Recently, I ordered a few matcha sample packs from DavidsTea. Three different ones, to be exact: the Matcha Discovery Sampler, the Discover Your Matcha Kit, and last year’s Summer Matcha Discovery Sampler. This gave me ten new flavors to try, plus two flavors I have already tried (Matcha Matsu and Vanilla Matcha) as well as a few doubles. I’m going to be reviewing them in order I tried them, not by the sample pack in was included it, but I will highlight which one each matcha came from.

Raspberry Matcha

I started with Raspberry Matcha from the Summer Matcha Discovery Sampler because I thought I would be ordering a matcha latte with raspberry syrup from Dunkin’ Donuts later that week and I wanted to compare them (that didn’t end up happening though, because Dunkin’ released their new coconutmilk refreshers that day). It was extremely sweet—maybe one of the sweetest flavors out of all the matchas I tried. The raspberry flavor was also very strong. I thought I had overpowered it at first with too much almondmilk, but I just needed to mix it up a little bit. I will derfinitely drink DavidsTea’s raspberry matcha again, but I’ll probably add in a scoop of Matcha Matsu to balance out the sweet and strong flavor.

Blueberry Matcha

The blueberry matcha was a big surprise after drinking the raspberry matcha. I didn’t necessarily get a distinct blueberry flavor while drinking it, but I did enjoy it. I added a few frozen blueberries in an attempt add a bit more of that specific blueberry flavor, which didn’t really work but still tasted delicious. I definitely prefer DavidsTea’s blueberry matcha over the iced blueberry matcha latte Dunkin’ had for a little while. I actually have two samples of blueberry matcha because it was included in both the Matcha Discovery Sampler and the Discover Your Matcha Kit, so I’m excited to try a few recipes with it.

Cherry Blossom Matcha

I had never tried anything cherry blossom flavored before this, so I really didn’t know what to expect with this matcha flavor, which came in the Discover Your Matcha Kit. My best guess was a floral flavor, but I would say it tasted more fruity than floral. It honestly kind of just tasted like cherry flavored matcha, which I guess isn’t that far off. This was also one of the sweeter flavors. Overall, cherry blossom is not my favorite DavidsTea matcha flavor, but it makes a good iced latte and I will finish my sample of it.

Strawberry Matcha

I always like to try the matcha on its own before adding milk, if I remember. Strawberry Matcha from the Discover Your Matcha Kit was incredibly sweet on its own. But once I added the almond milk, the sweetness balanced out nicely with the rest of the flavors. This is a perfect flavor for spring, and I’m interested in trying it with a little sweetened condensed milk—an idea I got from the DavidsTea blog.

Peach Matcha

Peach Matcha was the biggest surprise for me. I usually really enjoy peach flavored drinks, especially iced teas, so this was one of the flavors I was most excited for in the Matcha Discovery Sampler. It was one of the least sweet flavors out of all of them, but it had an overwhelming and slightly artificial peach flavor. Adding almondmilk didn’t really help this time, though I probably could have added more. I did see a recipe on the DavidsTea website for peach matcha lemonade though, so I think I will finish up my sample by trying it that way.

Cream of Earl Grey Matcha

I’m not the biggest fan of Earl Grey tea, so I wasn’t sure how I would feel about this matcha flavor from the Discover Your Matcha Kit. I have found that the best way for me to enjoy Earl Grey is as a hot London Fog latte with honey, vanilla, and frothed milk. I didn’t add any honey to the Cream of Earl Grey matcha, but I did add vanilla extract (maybe a bit too much) and frothed milk. I had it hot on a somewhat cloudy day and, to my surprise, I really enjoyed. To be honest, I should have expected that because I do like DavidsTea’s Cream of Earl Grey tea, but I was thinking it was a plain Earl Grey flavor. I think this is more of a winter flavor, so I will be holding off on finishing this sample, but I honestly might even buy more once the weather starts getting cool again.

Mango Matcha

The day I made Mango Matcha was the first time I made my matcha without measuring the water. I’m not sure if I added too much water, but this had the lightest flavor of all the flavored matchas I’ve tried. It wasn’t very sweet either, but I was okay with that. I really like mango and DavidsTea has some great mango flavored teas that are perfect for summer (it makes sense that this flavor was in the Summer Matcha Discovery Sampler) so I definitely want to make this again and measure my water next time. I also think it would be good with some frozen mango pieces.

Coconut Matcha

By the time I made Coconut Matcha, I had gotten into a routine of setting my kettle to 185F and putting in five to six scoops of matcha. I had already heated up my kettle this morning, and just as I was getting ready to scoop this matcha from the Discover Your Matcha Kit, when I noticed that this flavor is only supposed to be made at 170F and use two to three scoops, which are the same directions as Matcha Matsu. As I was waiting for my water to cool, I compared the ingredient lists of all my DavidsTea matchas, and I think Coconut Matcha has the same directions as the traditional matchas because this flavor is sugar free. I should also note that this matcha powder had more clumps that any of the other flavors, but I took the time to sift it and didn’t find any clumps in my drink.

As for the flavor, it had a very strong coconut flavor. Personally, I’m not actually a big fan of coconut. flavor. When I do drink it, I like it to be sweet—and this Coconut Matcha obviously wasn’t sweet because there is no sugar in it. I could have added sweetener, but I wasn’t thinking. I would like to try it with frozen pineapple to see if I could get a pina colada flavor. I also think it would be a good matcha milkshake.

Bubble Gum Matcha

Bubble Gum was the matcha flavor was most hesitant to try, to the point that I almost didn’t buy the Summer Matcha Discovery Sampler. But once again DavidsTea pleasantly surprised me when I tried it. It was very sweet, but the flavor was not so much distinctly bubblegum and more so just mixed fruitiness. I think this is another flavor that I will use in a matcha milkshake.

Yuzu Matcha

Finally, the last DavidsTea matcha flavor I tried was Yuzu Matcha, which came from the Matcha Discovery Sampler. I’m not sure if I’ve every had anything yuzu flavored before, but the citrusy flavor was more or less what I expected. The problem here was that I forgot to try it before I added the milk. Had I remembered to do that, I would have drank it iced on its own instead of as a latte. I also think it would taste really delicious with some lemonade. So while I didn’t have the best experience with the Yuzu Matcha this time around, I have high hopes for it another way.

So, What’s the Tea?

I’m glad I got to try all of these different matcha flavors, and I really enjoyed most of them. I’m looking forward to drinking them again and trying them in some recipes and fun combinations. My favorite sampler overall was definitely the Discover Your Matcha Kit, and I probably could have done without the Matcha Discovery Sampler (which I don’t think DavidsTea sells anymore anyway). However, I would have to say my favorite flavors were Strawberry Matcha, Blueberry Matcha, and Earl Grey Matcha, while my least favorites were Peach Matcha and Coconut Matcha. Of course, this is all just personal preference, and I highly recommend trying as many DavidsTea matcha flavors as you can.

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