Caramel Matcha

So I joined steepster a little over a month ago – I’m not even sure at this point how i even found the site. Mostly I was looking for a place to find out about “other” teas and be able to share my joy and enthusiasm with other like minded people. I never expected to pulled into things quite like this.

One of tea types that I had never tried was Matcha. And this, is where this review comes in! I’d been holding off diving into the matcha world because I’d kind have gone on a tea buying binge and wanted to try and sort out what kinda of teas I liked before delving into an entire other “genre” of tea. However, Red Leaf had the audacity to not only put CARAMEL matcha on sale, but also put forth a challenge to the community to beat Azzrian’s epic review! Since I enjoy a good challenge, especially in the name of tea, I got the OK from my other half to order and then i waited…and waited…

For those of you in Canada, it took seven business days for my order to arrive. I’ve had the joy of waiting 10+ days so I was happy with that, not to mention HELLO new tea right before the long weekend!
Tearing open the package, I discovered the tin I’d added to the order, as well as the gold foil envelope that I’d heard so much about AND a little brochure that highlighted some of the options Red Leaf offers and a handy dandy guide to making matcha! So i did what any geek would do…read through it and then checked out about 5 other places on the interwebs to make sure i had a vague clue about what i was doing. I really didn’t want to screw this up. Did i mention that this was CARAMEL matcha! Oh yeah baby!

When i finally figured it out, got all my “not so very official” gear together, I was ready to open the package. At first cut, it was an outpouring of gorgeous Caramel smell! Not that artificial sticky weird caramel, but the kind that invokes vision of melted caramel…drizzled on apples and in dessert…the kind that makes you run your finger through every last drop trying to savour the moment as long as possible.

I carefully poured the matcha into my tin and got to work preparing my matcha.

Let’s just say…there’s some work to be done there! My first attempt at whisking left me with a slightly bitter tasting match, BUT because i’d done my homework i knew this was likely because i wasn’t whisking it well enough. Also….i felt it was safe to assume that there wouldn’t be so many amazing reviews if that’s the way it tasted. So…i wisked some more!

My second taste? Well it was everything I’d hoped for in a matcha, especially from a novice like me. The caramel isn’t an in your face flavour. It doesn’t trip into your mouth, take up residence and redecorate before you’ve had a chance to swallow. Instead, it slides gently into your mouth, rolls around with your tastebuds a bit and then in tandem with the tea, says “hey, nice to meet you…i’m caramel….”
I’d really had no idea what to expect when I ordered this. I did not expect what was delivered. I’d ordered the robust flavouring because i was worried about the base of the matcha being to vegetal for me. Now that I’d have my first sampling, I’d be willing to drop a level on certain matcha. That being said, there are also a few flavours i’d bump it up grin But for my first matcha taste? This was incredible. I didn’t need any added sugar or sweetner – it was a perfect blend of tea and caramel.

Since the matcha straight went well, I thought i’d try a small latte as well to see how the flavour came across when added to milk. We only have 1% in our house, which isn’t as creamy as i’f like to try with this as i think it would be a wonderful cross of cream and caramel, but it’s what was in the house! (Note that my grocery list, now has cream on it!) So i’m no wiz when it comes to matcha or do it yourself lattes, so this was pretty much me warming some milk up in the microwave, dumping the liquid matcha into it and then using my hand blender on it to froth things up and mix it all together.

Since then, I’ve been sitting here, trying to find the words to explain how wonderful this matcha is. Added to the milk only served to enhance the flavour. My other half had a taste and even he was impressed with the Caramel delight. It’s almost as if the caramel and milk got together and balanced each other out perfectly.

Overall, my first foray into Matcha land was a success in my opinion. I don’t know how Red Leaf does it but if the Caramel flavouring is any indication, they have their flavouring down pat without coming across as artificial. I can see myself wanting to start my mornings off with a matcha latte now. Not that I don’t love my tea, but I have found myself missing the creamy milk factor that used to come with my coffee or lattes before i switched over to just drinking tea. I’m not sure if drinking this after my time at the gym and so late in the evening was necessarily a smart thing to do, but i suppose it will depend largely on how the matcha hits me. I’m hoping it will be like others have mentioned and more of an “i’m more alert” than a HOLY I HAVE ENERGY kinda of thing, so that I can actually get some sleep tonight.
Thank you Red Leaf tea for making such a wonderful Caramel flavoured matcha! I’m really looking forward to trying out many more of your flavors, especially if they are even half as wonderful as this caramel one.

My matcha was composed of the following:
Size : Small
Matcha Quality: Starter (Basic Grade)
Flavor: Robust
Storage : Add Small Metal Tin Container (Holds up to 45g)
I also recommend that you get the container – the lid screws on and off which keeps your powder safe from spillage and fresh.

