Matcha Outlet

Sipdown!! (165)

So long pear matcha. You made for a tasty addition to my cupboard and though I am sad yo see you go, I really enjoyed my pear matcha smoothie. Thank you Roswell Strange for sending it my way.

I ran out of frozen fruit for my smoothies so today I used ice. That meant for a thinner drink but also less flavors to compete with the matcha. So, today I am happily sipping on a french vanilla and pear smoothie and though the flavor is subtle, it is definitely there and true-to-the-fruit and adding a little something extra to the drink. Thank you for sharing Roswell Strange!!

Nooooo, mj1851 sent me her last teaspoon of this and I screwed it up! I made a smoothie, but used too much ice and although I can taste the matcha, I can’t taste the flavoring. I love matcha so I’m happy, but I wish I would’ve been able to taste the toffee.
Boo :( Definitely have to place an order with red leaf teas now. Thanks for enabling mj1851 ;P

Sipdown (150/157)!

I used up the last of this one last night when I got home in a matcha milkshake! Here’s the formula:

- 2 Tbsp. of match
- 1/2 Cup of Raspberries
- Two Scoops of Vanilla Greek Yogurt
- 2 Cups of Milk

I only drank half of what I made though; I thought this tasted really gross; very grassy (which is definitely from the matcha; I haven’t been able to escape the gross grassiness of this one in anything I’ve had it in) and the chocolate didn’t mix and well with the raspberries as you’d think it would. Plus, the matcha kept seperating from the rest of the mix super quickly instead of staying blended like has been the case with the other ones I’ve made.

Pretty gross overall. At least this one is gone though! I don’t ever plan to get it again, heh…

Mixed 50/50 with Bananas & Cream matcha. Not as agreeable a combo as you would think. But you can read more of my thoughts on that in this review:

http://steepster.com/roswellstrange/posts/248068#comments

Now that I have milk again (I go through it so damn quickly!) I broke open my sample of this and whisked it up in a large cup! I was really expecting to love it given that it smells so rich and cocoa-y.

Sadly, I don’t think that’s going to be the case because really I thought the flavours of this were very unbalanced, leaning towards a thick, weighty vegetal seaweed/hay like flavour with a light, dusty cocoa aftertaste (more like “afterflicker” because it was gone so fast). Yuck yuck yuck! This is almost painfully close to my first matcha experiences, which were nightmares

It actually reminded me of the nasty White Chocolate Matcha bars DT sells/was selling – but without the excessive sweetness. It took me forever to finish off that chocolate bar. So finishing this matcha will be a task, that’s for sure…

this + super fruit greens + raspberries + 1 banana + fresh coconut/mango/banana juice + 1/4 cup light cream. blend. held me for 6 hours AND (tah dah!!!!!) my red leaf smoothie trend must be working because i’ve lost 5 inches!!!

just the right amount of tang, lovely smooth long term caffeine punch. this is awesome!

yippee! this was my favourite smoothie thus far. i feel so bad for booster juice….. they’ve got nothing on my blender =0)

I tried making this pretty much the same way I did it yesterday for the amaretto, with the exception that I heated the milk a little in the microwave before adding it to the cup to froth. I’m not sure if that made a difference or not, but I had a hard time picking the hazelnut out in this one. Yesterday I could clearly taste the amaretto. So I might try the cold milk again and see what happens with another flavour.

Sample sipdown…not sure where this came from or what flavour level it was, nor how old it is.

So keep those things in mind :)

It looked different from the other RL matchas I’ve tried, because it was brown instead if green. Is that because of the cocoa powder or could it be a different type of matcha?

Taking all this into consideration, I did enjoy this matcha. I made a hot latte out of it with normal milk, as per my usual. It was pretty chocolatey, however there was an odd aftertaste which was slightly chemical, but that may have just been the combo of the vegetal matcha taste with chocolate.

Overall, while I had a nice cup, I don’t think I would purchase this one. I’m glad I found an old sample to try because I was considering including this flavour in a future RL purchase.

I will stick to non chocolate flavours for my matcha! Or chocolate plus something else, because I think Tiramisu included chocolate and I enjoyed that one enough to buy.

I think I went into this with too high of expectations.

I mixed it up with some vanilla almond milk, and was expecting a sweet and kind of decadent chocolate/vanilla beverage.

Alas.

The chocolate isn’t as stand out-ish as I was hoping for (though I’d reckon that could be corrected by ordering a stronger flavor, so I’ll refrain from judgment at this time), but it is definitely there as a kind of not-quite-sweet dark cocoa flavor.

What I don’t necessarily care for is that it seems that there’s a floral element to the cup and its out of place here.

Overall, it’s not bad and I’ll breeze through the sample packet. I just don’t know if I’d go out of my way for it again. Oh well! There’s more matcha fish in the sea, I just need to find the chocolate one for me.

