Amaretto Matcha

Azzrian was awesome and sent me some of this! I’m so excited as I have been drooling over the RLT Matcha’s everyone has been posting for weeks now! Thanks again, girl!

This IS Amaretto – SPOT ON!!!!

Creamy Almond and Pleasant Peach based flavoring with white matcha! Nice!

I must say back in the day one of my favorite Adult Beverages was an Amaretto Sour…this took me back to my clubbin’ days! Ahhhhh…yeah!

Yum! For the first time in a LONG time I am going to dinner tonight with DH and another couple…we usually don’t have friends we do dinner with so I am VERY excited! I just might have to see if they do Amaretto Sour’s! Woot!

I looooove amaretto! It’s the only alcohol I actually enjoy. Well, that and muscato and the occasional sweet Riesling. But amaretto! It’s the only hard liquor I enjoy! Um…and Bailey’s and Amarula… Okay, but amaretto is my favorite! There! Now I’m right. :) My husband also loves anything almond. Loves. I bought this for him but I plan to enjoy it too. :)

So after dinner, I had to rummage through my collection of jars to find something to put this matcha into. I know I’m not making any preserves in a while because those jars are all filled with matcha. It’s for a good cause. :D So I find a jar that’s way too big but it will have to do. I rip open the bag and the most intoxicating aroma just comes spilling out. Mmmmm heaven! Husband is watching the big debate so he’s totally engrossed. I wave the open under his nose and he literally does a double take. Hilarious! At this point, he’s only disappointed that we have to share just half a cup because we are totally out of milk. I kept having to tell him to wait while I whisked it up. So impatient. heh

Finally, I presented the cup to him and he practically drank the whole thing. I had to wrestle the mug from him to get a taste for myself. This matcha is amazing. There’s a slight grassy vegetal flavor from the matcha, but it’s really mostly amaretto without the alcohol burn and without all the sugar. Absolutely fabulous. If you like amaretto, you’ve got to try this:
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/amaretto-matcha.html

For those of you who have tried amaretto and almond, how would you compare the two? I’m wondering if it’s worth investing in both flavors.

Amaretto Matcha

Find it here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/amaretto-matcha.html

My matcha is composed as follows:

Options:
Size : Small
Matcha Quality: White Matcha
Flavor: Robust
Storage : Add Small Metal Tin Container (Holds up to 45g) I always get the tin and pay the extra 3.00 for it since the tea comes in a non re-sealable package.

I opted for the white matcha powder in this blend as I got it as much for my daughter as myself. My daughter LOVES amaretto flavor and does not care for green tea in general and green matcha is too vegetal for her. I am glad that I got white matcha for this although in the future I want to try it with green matcha powder as well. This is so delicious! Truly a taste sensation. I could enjoy this any time of day but for me I believe this will be my evening “night cap” since it made with the white matcha I think I can get away with this! YUMMY! It truly feels like I am having a cocktail but I don’t drink alcohol so this is a lovely substitute!

I would love to be able to tell you some flavoring notes I pick up but its quite simple – its AMARETTO! lol I don’t know how else to describe this. While I appreciate teas that give off a complex nature, many ways to describe the flavors within, this one is what it says it is no questions asked. A straight forward in your face AMARETTO and you can’t ask for anything better than that unless of course you don’t like amaretto! Now Red Leaf does us natural flavorings so I am not sure if this means that if you have a nut allergy that you can’t have it and I would hate to think anyone would be deprived of this flavor so you may want to check with Red Leaf before ordering if you have a nut allergy. Amaretto is made from almonds which I will talk more about in the next paragraph.

When you first smell this powder you will be hit in the face with the overwhelming aroma of amaretto, which is actually made from almond and apricot – I had no idea about the apricot until I did a quick google search to be sure I was correct about the almond! It makes sense though because there is distinctly more to this than simply almond which unto itself does not have this distinct of an aroma! The powder form can be overwhelming honestly but bear in mind I got the Robust flavor. Don’t let that worry you however because I always try my matcha straight before adding it to my latte mixture and let me just say of all the matcha I have reviewed thus far this is my favorite in the straight form and I am thinking probably also the latte form. I will have to have a few more cups of all of them first to be sure and also it depends on my mood. I mean orange is pretty dang good as well and I have yet to do a full review on that one but they are at totally opposite ends of the flavor spectrum here. One is bright and eye opening and fresh, this is decedent and sweet, a dessert drink. Still I have to say that in the straight form, which is important if that is how you prefer your matcha, its really quite lovely! I do think however, for a straight matcha I would prefer it in green rather than white tea matcha base. I am dying to order some in green base because I have a feeling the mix of the flavoring with green matcha would be even more amazing!

