Here we go with Matcha Spirit. I was thinking of making this as a latte before even opening the sealed bag then remembered this had turmeric and other savoury stuff going on so I thought it would be best to try it straight first.
Opening up the bag, whew, that is definitely turmeric. It even smells like a specific kind of ground coriander my family had a long time ago, which had a heavy earthy, lemony scent. The turmeric in here is slightly earthy and bitter with mustard and lemon notes. I can’t even smell the matcha in there, and mushroom powders could possibly be contributing to the earthy undertone, as well. Then the black pepper is super obvious. I also read up on reishi mushrooms and apparently they have a bitter taste to them too so perhaps that bitter aroma is coming from them too.
I frothed up one teaspoon in some slightly cooled hot water. The mushroom aroma comes forth now that it’s blended with water, but the turmeric and black pepper are still the main notes here.
Flavour-wise, it’s very heavy on the turmeric and black pepper. I’m mostly getting bitter earth from the turmeric and reishi, then lemon, with some heat at the back of my mouth from the black pepper. I can’t taste the matcha in here whatsoever. I’m detecting a brothy undertone and that could also be from the reishi.
This definitely isn’t something to be drinking for the flavour, but rather, for its health benefits, primarily, for immune support. Sources suggest trying reishi with honey or almond milk if you can’t get past the bitterness, so maybe next time I make this, I’ll add a bit of honey and see how that goes, and maybe go for that latte sometime.
