Matcha Outlet

So; Cola Matcha milk…

I had to try it. I just had to. I did, however, make a small glass because I’m not so crazy as to think I was going to blindly love it and be able to down a large amount – no questions asked.

I have to say, like VariaTEA said warned, there is an almost “licorice” taste to this. It’s very weird; that’s to say the least. But oddly, I do sort of like it better than I liked it as a matcha soda, and matcha soda would totally be the more logical way to drink this – that’s for sure. I actually think I’m tasting to cola MORE in the milk than I did in the club soda, though…

This is very puzzling and I feel really conflicted about it; just like I do about things like Orange flavoured milk – I get that the IDEA is for a “Creamsicle” flavour, but I can’t get over the idea of curdled milk type ick. With this one, I get that it’s sorta like a “cola float”, but it’s still super hard to wrap my head around.

Hmm…

It seems like I might have some experimenting to do with this one. I made it up tonight as a matcha soda using my usual method; 1/2 tsp. dissolved into 1 oz. of hot water, then a can of club soda poured in and a pinch of sugar.

I was ok. I did get the cola flavour, but it was also still pretty grassy/seaweedy and that made for a weird flavour duo. Also, despite being vaguely cola flavoured I still thought this left a little to be desired/didn’t quite live up to expectations. I’ll have to see what other ways I can put this one to use; somehow “Cola Milk” doesn’t seem like an option…

So thank you aisling of tea – I didn’t not like this one, but so far it hasn’t made a spectacular impression and I’m thinking that there are many more matchas that I’d want again over this one. It was need making “Matcha Coke” though – kinda the obvious thing to do with this one.

Sipdown!! (212)

Thank you Fjellrev (and Sil) for the sample of this tasty matcha. I actually had just under a 1/2 tsp left so I added a touch of French Vanilla since that seemed appropriate (and easier than having to unwrap my Belgium Chocolate). The end result is a really delicious combination of mocha and vanilla creaminess. I think the two combined has actually helped to bring out each individual matcha as this seems to be more aromatic and flavorful than when I had each matcha separately. Interesting…

Thank you Fjellrev (and Sil) for some of this delicious matcha. It is sweeter and creamier than the mocha matcha and with a bit less of coffee flavoring but it is still very good and the two are quite similar. I think out of the two, for my tastes, I would get this again but I am not sure if it would make the cut when compared to all the other matchas I have tried.

Sipdown!! (210)

In contrast to the Tiramisu matcha I had earlier which was slightly short of 1/2 a tsp, I had just over 1/2 a tsp of this left. I dumped the whole thing into a glass and made myself some maple syrup matcha milk. Sipping on it now, I probably should have saved the excess to combine with something else at a later time because this is a little vegetal (think maple syrup sprinkled on grass). This is not the way I wanted my time with this matcha to end but c’est la vie. Nonetheless, I am glad I got to try it so thank you Fjellrev (and Sil) for providing me with a sample.

Thank you Fjellrev (and I believe also Sil?) for the chance to try this matcha. I love the idea of maple syrup everything so this is a matcha I really wanted to try. However, now that I finally have some, I was really unsure of what to do with it because maple syrup milk sounded weird to me and so did maple syrup soda. I decided the soda seemed like the lesser of two evils and sipping on it now, I am actually enjoying it. It has the flavor of carbonation (that I am not a huge fan of) but once you get passed that, there is a distinct maple syrup sweetness that I am really enjoying. All in all, not bad. I might even try this in milk.

1/2tsp in 1c cold milk, some crushed ice and a tsp of raw sugar.

I typically love RLTs flavoured matcha, but this one fell a little flat for me. There’s definitely a cheesecake-y flavour, but it doesn’t mesh all that well with the green base and compared to some of the other flavours I’m not as much of a fan.

Soundly meh, I’m afraid.

Thank you Red Leaf Tea for their awesome program! I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy this at all, but I had been wanting to try match for a while now. This is a perfect way to try it out- plus try out different flavors!
I tried this two different ways tonight. First in hot water. It was pretty good, and I do like the idea that I’m getting the full value of the leaf this way. Then I decided to try it in cold milk. o.m.g. Yeah, I think I’m going to have to put in an order for this one for sure!
I also need to get a milk frother, because well, a fork just doesn’t cut it lol

Sipdown!! (182)

Having this as a matcha soda. It is smooth and fruity but nothing special. It is nice to decrease my matcha stash just a touch as I really do have A LOT and each cup only uses 1/2 tsp.

