Matcha Outlet

I made cupcakes this afternoon after getting home from brunch with my parents; vanilla cake with yellow zucchini shreds and a 50/50 Richberry Pie and Bananas & Cream infused vanilla frosting! They’re super moist, fluffy little cakes of heaven.

The matcha infused icing is interesting ‘cause you can really taste elements of both matchas; the mixed berry from Richberry and the Banana from Bananas & Cream, but some elements are lost as well such as the cinnamon/pie crust from the former and in the case of the latter the ’cream’ completely blends in with the vanilla flavouring of the icing. It’s not an obvious pairing either, but it meshes well and creates a really nice sweet, fruity flavor!

Tre’s still out of town on vacation (kinda starting to miss him; it feels like it’s been AGES since he left) which sucks; I tried one and instantly wanted to share it with him ‘cause I’m sure he’d love the flavour of the matcha icing. Plus, he’s not big on zucchini in cupcakes but I think I could pass these off to him without him even realizing it’s there ‘cause the zucchini was so finely shredded and blends in well since it’s yellow!

Sipdown (112)!

Well, I finished it off. Err, sort of. It wasn’t exactly me who finished it – though I did have a couple sips when I was preparing it.

I made this one for my Dad yesterday; he came up for a few hours in the morning to visit – and he brought some of my dental refund money with him! Hooray! I made this one specifically for him because I wanted him to get to see the chawan he bought me for my birthday in action! And why not take advantage of the easy sipdown!?

The whole process was captivating to him; from measuring to whisking to just drinking it. I went with a more traditional prep method; simple hot water instead of cold milk which is my preference. I personally, just based on the few sips I had, thought that apart from feeling thinner the flavour was a lot more cinnamon than berry.

Dad couldn’t pinpoint the flavour at all though; but to be fair “Rich Berry Pie” isn’t exactly the easiest thing to guess. He knew there was fruit – but that’s about all he was able to narrow down. He did enjoy it though!

I ended setting almost all of it aside for some more ink though; first thing I did in the morning was a tattoo consultation: I’ll be adding a Mrs. Marvel quote, my siblings names, one of the panels from Shel Silverstein’s poem “The Thinker of Tender Thoughts”, and a banner of binary code to my quickly building accumulation of tattoos. I have a three hour session to get everything done booked in for about a week from now…

Timolino with cold milk.

I definitely thought the berry was a little bitter stronger than the ‘pie crust’ (cinnamon, butter, phillo dough) elements this time around. It was delicious as per usual; I think that when I finish this one I’m definitely going to have to add it to my next matcha order…

So far I’m looking at Pistachio, Champagne, Apricot and now this tea for that order. Cashew is another that’d be interesting, though. We’ll see though; I need to finish off some more matcha before I can even think about placing it.

I am running out of unique ways to prepare this one though…

Good thing I’ve only got about another chawan/timolino worth though before it’s gone. Thanks again Stephanie for this one – I’ve really enjoyed it!

Happy Belated Pi(e) Day!

For people who don’t/didn’t know – Pi Day is March. 14th, and named so because the date is “03/14” – like the mathematical term. And, this year was extra special because the date was 03/14/15! I think I first learned about this fun pseudo holiday from a math teacher in highschool? But, ever since it’s been something fun to celebrate by going out and buying a pie and eating the whole thing with a few friends. Which is what I did yesterday; bought an apple pie after work and shared it with Tre.

I also wanted to drink pie tea – but couldn’t actually think of anything I owned that was pie related. That is, until this morning when it struck me that, duh, I have this! So, I drank it a day late – but it’s still in spirit of the holiday, so it totally still counts, right? I think so.

Whisked up in matcha; was really tasting the cinnamon pastry notes, with more of a berry aftertaste. It was good though; super frothy!

And – not Pi(e) day related, but it is matcha related! We got confirmation from Rikyu today that Birthday Chawan choice #2 is now officially mine! Hooray! It’s gorgeous, and I’m so excited for it to show up! Now just the hard part; waiting for it to arrive…

(This is the one I got: http://www.rikyucha.com/item/list2/104031/)

Oh, and PS. Thank you everyone for the birthday wishes! Definitely added a lot to my day!