Buy it here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/caramel-matcha.html

The Caramel Matcha experience began with the ceremonial “opening of the packet”. Upon completion of this holy act the entire basement in which this vessel dwells was flooded with a divine overpowering scent. Mere mortals were never meant to be privy to such a force. Ever.

Usually my roommate thinks I’m cheesy and overdramatic but she’s with me on this one, guys. She asked me if a cake exploded in the kitchen. I never thought robust would be so… robust.

The aroma makes me think a little of alcohol and the richest caramel laced dessert known to man. No big deal. I have no experience in preparing matcha with milk but I decided to experiment this evening a whisked some warm milk in. It tastes like the stuff of lattes. Very sweet and creamy.

My roommate suggested I use some Hazelnut Bailey’s and then dumped in a “lid” amount in (maybe too much). It sure accentuates the caramel and doubles the sweetness.

Likely hood of addiction to this is staggeringly high. The smell reminds me of Christmas for some reason (although that doesn’t say much as lots of things remind CrowKettle of Christmas).

Thank you Sil for helping me make my first Red Leaf purchase!

In a happy coincidence, this is my 200th tasting note! Whoo, I got here so fast! I think it’s quite fitting for this to be my 200th note, since it’s a very special tea. I didn’t even plan it this way but I really wanted something I loved for 200, and here we are, with my new tea crush.

I’m not exactly a matcha virgin, but this is my first order from Red Leaf Tea. I’ve never actually had flavored matcha, but I use it to cook a lot (green tea mochi cake with red bean swirl is food of the gods!) and make lattes with it. However, my usual matcha is only an okay grade and is a bit bitter—I don’t have money for a really nice grade, sadly. So Red Leaf to the rescue! They have amazing flavors for low prices, and lots of upgrade options. I was waiting for the right time to order my first one, and then like magic a flavor I had my eye on was 50% off! So for my first order I got the caramel matcha, which you can find here:

http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/caramel-matcha.html

I went with the minimal options, my matcha has the following:
Size: 30g
Grade: Starter
Flavor: Delicate
no accessories or storage options since I have tins at home!

You know, I was a bit worried about getting the delicate flavoring option. I’ve seen a lot of reviews that prefer distinctive or robust, so maybe the delicate would be, well, too delicate? I wanted a strong caramel flavor but still a distinct matcha taste, but I also wanted to know the “base line” for their flavoring for when I place my inevitable second (and third and fourth and fifth…) order. But when I snipped open the bag, I was hit with a huge whiff of the most delicious smell. Caramel, pure caramel! And not from a bag of candy caramel, fresh off the stove hot creamy caramel. I do a lot of candy making and this reminds me so strongly of that. I wonder what distinctive and robust smell like?! I might get a stronger flavor when I order the cheesecake, just so the smell will knock me out. Okay, seriously, I keep sniffing the bag. Ahh, that flavor is so good! I think I’m tea high.

Continuing the theme of “I’m nervous about matcha” I was nervous about preparing it! Thankfully Red Leaf Tea gives you this really hands little pamphlet with instructions on how to properly prepare it. So I sifted about 1 teaspoon of matcha into a mug (not a bowl, I know, I’m a bad matcha maker! but it was a really cute mug so it’s okay), then boiled my water and let it cool to 180. I made matcha once with boiling water, it was absolutely disgusting. Bitter and gross and… urgh, not good. So 180 it is! I almost did lower but the pamphlet said 180, so I guess it’s not as delicate as it looks.

Then I added 2 oz of hot water (yes, I measured exactly, I was a bit anal since this was my first time with the brand and I did NOT want to mess it up!) and whisked furiously. It got so frothy! I don’t have one of those fancy bamboo whisks so I just used my normal metal one and it worked out perfectly fine, no clumping or chunks left in the bottom. I also made sure to sift it REALLY well which as it turns out is quite important. I actually didn’t now about this step before and my previous matcha attempts have ended in big bitter clumps at the bottom. This way, though, no delicious flavor is wasted! I tried it at this stage and it was REALLY strong, too strong for me—I’m not brave enough to drink “straight” matcha like that yet so I added a pinch of sugar and filled my tiny mug up with some cold milk. I whisked some more, and voila, matcha latte! Well, kind of a bootleg matcha latte, but it works for me.