I picked this up in BrewTEAlly Sweet’s stash sale in my efforts to try all the matchas. Something about plum matcha milk just seemed weird so I decided to finally try the matcha soda that my tea triplet, Roswell Strange is so fond of. So my thoughts? Really tasty all around. There is a hint of plum flavoring but nothing too distinct. Mostly it is just fruity and sweet and a nice flavoring alternative to soda syrups.

Thanks to Cavocorax for this sample! So good! I had this tea for breakfast with agave and soymilk and then got my haircut at lunch and bought comic books (http://instagram.com/p/mqZeAxIc_q/) just cuz i can and now I’m using the steepster app to post for the first time yay friday!

ok. nope.
i kept getting an error and my note wouldn’t post.
i’ll have to look into that.

guise.
cavocorax gave me this tea sample in February 2014.
and i’m just drinking it today.
it’s yummy. but i should probably try it again with some sweetener. i’m still a total newb when it comes to matcha.
i was eyeing the david’s tea matcha mixing tumblr last night. i think i’ll love matcha once i’m patient enough to figure it out. currently i’m just a little lazy. i put a couple mini scoops in a small rounded cup, use a matcha battery powered whisker to blend it with the water, then add some almond milk and whisk some more.

my side topic right now? i have too many planners. i have a journal/bujo, a weekly hobonichi planner and a daily hobonichi planner, and i keep a 6 ring Filofax style planner, i’m only mentioning this now, because i realize i should probably create a section in my 6 ring planner for tea. i currently keep a section for money, one for fountain pen inks, and one for tv shows i (binge) watch. i’m gonna work towards adding a health and a tea section. don’t worry. you can expect updates. : )

sipdown

I am finishing this off today in smoothie form with soymilk, banana, pineapple and some ice. Definitely my favorite flavored matcha so far, I would definitely like this back in stock someday! It also makes a fabulous latte.

We are having a beautiful warm and sunny day here…
I’m not back at work yet so I’ve been trying to relax and enjoy myself. I haven’t tried this one cold yet, so I thought I’d make a cold matcha latte, threw this in a blender with soymilk and some ice and it’s sheer perfection! The blender gave my matcha drink a nice frothy top. I love this and am seriously tempted to buy a few more from Red Leaf.

Made a matcha latte this morning. I made this with plain almond milk vs. the Silk soymilk I usually drink. The silk tastes a lot better, more creamy, but we are talking a difference of 30 calories vs. 100. I’m worried I’m getting fat while I sit around my apt. waiting for my arm to get better. This is a good lower calorie option.

Note to self: next order with Red Leaf Tea should include an almond matcha.

Matcha latte of the morning here. I probably don’t need any more caffeine because I’ve already had two cups of tea and a grande coffee from Starbucks but I don’t care. :)

Recovering from my broken arm will be an ordeal. I read somewhere today for every day your arm was immobolized it will take 3 days for the muscle and joint function to repair itself. Thus I am looking at 3-4 months of rehab time. This morning I was having a big pity party and felt like I needed something to cheer myself up. I got this matcha from Red Leaf yesterday and prepared it for the first time this morning.

I love banana flavored things and this is super good. I made it this morning as a matcha latte and the banana flavor is great in this. It’s even better than I expected. It’s sweet, starchy and overall… banana-y – yum yum yum. I didn’t think it needed sweetener but the soymilk I used already had sugar in it. I can’t wait to make a smoothie out of this as well. Super delicious, I definitely deserve a treat and this is a good one. ;)

I had this again as an iced latte. It definitely does help for me to mix the matcha first with hot water and mix, and then add ice and milk. I love the way this smells, and I enjoy it, but I wish that it was at a stronger flavor level. (I assume that the free sample is at delicate flavor level.) It just doesn’t taste quite cheesecakey to me. It’s still good, don’t get me wrong, and I enjoyed it, but having gotten the amaretto in distinctive, I realize how much less flavor there is.

I decided to have this one again, because my Red Leaf Tea order is due to be delivered today. Cold, in 2% milk. Just the matcha and milk with some ice in the drink shaker.

Last time, I felt I didn’t have enough matcha. This time I felt like I had too much. I need to find the happy medium. It was really nice until I got to the end, and then it was a little too much. Maybe if I blended it with ice it would work better?

