When I first saw this flavor for sale, I worried that it might taste too much like caramel and I’d end up with a duplicate matcha. But hey, the caramel one is awesome and we only live once, so I just went for it. I chose to get this as a red matcha so that I could enjoy this tea for dessert, just as it’s meant to be. :)
Having learned from my first red matcha experience yesterday, I added a generous amount of powder into my mug. No need to be fearful of a bitter and overly caffeine-y cup when you’re working with rooibos! I did it cold again because my apartment has terrible insulation and spent all day soaking up the heat of the sun just for me. And at night it gets so cold! argh. But anyway, love the smell of this. Sweet and candy-like with that smooth rooibos flavor.
I’m beginning to think that the rooibos is just naturally a stronger flavor so that the added flavoring is just overwhelmed because as I’m drinking this, I’m having a really hard time tasting the toffee. I could smell it in the dry tea, but once it’s all mixed with water, I can barely taste that toffee note. A bit of sugar makes this better, but if I didn’t know any better, I’d still think it was just plain red matcha with no flavoring at all. Now, I did go with the basic flavor level, but I think I should be getting some toffee still. :(
In the future, I think I’ll have a few “there’s matcha in there?” level red matchas around for the evenings, but I really enjoy the flavor of the regular green matcha more. I gotta try the white one too since Azzrian makes it sound so tasty. And the black matcha! I wonder what kind of black tea is used. What kind of white? Hmm.
Another thing I noticed with this red matcha base is that it does get a bit gritty and powdery. Yesterday, I was all focused on the deliciousness of the cheesecake flavoring, but today, since I could mostly just taste rooibos, I was able to pay more attention to the quality of the base. The slight grittiness is not too bad, but not that great either.
In the end, just like with regular rooibos, I’m settling for red matcha because I know I can’t have caffeine in the evening. I actually much prefer green matcha.
For those of you who want to try this tea, you can find it here:
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/english-toffee-matcha.html
I really recommend getting the strongest flavoring possible. The rooibos flavor, while mellow and easy going, is strong and not easily overwhelmed like green matcha.
