Matcha Outlet

Sipdown (161/167)!

Mmm, just woke up and needed to start the day off right so I’m having three cups of tea (counting this one) and some Raspberry Poptarts. Definitely gotta get my tea drinking in, right? I mean – it is my day off and I’m gonna be spending the latter half out on my date at the movies so it’s now or never.

Surprisingly I am getting peanut butter from this matcha today! I say it like that ‘cause the last few times I’ve just had it in cold milk it didn’t really deliver on flavour. Or rather, the flavour was really nondescript and vague. So this is a nice way to finish off the sample from Cavocorax (I think that’s who sent it to me!? I wrote it down on the package but my writing has rubbed off to the point where I can only see a “C” now).

I wont be restocking it, but it was an interesting experience I guess.

Mixed this up with some of 52Teas’ Peanut Butter Marshmallow Treat Genmaicha to create the most divine, solidly peanut flavour cup of scrumptious! You can read more about my thoughts on that (about halfway into the note) here:

http://steepster.com/roswellstrange/posts/245733#likes

Prepared with the cold milk method, and twice as much matcha (so, 1 tsp. total) as I used last time – in an effort to get a little more flavour out of this one. It sort of worked, because this time it tasted very salty and vaguely nutty but I think that actually was worse for me; I’m not really a fan of salty things, and I like creamy peanut butter which I think I was closer to first time around…

So, I’m probably going to go back to 1/2 tsp. of matcha or try going right in the middle and using 3/4 tsp. of matcha. I don’t know, maybe this ones not for me because I have to play with it so much…

So yesterday started off with my receiving some tea in the mail from the lovely Cavocorax, who was very generous with the sample sizes she sent and who also through in some very interesting looking extras.

Because our water was off, I decided to take advantage of the new matchas in my cupboard and mix some of this up with cold milk. 1/2 tsp. of matcha to 12 oz. of cold milk. Overall, it was pretty interesting and I definitely got some of the peanut butter flavour, but it was also pretty light handed on the flavouring. Perhaps I just had too much milk to my ratio of matcha. Next time I’ll use a little more matcha and see if I can make this one taste a little stronger.

Thanks Cavo!

Alright I’m the first one again! I’ve tried this before with delicate flavor and green matcha. I didn’t really dig it. I figured I’d pick robust flavor and that it would go well with black matcha. It was a great idea! The complexity of Bavarian cream is much more noticeable this way. Now I can taste some creamy texture along with the citrus that would be inside the pastry. It’s just plain good. I’ve tried it a few ways, with soymilk, almond milk, and with frothed dairy milk. They all couple greatly and this is I think the best way to get this tea.

http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/french-vanilla-matcha.html
I got this as a free sample (but not with free shipping) which I think is a cool new practice from Red Leaf. I have a lot of fond memories of being younger and having French vanilla ice cream or gelato. When I opened up the package the smell manifested that taste very well. Needless to say the taste was slightly harder to find on the “delicate” setting, but it was nevertheless still there. It definitely tasted high quality, not like it was from vanilla extract but from the actual bean. Lucky for me, I had two cartons of Blue Diamond vanilla almond milk! It coupled perfectly with the matcha. Plus it’s very thick so I didn’t need to make it into a smoothie or froth milk or any of those shenanigans. Altogether this matcha has great flavor and maybe the next flavor step would make it perfect.

From the LiberTEAS sampler I bought a while back

Threw one of these together after my workout today – a little over a cup of whole (organic) milk, about a cup of crushed ice cubes, two-ish tsp of raw sugar and 1/2 tsp of matcha.

Although I’ll admit to loving the caramel and being quite enamoured with the french vanilla…this might be my one true matcha. The flavour is quite true to the inspiration – I can taste the layers of chocolate over the matcha – and it mixed marvelously with the milk…this is absolutely amazing and I’m going to be so very sad when I run out.

Delicious, delightful and definitely worth re-stocking.