Oh. My. God. This stuff is AMAZING! Heaven, tea heaven. I felt like I was in nirvana at the first sip, it was so creamy and sweet and grassy and pure pure caramel. I can’t believe I went this long without ordering any before! It’s amazing how well the flavors balance, the caramel and matcha blend together to perfection. It’s sweet but not too sweet, creamy but not overly creamy, deliciously fresh from the matcha. I know I only got the basic grade but the quality is just so high! It’s better than any restaurant or coffee shop/tea shop matcha latte I’ve ever had, and it took almost no effort! So fast, so easy, I can never go back to pre-made. But given the prices, it’s not hard for me to make one myself every day!

I’m so excited to try some of their other flavors (or uhh all, I want them all!), but for now me and this caramel matcha are going to run away together to a cabin in the countryside. Seriously, I want to marry this stuff. It is SO good! Here’s the link again, I can’t recommend this enough! http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/caramel-matcha.html

So I just logged on to Steepster to write a tasting note for this, and I see that right at the top of my dashboard is another tasting note from Mina for this very same tea. Great minds think alike? The best part is that I don’t have to go looking for the tea, it’s right there, just click on it! :)

I ordered the “Distinct” level of flavoring, with the basic Matcha. I’ve tried two of the flavored Matcha since Red Leaf has offered so many selections (including choices of how much flavor and what type of Matcha is used), and I must say that I’m loving the customizing part of it all. I like that I can choose to have a little extra flavor in the tea – Matcha is a very strong flavor as it is, and it’s nice that with the distinct level I can taste both the matcha and the flavor and they’re pretty well-balanced.

My Chawan is nearly empty now, and I’ve not even begun to write my SororiTea Sisters review, so I better get cracking…

Sweet, yummy deliciousness!

Well this is not what I expected. Nope not one bit. It IS however… deeeeelisio!
Made cold, I like it best, as seems to be the case with all the matcha I make. Trouble is, I prefer hot drinks over cold.
I wonder what would happen if I made this via shaken bottle and then warmed it up? shrugs
In any case, I just had a cuppa this one with a dash of agave and milk. I quite like it! oh yes, it really hits the spot. Warm, it’s a simple caramel sweetness, but cold, it takes on a buttery fresh feel that makes me swoon.
I think it’d go really well as a latte, perhaps using almond milk? Hmmm yes that would be perfect. I think it would really pick up on the sugary note.
I mixed this with strawberry as well and it was ok, I just prefer them when made separately. Or atleast with the caramel. Waiting to see what this does with Cheesecake!
So for this one I got Basic grade, Robust flavouring, and a small package. Next time, I think I’ll go with Royal grade as the basic is a little musty for my liking. Still awesome of course!
If you want some of your own, get it here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/caramel-matcha.html?page=2

Okay so I guess I should start off by saying I have not tried matcha before. I’m very new to the whole tea world, when I say new I mean really new, I started drinking tea about 2 months ago. But after reading so many great reviews on here about Red Leaf Tea Matcha I was like okay this must be amazing stuff. I need to try it now! There are so many amazing flavors to choose from.

So after looking through reviews and asking all you lovley people on here whats a good start off flavor for a newbie to matcha. I was torn between the caramel and cheesecake . But after a really tough decision I choose the caramel flavor,nothing can go wrong when it comes to caramel! What I got was 30 grams of Caramel Matcha in basic grade, with delicate flavor. I didn’t get a tin this time because I have one already at home, but will definitly need to get one on my next order. Aswell as I really want to try the different quality and flavor strenghths of different matchas and see what differnce it makes.

So I think I was a bit too excited for my package to come, everday when the mail man would come, I would run out of the house to the mail box and see if my matcha was here. Now I’m sure my mail man thinks I am a crazy women now, but hey a womens aloud to be excited about new tea, come on :). So each day id go running and hoping that my matcha goodness would be here, and now it finally is! I live in Canada so everything takes so! Darn long its torcher ! But its finally here so yay! For all you canadians it took mine 10 buisness days to arrive, I live in the counrty so everything takes a bit longer to get to me. Now this is where I purchased it from http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/caramel-matcha.html

Now enough of the babble on to the deliciousness, when opening the package the most amazingly sweet caramel smell came out . I could just sit here and smell it all day. But at the same time all i want to do is make myself a drink and try it!

How I prepared it first was I guess you would call it the traditional method, which is half a tea spoon of matcha, I thought id start with just a small amount. Since like I said I’m a matcha newbie and didn’t want it too strong and turn me off. So I sifted my matcha into a bowl and added a little bit of water and whisked to make a thick paste. After that I added about a total of 3 oz of pre-boiling water. And started whisking away. Now after watching so many videos on whisking matcha , I tried to copy the motions. I tried to do the “M” like motions with my whisk Its so much more difficult then I thought, Id keep catching myself whisking in circles. Now I also don’t have a proper matcha set, so I just used my own bowl and little whisk. Oh and I also pre-warmed my bowl like I saw on a couple videos for making traditional matcha. All I did was add a little of the pre-boiled water to the bowl and moved it around, then poured it out and wiped the bowl with a paper towl. I’m not sure if it does anything, but I thought id do it anyway. I wanted the best first matcha ever!

