So last night, I made myself a strong matcha latte to take to work and keep me awake while tediously grinding samples, and realized while I was making it that I actually hadn’t ever actually reviewed the caramel matcha! In spite of having drank it probably about 3 times (meaning there’s not much left in my packet, as I tend to make rather strong, large lattes when I do make one). I picked this matcha up for the obvious purpose of blending it with the Green Apple Matcha I already had received, to make caramel apple matcha lattes! This is the delicate flavouring, starter green matcha variety, which can be purchased here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/caramel-matcha.html
The aroma of this one is nothing short of intoxicating. While the Madagascar Vanilla and Green Apple matchas smelled good, this one I swear I could sit there with my nose in the bag and sniff all day! I love caramel, and this definitely made me think of those little Kraft caramels I used to get trick-or-treating, that were soft and chewy but would stick to your teeth, coating your mouth in delicious caramel goodness… until they melted entirely and you had to pop another in your mouth. Anyways, I have to say I was by far the most excited to try this one, after smelling it! I used probably a solid 2-3 tsp of matcha, unsifted (I know, I’m learning that sifting is important! I did it yesterday but not with the straight caramel matcha), whisked into hot milk and then mixed with a generous portion of cold almond milk. The result? Absolutely amazing! Caramelly goodness (even without sweetener), and an aroma to die to for. What gets me the most is how I can nearly fool myself into thinking I’m eating caramels, when instead, I’m having a matcha latte containing almost no sugar. Awesome! Definitely will be purchasing more of this one!
Since I failed to keep up with writing tasting notes on all my matcha adventures (probably because I usually make matcha lattes before heading off either on a long drive or to work, and therefore am not at my computer while drinking it), I’ll summarize my caramel apple experience here as well. Unfortunately, my first attempt at blending caramel and apple together didn’t work quite as planned – I used equal amounts of each, and the green apple completely overpowered the caramel (which was unfortunate because if anything, I probably wanted it the other way around, you know, would you like some apple with that caramel??) The second attempt, with probably a 2:1 caramel:apple ratio was better, but I still didn’t manage to achieve what I wanted. That’s fine though…. this one’s pretty darn amazing on its own!