Organic Matcha

I’m behind on my tea drinking! I woke up at 8:30, but ended up having a 2 1/2 hr convo w/ someone who may end up to be pretty special. After he had to go, I had this thick (1 scoop/3oz water). I hope the day continues to be as good as it started!=D

Made this before I leave to go w/ my friend looking for a bridesmaid dress for her dad’s wedding. 3oz water/1 scoop. Wow! The flavors pop even more when made thick! I just wish it frothed a bit more. This may be my favorite unflavored matcha yet, unfortunately it’s also the most expensive.

Ummm… wow… holy crap! If anyone wants to talk at 2am, just gimme call- I’ll be awake!

I love matcha! I also strive to prepare my teas using athentic steeping parameters and teaware. I haven’t really done that w/ matcha though. And, I admit- it’s a money thing. Most of the time I only use one chashaku of matcha and use less or more water (3 or 8oz) depending on if I want it “thick” or “thin”… Well, I’m determined to at least try to transition to more authentic Usucha and Koicha.

I decided to start w/ Usucha (thin tea) prepared with approximately 1.75 grams (amounting to 1.5 heaping chashaku scoop, or about half a teaspoon i.e. level teaspoon) of matcha and approximately 75 ml (2.5 oz). This must be really light matcha cuz it ended up being a crap load of matcha… like 4 or 5 scoops. I can’t quite remember.

The result was a thick, slightly foamy, very dark liquid that is more bitter than most times I enjoy matcha but was the bitterness was balanced perfectly by the sweetness, vegetal notes, and astringency. Now, the question is- will I sleep tonite?

As I was drinking my half bowl something dawned on me. I think one of the reasons I love matcha so much is because it smells (and tastes, so I assume) like fresh mown grass and I have many happy memories sitting on my grandpa’s lap as a little kid as he mowed the grass. Say it w/ me… Awww!=D

CRAP! I found almost a half of a container of this that’s a year old! I must have gotten distracted w/ Frank’s matchas or something. Dispite the nose dive in color, this is actually still pretty good.

I had quite a spicy dinner so I decided to put my daily matcha in some yogurt. I didn’t have vanilla so I went w/ Boston Cream Pie. The flavor of the yogurt was stronger than expected and some spoonfuls had more matcha flavor than others. Not too bad though.

Matcha is as green as you can get for St. Patrick’s day so does it surprise anyone that I made some since I do every day anyway? And I love flavoring matcha so does it surprise anyone I made a matcha Irish Creme cappuccino? It shouldn’t… well, maybe just because I’m not the least bit Irish:)

6oz water, 3 level TB instant Irish Creme cappuccino mix, 2 scoops matcha.

The Irish Creme is definitely stronger than the matcha, but it’s still there. I would have put more matcha in, but I didn’t want to overload myself on caffeine lol. A perfect morning wake up for St. Patrick’s Day!

What a morning! Got up, showered right away, talked to my someone special, then made lunch. I’m just now having my matcha! I made it thicker (1 scoop matcha, 3oz water). It seems more spinachy today which went great w/ my salad. Odd that I don’t like spinach, isn’t it?

Aaaahhh… headache… I get these weird atypical migraines that actually involve little pain but come w/ a lot of spaceyness and just feeling… weird… I can’t explain it… But a half bowl helps quite a bit.

I forgot to log this today… kind of an inbetween thickness, 1 scoop/6oz water. It almost tastes like fresh mown grass. Clean, crisp, smooth, perfect.

Decided to try it double thick (2 scoops/3oz water) and I was really surprised! While ever so slightly more bitter it was not chalky like I feared. And it stayed homogeneous w/ the water longer because the matcha:water ratio was higher. YAY!

I love 52teas’ Mandarin Matcha so much I decided to try to make my own. I have a bag of Tazo’s orange blossom so I steeped it for 3 min (8oz water) in boiling water then added it to my chawan w/ a scoop of matcha and whisked. Yum! The orange is much stronger than my Mandarin matcha, but I much prefer the mouth feel of the Mandarin.

