Organic Royal Matcha

okay. So I know it’s unwise to drink matcha so late in the evening. It’s probably going to keep me up, but heck, it’s Friday tomorrow and everyone knows nothing really gets done on Friday anyways, right? It’s like, a law of office work ethics everywhere!
Anyway, I’ve had this matcha in my tea drawer for a while now. I keep thinking about it, but I wanted to wait for a “perfect” moment. The perfect moment will probably never come! Oh wait…my friends and I are going to a Cherry Blossom Festival this Saturday at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. Dammit! That would totally have been the perfect moment! I suck…

Well, I’ve already sampled the tea so on with the review! Perhaps I can bring some to share! But there’ll probably be a tea ceremony at the festival…

Anyway… I’m going to compare this tea to the Starter matcha since it’s the one I’ve had most often and most recently. I must say, I don’t see or taste too much of a difference. The green is a bit brighter, but not the light neon green I’ve seen in super fresh oceanic matchas. It’s also pretty clumpy. It makes me wish I had a mini sifter.

The flavor, is minerally and sweet. It’s smooth and green with no bitterness. I’m enjoying this quite a bit, but I think not more than the starter matcha. Hmmm… There’s nothing distinctive or extraordinary about this tea, but that does not make it bad. After all, ordinary vanilla ice cream is still vanilla ice cream, which is awesome. I would say this is representative of a classic matcha flavor. This is what you taste when you get green tea ice cream in china town. It’s delicious, just not super high quality. I would definitely recommend this for lovers of green tea, but if I wanted to get a regular matcha from Red Leaf, I think I’ll stick with the Starter Matcha. And oddly enough, I think this may be one of those rare teas I simply prefer sugared and milked. Like early grey and chai.

I am still super curious about the higher grade stuff though! What does the Emperor’s Matcha taste like, for example? And White Tea matcha! So intriguing! And I can’t imagine liking red matcha, but I’m super curious about that too! Halp! I want to try them all!

Oh, and the caffeine has kicked in now. I was feeling really sluggish and tired, but now I’m all energetic. ack! And I only had so little. :( I wish all teas were caffeine free so I can enjoy them late into the night. I’m always having to drink honeybush/rooibos or plain mint. While I enjoy all those things, I’d really rather be sipping a cup of oolong or green tea.

For a good matcha experience, please check out:
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/royal-matcha.html

I have only had one straight matcha before and I couldn’t even finish the cup. I don’t know whether this is just a higher quality one or if my taste buds have just evolved. I should add that this wasn’t even one I had ordered, my order must’ve been mixed with another as I received 4 teas I would have never thought twice about before. And being the amazingly wonderful company that they are, Red Leaf has allowed me to keep these to tide me over until my order arrives!
Back to the tea. . .
When I whisked it up it came out a rich dark green, like the colour of peas! It tastes buttery and vegetal and just heavenly, not like the bitter seaweed I remember from the other company. Very happy this tea found me.

This is a very rich, thick Matcha, as is to be expected from a Ceremonial grade. I agree with TeaEqualsBliss (thanks for sending me some of this, by the way!), this does have a buttery aspect to it that I don’t often experience with other Matcha.

Bittersweet and delicious. I wish it was a little less chalky, which is noticeable in the first couple of sips particularly but after those first couple of sips, it becomes quite smooth and very enjoyable.

Looking for a boost (gotta go make cookies!) and I’m thinking that this is just what I needed!

I AM EXTREMELY DISAPPOINTED WITH THE TEA COMPANY CALLED RED LEAF TEA.
1. THE FIRST TIME I ORDERED, THEY DID NOT SEND ME THE TIN CAN (TEA CONTAINER) THAT I PAID FOR.
2. THERE WAS NO INSTRUCTION ON HOW TO MAKE THE MATCHA. SO, IF YOU ARE A FIRST TIME MATCHA DRINKER, YOU WILL HAVE TO CONTACT THEM.
3. I E-MAILED THE COMPANY TO COMPLAIN. WHEN I FINALLY GOT THE TIN CAN THAT I PAID FOR, IT WAS THE WRONG SIZE. I DID NOT BOTHER TO COMPLAIN.
4. THIS COMPANY DOES NOT HAVE A COMPANY PHONE NUMBER POSTED ANYWHERE.
3. THE SECOND TIME I ORDERED. THE IMPERIAL TEA (MATCHA TEA) THAT I ORDERED WAS SO CLUMPY AND GRAINY. SO, I HAD TO E-MAIL THEM TO LET THEM KNOW. THEY HAVE NO CONCERN FOR THEIR CUSTOMERS AT ALL. THEY TOLD ME TO RETURN THE UNOPENED PACKAGE. HOW WOULD I HAVE KNOWN THAT THE MATCHA TEA IS CLUMPY AND GRAINY IF I DID NOT OPEN THE PACKAGE?
4. I WAS SO FRUSTRATED WITH THIS UNPROFESSIONAL COMPANY SO I E-MAILED THEM AND TOLD THEM THAT I WILL ORDER AGAIN AND WILL HAVE THE TEA TESTED IN THE LABORATORY (I WANT TO FIND OUT WHAT REALLY IS IN THEIR TEAS).
5. SO, I PLACED AN ORDER FOR A DIFFERENT TEA. THIS HIGHLY UNETHICAL COMPANY CANCELED MY ORDER BECAUSE THEY SAID THAT I WILL NOT BE HAPPY WITH THEIR PRODUCT. WHEN THE TRUTH IS, THEY ARE WORRIED ABOUT THEIR PRODUCT/S BEING LAB TESTED.
6. Robert Rydzewski OF RED LEAF TEA SENT ME AN E-MAIL THREATENING LEGAL ACTION. SO, THIS HIGHLY UNETHICAL COMPANY DOES NOT WANT YOU COMPLAINING EVEN IF THEY DO NOT SEND YOU THE PRODUCT YOU PAID FOR, EVEN IF THEY SENT YOU THE WRONG PRODUCT AND EVEN IF THEIR PRODUCT IS JUST EXTREMELY DISGUSTING THAT YOU CANNOT EVEN DRINK IT !!!
7. I AM AN AVID MATCHA TEA DRINKER BUT I WOULD RATHER DRINK POISON THAN ORDER FROM THIS RED LEAF TEA COMPANY WITH HIGHLY QUESTIONABLE PRODUCTS (SINCE THEY ARE CANCELING YOUR ORDER IF YOU HAVE THEIR PRODUCTS LAB TESTED).
8. TEAVANA IS A REPUTABLE COMPANY. THERE ARE ALSO TONS OF REPUTABLE TEA COMPANIES OUT THERE (YOU CAN SEARCH THE INTERNET). WHY BOTHER DEALING WITH A COMPANY WHOSE CHARACTER AND PRODUCTS ARE QUESTIONABLE.

Awwwww, yea! This is the stuff!
Butttery-goodness! :)

And yes…that’s Butttery with 3 T’s!

This is a little grayer in color than the other matcha’s I have had today!

I really like this tho! It’s just enough of every thing you would want in a matcha, I suppose.

Royal?

Well, I’ll chalk this up as my tribute to the Royal Wedding Celebrations today – since I don’t have any of Twinings’ Commemorative Royal Wedding tea…this will have to do and it’s doing just fine and dandy!