Red Leaf Tea

Thank you so much to Mercuryhime for this sample!

This is the first red matcha I have tried. I’m loving that I can drink this late at night and not have to worry about being up all night! I prepared it as a latte with some milk and sugar and oh man it’s good! The cheesecake flavor is nice and creamy and smooth. I’m not able to pick out a rooibos flavor, which I expected. I need (yes, need) to order some of this soon because I can’t stop thinking about it and wishing I had more! Must finish off more teas before making another purchase! We shall see how my will power holds up against the desire for this tea!

This was my first experience with matcha. I’m addicted to caramel popcorn, so when I saw reviews online saying this tastes just like the real thing, I knew I had to try it! I live in an apartment complex, and when I walked into the mailroom, I could immediately smell caramel popcorn—it was THAT strong (in my opinion, that’s a great thing!).

I tore open the box it came in as soon as I got back to my apartment, and when I cut open the bag the matcha was held in, it smelled exactly like fresh popped caramel corn. As I said, I had never had matcha before, so I didn’t notice any matcha scent.

I first tried it prepared in the traditional method, with hot water. While I could taste the caramel corn, there was also an earthy, woody taste that I’m assuming was the matcha. I think I used too much powder, though, because it also left my mouth feeling very dry.

I tried it today as a latte, and I liked it this way much better. I used unsweetened vanilla almond milk and a teaspoon of splenda. I could hardly taste the woody flavor I mentioned earlier, but the caramel tones really came out with the milk. This was the perfect midafternoon pick-me-up, and I’ll most likely be ordering again.

Get the tea here! http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/caramel-popcorn-matcha.html

My friend gave me almost 60 grams of this because she didn’t like it. She said it was too perfume-y for her, and what she was getting was a chemical taste from the flavoring. I tried it and didn’t care for it myself for the same reason, but we can always try to rescue tea, right?

I figured the robust flavor level was just too much for this particular flavor, so I mixed it half and half with plain matcha for a latte today. It was very, VERY much improved. I actually could do with still a little bit less of the flavored and a little more of the unflavored. I am going to mix up a glass for my friend next time I see her and offer to mix the white chocolate with my plain and split it if she likes it.

When I first started ordering from Red Leaf, I had never had matcha and ordered robust flavor level out of fear of the matcha. But now I love the taste of good matcha, and I love it unflavored, so when I do buy flavored from now on they will ALL be delicate to distinctive flavor level and I will upgrade the base because it really is very nice! I think this is a nice save of 60 grams of matcha!

A friend gave this to me because she felt it was perfume-y and she didn’t care for it. I am going to have to concur. It wasn’t undrinkable, but it wasn’t a favorite. I suppose there is white chocolate flavor here but there is also a chemical taste that is the basis for my friend’s description. I am probably going to rehome this since I have a lot of matcha I love and don’t want to be wasteful and have this hanging around forever.

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

Always nice to get back to the classics. I really like this one.

Treated myself to a matcha smoothie this morning, largely in part from the fact that i just picked up 15 new matchas that i’m not allowed to open until i get through some of the ones i already have open….that’s in addition to the 5 or so that are already sitting there unopened…waiting for me from previous orders lol. At least i know that i can drink matcha all night long on satuday night if i so choose.

Still enjoying this one quite a bit, unlike other flavours that waned over time. :)

This is how I am going to order my matcha from now on – distinctive flavor level and upgrade the base. Brilliant green matcha! This still tastes super identical to Parma Violets candies! I have SO. MUCH. MATCHA. Yet I so badly want to order coconut matcha, especially for this summer. Sigh.

Tasty as always, I love this stuff.

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

Again, Coconut flavour, Distinctive level.

Today’s smoothie is DELICIOUS! 10g mix, 200ml “milk”, 1/2 frozen banana, 4 ice cubes. Perfection. There is so much flavour in this I’d definitely go with less flavour and more matcha if I ordered this again. When I order it again. Mmm.

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

So I have a pound of this. I got sucked into the free shipping.

Coconut flavour, distinctive level of flavouring.

SO. GOOD. Yes, it’s sweet, but it’s not too sweet. A little sweeter than an unsweetened (ie: no syrup) green tea latte at Sbux, but some of that might be the coconut flavour, as I found the flavour quite sweet even in the plain matcha.

Distinctive is enough. Next time I might even just go for the base flavour level! This tastes like delicious coconut baked goods. Yum. This will be an excellent alternative to plain matcha in my morning smoothies, and it’ll be even smoother (I have a cheap blender) with the addition of 1/4 banana. OMG, this might be amazing with rum. And banana. And maybe a squeeze of lime. Uh oh!

I weighed 15g, as the scoop was quite compacted and I wanted to be sure I wasn’t using too much. 200ml soy milk, 4 large ice cubes. If I was making a shaken drink instead of a blended one, I’d use more milk or less powder.

Added some sugar this time. A nice change.

A little bitter today, had to let it sit for a while before a meeting so kind of cold too.

Yeah today is pretty much all Traveling Tea Box (group A) samples. I’ll try pretty much any tea that lists rose as a primary note, so this one came out.

It certainly smells rosey, in a way that I love. Sometimes rose + fruit ends up smelling like cookies to me. I don’t know why, but I’ve come across it a few times now, and it seems to be a peculiarity of my nose/taste buds. Whatever, it’s awesome for me!

Woah the rose flavor in this is intense. It isn’t quite soapy or perfumy to me, but it is walking that line so those with less rose inclinations would likely find it that way. I am surprised at how much more intense the flavor is than the aroma. There is that slight cookie taste to me, but I get no fruit from this. Decently tasty, but I’m not sure it does exactly what it says.

Alright, I’m officially jumping on the Red Leaf Tea matcha bandwagon. I ordered this and strawberries and cream flavors in robust to start my journey and both are winners for me. I have only tried this as a latte and as I have perfected my technique making it, it has become more and more delectable. Like a yummy caramel milkshake with a subtle vegetal undertone from the matcha. Which flavors should I try next?

Drank this in the middle of frantically running around so I don’t remember much of it.

Don’t know what I did special today, but mmm, this one is good.

First time in a while with this matcha that I wished I had added sugar. Maybe I put more matcha in than usual. Or perhaps I’m just getting tired of the taste. Or maybe my sweet tooth is overactive, I did have a muffin this morning for breakfast. Who knows. Note to self: sugar next time.

Backlogging from Friday! LOVE LOVE LOVE this! Upping rating!

Backlogging from last week!

I figured with my senses being off, i might as well taken this opportunity to try out the bergamot filled tea that Hallieod sent my way :) She did warn me that it was coming, so no harm there. Turns out, that i’m ok with earl grey cream. Mostly because to me? It tastes like lemon. Which may or not be weird. Holding off on rating this one for now until my sinuses and such clean up but so far, not a terrible cup, though still nothing i’d ever be ordering for myself :)

omg!
Dinosara!
my first matcha!

i started timidly. 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk. 1 teaspoon matcha. 1 teaspoon agave syrup (cuz the milk is unsweetened). and a little hot water to mix with the matcha.

i loved it. and i know i could make it better too!
i loved it.