Matcha Outlet

I had a crazy thought in the middle of the night about this tea and had to try it. I added just a smidge of hot water to mix the matcha, added ice, and then added seltzer water. The first taste was super ginger but not very sweet. I added some straight up sugar and it was much better. A very healthy version of a ginger ale. Super spicy ginger just the way I like it. Next time I’ll add raw honey to it when it’s hot and mixing. I think that’d be better. But this is definitely feeling like drinking a soda. And as I gave up soda inadvertently a few weeks back, it’s a nice fizzy treat.
Classic matcha, robust flavor.

I’m not having much luck on the matcha front today. I was still craving an iced matcha, even after the lemongrass fiasco. I should have grabbed one of the flavors I know I like (grapefruit or english toffee), but instead grabbed this one. I made it hot a few days ago and it was ok. Not good or bad, just ok. Today I made it iced. It’s definitely better hot. I don’t really taste the butter cookie. Just a sweet vanilla flavor with a really strange aftertaste. Like its been sweetened by something artificial. I’ve almost got it covered up by a combo of almond, coconut, and regular milk, but it sneaks through. I don’t know if I just don’t like the black flavor or the butter cookie flavor. Either way, I think I’m sticking with green matchas from here on out.

Okay, I need to go find to a reliable tea from my favorites cupboard to help me recover from the disappointing start to my afternoon tea.

Oh no. This is not good. Not good at all. When I opened the bag the smell wasn’t too pleasant but I was hoping this would be one of those teas that has a strange aroma, but a good flavor. Not the case. This is just weird. And I really love lemongrass and lemongrass sodas. Shoot.

The first matcha that I’ve tried! Apparently I just found out how matchas are so easily flavored. Some of this was included in a traveling tea box. I had it stored next to a super cinnamon flavored tea in a tiny ziplock. The ziplock was not very high quality and I know there are much better quality ziplocks out there (and I’ll definitely be buying some of those next time!) The only thing I can taste in this is the flavor in the other tea it was stored next to: cinnamon. No gingerbread. I added a bit less than a 1/4 teaspoon to a bit less than 16 ounces of bottled water. (I have no idea if that was the right amount.) The other tea better not be doing that to my other teas… though I have all my cinnamon / chai samples stored together for that reason. At least I learned a lesson about matcha today, but I’ll leave off the rating. I would have much rather have learned about storing matchas properly with the first one I tried, rather than after getting a ton more and finding out the hard way. Let this be a lesson in matcha storing! Because yes, I plan on getting a ton more matchas. I just found out how healthy matcha is! Matcha lowers blood pressure, helps your concentration, has tons of antioxidants, plenty of vitamins, fiber, protein and calcium. That sounds to me like everything healthy! (If I drink matcha regularly, it may just become the healthiest thing I eat — plus it would start making me drink milk more.) The price may seem a bit high compared to some teas, but even tea doesn’t have quite so many health benefits!
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/

This is a matcha flavor I bought to mix with another flavor and never imagined I would like it on its own. I don’t hate peanut butter. I like it well enough, particularly with certain things. For instance, vegetable soup MUST have a peanut butter sandwich with it. I grew up heating pancake syrup and mixing the hot syrup in a bowl with a spoonful of peanut butter to “sop” on Sunday nights when we didn’t have dessert with our Sunday dinner leftovers. I love Reese’s peanut butter cups so much that I think my son is pretty much constructed of them due to the number I consumed while nursing him.

Even with all that, I am not the big peanut butter lover in the house. My husband and daughter eat vast amounts of the stuff. So I didn’t expect to care very much about this flavor in its own. I am finding that I like it much more than I expected.

I got the robust flavor level and in this flavor that works for me. In some of the flavors it is too much and there is a perfume vibe, but not this one. I sifted one teaspoon of matcha into a 20 ounce glass, added a tablespoon of raw sugar, and whisked in milk with my Aerolatte. The result is a creamy and smooth tasting latte with a definite flavor of peanut butter, but somehow the creaminess is the main thing happening. You don’t feel like your tongue is going to stick to the roof of your mouth!

If you love peanut butter, this really is a must try. I don’t think they sell it anymore, though. I believe it was replaced with peanut butter pie flavor, which I have not tried.

