Matcha Outlet

I loved the idea of a white chocolate matcha. Two delicate, unassuming, but absolutely delicious flavours pairing up sounds perfect to me. And now that I have it, I can say that it really is pretty great! Just a bit different than I expected.

I got classic matcha with robust flavouring, for reference.

When I first opened the bag I was puzzled. It smelled more chocolatey than I expected. Upon further sniffing I pinned it down as a distinct cocoa butter scent. Not quite chocolate, but chocolate-like. Okay, I can deal with that. White chocolate is mostly cocoa butter solids, after all. I guess I was just hoping for more of a sweet and creamy can’t-quite-put-your-finger-on-what-it-is white chocolate, since my plan was to drink it mostly in smoothies. This is definitely not that. It’s complex and rich and has almost a floral-like quality that you can get a hint of in pure cocoa butter. In the way that honey is almost floral, but not quite. Interesting! This made me even more excited to try it.

I tried it in a smoothie first, since that was my intention when I bought it. It adds wonderful depth and a hint of creamy sweetness to the tart strawberries in the drink. It’s a subtle flavour, but not completely overwhelmed by everything else going on in there flavour-wise. I think overall I still prefer cheesecake matcha for smoothies, but this is definitely unexpected and decidedly tasty.

I haven’t tried it got yet but I’m planning to have a latte later tonight. Fingers crossed that it will taste like a matcha-fied version of white hot chocolate (my favourite!) :D

After the success of my Bavarian Cream matcha toffee, I decided to experiment a bit more! I haven’t actually written a real review for this tea yet though I’ve tried it, but that’s for another day. Today is toffee time! I mean, it’s the day of candy, right?

Toffee is pretty much the easiest candy to make, maybe aside from rock candy. You need 2 ingredients: 1 stick of unsalted butter and 1 cup of sugar. Oh and matcha, if you’re making matcha toffee! Black, green, white, and red matcha all work well (though I wouldn’t waste ceremonial grade in candymaking). Since it’s so darn easy and you probably have all the ingredients, here’s the recipe:

Melt the stick of butter in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Copper is really best for candymaking, but any type will do as long as it’s not nonstick. While the butter is melting, grease a baking tray. When the butter is melted, add the sugar and 2 tablespoons cold water.

Heat over high heat. When the sugar has fully melted, it’ll start to bubble and froth. You want to keep a really close eye on it at this point, and it doesn’t need to be stirred. It’ll be really hot, so make sure not to come into contact with it. You want to heat the mixture until it turns deep amber in color, then turn the heat off immediately since it will burn easily at this stage. The time this takes varies greatly depending on the flame heat, the type of pan, and even the weather, so it can take anywhere from 3 to 15 minutes.

Add about 1 spoonful of matcha—the amount is really based on preference, about 1 teaspoon is fine but you can do more/less depending on how strong you want the flavor to come through. Stir really thoroughly until it’s all the way mixed in, then pour onto the greased tray. Cool for 2 hours, then break into pieces and enjoy!

This is REALLY good with black matcha, since it adds a strong chocolate note. But really, any flavor would be tasty! I think I’m gonna experiment with fruity flavors next.

I shook this up in a cocktail shaker with milk and agave and counted to 100 and created a matcha latte where half my glass was foam. It was lovely. I really need to get back to drinking my matchas up so I can try moooooore. The whole 50% off a review thing is still on right? I should do that. I’m sure there’s a couple around here I didn’t review yet.

I could use a bit more chocolate to this one, though that’s easily solved with the straight chocolate matcha I have.

I have to go to my annual doctor check up this morning and I do not want to. It’s too cold. I want to stay in bed and drink hot tea. It is seriously 16 degrees colder here than Montreal, like this is ridiculous.

So to warm up and make myself get up, it is matcha time!

I think I prefer just the straight chocolate. My water was probably around 165, possibly lower, and the raspberry just has an iffy aftertaste to it. The chocolate is nice though, not as strong as the straight chocolate matcha, but nice.

