Grape Matcha

Grape Matcha

Buy it here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/grape-matcha.html

Hey did I mention I was getting really good at whisking? I am and it makes me happy! Even though I don’t honestly care if I have a ton of forth or not it is good to see all my matcha making coming to fruition in some SKILLS! haha so anyway … When I opened this matcha the smell was amazing – but then every one of Red Leaf matcha smells amazing! This one though I wanted to do something different with. Instead of my typical matcha latte I wanted something more eye opening, more sparkly, more vibrant! So today I made something with Italian Sparkling Water, Low fat all natural vanilla creamer, and matcha! This is my take on an Italian Cream Soda!

Now of course I tasted the matcha before making my blended drink, and you know what, it was quite good. It was a tad bitter but my water to matcha ratio was a bit off as I intentionally made this one a bit thicker to get my blend where I wanted it to be – but alas it was in-fact GRAPE all the way! I am thinking purple grapes. Everyone tends to have a favorite grape, but this seemed purple all the way.

Grape is not normally a flavor I go for unless we are speaking of an ice wine, or something similar, I do love wine infused teas, but as a rule, grape matcha was not one I would gravitate toward, but I got this one because I wanted to test not only the matcha but my own limits. I figure if I love this flavor of matcha then there is no way Red Leaf can go wrong with any of their flavors and so far they have not and trust me I have tired a lot of their flavors!

So here I sit with a sparkly, vibrant, creamy, grape matcha that has not lost any of its base qualities or flavors from the matcha powder itself due to all the insane things I have mixed with it. That to me friends says this matcha is supreme!

My matcha was composed of:

Options:
Size : Small
Matcha Quality: Starter (Basic Grade)
Flavor: Distinctive
Storage : Add Small Metal Tin Container (Holds up to 45g)

As always I recommend purchasing a tin from Red Leaf Tea to keep your matcha powder in! The screw top lids make for safe keeping as well as making your powder mess free and much easier scooping! Tins are 4.00 for a small one although they have larger ones if you order the larger matcha.

The grape in this matcha is more on the candy side, like a grape skittle as someone else mentioned, or a grape hard candy, and less like a natural grape flavor although Red Leaf Tea does in fact use all natural flavors in their matcha bases, it just comes over more as a sweet treat. Nothing wrong with that though!

Again if you would like to order this matcha click the link here:
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/grape-matcha.html

Growing up, we had a long, gorgeous grapevine in our backyard. Concord grapes…mmmm. Is there anything finer? We had an archway that the grapes grew over, and my brother and I would just sit under it for ages, eating the grapes and spitting out the seeds. Mom would make grape juice and grape jelly and all sorts of grapey goodness…there are few things in this world as delicious as homemade grape juice.

When my wife was searching for a house for us while I was still living in the States, I didn’t have a whole lot of input. I mean, I could see pictures and such, but really the decision was out of my hands. One day she called me and told me she’d found it, she’d found a home for us. The house itself is kind of small, especially since we rent out the basement, but the backyard…gah, the backyard. It opens up behind the garage into a sort of fairytale….including a long grapevine snaking around the edge of the garage. When she told me about that grapevine, I was sold. This house is our home. We’re hoping it will survive when the garage gets torn down.

So grapes, as you can see, bring up crazy amounts of memories, and I’m very eager to see which kind of grape flavor this matcha yields. If it’s concord, I’ll be in heaven. Heck, I’m already in heaven, I love grape flavoured anything!

Oh yum. The scent as the bag opens is very much in your face grape. Grape, grape, grape. Guh, it smells so good. The first sip is amazing, like pure grape skittles in liquid form. It doesn’t taste like realy grapes, unfortunately, not to me, at least. But it does taste like grape candy, which is almost as good! Remember grape mentos? It tastes like those…yum. Iced, this is amazingly refreshing on this hot summer day. Is it officially summer yet? I think so….anyway, yes. This is a wonderful matcha blend, and if you’re a grape fan, it’s one you need to try (found here:http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/grape-matcha.html). Need. The smell alone makes it worth it, it smells so amazingly good. I’m so glad they put together a grape blend, I know I’m in love with it. It is totally one of my favorites that I’ve tried so far and despite having a horrible day, it’s putting a smile on my face, so thank you, Red Leaf Tea.