I actually ordered the peanut butter flavor matcha intending to mix it with chocolate matcha for something like a Reese’s Cup, but Sil’s notes on smoothies made me want to try all kinds of ways to use my matcha and I realized that peanut butter is a great addition to a banana smoothie for protein, and I could use the matcha to add a little extra kick to the flavor as well as to give some extra energy boosting power to the smoothie. Right away, I discovered that I didn’t like actual peanut butter in my smoothies. The texture was a bit sticky for me, but by adding just the matcha powder you can get the peanut butter taste. You can find it here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/peanut-butter-matcha.html

I chose the robust flavor level for this one, because I didn’t realize how quickly I was going to learn to enjoy the taste of matcha! It isn’t too strong for me, though, but if you are drinking it plain you might want to take it down a level, especially if you already love the taste of matcha. I drank it most recently as a matcha latte, and with 1/2 teaspoon of matcha in eleven ounces of milk and water with about a tablespoon of Turbinado sugar, this made a creamy, mildly nutty, afternoon pick me up, emphasis on creamy!

Having ordered Bilberry with the upgrade to the base and just the distinctive flavor level, I think there are a lot of these flavors that I will do that with in the future. My beloved almond, French Vanilla, and Caramel flavors will probably always be ordered in robust though because I love it so much. (My son actually requested an almond matcha latte this weekend!)

The smell and taste of this matcha is really authentic peanut butter. I bet if you held the jar of matcha under someone’s nose, they would swear it was a jar of Jif or something.
If you love peanut butter, this would be a good one to try.

Well, I don’t how orthodox it is to post a tasting note for something that isn’t available, but here it is!

I was really looking forward to today’s latte. I realized that I need to continue sipping down some samples, including these from the Red Leaf “taste off.” I think I have almost perfected my matcha latte recipe now. I love it with honey more than any other sweetener, and realized that I also like lots of milk, not just half milk half water.

I put one tablespoon of honey in a large glass and pour in just enough hot water to “melt” the honey. Then I add a little crushed ice just to cool it a bit so I don’t burn my matcha. Next I sift in one teaspoon of matcha powder and whoosh with my aerolatte, then fill the glass almost to the top with milk, and add a little more crushed ice so it will be nice and cold. This had really nice color, a little greener than the Olive Nation matcha I have been making lately. The flavor was creamy and good.

I am loving the Working Glass I bought from Williams Sonoma just for my lattes. I am surprised others in the family haven’t tried to lay claim to it yet! The top startled me when I tried to shake the hot water and matcha – it POPPED and I got spritzed with tea! So don’t shake if the beverage is hot! LOL!

My son has been coming home on weekends to help his dad replace our back privacy fence. They complete only about two panels a week because they have to cut out the forty year old fence that is there (but falling), dig up the old posts, some of which have concrete at the base, and they are building a fence my husband designed so that means ripping lumber, shaping the post tops, digging new post holes that are deeper, etc. It is really hard work in terrible heat and humidity. They can only work for about five hours, then it is Motrin time!

To my surprise, they requested a few weeks ago that I make a large carafe of iced matcha water to keep them going! We have done strawberry and black cherry the last two times, so today when my son said, “Surprise me!” I chose this one.

I will compare this to blueberry flavor because from what I can see, they are virtually identical. Also, this was the first time I order an upgrade on the matcha base and went down a notch in the flavor level to distinctive instead of getting robust. I think this will become my usual way to order matcha.

I need to get some blueberries and really, REALLY taste them, paying close attention. (I can’t do this with the blueberries I have right now because my chicken hopped right onto the edge of the container and perched there eating straight from the box while I was tossing them out as chicken treats. I guess I was too slow.) I say this because I have several blueberry teas, they all taste like this one, and they all taste like violet candies to me, and I have never associated that flavor with blueberries before.

I realize that Bilberries may not taste exactly the same as blueberry, but this tea tastes like my blueberry teas. And it is delicious. My son really liked it. Last time he came, he requested a whole tin of strawberry matcha to take back with him. I won’t be surprised if he requests this one this week!

This is how I am going to order my matcha from now on – distinctive flavor level and upgrade the base. Brilliant green matcha! This still tastes super identical to Parma Violets candies! I have SO. MUCH. MATCHA. Yet I so badly want to order coconut matcha, especially for this summer. Sigh.

Wow, I get to be the first to review this one!

I have been making a lot of fruit smoothies lately and I love the zing that my Black Cherry matcha is adding to them. That tin is getting low, so when I saw this one on sale I thought it would be a great one to try. I have never had a bilberry and didn’t even know what it was, so I looked them up prior to ordering. They look remarkably like blueberries.

