I am mostly ordering and trying matcha for my daughter, who works at night and is trying to drink a lot of green tea plus she needs energy and to be alert but not jittery, and for my husband, who is terrible about not eating a good breakfast and needs energy for a long day. For this reason, the flavors I am choosing first are really flavors I think they will like rather than what I would choose for myself, although believe me, my turn is coming!
My daughter loves fall because she loves EVERYTHING pumpkin! She makes pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies, and pumpkin fudge. She buys pumpkin doughnuts and pumpkin spice coffees. She even toasts pumpkin seeds. So a natural choice of matcha for her is the Pumpkin Pie Matcha! I don’t think I even noticed on the website until I saw Alphakitty’s review, and as soon as I saw that I knew my daughter had to have it!
You can find it here:
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/pumpkin-pie-matcha.html
I ordered the small size and got the basic grade of matcha because I also got the robust level of flavor, so I thought that grade of matcha would be fine.
This time I got the tin. Matcha is a very fine powder, and they recommend keeping it in the refrigerator or freezer.
Naturally, I have to try it first! Again, I want the flavored matcha for lattes or smoothies so the big decision was how to make a pumpkin pie drink without adding coffee, because that is the only kind I really know.
I decided to make the matcha and add it to heated milk for my first attempt. I figured if i didn’t like it as a hot drink, i could always pour it over ice.
The dry matcha did not have as much aroma as I had anticipated thought had a pleasant smell. I had expected to open the pouch and be greeted by CINNAMON whopping me upside the head, but there was just a pleasant smell of light spices and pumpkin.
This time I didn’t use the Bamix immersion blender, but just whisked the matcha in a small cereal bowl with a kitchen whisk. I had tried making it that way with the first matcha I ordered, which was the mocha one, and it worked great! I don’t have a sifter – I just looked at the powder and since I didn’t see any lumps I figured it was okay. I poured on the hot water, probably only one ounce, and whisked with my plain metal kitchen whisk and used the “M” shaped motion they describe. As soon as, and i mean AS SOON AS, the hot water hit the matcha, the robust flavor showed itself in a rich aroma swelling into the air. Yes sir! This is a nice mix of pumpkin pie spices, but the pumpkin is there, too! I got a lovely froth completely covering the surface of the liquid. Even though my plain kitchen whisk works, I eventually want to get a bamboo whisk and a whisk stand, just because I enjoy the doodads and paraphernalia!
I added the ounce of matcha liquid to a ten ounce cup of hot milk and stirred in one teaspoon of raw cane sugar because I want a pie experience! It is hard to believe that this tiny amount of matcha is going to flavor that whole cup of milk.
And oh my goodness, my daughter is going to be very happy! This tastes like liquid pumpkin pie. It is so rich, yet this is skim milk. I feel like I am drinking a whole milk, calorie dense beverage.
As a hot milk drink, it was also very satisfying and I am hoping it is going to keep me going as we do a big clean up today. I wondered if I would need to add some real canned pumpkin to it to give it enough flavor, but it isn’t necessary! I can’t wait for my daughter to try this! I already told her about it and she is pretty excited! She had never heard of matcha before now, and is diligently googling all the health benefits.
