Superbolt Lab is Whisking Up Matcha in Vancouver

Vancouver has always been a caffeine obsessed city. A quick google search says there are 959 cafes in Vancouver which is a lot! I myself never developed a taste for coffee beans. I prefer to get my caffeine fix from matcha and have been an avid matcha drinker for over a decade. In fact, my blog is named after my love for green tea lattes, but I thought it would be cuter to make it "pink" hence Pink Tea Latte! It seems the rest of Vancouver has finally discovered how amazing matcha is. Superbolt Lab is one of several matcha cafes to open recently. As a self-proclaimed matcha aficionado, I thought it was my duty to try their matcha. 

Superbolt Lab is a tiny matcha specialty tea room in Kitsiliano. When I hear tea room, I imagine a space with a traditional aesthetic which is not what Supberbolt Lab is at all! Their space is a clean, minimalistic modern space with lots of silver metallics and bright pops of vibrant red and green. 

Superbolt allows their patrons to customize their iced matcha experience by offering two styles: Tokyo (less fruit & slightly more matcha) and LA (more fruit). I went with the Tokyo preparation since I wanted to maximize the matcha. I find matcha to usually have a stronger taste when they are served iced, so it is great that patrons who are not as fond of the flavour of matcha can reduce the matcha and increase the fruity sweetness. I think a high quality matcha that is prepared well tastes earthy and pleasant, but it is an acquired taste. Often matcha is described as grassy and vegetal by those new to the taste which I completely understand! 

On hot sunny days, I love an iced matcha latte and since I also love strawberries, I had to go with Superbolt's Iced Strawberry Matcha Latte with dairy milk. It is made with their house made strawberry puree which I wish was a little chunkier because I enjoy the texture of strawberry pieces versus a smooth strawberry puree. The matcha was smooth, creamy and rich in flavour. They did a great job at whisking the powder so there were no clumps. A poorly prepared matcha will have clumps of matcha powder which will be bitter and ruin the matcha drinking experience. The iced strawberry matcha latte was delicious, so I do not really have any complaints about it. 

The passion the owner of Superbolt Lab, Elliot Graham, has for tea is evident from their instagram page. There are countless posts in which he speaks at length about his process of selecting teas and fine tuning the drinks offered to patrons at Superbolt. He has worked hard to curate a selection of ceremonial Matcha & Hojicha powder from a family farm in Shizuoka, Japan. In addition to the matcha, there is also a selection of teas that they blend in house. Superbolt Lab refers to their teas as functional teas as they allegedly enhance your energy, focus or recovery. I say allegedly because those are bold claims. It definitely seems like the natural caffeine and antioxidant properties of teas is being played up, but I will let you be the judge of it. 

It also seems that a fair amount of work has gone into creating a lifestyle brand around Superbolt Lab. The branding is a vibe and I loved it, but I will never understand why every new hip cafe in Vancouver requires an extensive merchandise line! You cannot convince me that I need to purchase a Superbolt Lab branded graphic t-shirt or baseball cap. Can someone please tell me who is purchasing this merchandise? I can confidently say that neither I or my friends and family have ever purchased restaurant or cafe clothing merchandise. An argument can be made for merchandise that is coffee or food related such as tumblers, mugs etc which make far more sense to me and I have no issue with. But a $40 baseball cap that I saw at Cowdog (I will be posting about them too!) is absurd. Graphic t-shirts should be saved for the employees or to give away for contests. You cannot convince me otherwise. 

I do not see myself returning to Superbolt Lab for my fix of matcha lattes as their pricing is far too high for me. A regular matcha latte is $7.50 and for a fruit puree matcha tea latte, it is $8.50. After taxes, the strawberry iced matcha latte came out to nearly $9 which is a lot! 

An argument could be made that Superbolt Lab is using high quality matcha tea powder. I am not going to argue that and also acknowledge matcha tea powder can get quite expensive. On the other hand, it also seems silly to be using a premium matcha powder in a beverage that contains syrup, flavouring and fruit puree. A good example that comes to mind are cocktails. You would never use a premium whiskey to make a cocktail because you would mask all of the subtle flavour notes and depth of aging! Instead, you would enjoy that premium whiskey on its own! A strawberry iced matcha latte can be made with mid grade matcha powder and it would taste just as delicious. 

Additionally, if I am going to pay such a premium for matcha latte at a cafe, I expect to also be able to enjoy the full cafe experience. The Superbolt Lab tea room is tiny with space for perhaps 3 individuals to sit on a little bench along the wall. I also did not see any kind of snack or pastry to enjoy with your tea. 

My final thoughts on Superbolt Lab is that it delivers on the vibes and the matcha, but it will cost you! 

BYES