Not bad, but I wish I didn’t have so many problems w/the fruit matchas.

And off I go. Let’s hope this time around I do not artificially raise my blood pressure by like 30 points by my irrational fear of blood pressure sleeves. I can’t help it, I just think, what if this thing doesn’t let go? Every time they’re just like okay we’ll do this again later and it DROPS. Luckily they took it last week at the allergist and it was 120/70 so I consider that not freaking out. I hope I can do it again haha.

A new froyo shop opened up in the shopping center near my apartment complex, and I’ve already been twice. It opened Friday, lol.

This time I decided to try more of the flavors, starting with Caramel Pretzel, which I ended up getting. So then I decided that wasn’t enough, and I needed more caramel…despite having chocolate turtles filled with caramel, and caramel sauce itself on this caramel flavored yogurt. Hahaha.

Okay really I’m just obsessed with the chawan.

And no. No I do not like this one. I can’t even drink it because of the way it smells. This is just not for me. I had so much hope for it but ughhhh I can’t.

Which makes it more like the kettle corn flavor at the froyo shop. There are some things that just don’t work for me.

I’m so tired of rain!!! And tomorrow’s supposed to be even worse. It’s already been bad for my garden. I ran over there today around 10, because I thought it wasn’t supposed to rain until this afternoon and already the ground around my plot was puddling water. But I got a cucumber.

I realize I haven’t been drinking much tea, or I’ve been drinking the same tea in large 2 quart quantities. And now it’s probably going to dwindle more because I’m inevitably going to get back on coffee too considering the markout you get weekly as a Sbux employee. (Can you imagine if they eventually include something From Teavana in there??? I’d die.) btw my manager loves Harney & Sons so I’m gonna constantly be bringing her other teas to try haha.

Ok so, actually because it’s cooled so much I’m gonna spend the evening drinking hot tea. But first I was really feeling some matcha. I bought club soda to make Italian cream sodas but I couldn’t help but use the remnants of a bottle with some of this matcha. I think 1/4 the bottle was full so if I made a huge mistake by shaking it, I wasn’t going to get matcha water everywhere.

It’s. So. Good. It tastes SO much better this way. It tastes more like champagne but it doesn’t have the bite from the bubbles, while still having them. If that makes sense. I think it also takes away from the weird fruity gum flavor I felt this has some other times I have had it.

I’m going to have to reload up on club soda because I wanted to try tea pops too again, AND I have to try the orange/cola mix I love so dearly this way.

DUDE.

My chawan came today and I’m using this to try it out. Seriously BEST thing I have bought lately (ok minus my nail polish). It makes it sooooo easy to whisk. Now I want to try every matcha I have hot! I can actually get it all smooth so easily!

I’m actually on my second cup of this because I was enjoying the whisking too much. Obviously being champagne, it’s more suited to being chilled. It is pretty sweet, probably right around that of a brut, which is the best obviously.

It’s enjoyable hot though! It’s a bit fruity, and it almost tastes kind of like bubblegum, but not as strongly as the bubblegum flavored matcha.

I will have to try it cold with some sparkling water next.

Oh this is my 700th note. Wow.

I cannot say enough good things about this matcha. It is a perfect afternoon pick-me-up. I like that it’s made with wheatgrass, since it is something that I don’t like to drink on it’s own I feel better that I’m able to consume it in a more palatable manner.

First off, I will admit that I am a huge fan of matcha in general. That being said, this tea truly is the best of all possible worlds. You get the inherent health benefits that come with matcha (ingesting the entire, powdered leaf, instead of just steeping) and the additional benefit of the wheatgrass. All this, and an all-natural, sustained energy-boost?

Like all RedLeaf Matcha the color is very verdantly green, but due to the wheatgrass it tends to be a little lighter than some of their others. After whisking up a cup, the flavor is very vegetal. It has the smell and flavor of fresh-cut grass, and I mean that in the best possible way. It tastes fresh, crisp and warmly -if ever so subtly – sweet.

