Decaf tea is close to the clean eating abyss

[cimorene]

I've been drinking Decaf Twinings Earl Grey and some herbal blends. I tried the Finnish specialty teashops that I have ordered loose leaf from in the past, but they didn't have any decaf tea that I wanted, let alone decaf chai and matcha, which was what I was looking for.

Today I finally made an attempt with various search terms and discovered that it's pretty easy to get decaf matcha in the US, but I couldn't find a single shop selling it in Europe, not even in the UK. I did find a shop that sells decaf chai, but it seems to be because it's the EU branch of a Canadian company. Also Wax and I both got rage headaches from the horrible pseudoscience and health food marketing gobbledygook on the websites I kept landing at. Ugh!! Why are they taking over tea😭. It's TEA!

Now, I could get my family to send me some matcha powder, but the cost of shipping from the US is prohibitive, IMO, for a consumable product that you would want periodic refills of.

So maybe it's better to not even bother getting a milk steamer... IDK if it's worth it for primarily coffee lattes and the occasional chai? Maybe it is. I hadn't even had a matcha latte till ten years ago and I did like the other kind back then...

I guess I'm just really annoyed by the lack of availability. This is a global economy in all the bad ways but I can't get decaf matcha or Reese's Pieces!

Comments

[princessofgeeks]

WOE

If it makes you feel any better, the demand for matcha has gone through the roof all over the world and now it's very hard to get the real thing. Some of what is being marketed as matcha...is not.

Good luck finding a hot drink you like.

[cimorene]

Well, that's disturbing!! Maybe I should experiment with other flavors of coffee latte. At least it's pretty easy to be sure it's coffee beans 😂

[wychwood]

If it's any help, I don't mind experimenting with posting things on from the UK, if you can find matcha here - I know it's more complicated than it used to be post-Brexit, but it might be better than shipping from the US...

[cimorene]

It would still be easier than the US for sure! And in fact a lot of UK shops will still ship directly, it just takes longer to get here now because you have to fill out customs forms before the post office will release the package to you. I sort of expected to find some UK results but I haven't so far. Thanks for the offer, I will keep it in mind!

[ephemera]

They don't sell decaffeinated tea, for environmental reasons, but UK company Bird and Blend do a number of caffeine -free chais (Gingerbread Chai is my favorite) and at least one caffiene-free not!matcha powder that might be worth investigating? They ship internationally

[cimorene]

It sounds like what they actually make, then, is warming spice blend drinks. "Chai" is specifically spiced black tea. However, I have found some loose leaf chai mixes from TeaLyra in Europe, fortunately! It's just the ingredients for decaf matcha latte that I'm hunting in vain ...and I can't find the not!matcha on Bird and Blend's site either!

[laurenthemself]

I looked for decaf matcha options in Australia in case me getting some to you was possible, but the best offer I could find was AUD$49 for 30 grams, which seemed absurdly expensive considering that I could find non-decaf matcha powder at AUD$5.25 for 40 grams!

[cimorene]

That's so weird. You're so close to Japan! Maybe the decaffeination is something that's being done in the US???

[copracat]

Also Wax and I both got rage headaches from the horrible pseudoscience and health food marketing gobbledygook on the websites I kept landing at.

If only you could mute websites with the term 'no nasties' my life would be so improved.

[cimorene]

Oh yeah, I wish for this constantly. Even if they just blanked out the annoying bits and left the rest of the site!