Sweet Matcha Original

I am putting today’s tea drinking under this tea, but there will be three teas mentioned here. The other two do not have a designation of their own.

My bestie, Melissa1, came over today for lunch since she is on spring break. We did a side by side test of three instant matcha latte mixes; this one, my home made blend of Olive Nation matcha and sugar, and Red Leaf Tea’s sample of Caramel Matchacinno No. 4, which is a test sample and not the final product that will be sold.

I made three glasses of milk and put a scoop of mix on top. As the matcha begin to bleed its color out into the milk, the differences were immediate and obvious. Rishi’s matcha was a bright spring grass green. Olive Nation was more of an olive green color, as was Red Leaf, though the flavoring does slightly change the color of theirs. Note: the mixes call for eight ounces of milk per tablespoon of mix. I have found that it is plenty sweet and flavorful enough to put one tablespoon mix to fourteen to sixteen ounces for me.

I used an Aerolatte to blend the mix and froth the top.

The Rishi had the strongest matcha flavor and tasted the sweetest of the unflavored. Olive Nation home made mix was good, but their matcha is more earthy and muted. I do like it, though.

The Caramel Matchaccino was still too strong for us at 12 ounces milk so I went with fourteen. This is a good thing, as it means I can make my mondo glass of latte and not go broke putting two tablespoons in it! Also, the flavoring level was either delicate or more likely, distinctive. I thought that was plenty strong enough and I would not order it in robust personally. I think I will put my money in upgrading the base now and go with lighter flavor, because the flavoring is generous enough as it is and the base makes the most difference to me now that I have developed a taste for matcha. The caramel is creamy and sweet.

As we poured up the last of it, she laughed and gasped, “How did we drink so much already?” I thought that was pretty funny since it is something you would expect to hear over a bottle a wine, not a table full of matcha! :)

First review. Bought this at Whole Foods today…had been curious about what this would taste like in the Spring and Summer as a cool beverage like a green tea milkshake. I read the package suggestion for making an 8oz. cold lemon Sweet Matcha drink and went with that since I had no whole milk on hand (and I’m watching the calories too). All I can say is….eh. Not that sweet or flavorful. You can’t mess up a recipe that’s 1TB powder, 1/4 tsp fresh lemon juice and 8oz water! Whisk! And a big…eh! No green flavor, just bland. To be fair I’ll try this again with milk and see what I think. Right now I have to rate this the way the green stuff fell.

I have a sweet tooth for sure. I added this to my strawberry shake that consisted of water, frozen strawberries, and flaxseed. Yummy mixture!! :)

Grassy and sweet I would prefer to try this particular matcha without built-in sugar.

All week long I was have an urged for matcha since I did not have any last year. It certainly a treat parting from a Trader Jones and having one served hot just soothes after a hard day. Its really tasty kinda like sugarcane minus the intense sweetness but grassy and vegetal. Its another fine product of Rishi and the tea producers!

This is a lot better as a latte than it is plain =P In fact, it’s hard to drink plain at all.

I’ve been wanting to experiment with matcha powder, but damn, it’s expensive! I found this at Whole Foods for a modest price (compared to other choices), fully aware that it was cheaper because it is blended with quite a bit of sugar. My hope was that it would be a nice instant tea to take along with me in a water bottle. I thought, “What the hey, it’ll be just like the matcha we have at work. If nothing else, I’ll make tea lattes and baked goods.” And I was right. I tried it in water, hot and cold, and was severely disappointed because it was way too sweet for me.

However, steaming it in milk on my espresso machine recreates how I fell in love with matcha in the first place, yum! I’ve also had quite a bit of fun making matcha short bread and even some gnocchi with matcha powder. Although my experience with matcha is very narrow, this one is too light, sugary, and not matcha-y enough. Next time I will splurge on pure powdered leaves.

This was the first matcha I ever had. I just finished my package of it today. I think this is a good stepping stone to Matcha. It is sweet and weak. The powder is a very light color. I made four cups the first night.

Good balance of tea and sweetness.

This is my first and only matcha but I will say, I like how it’s sweet but still lets the green tea come through. Good for when you want something sweet, something quick, or something a little different. Beautiful deep green color. I don’t own a whisk but if you pour it from a bit of a height, you can get a pretty good froth on top. It’s good for cooking as well although I haven’t gotten a chance to do that yet.

One of my favorite teas. I can’t drink matcha without any sweetener yet so the sweet matcha is my tea of choice right now. I don’t drink coffee and I find that matcha gives me the energy without the jitteriness you can get from coffee. Plus, I just feel better when I have it.

My recipe is 2 cups soy milk (other milks, dairy and non, overpower the taste of matcha) to 2 tablespoons of Sweet Matcha, mixed with a frother or a chasen, microwaved for 4 mins, 15 secs, another whisking and I’m ready to go.

It has a slight grassy and creamy smell which also shows up in the taste. It’s a nice bright cup. I’ve had people who don’t like tea or soy milk try it and like it.

My first try with matcha at home after falling in love with a matcha latte on vacation. Made it with 8 oz of cold milk, gave it a whirl with my ikea whirlygigamabob and voila! In a word, delish!

My first cup of Matcha tea. Pretty delicious.

Sweet & grassy, spring in a cup. Can’t wait to try it iced and/or use it in baking.

http://www.thatpourgirltea.com/2010/02/rishis-sweet-matcha.html

Too sweet to drink with just water. I mix it in with my oatmeal. Gives me a nice morning buzz.

Love the late’. Not too sweet just right. Also makes a refreshing cold beverage mix about two table spoons into a bottle of water.

I thought this was pretty delicious and sometimes I mix it with unsweetened matcha. Now if only I can purchase a larger amount…Rishi only sells it in small 125g pouches on their website and I think the larger tin pictured here is out of stock.

If you’ve never tried matcha and you have a bit of a sweet tooth, I’d definitely recommend this tea!