Cookies & Cream Matcha - Black Matcha

I am SO excited to write this review for the amazing Cookies & Cream flavour on my first time trying the Black matcha base! I’ll ruin the surprise and say it is a delicious change from the usual.

I feel like this flavour is perfect for the Black base, as when I think of Cookies & Cream I think of oreos, or the yummy white chocolate bar with dark cookie bits in it. I feel like they were kind of meant to be together, and since it was on sale I thought it a perfect chance to give it a try!

The scent and flavour is wonderful – not vegetal like the green matcha, I can’t really smell the base tea through the strength of the yummy C&C flavour (I did splurge for Robust this time!).

I whisked it up and it was very smooth! Not as frothy, but no lumps – so far so good. As for the taste, it is such a nice change from my other matchas! I would guess it is a China black – what I can tell about the base is that it is naturally sweet and goes perfectly with the chocolate flavours in the tea.

I used 185 for the temp to be safe, since I’m consuming the leaves instead of just steeping them, I didn’t want it to scorch or burn! Delicious first few sips, but with the addition of milk and sugar it transforms! Have you ever had powdered Milk Tea? It totally reminded me of that – I’m sure it’s the same idea actually, except now you get to control what the milk is (almond? Soy? 2%?) and the amount of sugar! Total comfort in the cup with the taste of chocolate cookies with a creamy white icing.

I’m glad I went for Robust, but next time I would get even more flavouring for this one – that said, I might just need to get used to the Black base and the flavouring will pop even more!

Here’s where it can be found, I definitely recommend the black base: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/cookies-and-cream-matcha.html

My last matcha from this order! While I’m sad I won’t have any new ones to try (until I make another order, which I guarantee won’t take more than 24 hours haha), I now get to experiment! But before I do, this little gem is just begging for a review. Like with Bavarian Cream, I experimented a bit with the base. I loooove black tea, so of course I needed to try black matcha! And I honestly can’t think of a better flavor to go with it than Cookies & Cream. My matcha was as follows:

Size: Small (30 grams)
Matcha Base: Black Matcha
Flavor Level: Distinctive

One of these days I’ll pick a matcha I totally love and get it in the large size, but for now I like having small options of so many different flavors—I don’t feel like they are going to go bad or anything before I get to them! I have so many teas (nearing on 200 orz) that I just know I won’t use up large portions unless it’s a cupboard staple like Paris or Uji’s Genmaicha—stuff I drink ALL the time. And while I do drink matcha all the time, I like to mix up the flavors so I love that they offer this tiny size!

So, let’s talk about the black matcha base. It’s gotten so-so reviews on here, but I think my opinion is quite different on this one. First off, it looks like cocoa powder! It’s also much harder to get off a countertop than green matcha, which I unfortunately learned when I dropped a bit on it and it just smeared brown everywheeeere. I get so sad whenever I drop a bit of matcha… which sadly isn’t that uncommon, it’s always drifting off the edge of my spoon. Oh well, the sooner I go through a packet the sooner I get to order more I suppose!

I was expecting a lot less froth, but it really mixed up well and actually dissolved faster than green or green/white. Usually I have to kind of tip my mug around to get in all the corners where the matcha is clumping (even after sifting, since I don’t use the traditional bowl/fancy whisk but a mug and regular whisk), but this one whisked in like a dream! After adding some milk it looks like hot chocolate, and it smells like it too—cause of the flavoring I chose, it is very chocolatey! I think the base has some natural chocolate notes that are enhanced by the cookies & cream flavor.

The first sip was kind of weird, since it doesn’t taste at all like traditional matcha—no grassiness, none of that lip-smacking matcha flavor I’m so used to. It really does taste like black tea! Honestly, I don’t know why I was so surprised by this fact. It’s powdered black tea, of course it’s gonna taste like it! It’s a much richer base, I want to say creamier but I’m not quite sure how much of these notes I can attribute to the flavoring. I got the distinctive level, so I should be able to really taste the base thankfully!

What this base definitely has over regular matcha is how smooth it is. It just slides down your throat! And the flavor is so interesting, hard to pinpoint exactly but it’s definitely like a nice Chinese black. I wouldn’t say I like it MORE than regular matcha or even the 50/50 base but it’s a great option and I honestly think for this flavor it’s better with the black base than it would be with any other. This is how I felt about my Bavarian Cream 50/50 matcha—it’s nice to have so many options, now I know what flavors go well with what bases! For chocolatey flavors I will most definitely go with the black from now on, though I think it might be weird with something fruity.

