okay. So I know it’s unwise to drink matcha so late in the evening. It’s probably going to keep me up, but heck, it’s Friday tomorrow and everyone knows nothing really gets done on Friday anyways, right? It’s like, a law of office work ethics everywhere!
Anyway, I’ve had this matcha in my tea drawer for a while now. I keep thinking about it, but I wanted to wait for a “perfect” moment. The perfect moment will probably never come! Oh wait…my friends and I are going to a Cherry Blossom Festival this Saturday at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. Dammit! That would totally have been the perfect moment! I suck…
Well, I’ve already sampled the tea so on with the review! Perhaps I can bring some to share! But there’ll probably be a tea ceremony at the festival…
Anyway… I’m going to compare this tea to the Starter matcha since it’s the one I’ve had most often and most recently. I must say, I don’t see or taste too much of a difference. The green is a bit brighter, but not the light neon green I’ve seen in super fresh oceanic matchas. It’s also pretty clumpy. It makes me wish I had a mini sifter.
The flavor, is minerally and sweet. It’s smooth and green with no bitterness. I’m enjoying this quite a bit, but I think not more than the starter matcha. Hmmm… There’s nothing distinctive or extraordinary about this tea, but that does not make it bad. After all, ordinary vanilla ice cream is still vanilla ice cream, which is awesome. I would say this is representative of a classic matcha flavor. This is what you taste when you get green tea ice cream in china town. It’s delicious, just not super high quality. I would definitely recommend this for lovers of green tea, but if I wanted to get a regular matcha from Red Leaf, I think I’ll stick with the Starter Matcha. And oddly enough, I think this may be one of those rare teas I simply prefer sugared and milked. Like early grey and chai.
I am still super curious about the higher grade stuff though! What does the Emperor’s Matcha taste like, for example? And White Tea matcha! So intriguing! And I can’t imagine liking red matcha, but I’m super curious about that too! Halp! I want to try them all!
Oh, and the caffeine has kicked in now. I was feeling really sluggish and tired, but now I’m all energetic. ack! And I only had so little. :( I wish all teas were caffeine free so I can enjoy them late into the night. I’m always having to drink honeybush/rooibos or plain mint. While I enjoy all those things, I’d really rather be sipping a cup of oolong or green tea.
For a good matcha experience, please check out:
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/royal-matcha.html
