Caramel Matcha

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…

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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 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.

Sipdown!
This was much needed to as I had 9 samples come in from Teavivre and my total tea count is at 130. I still think I can get to 100 for Black Friday though. I’m more worried about getting a good job first! :P (Otherwise I will be very sad as you all place huge orders for awesome prices and I avoid the internet for a few days! Hahah.) I just had an interview yesterday, and I applied at an interesting place today so I’m not discouraged yet!

Anyway, thank you CrowKettle for this! Took me long enough to drink it all, eh? But I enjoyed it.

Also I’ve now organized ALL my teas in my spreadsheet so that if I don’t have the exact date, I have an estimate of when I bought it – time to sip down those old teas!

After having regular matcha and then trying this today, I was actually able to taste the caramel flavor. Oh, holy yum.

I actually think I prefer regular matcha, but this made for a lovely post-lunch treat. I am super happy that Courtney sent me a sample of this, because I can definitely see myself enjoying this again. Over and over.

I was a bit intimidated by matcha, and now I just want to order ALL THE KINDS.

I’ve been really trying over the last few days to acquire a taste for traditional matchas and in my Caramel Matcha experience today I’ve noticed some success in the acquisition. Yes!

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!!!

So I’ve had this matcha for a few months now, and I’ve drunk it many times trying to make this taste the best.

I got it robust flavor, with basic grade. This was a mistake. The matcha is closer to being mud brown than it is to bright green, or even dark green. Worst of all, is underneath the buttery sweet caramel scent, I can smell that this is very bitter. It reflects that way in taste, too. It doesn’t matter how much I whisk it, or how cool the water temperature it is or how little matcha I use — for drinking warm that is — right after the pleasantly sweet caramel and vegetal flavors is an intense bitter taste that feels like a punch in the teeth.
Mind you, it was less bitter at a cooler temperature, but it was still undrinkable prepared in the traditional way.

Doctoring it up as a latte with a sugar is an improvement, but it still tastes subpar, and I didn’t order this in order to load up on the calories. I wanted something healthy but still pleasantly sweet. So this is in itself is a negative.

Finally I’ve discovered the way to make this palatable. Shaken with cold milk. The bitterness is finally gone, and I’m finally tasting what I had hoped to taste. Pleasant vegetal notes with extremely buttery and mouthwatering caramel. I can actually put a full teaspoon in a 12oz serving and be totally happy. This is still a bit disappointing though, because this wasn’t how I wanted to drink matcha. But at least I’m not needing to add sugar in this method. I can say honestly though that it tastes very good like this, even if this wasn’t the way I wanted to drink it.

I’m relieved that I’ll be able to finish it afterall now, because as a Canadian this was crushingly expensive, and I didn’t like the prospect of just tossing it.

I hate being such a downer, especially since everyone loved this so much, but I felt I should be honest.

If I order again — very doubtful — I’ll leave the flavor at delicate and instead put the money to upgrading the grade of matcha. Hopefully a lighter flavor setting will also make the matcha happier and tastier when prepared as a warm drink.

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.

i got samples from MissB and Sil.

i can smell it…. but that’s all.

thank you though generous friends.

damn.

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