So after whisking away and coming up with a somewhat foam, I’m awful at making a foam but I guess practice makes perfect . I got this lovley green coloured drink that smells absolutly mouth watering. So now its finally time for the moment of truth. At first I found it a bit bitter, but after reading review people say if its bitter keep whisking so thats what O did. Oh my gosh its amazing! I never knew what I was missing. I now know why everyone rants about this stuff. I could drink this all day long. You get the sweet taste of the caramel but its not overpowering with sweetness, then you get the nice earthyness from the matcha tea but doesnt taste like your drinking leaves. Its the perfect balance of sweetness and earthness for me.

I dont know what I was expecting with matcha but this definitly blows my mind. I guess I was worried it was going to taste like eating tea leaves. But I dont know why i was worrying this is so good! Its a legit caramel taste, not a artifical carmel flavor you get in candies. Gosh its so good. I think everyone needs to run to the site and try this right now! Its that good. Again this is where i got it. Run go now! Right now. http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/caramel-matcha.html

This is my morning birthday latte. Sorry I haven’t been around. Have been so busy, but hope everyone’s been doing well! Will need to catch up on reading everyone’s lovely reviews once the semester is done.

I ordered this in basic grade, robust. Definitely creamy caramel. Very sweet! I’m not going to lie though. I opened my white chocolate matcha just minutes before this one and I found that they both smell similar? And I’ve had them for a couple weeks now. Go figure.

But yes, I’ve enjoyed this as hot and cold lattes, as a smoothie with frozen strawberries, and with some biscotti-flavoured Bailey’s Irish Cream (droool). Of course it tasted amazing with the Irish cream, but overall, I like it best as a cold latte.

Blended with almond milk, the caramel swirls around the almond nuances and creates a guilt-free treat which perks you right up. Unsurprisingly, the caramel comes out more with milk. I should try it with the English Toffee sometime (which I haven’t even started yet) and maybe I’ll get a Caramilk feel out of it.

I’m bad. I slipped a little Galliano and Triple Sec into my latte. Not too much though! I’ll be perfectly fine at the seminar later haha.

The aroma of this matcha is unbelievable. I am not a huge fan of matcha plain – I tend to doctor it up with my grapefruit agave or some honey. It’s not necessarily the sweetness I’m after, but the flavouring. So, when Red Leaf Tea’s Caramel Matcha was promoted endlessly on Steepster (you guys are the worst influences!) I couldn’t resist. With true teas, I started with flavoured and came to love the pure teas – it seems my matcha journey is destined to follow the same lines. If you too would like to enjoy some primo caramel matcha, see here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/caramel-matcha.html.

I sifted two scoops of the amazingly authentic smelling caramel matcha into my chawan and added some 80 degree water. The matcha is a bit more brown than others I have seen, I’m guessing this is from the added flavouring. My whisking leaves something to be desired, but I did manage to make some serious foam. I’m not sure how much water I added, but I tend to make my matcha a bit thin for my own preferences.

The aroma now reminds me of baked goods, which is unexpected. I am thinking some sort of cookie, but no cookie comes to mind that has caramel. There is an aroma underneath that which I associate with coconut and vanilla, but it isn’t dominant so I don’t mind. If it’s possible, the smell is very rich and warm, I continue to have associates with baking.

First sips are a big shock. I get an immediate sweetness and flavour – but not of caramel. Nope, this tastes exactly like cotton candy to me. What?! I’m going to go ahead and guess that I’ve somehow got the parameters wrong on this somewhere along the line – not enough matcha, too much water, too low temp, who knows. I don’t get any grassiness or bitterness, I seem to have completely drowned out the matcha with my robust flavouring. In fact, I would consider adding a bit of my unflavoured matcha to this if I wanted to tone down the sweet, delicious flavouring. Sometimes. On a side note, this gets the kitty seal of approval – while I didn’t let her drink the matcha, she gave it a serious sniff.

While I definitely need to work on my process to get this back to the caramel I expect from the aroma, this is the best bowl of matcha I’ve ever had. Now, that is admittedly a small number but this is just good stuff. For those of you that were afraid to try flavoured matcha because you didn’t know if you’d like it, I suggest you jump in. With this stuff. (Found here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/caramel-matcha.html). It may seem daunting, but really it’s just delicious! In the meantime, I’ll keep enjoying my caramel candy matcha. Oh man.