I have major ‘sick brain’ going on right now. I’ve just had a one-sided conversation with Tre where I basically mocked him for having a second shower in one day. I was talking through the bathroom door while I believed he was showering on the other side. Except, I literally just realized he’s not even home and the sound of running water I was perceiving was him showering was, well, the washing machine.

Err…

I made this into matcha soda last night; I had this shining moment of clarity upon getting home from work after drinking the dregs of a bottle of Buckley’s where, for an hour or so, I didn’t feel sick. I took that time to drink something a little more fun that the repetitive sick teas I’ve been drowning myself in this week.

As a soda, this was surprisingly good! The berry was clear, and it worked because, well, most carbonated fruit drinks just seem to work. At least the ratio of good fruit flavoured “pop” compared with bad fruit flavoured “pop” leans heavily towards good, anyway. I still don’t really taste any one berry flavour more than another, though I did keep coming back to raspberries/blackberries last night but I believe that’s less of a flavour thing and more of a “me wanting that flavour to be present” thing.

I’m kind of head over heels for the “crust” aspect of this matcha though; the buttery, pastry like cinnamon flavour captured in this one is spot on and really ties the “pie” altogether – though it was definitely weird tasting it carbonated. I’m trying to think if I’ve ever had carbonated cinnamon/spice before and I think the answer is no, I haven’t – but it did work for me, so I may just have to try another cinnamon/spice heavy tea soda when I’m feeling better again.

So thank you again stephanie for the sample! This is only the second way I’ve prepped this one, but I’m already having a lot of fun playing with it. I have it in my head that this would go great with banana matcha, so I think that’s what’s next up to try!

EDIT: Today’s word of the day is dextrous. Dextrous means: 1. Skillful or adroit in the use of the hands or body. 2. having mental adroitness or skill; clever.

Fun fact; my spellchecker disagrees with my calendar because, according to spellcheck, ‘dextrous’ isn’t actually a word.

From miss Stephanie!

The art I commissioned from her and tea samples made it to me not even twenty minutes before I left to go to the bus depot; so I didn’t have time to take pictures for you guys or add any of the tea samples into what I packed for my trip. I don’t know if she took any pictures before mailing stuff off, but if she did I have no problem with her sharing them so you guys can see!

The whole packaged smelled like this matcha; despite all the bags she had it in. So fruity; and so much berry! Even though I was really rushed to leave, I quickly opened up the sample baggie and measured out about 1 tsp. to shake up and add to the bottle of vanilla Milk2Go I was bringing with me. I’m a little sad my first impression of this one wont be straight; but it smelled too good to not try as soon as possible.

If I’m being honest, I’ve never had a rich berry pie before. I mean, yes I’ve had all sorts of pies with berries – my favourite of which is Saskatoon Berry (Robert; I will be tickled pink if you make me a Saskatoon Berry matcha), but never rich berry. My understanding is that it’s basically sort of an amalgamation of every sort of berry pie? Someone correct me if I’m wrong about that though. If that’s what it is, it sounds delightful and yummy!

Initial thought upon drinking this one: Man I hope we don’t hit a bump in the road! It’d suck to spill matcha milk all over myself on the bus when I still have like two hours left in my trip. But then after I had finished with that thought and successfully not spilled anything my next thought was something along the lines of “man, what I rich berry flavour! Oh – I get it. I get the name.” Yeah, I can’t say the berry in this is anything really descript but if it’s just sort of meant to be “all berries” then I can understand and accept why that is. In the vanilla milk, it’s exceptionally creamy and smooth too – like a mixed berry milkshake, sort of.

