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OMG this smells just like NIBS !
Okay I haven’t tasted it yet, but I will. I was just floored by the smell, it smells soooo good!
When my mom was a kid, all medicine was grape flavored. To this day she can’t have any grape candies/sodas/etc, because no matter how well done it is, it reminds her of medicine. I am very much the same way with cherry: anything with real cherries (jam, ice cream, etc) is fine but candy… bleurgh. It could be the best cherry flavor in the world and I by association wouldn’t like it. However, I LOVE black cherries, so I took a risk and got this matcha anyway when it went on sale. As a side note, kids today are lucky: medicines are grape, orange, cherry, even mint! So they can pick the flavor they’ll grow up loathing for the rest of their lives.
My matcha was a small (30g) with the classic matcha base and the delicate level of flavoring. I wasn’t too sure how much I’d like this, so of course I went with the smallest flavor level! Also, it was a stand-alone order that I didn’t have a certificate for, so I kept everything basic. I do have 5 fancier matchas on my kitchen table right now waiting to be tried! But first, me versus my dislike of cherry. Start battle!
Okay, in the pouch this smells really nice and fresh, but I am still getting some weird medicinal vibes. Don’t get me wrong: the flavoring isn’t artificial or medicinal in the least. It’s just my stupid brain! I decided to make this iced in a tall glass of cold water (though I did the hot water + whisking base first along with sugar—what, I like my matcha a little sweet!). I thought this would be the best way to deal with my medicine associations.
Well… it is really good. It tastes like fresh, ripe black cherries. But. Ah, I hate that there’s a but! I am having a REALLY hard time getting over my cherry = medicine thing here. I think iced was the wrong choice, so I am going to go with a latte next time and for now I am holding off on a rating. Because I know this matcha will be fabulous if I just make it the right way! And if you don’t have a secret hatred of cherries you will adore this matcha, I think it’s by far one of the best of their fruit-flavored ones (that I’ve tried, of course!). You can get it here:
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/black-cherry-matcha.html
When I started looking at the Red Leaf Tea website, I drooled over all the dessert flavored matcha. I didn’t give the fruit flavored ones a second glance and really didn’t think I would ever purchase any of them, mostly because I thought I would only be using the matcha for lattes and I just didn’t picture milk and fruity flavor together. I know they go, but I guess my taste buds were being juvenile wanting all the caramel and mocha and pumpkin pie flavors.
Then a couple of people said they swirled the matcha in a water bottle and made a cold drink. What? What! So I tried it with caramel and found that it really does work. On the first sips I thought it was going to taste weak, but the flavor builds and builds. However, caramel is a dessert flavor and I really love it with milk, hot or iced. A lightbulb popped on over my head as I realized that fruit flavored matcha would be most excellent this way!
I was really happy when I saw the Black Cherry flavor go on sale. I got a large tin of it because this is one I think I can entice my son into trying! I ordered the robust flavor level, but I really want to try some of the more delicate flavor levels soon because several people have said they are still plenty strong enough.
You can order it here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/black-cherry-matcha.html
I got the tin because I love the twist off lid. A pop off lid could be a disaster with fine matcha powder, so be careful what you store it in! I have a regular, short tin of green tea from another company with a lid that gets stuck and every time I open it the tea goes EVERYWHERE! You don’t want that to happen with your fine matcha powder!
The Mocha matcha is almost gone, and soon I will have enough tins that I don’t have to order one every time! Then I can afford even more matcha.
As soon as the Black Cherry matcha arrived, I opened the package. The kids sniffed and their eyes grew wide. Cherry candy! The Black Cherry candle from Yankee Candle that my kids refuses to light because they don’t ever want it to go away. What a powerful, sweet, amazing aroma! Not rooibos-y cough syrup, but cherry candy, as sweet as it was when you were seven years old!
I grabbed a teaspoon, scooped it about half full and put it in my bottle. I added less than an ounce of water and swirled and shook it. Then I added cold water to the top and shook it a little again. So 1/2 teaspoon gave me about 15 ounces of drink at least.
Perfection! AMAZING! Fruit flavored matcha, look out! I want all of you! I know my son is going to go wild for this. This is going to be a perfect work-out drink for him, and so easy it is crazy. WOW!
Sipdown! Thanks for letting me sample this one, Sil – and those little containers are perfect!