As an afterthought for my Canadian friends, the shipping on this was really quite quick. It was 8 business days from the order to my receiving it, and I live in an outlying province (Nova Scotia). There was a holiday in there, but it was still less than two weeks which is relatively unheard of in terms of shipping times. I think I paid around $3 for the shipping as well, so it’s certainly affordable.

I love caramel. A lot. I didn’t even think twice about whether or not matcha and caramel might be odd together until after I bought it.

One sniff of this matcha took away my fears that this would not work. This is awesome. I was feeling like an iced latte, but I think I added a bit too much coconut milk at first, because it tasted more like coconut matcha. But after stirring enough to get some ice to melt into it, it’s much better.

The caramel comes as more of an aftertaste to the matcha, which is perfect. And it tastes like there really is caramel in here! I am not much for sweetening tea, but the caramel definitely gives it a good bit of sweetness. For me, it’s good without being overpowering but some people might need a little more sugar.

This is really awesome. I got the “distinctive” flavoring so mine might be a bit stronger in flavor, but to me it’s perfect. If you’re a caramel diehard like me, you might want to pay for the stronger flavoring.

I am thinking this would be good in some kind of baked goods. I had an idea earlier when I first got my mail and I had a nap since then so of course I’ve forgotten it.

Thank you to Mercuryhime for sending me a lovely sample of this!
I really did enjoy it very much. I am not sure what level of flavor was added to this batch but I think I would go one more flavored if that were an option – I mean if this is not already the more flavored kind. Bah anyway if that made any sense…
I do love Red Leaf matcha although I have only tried two flavors to date I appreciate the good base tea even if this is not the “superior” base it is darn good!
Now this was not an in your face caramel flavor in my opinion but you could certainly tell it was in there!
I will be making my own order as soon as possible! :)

Well, once again Matcha surprises me.
This is not only my first flavored matcha, but it is my first tea from Red Leaf.
I could smell this tea as I was opening the package from the company.
What I first noticed is that the smell was really not coming off Caramel to me, more butterscotch-y.
But, the tiny little pouch did indeed say Caramel on it.
I immediately opened the tea and prepared it as the instructions directed.
I was slightly underwhelmed.
Not overly grassy or malty (which had been my experience with Matcha’s so far)
The caramel smell really did not really transfer over into taste.
It was all rather mild.
So, I made it into a latte.
Was not at all impressed with that.
Made it into a iced latte.
It was just okay.
I finally read some past reviews on this tea, and someone mentioned adding a splash of milk to traditionally made matcha.
I have found that is the best way to enjoy this tea.
Of course, most of the matcha is gone at this point.
The splash of milk adds a bit of creaminess that bring out the flavoring more.
I find it somewhat comforting, it also seems to settle an upset stomach.
That being said, I am not going to rate this tea.
Because I still don’t know what to think…
It was a small amount of Matcha for what seemed to be a bit pricey to me.
(I just keep thinking of how many ounces of loose tea I could have gotten elsewhere for the price I paid for this Matcha)
And, I am surprised, I do not know why Matcha keeps shocking me, but its seems like I never know what to expect or how to prepare it so I like it.
I think I will order some Matcha again from this company, maybe in a different flavor and maybe after the holidays get all paid off.
It all has been a interesting experience to say the least.

I was so happy to find my envelope from Red Leaf Tea in my mailbox yesterday afternoon. I was hoping it would come before the long weekend, and alas, it did! I was impressed at how quickly my tea shipped to Canada.

Oh boy. I’ve been wanting to try a flavoured matcha for so long, and now I’m left wondering why I waited so long! This is truly delicious, easier to prepare than I expected, and gives me a lovely natural energy boost to boot.

When I was placing my order, I was delighted to find all of the customization options. It’s really a nice touch and allows you to have your matcha exactly the way you like it. I opted for the starter grade matcha with distinctive flavouring. I was hoping to have a nice punch of caramel flavour, but I didn’t want it to cover up the sweet, grassy loveliness of the matcha itself, and that’s exactly what I got!

I love that Red Leaf’s flavourings are all natural. And the caramel is so very true to its name! A rich, buttery, dark caramel scent and taste. It really does satisfy sweet cravings in a healthy way, as advertised. It reminds me of the scents in the kitchen when I make my grandma’s special brown sugar fudge recipe. Sweet caramelized sugar with cream and a touch of butter. I am picky when it comes to caramel flavoured things but this one hits the mark!

