I got this matcha yesterday in Japantown. Normally I go for the Maeda-en standard grade matcha but they were all out, so I thought I’d get this instead. I mostly use matcha in tea lattes and smoothies so I didn’t see the point in getting anything ceremonial grade. I had some this morning when I woke up: in a pineapple/banana/soymilk/chia smoothie. That was super tasty!
Then I decided to try some of this the standard way using the ceremonial matcha bowl and whisk. Drinking it plain, it is definitely bold and grassy with bitterness. When it comes to drinking matcha plain, you definitely get what you pay for. I’ve had some really nice ceremonial matcha that’s naturally sweet and delicate but almost 3x the price. I wasn’t expecting this to be great on its own, but for mixing with other things it’s fine.