For the first time, I upgraded my matcha base just to see if I could tell a big difference. I also got a lower flavoring level than usual, opting for distinctive, while in the past I have always ordered robust.
You can get it here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/bilberry-matcha.html

Opening the pouch, I was greeted with a sweet candy scent. I like to try these flavored matcha several different ways right away so I know how they best shine. As my water heated for the traditional style of preparation, I put a bit in my water bottle and added about two ounces of cold water. I gave it a good shake and then added more cold water. Fantastic! This may be even tastier than the Black Cherry as a cold, fruit infused flavoring for water to take to the gym.

I whisked up a bowl in the traditional fashion with my chasen. It was easy to froth, made more froth, and had a longer lasting froth than the classic grade of matcha. Nice! It tastes good plain, and I tried it also with about 1/16 tsp. of sugar. This was also good.

Next, I made my fruit smoothie for lunch. Since I have been making it from a banana and blueberries lately I wondered if I would even be able to tell the matcha was in there, but it was very distinctive.

The scent of the flavoring is very, VERY much like the new Harney and Sons Blueberry Green. There is only one thing that puzzles me about this tea. I am getting a floral taste, which may have to do with the flavoring, or may be what a real bilberry tastes like since I have never had one. It is not unpleasant. It is a light hint of the taste I get when I eat a Choward’s violet candy, though the blueberry, grape-candy dominates. At first I thought it was a perfume-y taste, but now I am really perceiving it as a floral taste. Now, a while after finishing the smoothie, I am tasting the violet candy more and more. It is making me want some! Fortunately, I still have some Parmaviolets left!

Overall, I am very pleased with this flavor and will probably order it again. I am especially pleased with the upgrade of the base matcha, and especially pleased also to find that the distinctive level of flavor is strong enough for me. I used to order robust because I was afraid of matcha. Now I even like it plain, so this level is fine for me!

This makes my smoothie extra tasty, and that is the real purpose for which I bought it.

This is the other Red Leaf matcha that my friend brought over today for sampling and “matcha lessons.” First I made a fruit smoothie with organic blueberries, bananas, and strawberries, raw cane sugar, and Greek yogurt. I put all that in the blender and then sifted this on top of it. I added crushed ice on that, and turned the blender on until everything was smooth and creamy. It was so good!

Next I made a matcha latte with it. It was the usual method….sift matcha into tall glass, add cold water, whoosh, add honey, whoosh, add milk and crushed ice. Wow! The strawberry was strong! It was good, very good, but you seriously could get the distinctive flavor level instead for this one and not be disappointed.

We watched a movie and split an Otis Spunkmeyer muffin and I slurped on the last bit of water from the ice melting from my last latte. It was still sweetly strawberry flavored, which gave me an additional idea. With our muffin, we had “matcha water.” I got a sport water bottle, sifted some matcha into it, added a tiny bit of water, and shook it like mad. Then I added water almost to the top and crushed ice.

We poured it off into two glasses and drank it with our muffins. There is no sugar added but it is still an enjoyable drink. (We were just discussing how I feel so bad when I add a tablespoon of honey to a large latte and think nothing of downing a Coke, which has more than twice that amount of sugar! If you don’t see it going in, I guess you don’t think about it.) I like this for days when I am working in the yard and it is hot outside, or for a workout drink.

Bottom line, strawberry matcha was going on my order, too, until my friend told me that one of matcha they ordered is for my birthday, which is coming up soon! Squeeee!

I was really excited about this because I LOVE watermelon. Love it. I’m finding that this isn’t a true watermelon taste though. It’s not bad, just not what I was expecting.

I’ll enjoy the rest of my stash but I don’t think I’ll re-purchase.

On a good note, I’m on the Dexter season finale for season 6. Only one season left to catch up on after this!

Just had this one as matcha milk. I think I may be outgrowing this matcha, for the time being at least. Not that there’s anything wrong with this one at all, just I’m much more enamoured with the new flavours I’ve been exploring.

Now onto my fresh cup of Jardin Bleu! And more studying.

I had no sooner packaged the last of my cheesecake matcha up to send off to Roswell Strange, that I got in matcha samples from Sil and it reawakened the joy of matcha for me. I am getting so impatient for my order to come in!

In my surprise package from MirandaGou yesterday this was also included, so thank goodness I have a few servings to get me through the next week until Red Leaf arrives.