I am quite new to matcha, and I can’t wait to experiment with making all sorts of different drinks and incorporating it into baking. I was a little worried that I wouldn’t be able to make a decent bowl of it myself, but it is actually pretty simple to prepare. I started with a large, wide-mouthed mug, a tea strainer, and a mid-size springy whisk. Even with these less than ideal tools, I was able to make a really nice bowl of matcha! I’m thinking of investing in a bamboo whisk to make the process go a little smoother. I might just add one to my next matcha order. Can’t wait to try the cheesecake matcha! And the cotton candy, and the french vanilla, bavarian cream, boysenberry, pear, coconut..so many possibilities! But back to my preparation. I simply sifted a generous teaspoon of matcha over my mug with my tea strainer. Then I added a small amount of very hot (but not boiling) water and whisked vigorously. After it was fully dissolved and some bubbles had formed, I topped it up with more hot water. Simple as that! It’s a bit fussier than preparing a regular cup of tea, but it is SO worth it.

I tasted it plain before adding any additions. I generally like a bit of milk and sugar in my tea, and this one is no exception. But I thought I’d try it in its natural state first to get a sense of the true flavour. It was a bit too much for me straight up, probably because I’m not used to the strong flavour of matcha. It had a slight natural sweetness, which was lovely, with a smooth green tea taste. I got a nice hit of caramel at the end of the sip. I’m sure if you love drinking teas straight, you’d enjoy it this way. Adding milk and sugar really brought the caramel taste to life, completing the sweet creamy texture.

I’ve only had this matcha for a day, but I already find myself craving it. I had a cup last night in the evening, and then another cup when I woke up this morning. I was feeling a bit sluggish this afternoon so I made a bowl of matcha, and it really gave me some pep and made me smile! I can see matcha becoming a part of my daily tea lineup very quickly.

If you want to get your hands on some of this goodness, head over to Red Leaf Tea and get yourself some Caramel Matcha. It is pretty magical stuff!

http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/caramel-matcha.html

OMG!!!! This is the stuff!!! I have died and gone to heaven. Luscious, sweet, smooth caramel and a fantastic matcha base. According to Indigobloom, who generously provided the sample, this is the basic grade matcha with robust flavoring. I don’t want to drink anything else! Ever again! I’m in love!! If I wasn’t already engaged to a fantastic man, I’d marry this matcha.

Wow. Every sip is better than the last. I only just tried the strawberry matcha less than 10 minutes ago, and I can’t even remember what it tasted like after this. This is an A+. This has earned a gold star. I need to place an order ASAP. How have I lived without this?? And a BIG sincere thank you to Indigobloom!!!

I have ordered two flavors of matcha based on what my eldest daughter likes because I thought she would benefit from drinking matcha. She will have to pry the Pumpkin Pie matcha out of my hands now, and that isn’t even a flavor I would normally get attached to, but it is so good! I was good and let her take the Mocha Matcha home with her and I told her I will buy her a Pumpkin Pie matcha of her own soon!

So when it was my turn to pick a flavor just for me – though I wanted to get something I think hubby will like, too – it was so very hard! This is ridiculous! I go to the Red Leaf website several times a day at least and salivate over the flavors and try to choose what I will order next and after that and after that…

Well, this time, the winner was Caramel. I thought it would be great to mix in with hubby’s Carnation Instant Breakfast. He is very picky, he needs the green tea, and he needs the energy for his long days at work but still needs focus. So in a way I guess I am still ordering for others, but I will enjoy it, too.

I ordered the large size tin and large matcha, and I chose the Robust flavor level. Get the tin! (You need a screw on lid tin so the powder doesn’t go flying, and once you get a collection of them you can just start refilling them.) You can order it here:

http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/caramel-matcha.html

I did not sift the matcha, but just measured it into a small bowl and got out my kitchen whisk. The aroma is the intoxicating scent of a bakery full of cupcakes and birthday cakes! Swoon! I added hot water and whisked, then I put an ice cube in the matcha for just a moment to cool it a little, then took the ice out and poured in milk and added a pack of vanilla Carnation Instant Breakfast in. I was making two glasses at a time, so one of them I just stirred and tasted. That was for me.

For my youngest daughter, I got out the Bamix and mixed the drink with the aerator blade so that it was very frothy and milkshake-like. She made a face when I asked her to taste it, I guess because of the slight green tint, but her face changed as soon as she sipped. She loved it! And if she loved it, I know her Dad will, too. She asked me how on earth they do it. I told her I have no idea but I hope they keep on doing it!

Now I can get some antioxidants in hubby in the mornings to make me happy, some caffeine to make him happy, and he doesn’t have to give up his quick breakfast of choice!

The big problem now is….what matcha do I order next? There are so many amazing flavors from which to choose!

