Matcha Outlet

nothing says HELLO WORLD! like a freezing rain storm first thing in the morning. I’ve been up for a while managing more issues with work but finally have two minutes to spare to log a couple of teas i had this morning. I tried this in latte form today because of the weather and it was alright. Still not my favourite because the flavouring is sort of “meh” but it’s not a BAD matcha. There are just others that i would drink first :)

Thought i’d try this again today – put in twice the amount of matcha and still this just isn’t coming across as much beyond creamy random flavour.

also a backlog ‘cause i had this today as well. deeeeeelicious! though not my favourite and i likely won’t re-order.

When Red Leaf announced they would change their GC to be worth up to 50% until the end of April provided that those of us with GC’s had a new review up, I seized the opportunity to pick up a few new flavours including the new French Butter Cookie Matcha!

My matcha order was the following:
Size : Small
Matcha Quality: Starter (Basic Grade)
Flavor: Distinctive

First to review this, so i hope i do it justice. I had this in latte form and while it’s tasty and delicious, it’s also not quite as strong a flavour as i’d hoped for. It tastes a lot like a creamy vanilla flavour rather than that sort of buttery goodness that is a butter cookie. Now, that being said it’s still really tasty, but i think i was looking for something different. It could just be that the robust flavouring is the way to go for this matcha, but i’ve been trying to scale back the intensity of my flavours lately to try and get to distinctive for most of my matchas. I think that anyone who likes that creamy sort of taste will enjoy this matcha, though if you’re looking for that buttery goodness it might be best to try a stronger flavour. That being said, I also still need to try this with just water to see how the taste changes and whether it’s just the milk that’s covering up the buttery goodness. Definitely a possibility.

Buy it here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/french-butter-cookie-matcha.html

This is a whole lot of YUM! I agree with the other reviewers that this one done as a latte really makes it shine. Just gives it that extra bit of creaminess it needs. I actually did it with unsweetened coconut milk. Which was a delicious combination. Will definitely order this again :-)

This happened today.

http://distilleryimage5.s3.amazonaws.com/9334617ca78d11e2882622000a1f985d_7.jpg

It was delicious.

I think this is my favorite of the two flavored matchas Courtney sent for me to try. They are all delicious, though… I might have to actually order matcha at some point, I really enjoy having a cup after my workout. So fresh and yummy!

I am choosing to not rate this, because I really have no idea how this compares to other matchas. This one was my first!

Courtney sent me a generous sample of this one, as well as a couple others, and I was super impressed. I drank it hot after my workout, and even though I don’t have a fancy whisk or bowl, a fork and a mason jar worked just fine for me. Delicious. I enjoyed this quite a lot.

Kind of a sipdown. This package is finished, but there is more in the freezer waiting for me because I got all of the cherry ones to compare at some point and got more of this for that.

Didn’t measure very well because I was just trying to get the stuff out of the tin but it seems to have worked out anyway. I still really really like this, it is my happy matcha. I’m progressing well at work, only 7 matchas left to get through before I can reload.

Also been a while since I drank this. I’m getting to the bottom of my tin, although I do have a refill already along with the other cherry flavoured matchas for an experiment on which one I like best.

Tasty but overly sweet today. And the 2% milk just tastes weird to me.

Almost drunk the last of this, though I have an unopened packet also waiting at home.

Drank this. Looking forward to having tins free because I bought the other cherry matchas as well and I want to compare them.

Tasty. I think I used the perfect amount of matcha today, because it’s really better than normal.

A black cherry matcha latte to end the work day. I’m not quite sure why, but the flavour seemed more muted today, whether that’s because of the actual matcha or because I was rushing to drink this before I had to leave I don’t know, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as usual.

Last matcha of the work day. Back down to 2/3 tsp of matcha powder. I think that’s my sweet spot for 10 or so oz of liquid (2ish of hot water, 8 of hot milk).

Very tasty, though I’ve been reading through the other reviews (again) and now I want to try it with french vanilla (although my french vanilla isn’t very strong). Maybe next time, maybe even tomorrow! At a rate of 3 or 4 matchas at least 4 days per week, I think I’ll go through this pretty fast. It’s funny how these types of habits sneak up on you. I bought 2 half-gallons of organic skim milk for my home in preparation of making more at home too. It’s mostly a test to see how long they last. My matcha habits at home are still undefined.

2nd distinct latte of the day so I’m logging this one out separately. (Not quite the same as drinks from the same pot of tea or different steeps for the same leaves imo). Used a full teaspoon of matcha this time and it’s still pretty good. The flavour is a lot more powerful. I can’t decide if I like it better this way though.

Second matcha of probably many today. Still feel all foggy. Went for a brisk half hour walk instead of eating lunch. Still feel all crummy.

This matcha is as tasty as ever. I think I might try it next time with a full teaspoon of matcha.

OMG guys, this one is AMAZING! I think it just popped itself up to being my favourite matcha, green matcha even!

When I opened the package I could smell it pretty strongly, not quite sure what it reminded me of, but it was definitely cherry. Black cherry soda possibly? I’m definitely going to have to try this one with the cola matcha because I have that one too, though I haven’t tried it separately yet.

I used my Breville to heat up some water to 175 degrees because that’s the only kettle I have at home that can heat to specific temperatures. I have two at work, go figure. So that was a bit of a pain, but I used that and frothed with my little electric matcha whisk with a bit of sugar and then put in 10 oz of skim milk that I had heated up in the microwave. I think I’ve got the perfect time down for milk in all the microwaves I associate with. The half-pint carton at work gets a minute in the upper microwave and the 10 oz of milk in the liquid measure gets 2 minutes. I guess that means my microwave is only half as powerful as the work microwave, oh well.

I frothed this one up a little extra, even after I poured the milk in, which I don’t usually because if I don’t hold it precisely at the correct depth to the liquid it either does nothing or it sprays everywhere. There was a bit of spraying.

But seriously, this is one amazing flavour. I was not expecting this one to be done so well, though looking at the other reviews perhaps I should have been. I might have to try the other cherry flavours now to compare. There are what, four of them? More than I have seen in any one place where cherry flavoured things are located. Including the grocery store sometimes where there are actual cherries and Washington is a cherry producing state. Hmm, Rainier cherry flavoured matcha? But I digress.

This is really good and you should go get some at: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/black-cherry-matcha.html

I should also note, that I got classic matcha level and distinctive flavouring and there was certainly plenty of flavour at that level.

Sipdown! I probably put a bit too much in this matcha latte I made but I was so close to finishing this that I just dumped what was left into my sifter and hoped for the best.

It frothed up really well considering it’s age. Mint is a flavour that tends to linger and that was true this time too, although the mint was much much milder than originally. Mostly I get very mild green tea flavour. Still tasty and caffeinated but I’m glad to see it go! That means I only have 2 types of matcha at work and I should probably bring in a few more for some variety if I’m going to drink one every morning (which is what I’m trying to do).

Decided I wanted minty matcha but wanted something else to go with it so this one has the normal amount of mint matcha and then added to that a normal-ish amount of berry matcha since I have a bunch of that still. The mint sort of overpowers the berry and it tastes much more like matcha than usual but I like it, it’s pretty good. A little more bitter than normal but otherwise okay.

I really like mint. This just hit the spot.

More minty than yesterday, but still entirely pleasant. And it’s almost time to go home!

Using 2% milk today, the kitchen was out of skim. Tastes marginally thicker but not better.