It’s perfect for re-energizing during the post-lunch 2-3pm drag, and a good replacement of the post-coffee-guzzling-guilt.

Be sure to pick some up here:
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/wheatgrass-matcha.html

Cranberries are tasty. Mostly they remind me of Thanksgiving and Holiday-like festivities. Like most things that remind me of the US, is it very hard to find cranberries in Ecuador. If you do find them they are in dry form or in super sweet drink concoctions. I was surprised to find out that 95% of all cranberries are used in fruit drinks and sweetened dried fruit. No wonder that is the only way I can find cranberries in Ecuador!

When I opened the golden packet of cranberry matcha, I did get a hint of cranberry scent. It reminded me of fresh homemade cranberry sauce; it was quite inviting and festive. It even had a promise of tartness to the scent. I love the way the scent of the green matcha stands through the flavoring of all of the Red Leaf Tea Matcha I have tried so far. I always order delicate flavoring to make sure that I don’t miss out on the deliciousness of the green tea flavor!

Once prepared and nicely frothed (no sweetener in my matcha!) the scent became more delicate, almost like a shadow of the strong scent that the powder had. Each sip was a short stroll through all the flavors that showed up in this tea. Upfront stood the cranberry, it filled my nose and taste buds just for a second, immediately after the flavor of green tea took over. Sweet and smooth the green tea flavor finally gave way to a tasty fruity aftertaste. It wasn’t quite cranberry in the aftertaste, mostly just fruitiness. There is no doubt that it tasted like cranberry, but what made it exceptionally good was the fact that there was more than just one layer to the cranberry flavor. Thankfully, there was no tartness in the flavor, tartness just doesn’t work in matcha for me. I am particularly happy with this tea. I don’t think I could have though up a better tasting cranberry if I had tried!

All the tastiness plus the fact that it is good for you makes this tea something you really should try! You can get some for yourself here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/cranberry-matcha.html

I put half a teaspoon of this into a water bottle today and sipped it all the way until I got to work. It tastes like cherry candy! I only got the normal amount of flavoring (delicate?) but I was still surprised how much of a flavor it had. This is a pretty good way of drinking matcha without getting too much matcha taste.

I’ve packed it in my new awesome Teavana travel kit so that once I get to the airport I can put it in a water bottle in there. My boyfriend thinks that part of the kit looks like a shank so I’m hoping it really doesn’t get any attention drawn to it. Meh. I thought it seemed very useful especially because it means I have limited myself to only taking three teas (and three tea bags) with me. Left to my own devices it would have been at least 6, an infuser basket, and who knows what else.

So I made this up as a latte today. Maybe the flavour settled better, or perhaps it’s just better with milk but I quite enjoyed it, reminds me of chocolate chip cookie (without the chips) dipped in milk. Well, except for the fact that the milk nearly drowns out any cookie flavour. I guess I could try it with less dairy but then it wouldn’t really be a latte! heh
Ah well, plenty of time to experiment. Thanks again Azzrian!!!

I’m not rating this as it would lie around 60 somewhere.
Hot. Bottle shaken. I just don’t like the flavour. It’s chemical-ish and there is very little “cookie”, though I do see where one would get that. Makes me sad. I must be defective lol
Anyhow, big thanks to Azzrian for the sample.

When my mom was a kid, all medicine was grape flavored. To this day she can’t have any grape candies/sodas/etc, because no matter how well done it is, it reminds her of medicine. I am very much the same way with cherry: anything with real cherries (jam, ice cream, etc) is fine but candy… bleurgh. It could be the best cherry flavor in the world and I by association wouldn’t like it. However, I LOVE black cherries, so I took a risk and got this matcha anyway when it went on sale. As a side note, kids today are lucky: medicines are grape, orange, cherry, even mint! So they can pick the flavor they’ll grow up loathing for the rest of their lives.