Huuuh. Strange, I should already have a note for this tea. Anyways, this is a backlog from Saturday morning, when I made a nice cold almond milk latte sweetened with maple syrup for my drive out of town. It was great until my stomach started hurting; perhaps a strong matcha latte on an empty stomach wasn’t the best idea! It was delicious though. Proper note to follow in the eventuality that I get my crap together and have time for such a thing.

I had heard about the Red Leaf Matcha before from other Steepsters, but I was waiting to make my first purchase. And then, when I saw that Red Leaf was running a 50% off sale for one day on their Caramel Matcha, I was very tempted. While Red Leaf has many different flavors of matcha, Caramel is one of the highest rated. It’s also a nice universal flavor that’s pretty standard – I’ve had caramel before so I know what it tastes like. It seemed like a good started tea to review. I almost missed out on the discount, but at the last minute, I added it to my cart, and a few days later it arrived on my door. Not bad!

For the record, I am reviewing the 30g Caramel Matcha, Starter (Basic Grade), with Robust Flavoring (found here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/caramel-matcha.html). I didn’t realize Red Leaf offers so many different choices with your matcha. It was hard for me to pick, but I decided on the starter grade, since I’ve tried various grades of matcha, and I couldn’t really taste the difference. The level of flavoring was an even tougher choice for me. Originally I was just going to go with delicate, but after reading plenty of reviews of people who had the robust flavor and enjoyed it, I decided to pay a little extra and go for the robust.

In my small but mighty package was my receipt, and a nice pamphlet on the history and preparation on matcha. Like a kid on Christmas, I didn’t waste any time and I got right down to business (if only I attacked all my other tea orders with such vigor). First, I opened the matcha package (very carefully) and smelled the matcha with caramel. It really did smell delightful, and there is no mistaking that it was caramel. Then again, I did get the second highest flavoring profile. I have to wonder how strong the matcha smell would have been with the lowest. I’ll have to see next time.

Once I got the fantastic smell out of the way, the first step on the “How to prepare Matcha Tea” said I should sift my matcha first. I’m not fancy enough to have an actual sifter, so I just used a tea strainer with the finest holes I could find. It worked well enough, although it wasn’t as slick as I had hoped. One of the downsides was that a lot of the matcha powder was left on the strainer and was tough to get off. If I end up drinking matcha more, I may invest in an actual sifting unit.

Next, the directions called for adding two bamboo tea scoops to the bowl. I, unfortunately, don’t have a bamboo tea scoop, but thankfully the directions said 1/2 to 1tsp, so using a generic measuring spoon, I just measured out that. I don’t have a fancy matcha bowl, but I do have a very large mug bowl with a handle, so that seemed to work well. I poured the matcha and hot water (lower than boiling temperature) into the water. The next step was to whisk the matcha, and thankfully, I did have a matcha whisk. I remembered from a matcha class I took a while ago that you can’t just whisk it in an “O” shape, you actually have to whisk in an “M” or “W” shape to get that frothiness.

Finally, after some vigorous whisking, the matcha was done. I took a sip up to my lips and thought, “Wow! This is definitely green tea”. I could ever-so-slightly taste the caramel. I bet if I had matcha more often, I would have been able to detect the caramel easier. I really wanted to bring out that caramel taste, but I didn’t want to add too much to my tea. I decided to throw in a splash of sunflower milk, and that really helped to bring out the caramel notes. I’m sure adding sweetener would have helped more, but I want to keep the calories as low as I can, at least for the initial batch.

After the first batch, I wanted to try again and play around with the preparation parameters. This next time, I decided to forgo the sifting process to see if it really mattered. I also measured out a little bit more matcha this time to see if it would help bring out the caramel flavor more. Finally, I only poured a small amount of water in in the beginning. While this definitely helped me get a better “foam of bubbles”, it made it harder to mix all of the matcha in the water. I wonder if my option to not sift it had something to do with it. Once I did all the same above steps, I had myself a new cup of matcha. I tasted this just plain, and the green tea taste was even stronger – so much for the “more caramel” idea. I also decided to add some skim milk to this batch to keep it simple, and I think skim milk really works the best. It helps smooth out the tea, and I can definitely taste the caramel notes.

So overall, my first foray into flavored matcha was a success. I discovered I’m not quite cool enough to drink it straight, but adding just a little bit of skim milk brings out the flavor without adding too many calories. I would love to experiment more with matcha tonight, but I know it’s high in caffeine and I don’t want to keep myself up too long if I can help it. I look forward to trying more flavored matcha teas from Red Leaf and experimenting some more along my matcha journey.