Banana! Nana nana. Bananaaaaaaaaaaaa!
After making a smoothie with this stuff I just could not resist watching the mini movie from Despicable Me http://youtu.be/XyycKC9rTYM
It brightens my day every time I watch it. So cute!!
Anyhow, I really enjoyed this in my smoothie. Avocado, blueberries, almond milk, an ice. Mucho yum!! Like the banana icecream I had as a kid. Not quite as tart as the candies. Also reminds me a bit of medicine only there is no hint of bitterness and I can’t comment on whether the matcha itself is creamy – next time…
So glad I finally opened it. I still have grape left to unleash in my cupboard. (promised myself I would sipdown a matcha first but I caved!)
I love banana flavoured things so I went with the robust level, but I think it would have been good either way as the flavour is very potent. Next time I think I’ll add some chocolate matcha or cocoa… oh man that would be ahhhhmazing. Yum.

The mint is strong with this one! I made a chocolate peppermint smoothie and it is tasty but a touch too minty for my tastes. However the mint is quite cooling and delicious :). It reminds me of the Laura Secord chocolate mints. Yum! Thank you Roswell Strange!

Ahhhh…to whom do I owe a debt of grattitude?
I cannot remember….
1 scoop Coconut Matcha + 1 scoop White Chocolate Matcha= Pure Heaven
I only THOUGHT I loved the coconut before.
Adding the white chocolate to the coconut (especially in whole milk…hehehe)
Makes this an unbelievably creamy coconut drink.
Thank you for this recipe dear one :-)
I haven’t tried the white chocolate on its own yet, 
& I may not for awhile…I have dreams of mixing it in a blender with some fruit.
If you like the coconut…do yourself a flavor and try it like this ;-)

Actually, I see this flavor being an awesome conduit for many shake
and smoothie….this is divine.

Oh BTW…using distinctive flavoring all the way…

Backlog from yesterday: the smell is spot on for this and the taste is pretty close too. Has a wonderful caramel scent mixed with a slightly buttery popcorn taste. I don’t think I’d try this one cold and I prefer hot matcha lattes anyway.

Royal grade matcha, distinctive flavoring. 2 chasaku scoops to 8oz light vanilla soy milk.

Good afternoon Steepster…
We were having a nice, warm sunny day but the fog rolled in and took care of that (typical for San Francisco).

I got this matcha in my last Red Leaf order. I wasn’t a big fan of the Belgian chocolate, but this is a lot better. I made a hot latte with it this afternoon and I made a cold matcha drink with soymilk in it the other day. Each drink was equally as good. It does have a slightly sweeter, marzipany quality about it, but I liked that. In my opinion this is pretty yummy and somehow less grassy than the Belgian chocolate, though I did order the standard matcha flavor on this as well. I prepared this by nuking my soymilk in the microwave and then mixing it up with a milk frother.

distinctive flavor

This is pretty good. I wish the flavor were a touch stronger, but it’s still nice in an iced matcha latte.

I only have a small amount of this, and I probably won’t order it as this is not in my flavor wheelhouse, but it’s enjoyable while it lasts.

Another tea from Miss B’s stash clear out!

Been wanting to try this for awhile based on all the positive reviews. Decided to make it as a hot latte to go along with my breakfast this morning.

I enjoyed it quite a lot, though there was a flavour in it that reminds me of something I can’t quite put my finger on….this sample was robust and I think I’d actually prefer a level down, so much flavoring made it taste a bit chemical.

I think the thing it reminded me of was an old lip balm I used to have. Not one of the lovely homemade ones I buy now, but like a holiday version of a lipsmacker or something.

However, that aside, still yummy! I’d order it :)

Makes me even more curious about the Belgium Chocolate one because I liked the chocolate flavor in this one.

Merci Miss B, for sending this along!

This was decadent! i had this in with an avocado, banana/coconut cream/pineapple juice, fresh raspberries, a scoop of greens and a dragonfruit i had kicking around. i headed to the gym, got some instructions from a brazilian guy who is so fit (without trying) that i even if i had every part of me stuffed with implants i couldn’t look like him! lmao!!!

HOWEVER- i learned spiffy new lifts! and learned fantastic new swear words in a ton of languages (the exchanges you never expect to have in random conversation!), and all the while was listening to this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28HYsul40D4

=0)

here’s to hoping a random student doesn’t call my geo prof out in front of the class as a racist tomorrow (because he really isn’t and we were all miserable while the ass carried on).

hope you like the song!

When I saw this flavor on sale, I had to grab it. What I was hoping for was something similar to the cheesecake flavor (to die for btw), but it isn’t quite that. I have had it a few times and I get a creaminess to it, but this evening when I opened it I smelled citrus. I don’t know if it was lemon or lime, but it isn’t really a fresh bright citrus. It is more of a preserved citrus peel scent. Tonight I’m having it with a little sugar and some Trader Joe’s soy creamer added in. I can imagine this as a pudding like filling for a donut. I’m tasting a little citrus in there, but I think most of the cream is coming from the soy creamer. I really like that I can enjoy this in the evenings, but it isn’t exactly what I was expecting and hoping for, which is something creamier on it’s own. I should have just bought the cheesecake version instead of holding this flavor to those expectations!