So as I was searching for the next amazing matcha to buy I stumbled across this one. I had a lot of the dessert ones so I thought I’d give a fruit flavor a try :] Grape!! Which you can buy here:
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/grape-matcha.html

When I opened the package I was expecting more of a natural grape smell. But then the sweet, grape candy smell hit me. Mm it smells like grape bubblegum! Even as I was whisking it I got bursts of it. Ok.. here it goes, the first sip.. Oh man, it even tastes like grape candy. Like I have said in my other matcha reviews, if you get the “delicate” option the flavor sneaks in at the end or slightly behind the matcha. I feel like the matcha and the grape blend well together though. They compliment each other. The sweetness of the grape goes nicely with the slight sweetness/vegetal tastes of the matcha. I think I finally found my “go to” matcha when I’m craving candy. Except next time I might go for the “distinctive” flavoring. You can never get too much grape!
This is a great matcha if you are looking for something that tastes sugary, sweet with a little fruit flavor. Again here is the link you can buy it at:

http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/grape-matcha.html

Because I am fairly new to matcha, I have been trying samples from many different sources in an attempt to gain some experience in the area. So far, this matcha is definitely my favorite. It has truly opened my eyes to the beauty of matcha and how great it can taste!

I was initially unsure about trying a flavored matcha because I was afraid that the flavoring would overwhelm the taste of the actual matcha. I finally decided to just take a chance and order some… and I was not disappointed!

When I first opened the package, I was pleasantly surprised by the sweet aroma. It smells like real grapes, not like grape candy as I had expected. As I prepared my first bowl, the grape smell became more subtle after the water was added. The familiar aroma of matcha then became more prominent. I had begun to think that the grape flavoring had disappeared altogether until I took my first sip. I was still able to taste the subtle hint of grape within the matcha. I am very pleased with the fact that the grape taste isn’t overpowering. Red Leaf Tea does offer their customers the option of increasing the flavor intensity though, if one does desires the flavoring to be more prominent.

The overall quality of the matcha is great as well! It is very finely ground and is a vibrant shade of green. It also has a natural sweetness, without bitterness, and leaves a great aftertaste in your mouth. This matcha’s quality has by far exceeded any others that I have tasted so far!

Red Leaf Tea offers such a wide variety of flavored matcha, and for an excellent price—especially when considering the high quality of their products! They also offer several customization options for each of their products, so that one is able to customize their matcha to be exactly how they want it. They offer three levels of matcha quality, four levels of flavor intensity, and even offer an excellent discount on accessories when purchased with the matcha! The grape matcha that I purchased can be found here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/grape-matcha.html. When buying matcha from Red Leaf Tea, I would suggest making the additional $3 purchase for the small metal tin container because the flat pouch that their matcha comes in by default is not air tight or resealable. I am looking forward to trying many of their other products in the near future!

I used more matcha this time in my sweetened matcha latte, but it’s still less grapey than I expected. The grape is present but only slightly in the sip and more in the aftertaste. It’s not bad though, but grape flavour (and this is definitely grape candy rather than grape grape) isn’t really my favourite thing. Not sure why I bought this really, except at the time I really wanted to try every single matcha flavour made by Red Leaf Tea/Matcha Outlet.

Still, I’ll up the rating a bit since I’m getting more of a handle on this one. It doesn’t really deserve a rating in the 60s from me, but not too much since I don’t actually like it terribly much. Still, I’ll drink this down without much problem, I think, and then get to move on to a new flavour! Getting a bit tired of the same 4 matcha flavours at work.

Finished off the last of this sample today. I made it up as a latte again, because I’m pretty sure last time it didn’t go so well as a result of unexpectedly expiring whisk batteries. Fortunately, that’s not today’s problem.