SO…I have been wanting to try a Red Leaf Tea matcha for quite some time now(!), and I was fortunate enough to get some at our recent Victoria tea crawl and swap. So many, many, many thanks go out to CrowKettle for bringing some of this tea along for us to try. We all just about died from the smell of this through the foil packet. I added this to my packet of teas from OMGsrsly by accident, and when I came home to sort them and catalogue them, all I could smell from that baggie was this matcha in the foil packet. As we were all warned to be careful opening this, I was very meticulous (and slow!!) about opening the packet, and I had it on a plate in case it spilled or something else happened.

I set my plate, my mug, my mason jar half with milk (for latte), my mini measuring cup (2oz/60ml) and my frothing whisk on the stove. I did rinse and dry out my mug, though as I measured the matcha and put it in the mug, I did notice that I had not dried it out enough, and it had started moistening. I had my water boiling and poured it into the mini measuring cup, and as it cooled some, I screwed on the lid of the mason jar and shook vigourously for 30-45 seconds, took the lid(s) off, and microwaved for about 30 seconds as well. While the milk was in the microwave, I added the now cooled boiling water to my mug and stirred it to dissolve the matcha, and then began sort of an up down pumping motion with the frothing whisk. I tried sort of side by side but that didn’t really work, given the surface area of the mug. I did get a bit of foam…but not as much foam as I had expected, so maybe I did not froth/whisk long enough, or perhaps the problem was the mug not being wide enough. I’ll add that I don’t have a sifter, so that may have affected the whole thing, too.

Here are a few pics from this first matcha attempt…

https://fbcdn-sphotos-d-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/482657_10151346351117374_443711524_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-b-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/9603_10151346351202374_984623735_n.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/72774_10151346351242374_1833469278_n.jpg

Hopefully those worked.

In closing, here are my thoughts.

1) The Caramel Matcha is DELICIOUS!

2) My technique and ratios may need to be adjusted for the next time. I felt like it was a little weak overall, and that may be that the water plus milk diluted it some/too much.

3) Adding a touch of sugar brought out intense caramel.

4) The packet looked like about 2-3 servings, so I did not want to use it all at once, but I wish I had made more. This made half or less of a mug, and I wanted more…it was gone sooo fast.

5) I’m toying with adding this to some Big Apple from DAVIDs. I don’t know if I would just add a small pinch to the steeping tea (like the matcha genmaicha blends), or make the matcha with the tea instead. I really love the caramel apple taste of Big Apple, and think this would be an intense blend.

6) I reaalllly want to try this more. And more RLT matcha. Hoping to do a matcha event with ShayneBear sometime, and maybe to also do a co-op order with them too.

7) I might just get a matcha set if I find one I like, and at a good price. I see more matcha in my future, though I might just use a bowl and a wire whisk in the mean time.

Once again, a very big thanks to CrowKettle for the opportunity to try this!

The Japanese put green tea powder in their deserts, so naturally, an american company had the bright idea to put dessert into the green tea. I bought this after seeing the rating so high, and I have tried to like it. I’ve had it hot. I’ve tried it sweetened. I’ve made faux-lattes out of it, and then I had the brilliant idea to mix it with vanilla ice cream.

The idea was to try the idea out before I ruined half a gallon of ice cream, and maybe I could even get the husband to help me eat it. Ergo, I started with a small bowl first.

Mixing it with the ice cream created a substance which visually brought to mind a single word… “scours”… Those of you from Indiana, or perhapse Idaho will probably know what I’m referring to, the rest of you are probably better off not knowing. I mixed it, I ate it, I admit it was almost tasty. Unfortunately after my small sample batch of green caramel/vanilla ice cream, I proceeded to belch the “caramel” flavoring for hours afterward.

That was my last idea. Wasn’t so brilliant after all. I really tried, and I’m sorry if you don’t like my opinion, but I come by it legitimately. It is what it is, and I’m not changing it again, I’m gonna let it stand. This stuff is hardly tea. It’s some stuff that’s rumored to have antioxidants in it, and then adulterated past the point of recognition. ICK

http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/caramel-matcha.html is where you can get this awesome matcha! I’m having mine with milk and I dare you to get between it and me…. I don’t get energy from my matchas but I do feel better when drinking them. I haven’t made a smoothie out of any of them yet, but it’s on my to do list :D

guuuuh so good.

I got my new matcha in the mail yesterday YAAAAY!
Man I was so freaking excited!

This morning. Caramel matcha latte… I feel like i should have paid 8 bucks for this at a coffee shop or something. So. Good.

I should say, I got “Robust” flavouring because.. I don’t know! I knew I would love caramel and I wanted it in my face. I’m not disappointed, I’m very happy with my choice. I’m going to weep when this matcha is gone… but I bought 60 g so I should be good for a while ;)