Sipdown (126)!

Wow, this was certainly an unexpected sipdown! I was measuring out the leaf to make a hot mug of this and to my surprise I didn’t even have enough left for the size of mug I originally had intended to make. So I made a smaller mug, and enjoyed drinking this hot. The clear, smooth Bartlett Pear like flavour was fun and whimsical – it even kind of reminded me of the “juicy pear” Jelly Bellies I love so much, but slightly more natural tasting. It was a good caffeine top up as well; I’ve felt so spacey all day…

I’m super sad to be done with this one, but on the other hand it’s a small relief knowing I’ve finished off some of my older matcha and that there’s less in my stash. I’ll likely reorder this again sometime in the future as well, and knowing that makes it much easier to finish it off.

Holy matcha buzz!

I made cupcakes today, and since mixing matcha worked so well last time I repeated the experiment – so today’s cupcakes are vanilla zucchini with pear matcha mixed both into the batter and the icing. They’re so green and pretty! And, I feel like they’ll be easier to share with people ’cause, you know, pear is supposed to be green and it makes the zucchini blend in better. When I tried sharing the last batch (cherry zucchini with strawberry matcha icing) people looked at them funny ’cause of the weird ass colour.

I used a lot of matcha; and after having to test out the batter, licking the bowl clean, testing out the matcha and then having three of the finished cupcakes too I’m WIDE AWAKE and super, super ALERT. Good thing it’s 5PM and I’ve still got lots of time for this buzz to wear off.

They’re really good though – super moist, light and fluffy with a subtle pear flavour in the cake itself and a more full flavour in the icing. When Tre gets home from work (any time now) I’ll definitely be feeding him one to get his opinion.

So many tea/matcha and cupcake options! I’ve got way too many ideas in my head: Banana Matcha with either white cake or chocolate, Chai icing on Carrot, Pecan or Chocolate cake, Pineapple matcha in vanilla cake with coconut matcha icing, EG icing on either a vanilla or chocolate cake…

What should I do next guys?

Cold shaken in some vanilla flavoured Milk2Go; not as good as I remember it being. Which is sad, because I didn’t really like this in plain milk to begin with. Probably gonna just stick with water or “Matcha soda” from now on…

Today’s word of the day is quagmire. And no, not like Family Guy. The actual meaning of quagmire is: 1. a soft, swampy ground that gives way underfoot; 2. a a difficult situation from which it is hard to escape : predicament. I like the sentence my calendar gives for this one as an example because it could fit either of the two definitions.

“Once they crossed the bridge, the soldiers found themselves in a quagmire they weren’t prepared for”.

Very clever.

I used this matcha in a smoothie too;

2 tsp. of Pear matcha
1 Cup of Extreme Energy Happy Planet Smoothie
1/2 Cup of Frozen Strawberry Halves
Small Scoop of Vanilla Frozen Greek Yogurt

Fun Fact: This Happy Planet Smoothie has Yerba Mate concentrate in it so if I wanted to be really liberal about saying I was “having tea” I could just drink the smoothie mix. But that’s a stretch; even for me!

Sadly the pear matcha in this was drastically, drastically buried under all the juicy red fruits in the blend like strawberry and raspberry. It honestly probably contributed nothing except more caffeine. More caffeine isn’t necessarily a bad thing though.

Anyway; today’s work of the day is effete.

Effete: 1. No longer fertile; 2. a. having lost character, vitality, or strength; b. marked by weakness; c. soft or delicate from or as if from a pampered existance; 3. effeminate.

And also unrelated to tea; I’ve been just memorized by this commentary of sorts for an independent movie; genre wise it’s probably like a cross between romance and horror? The name is “He Took His Skin Off For Me” and, despite how much metaphor you might think is being used it’s also very, very literal. Here’s the link:

http://laughingsquid.com/he-took-his-skin-off-for-me-a-strange-short-film-about-a-man-who-takes-off-his-skin-to-please-his-girlfriend/

The concept here is amazing and beautiful, and I can’t stop watching/looking at it because it’s so horrible, but at the same time things look so tender between the two. It’s like a train wreck; ghastly but you can’t look away. And I feel like there’s a sort of romanticized sadness about the whole thing…

Just stunning though; even though I keep screaming “It’s not worth it; put your skin back on!” in my head I look forward to actually seeing the movie!

Just cranking this one last note out from my queue because I know it’ll be a short one – and I need to make a bit of progress even if the dashboard isn’t updating regularly right now.

I cold shook some of this in a Milk 2 Go Vanilla Milk – it was delicious just like I remembered it being the first time. Pretty much just a very thick, full tasting rich pear/vanilla milkshake type drink. Perfect level of fruity and creamy and sweet.

Don’t do this in straight up milk folks; it doesn’t work. But vanilla milk? And vanilla pear? You want to try that. It’s good. Really good.