Still working on drinking this and I’m noticing something else too; there’s a buttery cinnamon note to this matcha as well. At first I didn’t really get why, but then it clicked that it must be meant to taste like a cinnamon dusted pastry crust! And once I realized that I totally tasted it; it just comes together to create this very complete and well rounded flavour of pie! It’s not just “an assortment of berries dumped together” – it’s berry pie. And I’ve had other pie matchas (Pumpkin) from RLT before – I can say confidently that the crust element in that blend is not as well executed as it is in this one. And now that I’m really getting into the pie aspect of the matcha and not just the berry, the vanilla in the milk is reminding me of a dallop of vanilla ice cream on top. Perfection!

This is cool! I’m happy Stephanie sent a fair amount of it, because I know I’m going to have fun experimenting with it! One of the better “fruit” matchas I’ve had, for sure!

Must have messed this up something fierce the first time I made this. The spices are definitely prevalent amoung the flavors. I’m not sensing much pumpkin. It’s there but it’s not as strong as I thought it was going to be.

Smells like Bubblicios bubble gum. Tastes like…. something not guava. Something artificial. Kinda reminds me of something but I’m not quite sure of what that is. Maybe this tastes like a guava that I haven’t tasted but it sure doesn’t taste like Hawaiian guava.

1/2 tsp matcha and 6 oz milk

Morning matcha milk! This sample came from cookies, thank you dear! I’ve been using my lovely new Blender Bottle for these, and it works beautifully (plus I love that it has measurement marks along the side and a really wide mouth so I can sift right into it). This matcha milk was 1/2 teaspoon of matcha and 4 ounces of unsweetened soy milk.

The verdict: very tasty! I can actually taste the pumpkin part instead of just spices (although the nuttiness of the soy milk itself probably helps with that). The spicing is quite mild, so honestly this reminds me more of a roasted piece of squash or a baked sweet potato with a bit of brown sugar and spice over the top. Delish! :)

So, this is me finally jumping on the matcha bandwagon. I’ve read reviews for a while now, and I’ve been very curious about it. Unfortunately, I’ve had a couple of really bad matcha experiences (both in restaurants) that kept me from placing an order, but I decided it’s time to give matcha a try at my home where I have control over the quality of the tea I drink.

I tried this hot, and I tried this as an iced latte. The hot tea was incredibly creamy and smooth. There was a cheesecake note, but it wasn’t as strong as I was expecting. Instead, the flavor of the matcha itself really came through, and it was lovely. I’m having a hard time finding words other than ‘clean’ and ‘green’ to describe it. That said, it was a creamy, smooth, green, clean tasting cup that I found super comforting.

As an iced latte the cheesecake flavor really came out. I used skim milk, and I did add two teaspoons of sugar to the 12 oz latte. The result was a wonderfully yummy drink with creamy cheesecake notes. I also liked that I could still taste the matcha even though the flavor wasn’t as easily detected as it was in the hot tea. I can see why this matcha would be fun to add to smoothies and frappes, and I’ll probably do the same once the weather warms. I really liked the cheesecake flavor, and I can see myself mixing it with other flavors in the future just to have some fun (and tasty!) lattes.

I’m still really new to matcha, but I can see myself totally falling in love with it.

Name: Cheesecake Matcha
Size: 30g
Flavor: Distinctive

You can find the tea here:
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/cheesecake-matcha.html#.VLGdQyuAHDc

Sipdown! Thanks for the sample Marzipan, I enjoyed trying this one. I have to say I didn’t get cheesecake from this at all. It was just kind of creamy and rich tasting, but not particularly cheesecake like. Not bad at all, but compared to the super rich French Vanilla flavor this just doesn’t compare.

I know I reviewed this as an matcha latte but I don’t see it now, nor was this listed as in my cupboard. Drat it, Steepster!

Inspired by the pictures that Red Leaf posts on Facebook, I made some matcha ice cream with a twist. The twist – I used homemade kefir, which generally produces a frozen yogurt like dessert that tastes like cheesecake. My only ingredients were 12 ounces kefir, 1 1/2 TBLSP sugar, and a scant teaspoon of matcha. I froze it in my Zoku cup since it was a small batch. I froze it in two batches successively, adding it to my teacup.