Anyhow, I made up quite the concoction yesterday morning with this matcha. I had about 1.5tsp of it from Sil, so whisked that into some hot milk, and took a sniff… delicious! I was thinking about just making a regular milk latte with it at first (since I don’t have any plain almond milk at the moment)… until I remembered that I had dark chocolate almond milk. Sooooo I made a chocolate black cherry latte. Only problem? 1.5tsp of matcha wasn’t really enough, IMO… so I whisked up another 1-2tsp of cheesecake matcha, plus some caramel matcha (I think… I might have just used cheesecake), and added it in. It certainly looked interesting, swirling dark green matcha liquid into dark brown chocolate almond milk, but it tasted fabulous. Sadly, I forgot to drink most of it, and it ended up being forgetten at my boyfriend’s place… thankfully in the fridge, so I guess I’ll drink it before/after heading to church tomorrow. Yum!
It seems like just yesterday that it was a close race between Pumpkin Pie and Black Cherry for flavor of the week. Black Cherry squeaked by to win, and I happily jumped on the chance to order it. I was a little hesitant, since sometimes cherry flavors can be a little too artificial tasting, but I went with it anyway. As usual, I got the robust flavoring on this with the basic matcha. I took a whiff of the matcha, and I could definitely tell it was black cherry – no question.
This was prepared in a water bottle with 1/2 teaspoon of matcha. I put it in, shook it up, and tasted my beautiful creation.
WOW!! This is really good. I was not expecting much from this matcha, but am happily surprised. This is just as good as Boysenberry, maybe a little bit better. The black cherry flavor is potent, but not overpowering and not too sickly either. No sweetener needed. If you are a black cherry fan, you will not be disappointed. It definitely does not taste like cough syrup. I really want to get some cola matcha and mix this together to see how it would go. I bet it would be delicious.
Definitely glad I decided to take a risk and buy this matcha on sale.
As a reminder, you can buy this matcha here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/black-cherry-matcha.html
Third and final matcha of the day. Oh, and I left a bit of french vanilla in my cup earlier and it cooled off and was delicious! Will have to try making them with ice at some point :D anyways, onto this one.
The smell, yes,as DaisyChubb said, is spot on nibs, but leading into a juicier scent of black cherries. But yeah, mostly nibs, now I want nibs!! Haha, so I sifted and whisked 1 tsp of this delicious smelling matcha, which is basic grade, robust flavoring I should add, into hot water and am trying it this way first as per usual. Mmmm the smell is sooo good! I got a tiny bit of that cherry medicine in the smell, but only a bit, and it’s mostly delicious cherries. And as for taste, another delicious matcha! The flavoring is lovely here, nice and fresh matcha with a black cherry aftertaste. I love black cherry ice cream, and this hits the black cherry pretty good, so I can’t wait to try it with the cheesecake or vanilla to add the creaminess! I must say, the fruit matchas are a lot more fresh and natural to me with the matcha, but I really like the dessert ones too. I might add a bit of sugar, as I did with the blueberry, to see if it brings out the cherry a bit more.
Overall, I am really enjoying this one. And hopefully this will give me the kick to continue working on my giant project for my financial class. Another excellent matcha from Red Leaf! :D thanks Sil and ashmanra for the flavor suggestions again!!
ETA: I added a bit of sugar. Guhh. Now this is full on CHERRY. Yess. I cannot wait to mix this with the dessert matchas, as they will provide the perfect sweetness for this one sans sugar. But for now, I will sip this away and be content. :)
Go go Black Cherry! I have to say right off the bat that this might be my favourite fruit flavoured matcha so far. Given the intensity of the Pear matcha, I was a little worried about the strength of this matcha when I received it.
My matcha order was the following:
Size : Small
Matcha Quality: Starter (Basic Grade)
Flavor: Robust
I shouldn’t have been worried! While in the Pear, the intensity was too much – in the black cherry it’s perfect! When I first opened the package it smelled like cherry…the kind of cherry that is in those red suckers you get as a child from the doctor for a good visit :) First up for THIS matcha was a morning smoothie! I tossed in a frozen banana, some milk and ice and blended it up! I was a bit concerned that the banana might alter the taste too much but this matcha was strong enough!