My matcha was a small (30g) with the classic matcha base and the delicate level of flavoring. I wasn’t too sure how much I’d like this, so of course I went with the smallest flavor level! Also, it was a stand-alone order that I didn’t have a certificate for, so I kept everything basic. I do have 5 fancier matchas on my kitchen table right now waiting to be tried! But first, me versus my dislike of cherry. Start battle!

Okay, in the pouch this smells really nice and fresh, but I am still getting some weird medicinal vibes. Don’t get me wrong: the flavoring isn’t artificial or medicinal in the least. It’s just my stupid brain! I decided to make this iced in a tall glass of cold water (though I did the hot water + whisking base first along with sugar—what, I like my matcha a little sweet!). I thought this would be the best way to deal with my medicine associations.

Well… it is really good. It tastes like fresh, ripe black cherries. But. Ah, I hate that there’s a but! I am having a REALLY hard time getting over my cherry = medicine thing here. I think iced was the wrong choice, so I am going to go with a latte next time and for now I am holding off on a rating. Because I know this matcha will be fabulous if I just make it the right way! And if you don’t have a secret hatred of cherries you will adore this matcha, I think it’s by far one of the best of their fruit-flavored ones (that I’ve tried, of course!). You can get it here:

http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/black-cherry-matcha.html

This was a real surprise!
http://steepster.com/teas/red-leaf-tea/19600-noni-matcha?post=132401
Of all the far flung fruits to flavor a tea with, noni was the farthest from what I’d have expected. My grandfather was Hawaiian and planted the idea of noni in my head a long time ago. He learned to stop doing this as it seemed to make his continent bound family feel deprived of unique experiences. But the sketch (he was an artist) he made of it stuck in my mind. After a depressing lack of information in the 1998 Encyclopedia, I forgot about noni fruit, another unverifiable detail of the technicolor dreamland that my grandfather left behind.

 
Twelve years later, noni popped up in some articles about super fruits and diabetes but not in stores. Not even the giant all-exotic-foods-and-animals-imaginable foodie mecca known as Jungle Jim’s in Ohio. (It was a year ago when I went; perhaps they have noni juice now?) The scientific name is Morinda citrifolia, noni is part of the coffee family and has some more colorful common names such as pace, apatot, dog dumpling, great morinda, Indian mulberry, cheese fruit, and apatot.

Noni fruit has an entire user’s manual full of health benefits. While I remember a very humorous conversation about noni’s use in bowel regularity (grandpa humor…“better than prunes!” I believe he claimed…)I did not know how extensive the health benefits were.
Noni fruit is high in the basic food panel nutrients like vitamins C and A, potassium, niacin, a smidgen of sodium, and is overall similar to the nutrition data of an orange. It contains all nine essenscial amino acids, a very rare quality, although I would imagine it very expensive as a significant protein source.
Among its purported benefits are treatment of diabetes and lupus, quite a contradictory characteristic for a fruit, treatment of athlete’s foot and assistance in fighting infection and cancer. Noni fruit promotes T-cell growth and metabolism. I’m not sure, but I would imagine topical application is needed for treating athlete’s foot an possibly the claims for treating hair loss, but hair loss could be related to vitamin deficiency.

Red Leaf’s Noni Matcha is 100% raw and freeze dried to preserve as much of the nutrients and properties of the fresh fruit as possible. I’m not as gun-ho about raw foods as some health enthusiasts I’ve known, but after an unsuccessful attempt to grow dragonfruit, I physically cringe when rare and special foods are processed in a way that makes them as nutritious as canned green beans.　Waste not, want.

Noni fruit has a strong odor when it’s growing and the only other tea including it is a tisane with the odorless leaves from Chi of Tea, to my knowledge. This is why some call it cheese fruit or even vomit fruit, and equate its smell to durian fruit! I think papaws have a similar mixed reception, and I love those.