I made a cold latte with this and frothed it up. Delicious. I can’t count how many Red Leaf matcha flavors I’ve tried so far, but there’s only one I didn’t like. I really like this one a lot.

Having the delectable combination of cashew milk and this matcha yet again. Banana but bread deliciousness. Yum!

Had this mixed with cashew milk and it was ah-mazing. It was like indulging in a moist slice of banana but bread. Soo good!

So my tea twin often talks about having matcha shaken in Milk To Go. I decided to try it out. I went to Dollarama and though I couldn’t find vanilla, I did find strawberry and decided to go with that, especially because I thought it would pair great with this matcha. I was right. It is a sweet strawberry banana smoothie and it is great. Thank you Roswell Strange for the idea.

I really like strawberry banana yogurt. Unfortunately, there isn’t really a company in Canada that makes a good, fat-free option. Luckily that is not a problem when you have some tasty banana & cream matcha to sprinkle atop some strawberry yogurt. Now I get all the strawberry banana deliciousness without the fat so YAY! Thank you Sil for sending this my way to try. I actually have more incoming in my joint matcha order with Courtney.

This matcha was calling to me. The banana flavor really lends itself well to a creamy matcha treat. Yum! Thank you Sil!

I got a surprise package today from Sil. Surprise because (1) I did not know she sent me something (though she did hint at it) and (2) because I did not know I could receive mail on Sundays. Anyways, thank you Sil for the great surprise and the generous sample of this matcha (though most will be passed along to Roswell Strange as per your intentions).

This is yet another matcha I have wanted to try for a while. Unfortunately, the person I split orders with does not like banana or cherry so I was unable to order any of those flavors thus I am grateful for the opportunity to try this one. I think it is good but I am not sure it would be a restock or not. I get the creaminess first but there is definitely banana hiding under all the creaminess. It is quite delicious, there are just so many other matchas I want to try that I am not sure this would make the cut.

Sipdown. Thanks for the sample, Red Leaf!

I decided to try this iced today. Cold rice milk + matcha + milk frother. De. li. cious. Vanilla creamy goodness. For about 15 minutes. After that it got grainy. Lesson: drink within 15 minutes of blending.

I wonder if this would be good with coffee. Hot, of course. But I imagine that eggnog matcha + milk would serve nicely in lieu of creamer.

Waah. I really like this one, but not, as it turns out, in almond milk. The flavors just do not mesh. Badly enough that I don’t want to finish the cup. I better pick up some rice milk soon!

Red Leaf included a sample of this with my order (thanks!). I’ve only had matcha once before. I really didn’t like it then; I remember finding it bitter. It was prepared the traditional way at the Harney & Sons shop in NY, so the taste can’t be chalked up to user error (at least not on my part).

Anyway, this is light years away from my previous experience. I make this as a latte using ~1 heaping teaspoon in 8 oz of hot rice milk blended with a handheld electric milk frother. So. Good. I can’t stand eggnog but this comes out as a creamy vanilla. The sweetness of the rice milk really complements the flavor nicely. I had this with a bagel and cream cheese for brunch today. It really held its own without overwhelming the food. If it didn’t take a few more minutes to make than regular tea, I’d probably be having this every morning.

I don’t have enough experience with matcha to measure against, so no rating for now.

February’s sample of the month. This isn’t one of my favorites from red leaf. It tastes similar to blueberries, which is nice, but the aftertaste is more like cough syrup. I should also say that I’m not usually a fan of fruit teas, though. I’m not going to rate it for that reason. :)

I’m enjoying the last of the sample Stephanie sent me as a cold latte. My weapon of choice today. I have a long night ahead. I plan on finishing reading and highlighting 14 more scientific journal articles. And my Steepster feed is so quiet. I suppose that’s good for getting work done. :P

This is even more delightful as a cold latte. Perhaps when my coconut matcha comes in, I’ll try to recreate this by adding sugar. Of course my cold matcha latte addiction would hit when I’m fresh out. Hopefully my order crosses the border quickly!

