChimp’s ceremonial grade matcha and a pleasant smoothness.

pile

Overall I’ve really enjoyed my time with PureChimp’s matcha as my ‘go to’ matcha the last couple of weeks. It comes highly recommended on Amazon and I have to agree that it’s a really good option for ceremonial matcha at a really reasonable price point.

If you’d like to try PureChimp matcha for yourself you can find it in 30g, 50g or 100g pack sizes, I’m sure you won’t be disappointed! There’s also a really nice PureChimp gift set which includes three 50g jars with mint, lemon and their original matcha which would make the perfect gift someone special or a starter set if you’re new to the wonderful world of matcha.

That pretty much covers my thoughts on this awesome ceremonial grade matcha. Thanks for reading my review, I hope you’ve enjoyed it and it’s helped your buying decision. Also a huge thanks to PureChimp for sending me their matcha to review!

Bye for now! xXx

 

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Matcha Rooibos Tea Reviews

Bluebird Tea Co. New Flavoured Matchas Reviewed!

25th October 2016

Hey guys!

Recently Bluebird Tea Co. released an amazing collection of Autumn products and they sent me a load of them to review 😀  it was an exciting surprise when it turned up at my house, even if they did slightly hint on Twitter that something might be on it’s way to me! 😉

I reviewed their new teas first which included an amazing Rooibos blend, chocolate blend and chai tea, you can check that review out here.

Alongside the tea Bluebird also unveiled three amazing new flavoured matchas as part of their Autumn lineup, there’s Cocoa Matcha, Golden Matcha and Gingernut Matcha AND they sent me all three! :O

After a long summer break from my studies it’s time to begin them again, one last time! Matcha always keeps me sane when I’ve got a heavy work load so these couldn’t of come at a better time 😃

On to the review!

 

ginger-matcha

Gingernut Matcha

This matcha is limited edition and the flavour is inspired by the well known gingernut biscuits. I bought a ginger matcha from another company a couple of months ago and it was shockingly bad, we’re talking burning throat, coughing profusely bad (I won’t name names!). Needless to say I was slightly hesitant to try another ginger matcha but I was pretty confident that Bluebird would pull it off, and they really did!

The other ginger matcha I tried was spicy, herby and almost medicinal but Bluebird’s is completely different, it’s the kind of ginger flavouring that reminds me of gingerbread men and of course, gingernut biscuits.

The matcha is good quality with nice bright green colouring and froths amazingly. You can feel a slight spice from the ginger but it’s overall sweet and actually is biscuity, as you’d hope for in a Gingernut Matcha.

 

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ginger-matcha-close-up
Golden Matcha

Bluebird’s golden matcha is a twist on their decaffeinated rooibos matcha with some added ingredients.

Alongside the decaf rooibos base is cinnamon, ginger, black pepper and the main ingredient; turmeric! The health benefits of turmeric have been celebrated for thousands of years, it’s believed that turmeric could be good for digestion, depression, pain, diabetes, arthritis and more! It’s not really an ingredient that I could imagine myself easily being able to work in to my everyday diet so Bluebird’s Golden Matcha is a great way to do this.

Bluebird’s recipe for making ‘Golden Milk’ is to add a teaspoon of Golden Matcha to a mug of coconut milk (I use rice milk) and a teaspoon of honey. I actually found that the sweeter taste of the rice milk meant I didn’t need to add any sweetener and I find the flavour more enjoyable without the coconut element.

I initially thought that drinking one of the main ingredients of curry with rice milk would be worth it for the health benefits but not for the taste but I’m actually amazed how incredible it tastes! It has a definite spicyness to it which gives it a chai-like vibe but the milkyness and sweetness of the rooibos really make it a unique and delicious drink!

As this is decaf I was thrilled to finally have a matcha I can drink at night, I often struggle to get to sleep so a hit of matcha isn’t what I’m looking for but this is perfect and really has a cuddly feel to it 😊

 

Cocoa Matcha

Last up is Bluebird’s cocoa matcha! I say fairly often in my reviews that I love chocolate more than any food, there’s nothing better! So when Bluebird announced cocoa matcha I was thrilled, I have one other chocolate matcha which I adore so I had high hopes for Bluebird’s and it didn’t disappoint.

I could smell the cocoa before I even opened it! Upon opening the tin the first thing I noticed is this matcha is a browny colour, which is because it literally has cocoa powder in it, no icky fake flavourings here! When you add the water it takes on a new fragrant drinking chocolate style smell that I knew was gonna taste good.