All this myth and medicine packed into one fruit, I had to order some Noni matcha, if only to share some with grandpa’s memory.

After arguing with the post office over whether or not my street exists (property lines have been redrawn here thrice this year), the mysterious matcha arrived. I had an old Fossil watch tin to sift it into and opened the bag.
Wham! The smell hit me in a wall of floral aroma. The smell is amazing and complex. Notes of jasmine, strawberry, rose, passion flower. I couldn’t even imagine how this could be derived from something called cheese fruit! Then again, pulp and rind most likely have distinct smells, just like orange peel and pulp.
Just before I boiled water I realized that I only have one chasen right now; using it for such a pungent matcha would leave a strange and gradually odoriferous taste in any more chawan of matcha I would prepare. Possibly even in the shino-yaki chawan I’ve been using for everyday use.
My solution was a miso bowl and the spiral wire whisk from Ikea that I swear was invented to be a cat toy and accidentally transferred to the cooking department. After trying it once out of curiosity on culinary grade matcha, it frothed as well as preparation with a chasen, but the froth disappeared instantly. I haven’t made matcha to drink with it before and I must admit I was trying not to laugh at what I was watching. A loud green slurp of superfood in a louder orange soup bowl was being prepared with a baffling chrome kitchen tool that resembled a misplaced lawn ornament, while my two month old kitten watched everything with absolute confusion.

The smell does proceeds it. While I have spent the past three days smell the bag and waving it under people’s noses, bringing a few inquire into matcha and superfoods, the taste is not nearly so bold; which is fine, it has a taste appropriate to the standard level of flavor I got. Actually I would imagine the strong flavor level to be as overwhelming as noni fruit’s durian like smell. It has a fruity, strawberry, dusty pineapple taste. The matcha is subdued and earthy, not grassy or distracting. Flavored matcha is often aimed at smoothie use and people who don’t like grassy tastes, so I guess this is spot on its purpose, but I love grassy tastes. This is unique and I mentally put it with licorice prunes; a distinct flavors that one remembers.

…And someone tell me if drinking noni cures athlete’s foot.=)

Uh oh this tea is NOT for me haha.
I made a matcha shot of it and .. well.. I couldn’t breathe. haha personally I don’t get spearmint (my fave!) I get peppermint all the way. And it hurts! I added some milk to try to tame it but by then it was too late haha

However – I am going to bake with this at Christmas! And mix it in teeeeny tiny amounts with chocolate matcha or hot chocolate. So don’t worry! Everything is gonna be alright :D

This is one of those where I have no idea why I picked it out other than I could go for some more bubblegum flavored stuff in my life. My jaw does not get along with bubblegum so I’ll take the flavor when I can get it!

I’m drinking this before I get to studying for an international finance test tomorrow. It is SO good. I’m surprised more people haven’t picked this one up yet. When I opened the bag, it just smelled like bubblegum.

Bubblegum screams cold drink to me, so I whisked it up in some room temperature water, added just a little bit of milk, ice, a couple drops of agave, and filled the glass with water. This is hard one not to polish off ASAP! I think next time I’ll use a bit more matcha, in fact, I may make another because I’m supposed to be studying and doing a horrible job of it.

I may have to try it unsweetened, because it seems like it might be sweet enough on its own. But I thought about 52teas’ SBT bags and how the bubblegum really popped with just a little agave and had to just go with it!

It tastes just like bubblegum, and the matcha isn’t too strong. I am pretty sure I only got this with the lowest level of flavoring too.

This one is a lot of fun!

I made a second cup and didn’t add anything extra to it. It definitely works this way too, but a little sweetener brings out the bubblegum even more!

Mangoes are my favorite fruit. Or at least, I think they are! My opinions seem to be divided, and watermelon (any melon, really) and pomegranate are close contenders. Man, you know what would be amazing? Honeydew Matcha. I could see that ripe melon taste going SO well with a grassy green base. Oh man, I am drooling at the thought. Not, uh, literally drooling, but I might if honeydew matcha was a real thing! Ummm back to the matter at hand. Mangoes! I love ’em! Especially when they reach that perfect peak of ripeness and are fall-apart juicy but still with a great texture.