It was very tasty, and healthy, though that is a lot of matcha at one time for me since I ate it all by myself!

Thank you, Red Leaf, for the matcha surprise! My student who shared some with me has emailed three times for help in choosing their flavors as they are requesting your matcha as their birthday gift at home!

My son asked for Black Cherry Matcha from Red Leaf Tea for Christmas, so I ordered 60 grams and upgraded the base because it really seems to make a difference to me. When the order arrived, there was also this pouch of 30 grams of Madagascar Vanilla Matcha! I panicked, wondering if I had ordered wrong, if my son’s pouch of tea was also just 30 grams and they had made a mistake but NO! It was a gift! A bonus! There was a little note on my invoice with a smiley face!

I had skipped lunch running errands so I wanted a latte to fill me up fast. I made a big glass and told my son to try a sip, and I was a little alarmed when the “sip” went on and on and greatly diminished my glass! He handed it back and said, “I’ll have one!” So I made another glass for him.

I used about eleven or twelve ounces of skim milk, one tablespoon of sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon of matcha. I stirred with a spoon then further mixed and frothed with an Aerolatte, a little mixing tool that costs less than $20 and can easily be had for less using a coupon at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

Also, I really like the new packaging. For a matcha that I will drink pretty quickly as lattes like this one, the new zipper pouch is perfectly good storage and I don’t have to be frantic about finding a tin or jar right away.

Thanks for the sample Marzipan!
This isn’t bad, but I can’t say I get pumpkin pie out of it. It’s a nice light spicy matcha, more pumpkin spice than pumpkin pie. It’s heavy on the cloves with a bit of cinnamon and maybe a sprinkle of nutmeg. No discernible pumpkin unfortunately. But, still, it’s a lovely tea for a cool winter afternoon.

Accidentally opened package B first. The smell of roses and graham crackers hit my nose as soon as I opened the sample. Bit of an odd combination. The flavor is somewat floral as well. As far as graham cracker goes though…. I’m not really tasting it. This is probably going to the bottom of my list.

Did you know the difference between vanilla and French vanilla is eggs? Had to look it up. They say french vanilla is a bit more camarel, floral, and custard like. I can see that now. This matcha brings out that flavor pretty well. Custard, definitely.
Cream. Vanilla of course.
Yea. I quite enjoy this one.
Used almond milk and mixed matcha with water.

Water and almond milk
I’m using a scissors from now on… i ripped it open and it dusted the counter top. Not much spilled but still.
We’re enjoying this one. Think the milk and water milk is a bit off but luckily this matcha is good enough that you barely notice. The french vanilla makes me think of silk fabric. Everything about this matcha is so smooth.

1 tsp+ 1 cup cold whole milk*= OH MY LANTA.

*shaken, not stirred

I can’t believe that I am drinking matcha right now. This is not matcha, no way. As if the funny green color of my milk could trick me. Nope. This is not matcha, this is actually funfetti cake batter for astronauts.

The green powder just needs to be rehydrated in some milk for you to feel like your grandma handed you a bowl of funfetti mix to lick after she was done pouring the cupcakes. But all this is happening in an imaginary world without calories or salmonella. Sounds too good to be true, right? Well, this is the reality created by Red Leaf Tea.

And oh my goodness, talk about an energy blast! I feel like the energizer bunny crushing through Ochem, cleaning the house top to bottom, and going for a run…and wait…it’s hardly 11 in the morning. And guess what? No crash. All the glorious caffeinated benefits of matcha without the matcha flavor. The flavor of the vanilla is definitely WHAM, in your face, ready to take your taste buds to a dance party. This is seriously the perfect matcha for dessert lovers who are afraid of the taste of matcha.