I also needed a bit of a caffeine jolt, because I’m feeling overwhelmed. This seems to be a recurring theme this term. I’m not a huge fan.

I made this as a cold latte last night to bring with me to work this morning and it’s delightful. I’m glad I reordered this one.

Made this into a smoothie for another episode of Dexter. Slowly but surely catching up. How did I get 2 seasons behind?!

This is delish. So yummy. This and Caramel Matcha I’ll be keeping around permanently for sure.

When I initially bought this one in my first Red Leaf order over a year ago, it was my least favourite. Little did I know, it would sneakily grow to become my favourite of the four I picked up.

I’m happy I picked up more because it is a delight. I’ve been drinking so much matcha today, but I’ve been trying to keep my caffeine levels consistently high so I can stay awake for registration. I’m having this one now, shaken with cold milk. I didn’t let it sit, but I’m sure it tastes the same as if I had. The French Butter Cookie on the other hand, is still sitting in the fridge for later. Yum.

You guys, I just got this order in on Friday, and I was already on the Red Leaf site and chose my next 5+2 order. There’s a screenshot saved on my desktop. Oh dear.

I had this as a soy latte this morning. I haven’t had matcha in months and months, gah! I’m also trying hard to acquire a taste for soy milk, since regular milk has been hard on my stomach the last few months :(

This matcha soy latte was a success on all fronts. This is my least favourite matcha in my cupboard, albeit still yummy, and combined with the soy milk it made for a delicious drink.

I got to enjoy this whilst lazing on the couch reading some fan fiction. This is important because I work every Saturday, and this is one of the very few I’ve taken off for my friends wedding. Yay!

Yes! I received my order from Red Leaf Tea today! Ah my stomach has been upset since I woke up this morning, and milk isn’t going to help that at all but I couldn’t wait to try at least one of my new matchas. Bavarian Cream it is!

Yum! Need I say more? I got the delicate flavour and it’s delicious. I can’t say I’ve tried Bavarian Cream anything before, well that I know of. It’s so nice to have a sweetness added to the matchas. I’m trying it cold-brewed with ice and milk but I’m quite excited to also try this one traditionally brewed.

Update: Finally! A reason to use my bubble teacups from David’s. They’re so cute! I need some more practice with the traditional matcha brew for sure – but still great :)

It’s been a while since I have had a flavored match and I forgot how much I love them! This sample has been sitting around for quite some time, but the pumpkin flavors are still shining through. I made a match a smoothie with the rest of this. Ice, soy milk and a little maple syrup. Simple, but I didn’t want anything to drown out the matcha flavors. I need to figure out a way to justify buying more matcha!

Traveling Matcha Tea Box Sample

Wow! The scent of the cloves blew me away as soon as I opened the package! I had to stand there and huff it for a minute. I’m having this with a little bit of sweetened creamer and it is really good. I think I can taste some pumpkin in there, but with so many pumpkin flavored items that come out this time of year, the spices take center stage and seem to really carry the idea of the pumpkin flavor. This would be awesome in a milkshake! I’m liking this one!

This is the first flavored matcha I have tried. The smell of pumpkin pie (predominantly nutmeg) hits me as soon as I open the bag. I have drunk it a few times already and have been playing around with the ratios and reading about people preparing it as a latte. So today I used two spoonfuls of matcha, one teaspoon of sugar and a scoop of powdered goat milk in a regular sized mug full of hot water. If you don’t mind that distinctive goaty taste (which I don’t), it’s pretty good that way! The creaminess of the milk works really well with the pie flavor. Through half the cup, each sip had a wave of bitterness on the sides of my tongue which crept close to the line of unpleasant and quickly receded back. As it cooled that bitterness was more mellow, but lingered more. I kind of liked it. With so many pumpkin pie flavored things (this tea included) I have a hard time figuring out if I’m actually tasting pumpkin or if they are relying on the nutmeg and other spices to carry the assumption of pumpkin. Looks like I won’t figure it out with this cup because I finished it already! I liked this tea, I’m intrigued with the whole flavored matcha idea, but I don’t know that this one was something that I’m crazy about. I’ll have to try it a few more times to be sure.

Second try. First time I failed it by using too hot of water. This time I used a perfect temp and steamed milk.
It’s gonna take some getting used to. It’s not that I don’t like it, it’s just VERY different than anything I have ever had. I didn’t even like puerh at first and I enjoy this more.
So, I’m not going to rate this because I know I will like it eventually.