70

When I ran out of plain matcha, I decided to restock this one; I decided there was no sense in someone like me, who doesn’t really jive with the taste of “straight” matcha and always makes it as a latte or puts it in a smoothie, to splurge on fancy “ceremonial” matchas over culinary ones. As I don’t trust a lot of the ones readily available on the American market, I did make sure to use a vendor citing their source, and this one comes from a tea farm in Uji, Japan (just leaves further down the stem than ones used in higher-graded matchas).

I did sample a very small bit in plain water (not my preferred way of ever drinking matcha!) and it was very umami; a dark green color with a thick seaweedy/bitter vegetal taste. But that wasn’t how I was going to drink it. I woke today with an intense craving of marshmallows, and had a crazy idea.

I infused two cups of oat milk with Lucky Charms cereal in the fridge this morning (an idea I think I picked up from Roswell doing that with Cinnamon Toast Crunch). After straining a few hours later, the cereal had soaked up a bit of the milk, leaving me with a cup and a half. I brewed half a cup of 175F water and wisked 1 tsp of the Culinary Matcha in it. Then I warmed and frothed the cup and a half of Lucky Charms oat milk, and combined them. From the strained cereal, I took some of the soggy marshmallows and dumped them on the top of the cup to melt into the hot drink before dumping the rest of the cereal. Aaaaaaaaaand…

I’m drinking frothy, sugary-sweet, caffeinated Lucky Charms. And I am happy about it. Every now and then, I get an underlying pop of sweet grassiness. While this isn’t a matcha I could drink plain, I can’t really say that about any straight matcha, and it works great for my purposes (lattes, smoothies, baking, etc.) Always mixes in well and froths up smoothly.

(As a St. Patties’ Day baby, I’ll have to remember this for my birthday! Such a green cuppa, with those Lucky Charms, it is very out of place for this holiday season but would be very appropo then!)

Flavors: Grass, Ocean Air, Seaweed, Umami, Vegetal

Preparation
175 °F / 79 °C 1 tsp 16 OZ / 473 ML
Nichole/CuppaGeek

This is an amazing idea! Sounds delicious!

ashmanra

That is the most unique way of making a beverage I have ever heard of! Neat, and it sounds delish indeed!

LuckyMe

I’m the same way. I enjoy all things matcha but don’t care for it on its own.

Mastress Alita

Yes, I like the flavor when it is counter-balanced with some sweetness to smooth out the sharp, bitter edges! I think my first introduction was actually Green Tea Ice Cream, and I was like, “What is this amazingness?!”

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Comments

Nichole/CuppaGeek

This is an amazing idea! Sounds delicious!

ashmanra

That is the most unique way of making a beverage I have ever heard of! Neat, and it sounds delish indeed!

LuckyMe

I’m the same way. I enjoy all things matcha but don’t care for it on its own.

Mastress Alita

Yes, I like the flavor when it is counter-balanced with some sweetness to smooth out the sharp, bitter edges! I think my first introduction was actually Green Tea Ice Cream, and I was like, “What is this amazingness?!”

Login or sign up to leave a comment.

Profile

Bio

Hi! I’m Sara, a middle-aged librarian living in southern Idaho, USA. I’m a big ol’ sci-fi/fantasy/anime geek that loves fandom conventions, coloring books, simulation computer games, Japanese culture, and cats. Proud genderqueer asexual (she/they) and supporter of the LGBTQ+ community. I’m also a chronic migraineur. As a surprise to no one, I’m a helpless tea addict with a tea collecting and hoarding problem! (It still baffles me how much tea I can cram into my little condo!) I enjoy trying all sorts of teas… for me tea is a neverending journey!

Favorite Flavors:

I love sampling a wide variety of teas! For me the variety is what makes the hobby of tea sampling so fun! While I enjoy trying all different types of teas (pure teas, blends, tisanes), these are some flavors/ingredients I enjoy:
-Dessert/chocolate/vanilla/caramel/cream/toffee/maple
-Sweet/licorice root/stevia
-Vegetal/grassy
-Floral/lavender/rose
-Spices/chais
-Fruity
-Tropical/pineapple/coconut
-Bergamot (in moderation)
-Roasted/nutty
-Tart/tangy/hibiscus/rosehip

Disliked Flavors:

There are not many flavors or ingredients that I don’t like. These include:
-Bananas/banana flavoring
-Hemp/CBD teas
-Smoke-scented teas/heavy smoke flavors (migraine trigger)
-Perfumey teas/extremely heavy floral aromas (migraine trigger)
-Gingko biloba (migraine trigger)
-Chamomile (used in blends as a background note/paired with stronger flavors is okay)
-Extremely spicy/heated teas
-Medicinal flavors/Ginseng
-Metallic flavors
-Overly strong artificial flavorings

With the exception of bananas and migraine triggers, I’ll pretty much try any tea at least once!

Steeping Parameters:

I drink tea in a variety of ways! For hot brews, I mostly drink my teas brewed in the western style without additions, and for iced tea, I drink teas mostly brewed in the cold brew style without additions. Occassionally I’ll change that up. I use the https://octea.ndim.space/#/ app for water-to-tea ratios and use steep times to my preferences.

My Rating Scale:

90-100 – Top tier tea! These teas are among my personal favorites, and typically I like to keep them stocked in my cupboards at all times, if possible!

70-89 – These are teas that I personally found very enjoyable, but I may or may not feel inclined to keep them in stock.

50-69 – Teas that fall in this range I enjoyed, but found either average, lacking in some way, or I’ve had a similar tea that “did it better.”

21-49 – Teas in this range I didn’t enjoy, for one reason or another. I may or may not finish them off, depending on their ranking, and feel no inclination to restock them.

20-1 – Blech! My Tea Hall of Shame. These are the teas that most likely saw the bottom of my garbage can, because I’d feel guilty to pass them onto someone else.

Note that I only journal a tea once, not every time I drink a cup of it. If my opinion of a tea drastically changes since my original review, I will journal the tea again with an updated opinion and change my rating. Occassionally I revisit a tea I’ve reviewed before after a year or more has passed.

Inventory:

My Cupboard on Steepster reflects teas that I have sampled and logged for review, and is not used as an inventory for teas I currently own at the present moment. An accurate and up-to-date listing of my current tea inventory can be viewed here: https://tinyurl.com/xjt9ptx3 . I am open to tea trades (within the United States only!) at this time. Note that I will not trade teas that I currently have in a quantity less than 50g (samplers, 1oz packages, etc.) or any teas that are currently still sealed/unopened in my cupboard.

Contact Info:

Feel free to send me a Steepster PM, or alternatively, check the website URL section below; it goes to a contact form that will reach my personal e-mail.

Location

Idaho, United States

Website

https://teatimetuesdayreviews...

Following These People

Moderator Tools

Mark as Spammer