I was debating between this and another matcha for my last order, and settled on this one due to mixing potential. Champagne Earl Grey, Mango Champagne. Like cocktails, only with tea! I also have a kind of dessert-heavy matcha collection, and need some lighter flavors for those days when I want a really refreshing cup of iced matcha goodness. So champagne it was! I got:
Size: Small (30 grams)
Base: Classic Matcha
Flavor Distinctive
Now that I’ve actually tried it, I kind of wish I’d gone with a white base and delicate flavoring, sigh. The flavor is a little strong for my taste with the distinctive, and I definitely think a white base would have supported the “bubbly” flavor of the champagne better. Oh well!
In the bag this smells like… vitamins. You know the flavored chewy ones you had to take as a kid? They have a really distinctive, pseudo-fruity, chalky kind of smell. It was IDENTICAL to that, so not exactly a great start haha! I’ve found that Red Leaf’s matchas often smell a lot stronger in the bag so I wasn’t too worried. I mixed up the base and added it to a tall glass of cold water: I’ve found that when mixed with water, a teaspoon of matcha goes REALLY far, but with milk I only get a small mug before the flavors get dampened! I suppose that’s because there are no taste/texture elements in water to “compete” with the matcha, it’s just thinning it out.
Anyway, this thankfully doesn’t taste like vitamins! It is still a bit chalky, and kind of vaguely fruity. Peach maybe? It was tasty, but I don’t know if someone just handed me a glass of this and asked me to identify it, if I’d ever say “oh, champagne!” It does have kind of a bubbly, effervescent feel. Kind of there-and-not-there flavor. Sadly, the distinctive flavoring is really masking the matcha—I thought this would be a light flavor, but it’s really quite heavy!
While at the moment this is far from my favorite matcha, I think it needs to be mixed with something bubbly to really capture that champagne-y feel. I have some raspberry ginger ale that I think I’ll try mixing it up with tomorrow! You can get some here:
