Matcha Outlet

a good tea :) tastes/smells (the dry powder too) more like green apple jolly rancher candy to me than apple pie :P

SSTTB: Pick #5

Still haven’t bought milk yet, but today on break I went to Subway and got a couple bottles of vanilla flavoured milk to try with different matches. And when I got home I remembered this one was in the box, and I haven’t tried this flavour before so I thought “why not, that’ll go good with vanilla!”.

Since the milk is in bottles I just added a 1/2 tsp. of matcha to the bottle and shook it around a whole bunch with the cap on. It actually did a really good job blending it, and it was nice and frothy. I wasn’t totally wrong about this one being good with vanilla; it did have a definitely cookies and cream vibe, although to me it was more like Hershey’s Cookies and Cream chocolate bars than Oreos (like in the picture). The mail problem was just that it was very, very sweet! Cloying levels of sweet.

My hunch is that’s more because of milk than anything else though and since there’s pretty much a full 30g bag of this in here I may just take another tsp. or two to set aside for when I do have milk so that I can try it without the vanilla milk.

Holding off on rating.

So I saw my new Rheumatologist today and I have some interesting news! Turns out I might not have Lupus, I might just have Hypothyroidism and Fibromyalgia (just like my mom, genetics!). He is not quite ready to rule out autoimmune disorders entirely since I show a lot of signs of Lupus, but my blood work came back negative and I have all the symptoms of Fibro (just an added bonus butterfly rash for fun?) and thyroid problems on the blood work. So new medicine to try for fatigue and pain management, and lots of monitoring my condition. I would be quite content with this diagnosis, the fear of Lupus trying to kill me was getting really old.

Today’s tea is another from the Red Leaf Tea 20 Teas Sampler, Milk Gao Shan Tea (number 5). I am slowly making my way through all the teas, ok actually I have long since tasted all the teas in this sampler and recorded my notes in my tea-notebook, so really I am slowly adding them to my blog. You can tell these tasting notes are a bit old since this was pre-gaiwan days, such nostalgia. From what I gathered from a quick skim of the internet, Gao Shan is translated to High Mountain, so this tea is essentially a Taiwanese High Mountain Milk Oolong. The aroma is very sweet, true to its name it smells very milky and creamy. In fact I would go as far as say this tea smells like vanilla ice cream with a touch of chestnut and hay. If you are unfamiliar with Milk Oolong’s distinct aroma, it can seem a little unreal. There is also, at the very finish of a particularly long sniff, a touch of pineapple.

After giving the tea a nice steeping and watching the leaves unfurl a bit, the aroma of them in their little steeping basket is less intensely sweet and creamy and much more like you would expect a green oolong to smell. There are notes of chestnut and fresh vegetation with an underlying aroma of sweet cream and honey. The liquid is a buttery mix of sweet cream and fresh vegetation. It is fairly mild and only slightly sweet.

First steeping time! The first thing I notice is that buttery smooth mouthfeel, I am such a sucker for oolongs that have that distinct mouthfeel. The taste starts out quite sweet and floral, like sweet cream and honeysuckles. This fades to vegetal, mixing notes of fresh vegetation and fresh spinach. After this my mouth is treated to a bit of chestnut and an aftertaste of cream.

The aroma of the second steep is really sweet and creamy, much more so than the aroma of the first steeping. The taste starts out a bit bitter, like kale, this very quickly fades to chestnut, sweet cream, and honeysuckles. The mouthfeel is also still pretty smooth and buttery, which I enjoy. As the tea cools, all bitterness fades and we are left with a mouth full of sweet, milky, goodness. This Milk Oolong is not bad, I have had better and I have had worse, this is a perfect example of adequate.

For photos and blog: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/06/red-leaf-tea-milk-gao-shan-tea-tea.html

The day has finally come where I mustered up the courage to try this tea. I got it in my very first swap with aisling of tea and De about 3 months ago.

I’ve never tried matcha before on my own. I’ve had fruit smoothies with matcha powder at the mall, and I’ve tried green tea ice cream, but this is still a new experience for me.

I ended up mixing a full David’s Perfect Teaspoon (about 2.5 tsp) with a cup of almond milk and a cup or so of vanilla ice cream.

Mixed up, I’m not quite sure what to make of this. It’s minty, but the green undertone of the tea isn’t quite meshing well for me. Also, it tastes kind of chemically, when I was really expecting just to get a clear sweet mint taste like lifesavers.

I’m not sure if I did this correctly. I took the powder, put a splash of almond milk in to make it a paste, mixed in the rest of the milk, and then added the powder/milk mix to the blender with the ice cream. Any pointers here? I’ve probably got at least a few tsp of this left to finish off and I’d feel bad just throwing it out.

Matcha!

I was so happy that Red Leaf made this the sample of the month. I have been waiting to try it for a while, and this was my big chance. I have to admit that the scent put me off at first. However, it tastes pretty yummy. I am to the point where I mix it up in about 8 oz of almond milk with just a little sweetener. I also had some chia seeds on hand, and threw about a half tablespoon in and then blended it all up. You know, this is not a bad combo at all. I may even put in half a frozen banana next time. Also, I would consider buying this, but I need to seriously drink some of the matcha I have. Sweet with the taste of almond. I wonder what flavoring level this is in the sample…..it is perfect.

thank you VariaTEA i added this to some milk today, since when you’re trying to drink the world, why not throw in some matcha as well lol this one is actually pretty tasty. It’s like liquid candy cane in my cup haha. I’m sort of in the same boat as OMGsrsly – in that i’ve gone off of flavoured matcha. however, since i haven’t had any in a while this was a nice treat :)

Made this as a cold latte today, which seems to be the best way I can make them. I used the whole packet sample in my matcha mug, a little raw cane sugar, a little slightly cooled water, used my electric whisk frother for a few seconds (maybe 15?) and then slowly added about 1/3 cold milk and continued frothing. At that point I decided to try using more milk, so I turned the whisk brother off, added more milk, frothed again for another 15-20 seconds. The flavour is fairly mild behind all the milk, but creamy. Only it is a bit more artificial than I like, but tasty still.

Thanks for the sample, sil.

I used homemade rice milk for the Belgian Chocolate Matcha this morning just to try something a little different.
It was crazy good but I can’t give it a rating till I drink it regular some more, I drank it once with regular milk and it was pretty good but it was so much better with the rice milk, it was creamy and sweet and quite chocolatey. My rice milk is already slightly sweet and has a slight vanilla flavor to it and that played a big part in the way it tasted this time.
It seems as if it didn’t have this much chocolately flavor the last time i tried it.

If ya got the Belgian Chocolate You should try it with some rice milk or maybe add vanilla sometime, it lends a extra creamy note to it :)

The key to making a good flavored match is to use vanilla milk! At first this tea was rather bland using unsweetened soy milk.With the addition of vanilla soy milk it really had a great flavor not really chocolate it was just good. I had it as a cold drink,i dissolved the powder in hot water first then added the cold milk.

I’m declaring today Drink Whatever Makes Me Happiest Day.

So I started my day with this made with raw milk :)

Nom Nom Nom

I’m shocked no one has reviewed this yet!

My husband got me some for my birthday, and I tried it this morning. It DOES taste just like Starbucks! I know because on my actual birthday I went to Starbucks for my free drink (if you register any gift card online you get a free drink on your birthday!) and so I just had the real deal recently.

Me likes this!!! Oh, the beautiful Amaretto Flavour!

Mixed with some vanilla almond milk and a few ice cubes, this was delightful! The almond flavour really works, although I wish I could taste the matcha more. Yumm-ay.

this flavour is truly incredible. it boosts my entire smoothie to an aromatic, fruity, aristocratic work of art!

truly brilliant. no time to review….. homework, homework. RED LEAF…… i am sharing with fellow students, who are also amazed by you!!!!

Red Leaf Tea provides a high quality and delicious matcha tea that comes in assorted flavors which can be purchased through their website: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/belgium-chocolate-matcha.html . The flavored teas provide an interesting experience for the taste buds by keeping me from getting bored while still getting a daily dose of antioxidants to keep my body healthy. I make my tea each morning by mixing the matcha with boiling water from my teapot in a thermos I bring to work and enjoy throughout the morning. Perhaps it is a limitation of how I make the tea, but by the end of the thermos, the last cup from the bottom is very dense with tea despite mixing between refills. I often mix this with some additional water to make the right consistency for my last cup. The Belgium Chocolate Matcha Tea doesn’t taste like a commercial candy bar, but rather enlightens the flavor of the matcha with the enchanting flavor of gourmet cocoa. While the tea is not sweet without added sugar, it can easily be adjusted to the appropriate level of sweetness with added sugar, honey or milk (the last of with is my favorite on weekends!). While there are other flavors of Red Leaf Tea that I do enjoy more, the Belgium Chocolate Matcha was certainly a delightful experience.

Sipdown…from the sil matcha bag I got. I did manage to make this one well, and I got some butterscoth sweetness, but it was not too stung. It was still tasty, but not a fave.

Um yyyuuuummmm. This matcha is so good! I’ve already had two today lol. It tastes like a caramel milk shake. I’ve only had the English toffee and Belgium chocolate matchas. Compared to those two, the caramel flavor is stronger and the matcha milk seems much creamier. The directions said 1 scoop, so I used the small spoon from my silverware for 8oz milk. I want to drink this all the time!!

Yikes. Age does not treat flavoured matcha very well.
It left mostly floral notes, and only a bit of grape. So I mixed it with OJ and well, not bad… but not great either. A bit medicine-y. I did enjoy the overall effect. Maybe I’ll try it mixed with sparkling water next time. Or in a martini :)

How is this not the matcha that everyone talks about?? It is so tasty!
I made it straight up, no sugar or anything, and it was sweet, grape like one of those lifesaver gummies, and a tad floral. Usually I don’t go for floral in my matchas, but here, I don’t mind it. After adding a tiny bit of sugar, it was super flavourful and juicy. I had to look in the mirror and make sure I wasn’t purple, there was so much yowza in there! Mind you, I did go with robust.
One thing I need to watch out for is bitterness, as I could taste just a hint of it and there is no way I burned the water or didn’t use enough. and I mixed the heck outta my cup. I can’t wait to try this via shaken bottle method!!

I’ve been drinking hot tea all day, so I thought I’d take a matcha break! The first time I tried this, I thought the flavor was too light for my liking. So, this time I used 3/4 tsp rather than the recommended 1/2 tsp. It tastes….exactly the same lol. The level of chocolate taste is like a very weak chocolate milk. I’d definitely order robust if I were to order this one.

Mmm matcha. I had this on the way to work this morning, in cold milk. So good! I got this as the free sample for May. Are the free samples automatically the delicate flavor level? If so, I would get this in distinctive, or maybe even robust level of flavor. The chocolate was there, and so creamy, but I wanted MOAR CHOCOLATE. As always lol

Sipdown (108)!

Cold shaken in my timolino with plain cold water.

I don’t know why, but with just water this seems so much sweeter to me. The marzipan notes are very intense and there’s that cherry flavour that seems to come through with almond extract or things with a high concentration of marzipan in them. Then in the background there’s a bit of a grassier taste and some floral notes from the matcha. It’s not that I don’t enjoy this one in water but it is a little cloying, and I think better suited for milk (cashew or otherwise) where it can be muted a little and has a creamier flavour.

Today’s word of the day is… Pundit.

Pundit means “an expert : authority”.

The final flavour from Red Leaf Tea’s sampler! Like the penultimate flavour (Cotton Candy), this is one I’ve tried before – however it’s been over a year since I first had it. Just like Cotton Candy matcha, I also prepared this one in cold milk but for the purposes of this tasting I’ll be doing it in cold cashew milk to stay consistent with the rest of the teas in the sampler.

Here are some snippets from my review to see if my old observations are in line with the observations from this tasting:

“…really strong … very rich and marzipan like”, “I found that there was a faint chemical edge to the aftertaste”, and “almost too much almond concentrated into … one cup”.

Remarkably, I made almost the same observations this time as well. Even before opening up the sample packet and measuring out the matcha I was sure I could faintly smell the almond aroma – and once that packet was cracked I couldn’t smell anything but. This matcha is very strongly flavoured; I didn’t taste any vegetal or grassy notes from the matcha itself and for, I think, the first time since starting this sampler the flavour of the matcha completely eclipsed the taste of the cashew milk.

The one part where my observation from last time differs is that I didn’t think it tasted chemical or artificial at all; just really, really strong. Of course, like often comes with concentrated almond flavour, I did think this was quite sweet with definite marzipan notes – but apart from that I think this is just a very true, accurate and BOLD flavour. Fans of almond will love it, and people who dislike almond to start will cringe because of the intensity.

Personally, if I didn’t already own a large quantity of Pistachio matcha I’d probably add this to my list of flavors to buy in my next order – but you really only need to own so many nutty matchas at a time.

Final rankings of the five flavors of matcha from the sampler:

1. Almond

2. Butterscotch

3. Coffee

4. Cranberry

5. Cotton Candy

Sipdown (179/185)!

This is the first thing I’m having from the newest package of teas VariaTEA has sent me; it was the easiest to work into my tea line up for the day because I just made it alongside the other cup of matcha I was having this morning.

Man, this smells strong! What’s the flavouring level here? Because I cracked open the package from you and literally this is the first thing I could smell. It was intense, even after VariaTEA double bagging it! Good intense though; like marzipan and yum!

Whisked into milk, it frothed up at a seriously insane level. Like, I had to wait for the froth to go away so I could pour more milk in the cup – the froth was taking up all the space! And it tasted pretty good; really strong and very rich and marzipan like. I would have enjoyed it an awful lot but I found that there was a faint chemical edge to the aftertaste. Like it was almost too much almond concentrated into the one cup of cold milk.

I have to say, I’m glad I got this from you because I was semi curious about it, and it’s Red Leaf’s free tea sample of the month for June so I think I would have picked up the free sample if I hadn’t got this from you. But now trying it I can say that yeah this is really good but just the one experience is probably enough to keep my satisfied especially given how much matcha I have on hand right now anyway.

Thanks VariaTEA!