Of course I had to try mango matcha. I especially got it to mix with my coconut and rose (separately!), but regular old mango has to be tried first. I got a small with green matcha and distinctive flavor—my preferred for fruity matchas. The smell in the bag seemed particularly strong/artificial, but I’ve found that’s usual for matcha and it doesn’t reflect the taste.

I have to say, this really isn’t a straight mango flavor. The mango aspect is quite interesting—it’s not juicy mango flesh, but more like… you know, when you’re cutting a mango and there’s some flesh left after you peel it so you scrape your teeth on the rind to get it all? You get mango flesh, but also some rind-y goodness as well that adds a woodsy, almost tangy taste. Well, that’s what the mango is like here! Rind-y. It’s kind of nice, quite different from other mango teas I’ve tried.

But… and sadly, there is a but. This tastes like lemon! Not a hint, a little whiff of citrus. It’s really lemony! I would guess this was Mango Lemon if I didn’t know better. Another review mentions citrus too (I didn’t read them first, just perusing to see if I was way off-base), so I guess it’s just how the mango flavoring is? Now that I know it, it won’t be such a surprise when I make it next and I think I could really get to like it. You can find it here:

http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/mango-matcha.html

I tried this again, hoping for a different result than the first time I tried it. Unfortunately, the result is very much the same. I tried mixing it this time with 1 part Royal grade Matcha with 1 part Apricot Matcha and while this did soften the chemical/perfume/soap taste slightly, it did not soften it to the point of making it drinkable. It only softened it enough so that beyond this very strong chemical/perfume/soap taste I can taste the Matcha and the Apricot… but this is not enough to be able to look beyond that terrible flavor.

I’m sorry, I just don’t like this. :(

Oh dear. This is … bad. I don’t know if my taste buds are off or something. Or if I just got a really bad batch. Or what. But … this tastes of perfume-y soap. I know it’s not the chawan or the chasen because I only rinse my chasen using the left over hot water from my teapot that I heated up for the Matcha, and I know it’s not the chawan because I rinsed it not only after cleaning but I rinse it in hot water before I use it to warm it up a bit before I make the Matcha.

This is bad. I can’t even try to ascertain what else I taste because my taste buds can’t get past the powerful chemical taste here. It tastes really bad. I’m really disappointed, and I’m not going to rate it, because I don’t know if the fault is mine, or if it’s with the Matcha… I will try it again another time … just not again tonight. I hope it is a case of taste buds being off and not the Matcha.

MATCHA MADNESS DAY has sadly ended and I’m out of new match to try….that is, until my new order arrives!!!! I saved Lavender for last as I wasn’t sure how it was going to go. I ordered Robust flavor since I love Lavender. I probably should have started with Delicate, but I’m not one to think about things too much. This matcha smells of heavy lavender – hence ordering robust.
My first impression of this matcha… I opened up the pouch, preparing it for the tin that will keep it fresh. The small size fits perfect in the tin with a little wiggle room…enough to be able to get the measuring spoon in. I wanted to put this in a sachet under my pillow and have sweet lavender dreams. I cannot get enough of that soothing lavender scent. I had thought that this might be a good soothing matcha before bed. I’m tempted to make a facial mask from it!
I always make sure to warm up my bowl and chasen under a bit under water, sitting in the bowl. My matcha does not cool down as fast when warming the bowl. All items ready…bowl, chasen, matcha, water and my sifter!
First I mixed 2 oz of water with about 3/4 perfect teaspoon of matcha. I was doubting my decision to order Robust on this one so held back on adding a full teaspoon until I could see if I could drink it. Once that was properly mixed I added a bit of sugar (sorry, can’t do without a touch of it) and 7 oz of water. Oh boy, I couldn’t get past the first sip. This matcha was so bitter. I definitely screwed up ordering Robust. I wish I could go back in time and tell myself to go Delicate….DELICATE!!!! I couldn’t try and fix it as it was so bitter I just didn’t know what to do. I’m going to try again tomorrow and add less matcha with more water. I will love this matcha somehow!
The smell of this matcha once mixed with water stayed the same, a robust lavender. I would recommend Delicate when ordering this for the first time. I might even try it with a white matcha. The quality of the actual matcha is very good. This is definitely one you need to try for yourself.
In the current flavor I would not order this again. I’m going to play around with this more. A latte might not be the best route for lavender but iced might. If all else fails, I will lather myself in it…and smell mighty fine!
Here is how I ordered my Lavender Matcha from Red Leaf Tea:
Size: Small
Quality: Starter (Basic Grade)
Flavor: Robust
Storage: Air tight refill flat pouch – would definitely recommend purchasing a tin for your matcha to keep it fresh. I did not order one this time since I already had a tin.
To try Lavender Matcha from Red Leaf Tea visit here:
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/lavender-matcha.html