The matcha element of the mix tastes good and high quality. I enjoy that this matcha is genuinely chocolatey and the flavour isn’t drowned out by the matcha, perfect if you’re a chocolate addict! If you enjoy chocolate (who doesn’t?) and you like matcha, then this definitely needs to be added to your shopping list 🙂

 

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That’s my round up of the new flavoured matchas from Bluebird Tea Co., they were the first to develop flavoured matcha in the UK and these are awesome additions to their line up. If you’d like to try their flavoured matcha you can find it here.

Thanks to the amazing girls and guys at the Bluebird HQ for sending me these amazing products to try, it’s very much appreciated!
A big thanks to my readers for checking out this review, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below or on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram. Keep a look out for some awesome new favoured matcha posts I’ve got coming up! 😉

Bye for now! xXx

 

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Matcha Tea Reviews

T2 Cinammon Flavoured Matcha & Teaware Review

11th July 2016

I’ve become obsessed with flavoured matcha over the last few months and watched it go from one or two flavours being available in the UK to a ton of flavours being available.

I decided I’d put together a comparison post for all the flavoured matcha I can find, there’s even a couple from Barcelona thrown in. I haven’t quite finished the comparison yet but in my search I was excited to discover that T2 now do a few flavoured matchas. I reached out to them to see if they fancied being included in my comparison post and they were kind enough to send me their Cinammon matcha and a hella fancy glass mug to go with it.

As they were generous enough to send me these I thought I’d write a post up just about their products to begin with and then add them to the comparison post too. Read on to find out what I thought!

Cinammon Flavoured MatchaPackaging

The first thing I always notice about T2 products is how phenomenally presented they are, if you haven’t been to one of their stores yet I urge you to do so. I particularly like their Regent Street and Tottenham Court Road stores in London, their staff are always more than happy to make up a batch of any of their teas for you to try and they’re super knowledgable. The quality of the packaging is instantly obvious with their flavoured matcha as you can always expect from T2.

Tin with spoon

This is THE spoon to measure perfect matcha servings! http://amzn.to/29O56ZY

It comes in beautiful black tins with vibrant colours that are always in pristine condition. Inside the lid of the canister there’s a second lid that really helps to keep the matcha fresh, not that it’ll hang around for long once you’ve tasted it 😉 Inside the canister you’ll find a totally sealed foil packet so you know your matcha is perfect from day one.

Straight away I was impressed with the bright vivid green of T2’s matcha and the cinnamon fragrance explosion that took place as soon as I snipped the top of the packet. I did wonder if the cinnamon would be too spicy and overpower the matcha but I could tell from the sweet cinnamony scent that this wouldn’t be the case.

T2’s cinnamon matcha blends amazingly with the water and the froth it produces is really incredible, you literally get about a centermetre of frothy joy on top of each batch. The cinnamon flavour is as the fragrance promised, sweet and puddingy! It reminds me of cinnamon buns but not quite as sweet and the balance of cinnamon and matcha is superb.

Another thing worth mentioning is I recently bought a pack of T2’s unflavoured matcha sachets so I can get a matcha hit while I’m on the move (my matcha addiction has got pretty serious in recent weeks 😛) and I love the vibrant green goodness that bursts out of each sachet. It seems T2’s matcha is top quality whether it’s flavoured or not, some other flavoured matcha I’ve had has clearly been lesser quality matcha hiding behind a flavour but this totally isn’t the case with T2.


T2 Glass Mug

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When I opened my much awaited T2 delivery I was thrilled to find that they’d also included one of their glass mugs. Another reason to visit a T2 store is their teaware, it’s simply divine! It is quite expensive but their quality is one of the highest I’ve seen, from their teapots to their glassware, it’s all fantastic.

I’ve always particularly liked their glass teaware, I have a double walled glass of theirs that you may of seen on my Instagram and it’s always been one of my favs. The glass mug I received is clear glass with a black glass handle, it’s super smart and perfect for displaying their matcha in 😃

The black glass handle really works alongside the bright green hues of the matcha. It’s really a joy to use and adds an extra element of sophistication to any matcha session. I’ve really enjoyed my time with T2’s cinnamon matcha and cannot wait to try their other flavours once they’re back in stock in their London stores. If you’d like to buy their flavoured matcha too you can find them on their website, there’s a choice of Cinnamon, Chocolate or Mint.

A massive thank you goes to T2 for being awesome enough to send me their wonderful products to review.

Another huge thanks goes to you guys for reading my review, it means so much to me! 😃 Remember to come find me on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, I’m always happy to talk with any fellow matcha lovers!

Bye for now! xXx

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