I used a little more powder than I usually would, partly because there wasn’t a full 1/2 tsp left (so it would be two under-strength cups or one over…) and also because it’s the delicate flavouring level, and I’m finding that I drown the flavour in milk when I use my work cup (which is on the larger side…). So that’s how it is this morning.

Also, I’m bored. I have plenty to do, but I don’t really want to get on with any of it. What I’d really like is a new job with some new challenges, but that doesn’t seem to be on the cards at the moment.

So, the latte. It’s good – it tastes like candy grape. I think the extra bit of powder has amplified that a bit, because it’s a touch stronger than I remember it being last time, although still subtle on the whole. It’s also mildly floral, which could be either the grape flavouring or the matcha itself…it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins, which I think is a good thing when it comes to flavoured tea of any variety.

I’m thinking of placing an order with Red Leaf/Matcha Outlet in the next few days, and this one could well be on the list if it’s available. It’s different, and enjoyable – a good combination!

So, I don’t know if there’s any truth to it but there’s this absolutely GREAT story about why grape ice cream isn’t a thing; I don’t really care if there’s truth to it or not to be honest but here’s the Ben & Jerry’s story that I’m talking about:

There is no such thing as grape ice cream. The reason? It has a lot to do with dogs, girls, the 1876 World’s Fair, pharmaceutical companies, and it’s more complicated than you might ever imagine.

After his successful invention of the ice cream soda in 1874, Philadelphia’s Robert Green began to tackle a request from his customers. Green boldly stated, in an 1876 interview with the Pennsylvania Inquirer, “The people are tired of vanilla and chocolate. They want something more.” What Green did not know, is that grapes contain a special molecule Anthocyanin that prevents freezing, so he kept turning up with grape milk.

Companies such as Baskin Robins made a few futile attempts, but failed because of the anthocyanin. No breakthroughs were made until 1976, when Ben from ‘Ben and Jerry’s’ decided to try his hand. As it turns out, he was motivated by a challenge from Jerry’s attractive sister Becky.

Ben confessed in a People Magazine interview in 1984 that he had a huge crush on Becky and promised to create the flavor just for her. Knowing the history of grape ice cream, she coyly requested it, thinking it to be impossible. Ben began to include the grape skin and juice to better see the differences between batches. While he didn’t understand the science behind this at the time, he found that including the skins increased the levels of anthocyanin enough to make the ice cream freeze.

“Becky was impressed. We were at her house, alone. I gave her the scoop – on a cone. I was really getting somewhere. She was laughing and happy. She couldn’t believe I did it. I’ll never forget what happened next. Becky jokingly gave her dog a lick from the cone. He liked it and took a couple of licks. Then he just gasped and dropped dead. He flipped down onto the floor and was just gone. I had no idea grapes are toxic to dogs. Specifically to the anthocyanin. Becky was devastated. I had invented a deadly dog poison, and I definitely wasn’t getting anywhere with her now.”

Kyle and I stumbled across this story, and realized that regardless of whether or not it’s truthful, neither of us had ever had grape ice cream and so we NEEDED to try it. Low and behold, I have grape matcha – so we just infused some of that into a vanilla ice cream. Sure, it doesn’t look pretty like you’d think grape ice cream would – but it tasted pretty solid! Definitely lots of matcha taste too, but I like green tea ice cream anyway.

I’d totally make it again.

How is this not the matcha that everyone talks about?? It is so tasty!
I made it straight up, no sugar or anything, and it was sweet, grape like one of those lifesaver gummies, and a tad floral. Usually I don’t go for floral in my matchas, but here, I don’t mind it. After adding a tiny bit of sugar, it was super flavourful and juicy. I had to look in the mirror and make sure I wasn’t purple, there was so much yowza in there! Mind you, I did go with robust.
One thing I need to watch out for is bitterness, as I could taste just a hint of it and there is no way I burned the water or didn’t use enough. and I mixed the heck outta my cup. I can’t wait to try this via shaken bottle method!!