865 Tasting Notes
Smoothie style. 1 serving Green Machine Matcha + 1 cup frozen peaches as the “ice” and an extra tsp matcha. Not really the thing to drink in a clear glass LOL. The Peach is the main flavor and I actually can’t taste the matcha at all. But that’s ok. It’s smooth, and fruity, and cold, and healthy!
Preparation
Most of my friends (especially my friend Kristine that thinks even regular steeped and decanted tea is like drinking grass clippings) already think I’m crazy for drinking matcha, so might as well be flippin’ crazy. ;) I saw this in Starbucks again today and finally had the guts to try it. I figured if there was any weird taste to it, matcha would cover it up. Let me just warn you now that this looks nasty. I mean REALLY nasty. Shockingly enough most of the flavor comes from the juice- not the matcha. The juice is really sweet with apple being the predominant flavor. I also pick up on a hint of pineapple and banana. This is another way I like cold matcha! I wonder how it’d taste hot though…
When I went into Teavana today, my friend Casey was working and he said that Anjou Pear-adise is one of his favorite so I decided to have this with my iced matcha I’d already decided I was going to have. To my shock, it did not look like the matcha had been added at all. It just looked like regular, translucent, thin iced tea. And worse, it didn’t taste like matcha had been added. Has anyone ordered cup of matcha at Teavana before? I’m going to wait to rate this til I find out more information on what I should expect when ordering matcha.
I made this in efforts to cut the sweetness of the juice. It worked, not as well as I was expecting, but it worked. It’s definitely more sweet and more appley than any apple tea I’ve ever had, but it isn’t teeth rottingly sweet like juice and I can taste the black tea base. This is definitely a success. Gonna try a chai tea next time.
Preparation
My mom was trying to be nice… she really was. Before she left for her 2 week business trip she decided to make me some lemonade. I’m not a real big lemonade drinker, but it’s good w/ matcha and in Arnold Palmers… except that she made Crystal Light and not real lemonade w/ stevia which is how I drink it. I can feel my teeth rotting just thinking about it. Oh well. I decided to first try to salvage this by making an Arnold Palmer.
2 bags steeped in 1 cup water just below boiling
1 cup Crystal Light
1 tsp lemon juice
Not as teeth rottingly sweet as I expected. Pretty good.
Preparation
Oh my gosh… what’s in this stuff? As soon as finished my half bowl 5 hrs ago I was craving it again- intensely. I have a lot of matcha on a daily basis, but I very rarely crave it like this. I lasted as long as I could (and intentionally til my craving died down) to have a second half bowl because I was afraid I’d be craving a 3rd. Sooo good.
Grumble…Grumble…Sigh…Grumble…Grumble…Grrr…Grumble…Grumble… OK, let me explain. The theme for this week’s Vegan Dinner Night with my friends was smoothies. I instantly thought to bring matcha (I often do and it goes over very well!), but that required a trip to my local tea store since I was almost out. I arrived fully prepared to buy Rishi’s single serve matcha, but I was pleasantly surprised to see bulk matcha (it’s been almost 2 years since I’ve been there)! I grabbed my matcha (and some Tea on Tap for me and my mom). I arrived at my friends’ Nathan and Ben and smoothies were soon in the works, but… CRAP! The matcha is sitting in my mom’s car. Not a big deal in reality, but I was craving a matcha fruit smoothie so I thru a silent internal temper tantrum and went on with the evening. I’m sure this matcha is good, but it’s SO expensive compared to what I drink on a daily basis ($1.05/g compared to 16 cents/g which is even ceremonial grade), so I called the store and asked about their refund policy because I really can’t afford this when there are better and cheaper alternatives out there. Unfortunately, because I used a gift card, my refund would just be reloaded onto the card vs. a cash refund so I just decided to suck it up and keep it. Oh well.
When I open the tin I notice that, while it’s not nearly as dull in color as some of the flavored matchas I’ve had or even Lupicia’s 100g matcha, it’s not as vibrant (like the smiley on the far right) as I’d like it to be. It’s also quite clumpy. This will definitely need to be sifted. After a sift and a whisk, a substantial froth formed. While the whisked color was again paler than I’d hoped, it actually had a pretty substantial flavor. The flavor was sweet and smooth, just like the mouth feel. It reminded me of my first match experience which was Rishi’s individually packed matcha which makes me think this may be Rishi. Not bad, but way too expensive. For as much of a tea addict (matcha specifically) I am, I really have learned to find great bargains so I don’t have to sacrifice flavor, volume, or frequency. If you’re not on as tight of a budget as I am (which doesn’t take much lol!) definitely give this a try. It’s a good one.
I am very new to steepster and great to see reviews of a local place on the site! The Valley is so small I was surprised. Cool review. I have had Matcha from Fava Tea before, too— Matcha is my drink of choice, esp anytime I need a little kick I go to my Matcha (though nothing beats a great Oolong). It’s funny that you mention Matacha at Fava as I was just there. I noticed that they had many types of Matcha. They had a Rishi brand of Matcha (125 grams) for $10.00 [this is what I have purchased], Matcha in packets for about ???, and organic ceremonial grade in a tin. I get the ceremonial grade is more and I haven’t had that one, but have you tried other Matchas? I really like the Rishi Matcha in the black bag that I got from Fava Tea — and it doesn’t hurt the pocket book either. BTW, I was told that the ceremonial matcha was not from Rishi, but is from a Japan garden/firm. I haven’t had it, though, so I appreciate the advice. Off to read more reviews!! Look forward to posting some of my own. Looks pretty easy in fact!
I’m not sure 3 would be my idea of “many”- although it was one more than I was expecting. The matcha in packets is the same price per gram as this. It’s $20 because it contains 20g of matcha. When I was there they did not have the ceremonial grade in a tin- this tin was standard grade. I also have not encountered the black bag matcha you speak of. This was a tin, the individual packets were in a white cardboard box, and the sweet matcha is in a white container. I can’t wait til Teavana goes in the mall to try theirs. Although I hope I can get it unsweetened. I’ve heard they sweeten everything there. If you want to go somewhere that serves it- Kavarna Cafe in Green Bay uses the individual Rishi packets and it’s actually pretty good.
@The Sweet Leaf- Have you seen this? http://favatea.blogspot.com/2011/06/matcha-citron-tasting-today-til-sun.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=facebook
Is this the matcha you spoke of? I wonder why they didn’t have it when I went. I also find it odd that they speak of a ceremonial grade matcha, but my container says standard grade.
I can’t believe it’s cold enough to drink apple cider today… it’s been 90 the past 3 days. 1tsp chai in 1 cup hot Mott’s Medley’s Apple and Carrot Juice Blend. The sweetness and flavor of the juice surprisingly hold up well. Next time I’ll add some caramel creamer. Very good and healthy. :)
Ok, this is amazing. The weather here has been a bit bi-polar. 60 yesterday and 90 today. Same thing predicted for Thurs/Fri: 67 Thurs and 97 on Fri. The A/C isn’t on yet and while it isn’t unbearable, I wanted to satisfy my chocolate craving in a cold format vs. hot. May I present my Iced Mexican Chocolate Chai:
1 cup ice
1 cup cold milk
1 TB chocolate creamer
2 tsp chai
2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 pinches crushed red pepper
Blend til smooth
Extremely rich and decadent and smooth and cold and hot and yummy (haha yeah I know that’s a lot of “ands”)… Next time I think I’m going to add caramel ice cream topping and dissolve 2 packets of instant coffee in to the water I make the ice out of.
