i <3 matcha

Hello!

Today’s review is going to be on saunter coffee’s matcha menu!

To start, let’s discuss their basic iced matcha latte. It comes in a 12oz and 16 oz and is priced at $6.70 and $7.70, excluding alternative milk. It comes unsweetened, but i typically ask for it sweetened. Now i’ve tried it both sweetened and unsweetened and I will say that I enjoy the sweetened version more. I’m not entirely sure what brand of matcha powder they use but the color is a vibrant green and it layers very nicely. The flavor profile of the matcha is on the bitter side and has more vegetal and grassy notes and has more of a thin consistency as opposed to a more creamy consistency. I want to also note that it is more on the milky side which I am assuming is because the matcha to milk ratio calls for more milk. If you ask for it sweetened they just use a simple syrup and it takes away the bitter taste of the matcha and makes it taste kind of like a matcha ice cream but in drink form, which I personally enjoy (sometimes).

Moving on…

Their iced strawberry matcha latte is probably one of their most popular menu items and is priced at $8.50 for the 12 oz and $9.50 for the 16oz which is on the pricier side. This drink is made with an in house strawberry sauce and milk and is topped with bits of freeze-dried strawberries. I’ve only tried this drink once and I remember it having a very strong strawberry flavor and because the matcha they use lacks depth, it is completely overpowered by the strawberry flavor. Overall, The drink isn’t bad and I would try it at least once, but I wouldn’t say it’s worth $10.

Lastly…

In September they released their seasonal fall menu and out of everything they had, their honey cardamom hojicha stood out the most to me. The drink is sweet, cinnamony, and is overall quite yummy. The color of their hojicha is a rich brown and if I remember correctly their hojicha was more smoky and a tad bit nutty but I wasn’t able to get a strong flavor profile of it because the cardamom overpowered everything else. Similar to their matcha, this drink was thinner (which could also be due to the brand of milk used) and i think it would’ve tasted even better if it was creamier which I think could’ve been achieved if I ordered the drink hot… In all honesty I cannot remember how much the drink was but I would guess it’s around $9-$10 dollars for a 12 oz.

The cafe is located on W Pender close to Paperhound Books and a 5 or so minute walk from Waterfront station! It’s very cute inside and if you’re not a fan of matcha, they have a decently big menu with lots of coffee or tea options!

That’s it for today’s post, thanks for reading!!

iced matcha latte	iced strawberry matcha	honey cardamom hojicha
taste: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.75	taste: ⭐️⭐️⭐️	taste: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.75
quality: ⭐️⭐️⭐️	quality: ⭐️⭐️⭐️	quality: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
price: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5	price: ⭐️⭐️	price: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.75	overall: ⭐️⭐️.66	overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.41

Juillet cafe is small cafe tucked into a little plaza on north road near lougheed skytrain station. I come here regularly to study and almost always order their premium matcha latte. They have multiple matcha’s with different flavors including: strawberry, lavender, ginger and ube. Their strawberry, lavender and ginger are apart of their premium matcha menu, while their ube matcha is apart of their normal menu. For the purpose of this post, we are going to be discussing their two most popular drinks, the premium matcha latte and the strawberry matcha latte (pictured above).

Their premium matcha comes in a 12oz cup and is priced around $8 and their strawberry matcha latte is around $8.40, both excluding the price of alternative milks, which falls in the general price range of matcha lattes nowadays. They carry and use Paragon Tea Room and Ippodo matcha powder for their premium menus both having a nuttier and grassy flavor profile. The regular matcha does come slightly sweetened with a simple syrup while the strawberry matcha obviously uses a strawberry puree/jam.

I am personally not a big fan of flavored matcha’s because the added flavor almost always overpowers the taste of the matcha and it feels like i’m paying for a strawberry latte at times. Their strawberry matcha is not bad and I have ordered it on multiple occasions but it’s definitely not my go-to. However, I will say that in comparison to other cafes, the strawberry doesn’t fully overpower the matcha but I think my palette in general doesn’t like the mixing of the two flavors. the strawberry jam is not super sweet and is bit more tart. I am a fan of drinks that are on the sweeter side so if like drinks that aren’t super sweet this might be more suited to your taste!

Their premium matcha latte is my personal favorite and is one of my favorite matcha lattes overall. I appreciate that it come slightly sweetened and the matcha flavor is strong. again, it has nutty and grassy profiles and the drink is a vibrant green attesting to the quality of the matcha powder they use. It’s not super sweet which kind of goes against my previous statement that I prefer sweeter drinks, but I can compromise when the overall flavor of the drink is yummy!!

The overall atmosphere of the cafe is an added bonus considering they have never kicked me out even if i’ve been there for 4+ hours doing school work… Almost everyone is studying or on a laptop so I would say if you’re also looking for a good study cafe this is the place to go!

premium matcha latte	strawberry matcha latte
taste: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5	taste: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
quality: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5	quality: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
price: ⭐️⭐️⭐️	price: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️	overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Craving a good matcha, but don’t know where to go? No worries, instead of wasting money on a pale green and milky matcha see my list below for ratings and notes on matcha lattes i’ve tried from various cafes around Vancouver and the Tri-Cities.

DISCLAIMER: This list will be periodically updated when new cafes are tried and more in depth reviews are uploaded!

Cafe Name:	Matcha Rating (out of 5 starts):
Juillet Cafe	⭐️⭐️⭐️.75
Saunter Coffee	⭐️⭐️⭐️.27