Drank a half of a bowl while writing my daily blog entry. Which really is better in thought than reality as I need 2 hands to hold my chawan as I drink lol. Oh well. It was worth it:)

Lucky Gold Matcha! I dumped the last half of the gold flakes from my Lucky Gold tea onto my half bowl of matcha, unfortunately a lot of the flakes stuck to my chasen, oops. Didn’t think that thru I guess. Oh well.

It frothed a little more this time, yay! Smooth, rich, creamy, like a nice warm blanket for your tongue!

1 scoop/3oz water. Getting to the bottom of the canister so I think I didn’t get as much on my scoop today- it tastes a bit weak.

Attempt 2 at Koicha, this time going w/ 3 scoops instead of 3.75g. Very thick. Just a touch too chalky for me I think. Maybe I just need to have someone make Koicha for me lol.

Ugh… Wikipedia’s matcha page needs work. I wanted to make Koicha and it said 3 scoops or 3.75g… well 3.75g actually equals about 7 scoops! I had to add an extra 120ml of water just to choke it down… what a waste of matcha and now I feel like I’m gonna puke… can anyone help me make Koicha?

After 2 cantata performances I’m feeling quite out of it. I need matcha, but I don’t want anything too thick to coat my tongue since I’m having chai later. 2 scoops, 8oz water. Wow… after my matcha you’d think I would be more cohearant lol. It’s REALLY good like always though and that’s what matters, right?

Matcha is the only way I can function at 6:30am. 1 scoop w/ 3oz of water this morning before Prayer and Share. Can I go back to bed now? lol

Yesterday was nuts! Bible study and church 9:30-11:30am, then lunch at grandma’s, organ dedication concert at 3, cantata practice 6-8. This was the only tea I had all day. But it’s my favorite so that’s ok:) After being out of the house 11 hrs (which means my shoes were on and I was in my chair all day- big contributors to my chronic pain), I was just too tired to make anything when I got home… not to mention I didn’t sleep well Saturday nite and was jipped out of an hr.

I love how this slowly continues to get thicker as I drink it if I savor it!

Normally when I want a thicker matcha, I whisk 1 scoop w/ 3oz water, but today I decided to double the matcha. I was afraid it would get chunky and gritty, but thank God it didn’t! It was thick, creamy, sweet, vegetal, and wonderful as always.

Ugh… Idk why, but my entire body has been extremely sore since yesterday afternoon. I need something comforting. So I went for my matcha bowl and whisked up a double batch of thick matcha. 6oz water/2 scoops matcha. The warm matcha warms my body and gives me “warm fuzzies”. It temporarily releaves my pain, I just hope it lasts.

The question came up yesterday "How much is a scoop?, so I measured it. For me, a scoop is how much wonderful matcha I can cram onto my scoop and I can fit .55g of organic matcha on it. This surprised me because I weighed Den’s Tea’s Kaze and that was 1.04g. Oh well, that means it’s cheaper per scoop and that’s ok w/ me:)

Made half a bowl this morning, 1 scoop per 8oz water. It was wonderful, I just wish I could get it to foam more.

I made a half bowl of this today… ever since I got my uberly fine strainer which I’m using for a sifter, I’ve noticed that it looks strange before I wisk… like it isn’t mixing w/ the water as much as it used to… Why? Isn’t sifting supposed to help that?

Made this w/ my new sifter today! http://www.lupiciausa.com/product_p/41401682.htm My chawan is the perfect diameter. I can rest the sifter on the edge of it while I scoop in the matcha and it is held up by the handle on one side and a metal loop on the other. It’s a very fine mesh- almost too fine for my matcha. Don’t really notice a taste or texture difference though…

Oops. Forgot to log this from this morning. Had this thick (1 scoop/3oz water) before my cousin’s baby shower. The weather’s been great the past 2 days so no dire need to have it as soon as I come home.

Had this thick this morning (1 scoop/3oz water) before doing my blog/Bible reading for the day. Can’t ask for anything better:)

Finally got around to my matcha. As much as I love my matcha 1st thing in the morning, sometimes having it later is good because it makes me appreciate it more. I had it thick today, 1 scoop/3oz water. Yummm…

Enjoyed a half bowl after my shower to warm up. Savored it slowly rewhisking when needed.