After blending the cherry becomes rich and less like those child’s suckers and more like actual cherries. It’s funny because I know a bunch of people sweeten their match but it’s never occurred to me to do that. I’m glad though because so far none of the matchas I’ve tried from Red Leaf have needed any sweetening. I REALLY like this matcha. I’m a little curious as to how this would blend with the Cola matcha – I may be adventurous enough to try that some time. I’m also a little happy because while I enjoyed the pear – it was a bit artificial and strong for me and the berry was a melange of flavours. This matcha is straight up, one intense flavour POW! Without being TOOOOO strong :)
Buy it here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/black-cherry-matcha.html
My order came yesterday YAAAY! I mixed it with what was left of my poor cola matcha :D of course the cherry wiped the floor with it but it was the strongest setting so I don’t mind because I still get a bit of cola flavour :D The blackcherry went well with a bit of milk :D
I put half a teaspoon of this into a water bottle today and sipped it all the way until I got to work. It tastes like cherry candy! I only got the normal amount of flavoring (delicate?) but I was still surprised how much of a flavor it had. This is a pretty good way of drinking matcha without getting too much matcha taste.
I’ve packed it in my new awesome Teavana travel kit so that once I get to the airport I can put it in a water bottle in there. My boyfriend thinks that part of the kit looks like a shank so I’m hoping it really doesn’t get any attention drawn to it. Meh. I thought it seemed very useful especially because it means I have limited myself to only taking three teas (and three tea bags) with me. Left to my own devices it would have been at least 6, an infuser basket, and who knows what else.
Made this as a matcha latte this morning, as per the norm for me. I didn’t love it, I think that’s because I prefer my matchas to be NOT fruity. I might have liked it more had it been cold, or perhaps without milk, but it’s not one I would order for myself. I will stick to the creamy, sweet flavors like vanilla and caramel.
I am glad I got to sample it, thanks to Starfevre!
OMG guys, this one is AMAZING! I think it just popped itself up to being my favourite matcha, green matcha even!
When I opened the package I could smell it pretty strongly, not quite sure what it reminded me of, but it was definitely cherry. Black cherry soda possibly? I’m definitely going to have to try this one with the cola matcha because I have that one too, though I haven’t tried it separately yet.
I used my Breville to heat up some water to 175 degrees because that’s the only kettle I have at home that can heat to specific temperatures. I have two at work, go figure. So that was a bit of a pain, but I used that and frothed with my little electric matcha whisk with a bit of sugar and then put in 10 oz of skim milk that I had heated up in the microwave. I think I’ve got the perfect time down for milk in all the microwaves I associate with. The half-pint carton at work gets a minute in the upper microwave and the 10 oz of milk in the liquid measure gets 2 minutes. I guess that means my microwave is only half as powerful as the work microwave, oh well.
I frothed this one up a little extra, even after I poured the milk in, which I don’t usually because if I don’t hold it precisely at the correct depth to the liquid it either does nothing or it sprays everywhere. There was a bit of spraying.
But seriously, this is one amazing flavour. I was not expecting this one to be done so well, though looking at the other reviews perhaps I should have been. I might have to try the other cherry flavours now to compare. There are what, four of them? More than I have seen in any one place where cherry flavoured things are located. Including the grocery store sometimes where there are actual cherries and Washington is a cherry producing state. Hmm, Rainier cherry flavoured matcha? But I digress.
This is really good and you should go get some at: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/black-cherry-matcha.html
I should also note, that I got classic matcha level and distinctive flavouring and there was certainly plenty of flavour at that level.
I made this and the French Vanilla matcha as lattes for Hubby and myself to share this morning because I couldn’t bear having one left untasted for single day, and certainly not Black Cherry! Black Cherry anything reminds me of my dad on the other side of the world and so is one of my all-time favorite flavors. I was thrilled to see Red Leaf Tea bring it onto the matcha list and doubly so when it won its race against Pumpkin Pie to be on sale. I simply wanted it available as soon as possible—the sale price was an added bonus! Here’s where you can get yours, and believe me, you should:
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/black-cherry-matcha.html
For this order I upped things a bit, getting a large size in the basic grade regular matcha (you can get organic now, if you like) and went for the Robust flavor level. When I opened the pack I was in Black Cherry Heaven. I could almost taste that great black cherry ice cream I had at Biltmore House a couple years ago—the last time I had anything black cherry. (It’s not a flavor that’s arrived to Australia yet, the poor things.)
Made as a latte, the scent reaches your nose before the bowl reaches your mouth and you’re smiling before you’ve had the first sip. Well, you keep smiling as you drink it and the smile gets bigger. Truth is, the smile comes back when you think of it again to write a review! That’s how good it is: like a memory that makes you smile every time.