So, about the actual cookies & cream flavor! It is SO GOOD. Like oreos in my cup! The chocolate is rich and dark, the cream is smooth and deliciously vanilla. It’s not as heavy and dense as the bavarian cream, it’s lighter and… fluffier. Not, you know, physically fluffy obviously, it just tastes more airy. I haven’t tried any chocolate-y matchas before, but damn is that flavor spot-on! I am so impressed with all the flavors they offer that I’ve tried, but what has really won me over is all the options. You get to feel like it’s match personalized just for you! I am head over heels in love with Red Leaf.

If you want your own Cookies & Cream matcha (and you should!) you can find it here:

http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/cookies-and-cream-matcha.html

Cookies and Cream Matcha – Black Matcha base

What kind of oreo person are you? I was one of those double stuff gals, who would take two double stuff oreos missing a top and combine them into one quadruple stuff oreo! YEAH!

So, I am the adventurous type and customized my Red Leaf matcha to be made as black matcha, which is ground up black tea. I do love my black tea, especially blended with other flavors. Black tea + chocolate + cream = win!

My matcha specs:

Cookies and Cream black matcha
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/cookies-and-cream-matcha.html
Quality: Black Matcha
Flavor: Robust
Small Tin

I’ve been choosing Robust flavoring as I find it pretty strong and with a background taste of the matcha. Of course, the tin is great as it keeps the matcha safe and easy to scoop from. I have one matcha I didn’t get a tin for and I’ve often got some on my hands reaching into the bag and made a mess.

The matcha powder is light chocolately colour, looking tasty! A strong chocolate liqour and a mysterious zesty black tea smell.

Prepared as a traditional matcha, the froth is a little hard to achieve, and does not linger for long. The colour is again a light chocolate. The taste is a bitter strange, some astringency, but also a mysterious creamy note. At the end of my sip, there is a strong black tea taste. Strong as in if you over steeped a cup of black tea or added too much leaves in in some ambitious plot to make it taste more like the flavoring. This was a pour out for me as it was just too bitter strong crazy for my liking. Maybe black matcha needs to be prepared at a different temperature than green matcha?

In another attempt, I whisked another batch up, but instead of more hot water I added a teaspoon of sugar and topped it off with hot soy milk. Now, this is much much better! Creamy, lightly chocolately and oreo filling taste! There is a slight black tea aftertaste similar to the traditionally prepared cup but goes with the whole experience. At times I can totally taste I’m drinking cookies and cream ice cream, but other sips I’m reminded this is black tea. I love it! This totally is one of the best black tea lattes I’ve had!

I’m thinking I’d love to do this as a smoothie – blend this up with milk, ice, sweetener and top with some smashed oreo cookies. Or, I could take the cookies and cream latte to the next level with whipped cream and cookie crumb topping! Yeah.. I need to watch my figure, so I’ll stick to the basic latte or smoothie.
I probably will never buy any oreo cookies because I’d eat them all, so maybe a scoop of low fat cookies and cream ice cream on top? I’d love to have some cookie chunks with this matcha!

Overall, I don’t recommend Cookies and Cream black matcha base as a traditional cup, unless I’m failing at preparing this correctly. As a latte, pretty solid and delicious, especially if you are a black tea drinker.

This was really good. At first, I was smelling something flowery and was worried something was wrong. But upon mixing well, the chocolate cookie and cream was yummy. It was even better having it mixed in with sugar and milk. I took it iced like that to work a couple times. A nice treat for long, tired days and a good pick me up :)

Another one I got from a swap with Alphakitty. I have been really interested in breaking into matcha now that I have pretty much conqured all the other various teas. So what a better way to do it then sampling some Red Leaf Matcha to find out if it is for me.

Dry I don’t really get a cookies and cream aroma from it, but it does smell sweet. It is very dark and powdered, kind of reminds me of hot chocolate powder. It made up a nice dark frothy cup of matcha, it tasted really good not exactly what I expected but I still like it, you can certainly taste the tea, but its obvious why, its the whole leaf!

After a few sips of the straight matcha I convinced myself I had to try it as a latte so I grabbed one of my nice Japanese latte mug and whipped it up into an extremely delicious latte. Honestly I could get quite used to matcha lattes. I certainly know this one will be one of the first I order from Red Leaf.