I got my sample yesterday, and I decided to try it today. It smelled quite cheesecake when I opened it. I decided to try it as an iced latte, because of the flavor. I couldn’t find the top for the blender so I figured I’m make it in a cocktail mixer glass. I used a sieve to sift the tea as it seemed pretty clumpy, using a generous half teaspoon. I added milk and ice and shake shake shake. It got very frothy very quickly, but there was still a lot of tea on the bottom of the mixer and in clumps on the side. A quick hit with a spoon helped the bottom and some of the clumps. I shook a lot more and that helped, too.

It didn’t taste as strongly of cheesecake as I would have liked, but it had a nice flavor, a little bit green. I could see doing this as a morning drink in the summer for sure.

This is my first time trying matcha. I think I’ll try it hot later just to see if that works better.

Got my red leaf order in the mail last week and was super excited to get their coconut matcha! I am a huge coconut fan and love all things coconut and have just started getting into the world of matcha, so I was waiting anxiously to receive this. One thing I have noticed with some coconut flavored teas and other food items is that they taste very artificial, and that is not the case with this matcha at all. It has a very natural coconut flavoring to it. The flavoring could also be described as a fresh coconut flavor as opposed to toasted coconut flavor. I really enjoy it and will definitely be reordering when this is gone. I don’t have a matcha whisk so I just poured this into a shaker bottle with some coconut milk and shook it up and I had a frothy, creamy, coconut matcha shake! This matcha was definitely high quality and can be found here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/coconut-matcha.html I am already planning my next order. This was also a nice option to have for a cold tea and really easy to make, instead of everything you have to go through for iced tea. There are so many different flavors I am excited to try!

Decided to have a matcha smoothie this morning: ingredients were banana, pineapple, soymilk, chia seeds and the cheesecake matcha. This definitely seems “desserty” but I also remember the time I had a really bad stomach ache from eating too much cheesecake when I was a kid! So the taste of cheesecake is not altogether a positive sensation.

I will need to try this with blueberries or strawberries as that’s more of a normal cheesecake fruit, I guess.

Have a great day everyone!

Tea of the afternoon here. I’ve been waiting for this matcha for a while now, I thought maybe the post office had lost it. This was the free matcha sample for March from Red Leaf Tea.

I decided to make a latte out of this because that seemed like it would go well with the cheesecake theme. I love my new milk frother for making matcha lattes. It’s been ages since the last time I’ve had any cheesecake. Aside from being creamy, this has the slight tang one would associate with cream cheese. I am not really getting anything “buttery” however. The flavor seems pretty authentic for a matcha but I cant really imagine drinking this plain. Overall it’s good but I am not blown away, I doubt I would order a full size of this. Maybe it would be better with cardamom. :)

I plan on spending my weekend crafting! Making stars, melting perler beads, drawing, you know the usual crafty things. Of course while I am crafting I will have my eyes glued to the livestreams for Final Round 17 held in my home town of Atlanta. For those not in the know, Final Round is the Southeast’s biggest fighting game tournament and part of the Road to Evo. It is not too much of a surprise that I am a huge fan of fighting games.

Today we are looking at Roast Gao Shan tea no.8 in the Red Leaf Tea sampler, Gao Shan Oolong is from Taiwan and is also known as High Mountain Oolong and is from the alpine tea zone, or above 1,000 feet. Usually these teas are only very lightly roasted, if at all, so this oolong being roasted could be an unusual treat. The aroma is certainly roasted and deliciously so, a mix of sweetness and an almost popcorn like aroma. There is also a hint of vegetal, specifically that of green beans.

The steeped leaves still have a strong roasted aroma that the dry leaves did, retaining the sweetness and popcorn like aroma, but the vegetal notes have gone to more of a spinach tone and there is a very light floral note at the finish. The liquid is surprisingly heady with strong orchid notes mixing with rich nuttiness and roasted aromas.

The taste is deliciously roasted with a mild orchid taste that mixes quite well with the roasted taste. The roasted taste still reminds me a bit of popcorn (without the salt and butter of course) and a bit of chestnuts. As the tea cools the taste becomes sweeter, adding a burnt sugar taste which is quite yummy. The flavors that are present are quite mild and subtle, it is quite a tasty tea but not one that inspires poetry and song.

For blog and photos: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/03/red-leaf-tea-roast-gao-shan-tea-tea.html

Shidown!
Finished this tea from MissB!

I’m headed to work now and I haven’t been there in ages bc I’m back in school aaaand my hours has lessened by quite a lot. Closing tonight and figured I need a kick of matcha to keep me awake! Yeah, I’m only there till 10pm, but still! I’ve been pretty exhausted the past couple weeks and I sleep pretty early, so this closing shift is a bit of a change for me.