I have been, not to put too fine a point on it, staggeringly jealous of the people who got to try the 52teas mandarin and strawberry matchas. And now I get to try it myself. First of all, it smells amazing exactly like strawberries and not at all like strawberry flavoring – as we all know, I’m sure, there’s a difference.
For my first try, I decided to just go straight. The matcha dissolved easily and was much darker in color than I’m used. I think someone else mentioned olive? That sounds right. This stuff seems a little more concentrated than my ceremonial DoMatcha – I had to add a bit more water than I normally did before the taste wasn’t overwhelming. The taste itself is, I’d say, mostly strawberry, kind of moderated by the matcha flavor, creating a well-rounded, although largely strawberry dominated, whole. The whole, however, at least in my case is better suited to being mixed with stuff (smoooooothiiiiiiiiieeeeeees) than in being drunk straight. I guess I’ve been spoiled by the amazing smoothness that is DoMatcha. Mind you, I don’t drink very much straight matcha unless I am really sleep deprived in the morning so I don’t really feel like this is a disadvantage. I would probably venture to say that this will be MOAR fun to mix with stuff than the DoMatcha was – if only so that I will no longer feel the guilt of mixing something labeled “ceremonial” with all manner of stuff.
So, from this tasting, I am mostly sensing potential. Delicious smoothie potential! Delicious lemonade potential! Delicious latte potential! So….gonna hold off on rating for the moment, since I want to have a clear idea of the full range of this matcha’s potential, because I think if I rated it now, I’d go lower than I’ll end up at eventually.