This amazing treat was so kindly sent to me by Stephanie.

The only other MATCHAccino I’ve tried was Caramel, which was also quite amazing. I think any sort of matcha flavour that I enjoy would be excellent mixed with sugar haha. That being said, I do love coconut so this one was just awesome.

I’m having it mixed with 8 oz. of milk (thank goodness my blender has both imperial and metric – I can handle oz. when it comes to tea but other things I’m still thrown off) and 3 ice cubes. I also have enough left to try it hot, yay!

Thank you so much Stephanie!

I cannot think of a good opening to today’s tea review so I will tell you a few random facts about myself, fun! I collect gemstones, absolutely love studying Mineralogy and Geology, the highlight in my collection is a pale pink Danburite crystal about the length of my palm. For all that I love animals of all shapes and sizes, my favorites are aquatic life, specifically crabs, octopuses, squids, and jellyfish. I even sleep with a stuffed squid every night and own a giant stuffed Octopus. I didn’t like reading fiction till I was a teenager, I read tons and tons of nonfiction, but stories I considered a waster of time since I was not learning something. So there, now you know me a little better, on to tea!

By tea I technically mean a tisane since today’s brew of choice is a pile of roots. Burdock Tea No.3 on the Red Leaf Tea sampler, is made from the chopped up roots of the Burdock plant, or Arctium lappa, or Niubangzi. This plant is well known for its burrs and being a general nuisance for hikers in the Western part of the world, but in the Eastern part it is used as food and medicine. The aroma is caramelized dirt, slightly sweet like caramelized sugar and very much so like dirt. This is not necessarily a bad thing since I like the smell of dirt and it smells a lot better than most root based herbal teas I have tried. At the very tail end of the sniff I can detect a bit of horseradish.

Brewing the little root bits (there was no brewing info on the package, maybe there was and I can’t read Chinese yet, so upon research I decided on 212 degrees for 6 minutes) the aroma is still strongly of dirt and horseradish, but with more of the bitter root smell I associate with herbs like Dong Quai and Valerian, usually meaning the taste will be awful. The liquid sans roots is surprisingly sweet like caramelized sugar and of course the dirt and horseradish aroma.

Time to taste, I am a little worried, I have enough experience with TCM to know herbal teas made from roots taste like death. Well, color me surprised, because the flavor is not half bad! The taste is like a mixture of very mild horseradish (think the taste without the spice) lettuce, and corn husk. The taste fades to a gentle sweetness that lingers in the mouth for a bit. The mouthfeel is smooth and soothing, absolutely no bitterness or dirt taste what so ever. Not bad little root bits, not bad. I cannot speak for any health benefits associated with drinking this tea, the reasons I tried it for were not alleviated at all, but the taste was good so I am not complaining. I am tempted to add this to a root vegetable themed soup next time I make one, I think it would add an interesting note.

For photos and blog: http://ramblingbutterflythoughts.blogspot.com/2014/02/red-leaf-tea-burdock-tea-tea-review.html

Sipdown!! (155)

I made this as a smoothie because the last one was SO amazing but I ended up using too many ice cubes and so it is watered down. Despite that slight hiccup, it is still delicious – like a fresh vanilla bean ice cream. It will be missed and maybe one day I will order it again but for now, I am comfortable saying goodbye. Though, that doesn’t mean I would turn away more if offered :P.

This prepared with French Vanilla smoothie mix, milk, and ice tastes like how I always imagine Butiki’s Creamy Eggnog tastes in my mind. It is like rich and creamy vanilla ice cream with just enough spices to keep it interesting. Seriously, this is sooo good. I would actually debate about restocking the Eggnog matcha in the future because it makes for a delicious smoothie. I would raise the rating if the slide bar was iPhone compatible.