Get your hands on a cup here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/french-vanilla-matcha.html#.VInq4WTF-aE

Yay, I got this as a free sample from Red Leaf Tea. Thanks so much, I really appreciate the chance to try some of your product before buying! I must confess, I am a matcha novice… I have really no experience with it, but I’ve heard good things from other people here on Steepster, and when I saw that the French Vanilla was available for sampling, I had to give it a go! I decided to follow the directions for a cold latte, minus the ice cubes. So I put 8 ounces of vanilla soy milk in an empty water bottle and added a half teaspoon of the matcha, then shook it vigorously for a few seconds.

I must say, it came out very tasty! I think next time I might try it with 6 ounces of milk instead of 8 (the instructions recommended 6-8) just because I wouldn’t mind a stronger flavor. I figured I’d stick to the lower matcha:milk ratio this time, just because I was unsure whether I would like it or not. Next time, all bets are off! I will say, the vanilla of the soy milk combined with the vanilla of the matcha is lovely. However, I find that this has a light coconut flavor to it as well, so not sure if that’s from the matcha? Either way, delicious creamy vanilla-coconut goodness.

This matcha whisked up in a jif and smells nice and sweet. The flavor is a nice balance of vegetal, sweet, and bitter. This is a very well-balanced matcha so it is aptly named if it’s considered the “classic”. The color is a deep foresty green. There’s a bit of tanginess or sourness that lingers on the tongue after a sip, similar to lemon juice.

This one is actually pretty good. It has all the qualities I’ve been finding in the different matcha teas from Red Leaf all rolled into one, a good intermediary.

Whoa! I have to admit I was not at all prepared for this. I almost spit the matcha out after whisking it up and drinking a deep sip of it simply because I did not expect the reaction it had in my mouth. As soon as I felt this very tingly, intense vegetal presence in my mouth I was expecting an intense bitterness to follow. It is definitely astringent, but surprisingly not in the bitter sense. It’s like biting into a grapefruit wedge. It makes your tongue prickle and your mouth pucker, though the flavor is much more akin to seaweed or bok choy.

This one was really shocking. My description probably sounds kind of wonky. As far as matcha goes, this was a close encounter of the Third Kind. Really unexpected. Very intense flavor.

The Anaconda Malt Liquor of matcha teas right here… Gives ya WOOO!

This matcha had a very mouth-filling taste and texture. It is bold in a sense, but in a very easy-to-handle kind of way. I really can’t pin down what flavors this has. Mostly it is sort of green and reminds me of tree leaves and fresh tree wood. There’s also a bit of metallic or mineral taste and a very subtle bitterness in the aftertaste that is definitely not too much for me.

This one was interesting. Nothing particularly stood out to me. It all seemed like one big bold mouth-filling flavor. It was a really different experience than I’ve had with Red Leaf’s other matchas, so I liked it. On the other hand, nothing stood out enough to make me particularly enthusiastic about it.

This is one of the more complex tasting matcha from Red Leaf Tea. The flavor starts sweet and then it gets a little roasty tasting, finishing in more sweetness accompanied by a pretty moderate dose of bitterness. There are sweet bready notes to it and notes of fresh sweet grasses and flowers.

This matcha is pretty good overall. It whisks and foams well, the color is a nice deep emerald green, and the flavor is not dull or uninteresting. The one downside of it to me is the bitterness which lingers on your tongue for a while after the sip, but oddly there is a sweetness that lingers there too, so the flavor is two-fold.

I’d say it’s a good brisk wake-me-up matcha for people who like a stronger beverage. I tend to stray from bitter flavors though, so I’ll pass on purchasing this one. I will, however, savor the samples I have left. :3

Here is another tea from Red Leaf that just didn’t want to froth. The foam depleted and disappeared within moments, despite getting a pretty heavy froth going with very tiny bubbles. The color is sort of an olive drab.

This one has a sort of tangy bitterness to it. It’s hard to describe. There’s a really subtle hint of a honey like flavor but it gets overtaken by the bitterness in the finish of the sip. This tea has a bit of a sourness to it like biting into a lemon. It’s interesting. More unique in flavor than the Shokuku was, but also not as agreeable, and overall not one I would recommend for sitting and drinking. Might be good for the kitchen.