I am also glad I went with robust flavoring on this. Not because I feel the distinctive flavoring would not be enough but more so because I really love the quality of this flavoring! Some flavors I want a little more subdued but not this one! This is so velvety in my matcha latte this morning!

My daughter and I love gourmet cupcakes, we often go to several local and not too far away cupcake places to try new flavors. This reminds me so much of an amaretto cupcake we had not too long ago and I know that we will be trying to make our own using this matcha! I do feel that the flavors in here are strong enough to covey the flavor into a baked good! However come to think of it lol I can save myself the calories and just enjoy this tea this way, in a low fat latte because it truly tastes just like an amaretto cupcake!

Its so simple – just make your matcha, put ice in a glass, add low fat milk, almond milk, soy milk whatever you prefer, a dash of low fat vanilla creamer and BAM you have an amaretto cupcake in a glass! Nice and cool and refreshing and totally sin free yet you feel like your doing something naughty! LOVE IT!

I want to say that in a previous tasting note I had mentioned sifting your matcha powder which is important however the more experience I have with Red Leaf Tea matcha the more I realize you really don’t even need to strain this powder! I have tried the green and white and so far it really seems to just fall right though the sifter and trust me this sifter has very fine wiring on it! The only thing that remains in the sifter ever would be a few flavoring granules but I just dump those back into the bowl and add my water as they dissolve quickly. Now I am not saying I have tons of experience with matcha, but I will say I have three other matcha powders from different places in my possession and all of them required far more sifting and still seemed a bit lumpy when adding my water and whisking!

I also just want to say that my experience with Red Leaf Tea has been amazing! I can’t understand why more tea vendors are not doing what they are doing and they have truly cornered the market on not only amazingly flavored matcha but they strive to do everything they can for their customers, from excellent communication, to running sales and specials, to super fast shipping! I think the only thing they could possibly improve upon would be sending the matcha in a resealable pouch but hey that is a small thing when you consider all they do right! Honestly though I prefer my matcha stored in a tin, its just easier to scoop out and far less messy! Regardless of why other companies do not do what Red Leaf does its not like I feel I need to search elsewhere for other matcha. Red Leaf has everything I need and from what I understand they have more flavors to add to their line up! Can you imagine that!?! MORE flavors lol as a matter of fact THIS flavor was not even listed when I asked about mixing cherry with almond to get an amaretto flavor (no idea why I thought I should mix cherry and almond) I was told in no time at all that he could list the amaretto they had on the site and POOF there it was ready for me to order and enjoy within only a couple of days! WOW! So as you can see I am a huge fan girl of this tea vendor and as you all know – right now – until the end of this month – August 2012 – with a good review you can get extra credit toward their already amazing and generous free matcha program which I am linking here:
http://www.redleaftea.com/free-matcha/
Yup FREE matcha! Sure you have to do a few things but it sure is not a lot considering what you get in return!
Here is the link on the forum here about the extra credit they are offering:
http://steepster.com/discuss/3232-red-leaf-tea-new-contest

Just in case you are dying to order some of this right now here is the link again:

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

GET SOME! You won’t be sorry!

There are so many intriguing matcha flavors, but this flavor appealed to me because it’s a flavor I like, but is much harder to get. Back in the day I used to drink amaretto sours, but those can be pricey and full of sugar. Amaretto is good on its own, but it’s also expensive (and has alcohol). When I saw this amaretto flavored matcha, I wanted to try it to see how it compared. I got the Robust flavoring level, as always, and made this in my Matcha-Water bottle with ½ teaspoon for matcha and 16 oz. of water.

I have to say I am really impressed at this flavor. It does taste a LOT like an amaretto sour, except there’s no sugar and it’s not sickly sweet. I could add some sugar to this to sweeten it up, but I really don’t think it needs it. I don’t know if you’d necessarily be able to pick it out as amaretto, but knowing that’s what it tastes like I can definitely pick up the flavor.

I’ve also recently learned that amaretto is actually a combination of almonds and apricots. All the more reason it would make a nice fruity (but not overly sweet) drink.

If you love amaretto sours, or just amaretto, I would definitely recommend this. I wonder if anyone would be brave enough to mix this with some REAL amaretto.. LOL.

Get this matcha here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/amaretto-matcha.html

Backlog: I was feeling down yesterday so I do not want to rate this tea. I love amaretto. It is like a sweetened almond taste. Delicious. I miss amaretto sours! :) I think I need to buy a larger chawan to mix my matchas because mine is a bit small. Anyway, this was watery and thin in consistency but the taste was great!