I’m not going to rate this right now since I feel ordering Robust was my fault, but wanted to make sure others know that this is a naturally robust flavor so order delicate.

Wow, the dry matcha smells incredibly strong, like I just opened a pack or oreos, but a little thicker and creamier.

I prepared this in a way that is quickly becoming my standard, since I got some good smoothie cups to take to work: 2 chashaku scoops of matcha, fill the 16oz cup about half way with water, blend (OMG my stick blender makes this so easy – no lumps! Nice froth! No sifting needed!) fill the rest of the cup with whole milk and ice. My matcha lattes stay cold easily for a couple hours, which is plenty of time for me to drink them :)

My first impression upon sipping this one agrees with the smell of thedry matcha: the flavor is strong and noticeable. The green tea flavor is actually pretty overwhelmed. It must just be something about the Cookies & Cream flavor, as opposed to the others I’ve tried, but this is kind of like being hit in the face with a carton of cookies ‘n’ cream ice cream. It’s definitely a contrast to the Royal Bavarian Cream I had yesterday, and even stronger than my “distinctively” flavored cheesecake matcha. I found myself wondering if I somehow prepared this stronger than usual? It’s possible, but if that were the case I’d expect more green tea flavor too, and that’s not what I’m getting here.

As you may have figured out, the flavor is really too strong for my taste (even on delicate, which this is) and comes across kind of artificial to me. Boo! This is the first time I’ve had that issue with Red Leaf’s matcha – I thought maybe they were magic :/ However! The aftertaste is quite good, as if I’ve been eating that cookies & cream ice cream I mentioned and just set it down for a minute. I think I need to give this another chance, so I’ll try preparing it in the classic style (warm, whisked) as well as cold with just water – hopefully one of those will work better for me.

If you are a big cookies & cream fan, I would certainly recommend this, with the caveat to try the delicate flavor first! On the other hand, if you’ve been looking for a matcha flavor that lets you forget you’re drinking matcha – look no further! This is like a cookies & cream milkshake all on its own :P

You can buy it for yourself at http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/cookies-and-cream-matcha.html

Does anyone else have problems with the white matcha staying mixed? It’s not a problem to stir the drink back up before a sip but it’s just odd. I sift it and everything and it’s still ends up speckled at the bottom immediately after I finish whisking. Science.

I am drinking this hot! I have to say it is brilliant this way. I whisked up some milk as I heated it on the stove and poured it on top. The finished product resembles a light chocolate milk but it tastes so much better.

I am not even kidding, this tastes like a freshly baked cookie. Not even that, it smells like one. Hot is definitely the way to go with this one. It seems like a chocolate chip cookie, maybe just a sugar cookie, but with a nice creamy glaze.

You know when this one will be perfect? Christmas Eve. Eating some real cookies while drinking this…oh my.