Matcha Outlet

Azzrian you are an angel! Thanks!

I started with 2 matcha scoops and ended up doing 4. A Double-Shot, my friends! Woot!

It sure DOES smell like powdered Maple Syrup! Niiice! Yes…that is NICE with 3’s i’s – so you know I mean business!

The matcha base is a darker one…a quesi-grassier one…not too overly grassy but a nice ‘filling’ or fulfilling one, I guess.

The brown sugary/maple syrupy goodness shines! It REALLY does! It’s not too overwhelming but it’s JUST RIGHT!!!!

As I continue to sip it – it seems to get…creamier! Nice!

This is intensely satisfying! I may change this to a 100 soon but for now…I’ll go with a 99.

In my continuing quest to figure out which Matcha flavours are my favourite, I opted to pick up the strawberry matcha a while back but haven’t had time to do a proper review. Since I’ve managed to do a sipdown today, I figured this was as good a time as any :)
I won’t bore you with the packaging except to say that if you’re picking up matcha from Red Leaf, it’s a good idea to pick up one of their tins as well to store the matcha after you open the non re-sealable package.
The scent of this matcha is delicious and totally like natural strawberry flavouring. The first smell of this matcha when I opened up the package was amazingly delicious! I really love that the strawberry isn’t artificial.
I made a strawberry smoothie with this matcha – frozen banana; milk and matcha! The first sip of this tastes like ice cream made with real strawberries. The kind of ice cream that you pick up from a dairy or one of those mom and pop stores. It actually made me think of the little place up north that Ian and I visit when we go up to the cottage – Kuwartha Dairies. They make the most amazing ice cream and milk related product fresh! It’s soooo delicious and this matcha makes me think of their strawberry milkshakes.
I’d order this again in a heartbeat :)

My matcha was composed of the following:
Size : Small
Matcha Quality: Starter (Basic Grade)
Flavor: Dinstinctive

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

Man i am a slow poke today with my tea logging. Finally getting back to a more normal work load with more people coming in to work. I had this one again today because it’s almost out lol. Digging the strawberry to wake me up in the morning :)

mmmmmm morning matcha smoothie! Opted for something a little fruitier today to continue my quest to get my cupboard in order heh. While i really enjoy this matcha, i think i prefer the blueberry now that I’ve tried it. The flavours are a little more delicious and intense in the blueberry. The strawberry is still a yummy flavour but i’m not sure i need to keep it around on a permanent basis. I’d rather treat myself to this flavour from time to time.

mmmmm matcha morning! I didn’t have any matcha this weekend so I was in a little bit of a NEEEEEEEEEDDDDD matcha mood this morning. I opted for the strawberry to keep things light since the two teas i’m having this morning are heavier. I really like the way this works with the milk to create an almost strawberry milkshake type drink for the morning. Even better than I don’t need any sweetner to make it tasty and delicious (not that i use sweetner almost ever but still…makes me happy).

Sadly today’s smoothie didn’t turn out quite as aweesome as the first. There’s a delicate balance of getting the banana into the freezer before it gets too ripe..but ripe enough. lol today i have an over ripe banana which always DOMINATES the smoothie no matter what. Still tasty, but not as strawberry like as I wanted this morning.

Soooo i feel bad that this is my 500th! tasting note and I don’t have much time to craft it at work today. Release weekend means that we’re having a few issues this morning :( However, i have to say, if you’re a fan of strawberries this is wonderful! I made this as my smoothie this morning and it was fantastic! It was like that perfect strawberry ice cream where the strawberry taste is GENUINE! not that artificial strawberry taste you get from “neopolitian” ice cream.

I picked this up as distinctive and it is pretty much spot on for what i’d want in terms of flavouring level.

Backlogging another review on Red Leaf’s matcha – this time it’s English toffee!
My matcha was composed of the following:
Size : Small
Matcha Quality: Starter (Basic Grade)
Flavor: Distinctive
I picked this one up at the prompting of my other half, though to this day he hasn’t been willing to try ANY of my matcha. That being said, I am A-OK with that! More for me!
This isn’t one of my favourite matchas from redleaf but it’s still a decent flavoured matcha. I picked this up with distinctive flavouring, though I’m fairly certain that I’d like it better in a robust flavouring.
My problem with this matcha was that the taste didn’t say English Toffee to me. Instead it was more of a sweet, non descript kind of generic taste. I still enjoyed adding the matcha to my morning smoothies, but if I didn’t know it was English toffee I would have been hard pressed to say YES, THAT is English toffee.
What I did like about this matcha was that even added to milk, there was an overall sweetness to it that wasn’t overly cloying and still reminded me a bit of caramel/toffee. Will I order this one again? Probably not, but not because it’s a bad matcha, but because there are others that red leaf offers that are true to their taste and so wonderfully delicious!

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

Goodbye dear english toffee matcha. You have been a delight to drink in the mornings :) I would buy this again, though i don’t think it will have a permanent place in my home for the sheer sake that I’m finding myself drawn to fruit matcha in summer and more coffee/mocha type matcha in winter. English toffee is a treat that I’ll have once in a while when i want to revist an old friend.

No juice in the house so i’m kicking off today with a much needed matcha smoothie before the parents get here for fun and games all day long! I really like the sweetness of this one in smoothie form. Soooo good and just the right pop to kick off the morning before i roll into tea mode :)

Feeling a little guilty this morning drinking this instead of my 12 days of tea strawberry champagne matcha…but i’m trying to save that one for christmas day with my parents who are coming to visit.

I’m almost one this one, so I’ll need to place an order with redleaf in the new year to re-stock now that I’ve figured out which matchas i go through the quickest :) This one is creamy, sugary sweet toffee goodness…really enjoy it as a smoothie AND a latte!

Cure for a sore throat? matcha smoothie! Soo delicious and just the pick me up i need to get through the next little bit of work.

You know when you’re sick and should probably stay home to get over it but you’ve been cooped up at home all weekend and you just want to not be in the house so you go in to work anyway? Yeaaaaah… that’s me!

So I made sure to kick off my day with a bunch of tea/matcha and other delicious beverages to help me get through as much of the day as possible.

English Toffee Matcha? Yes! Sweet and satisfactorily delicious. Mostly its just really nice on my throat first thing.

Hold on folks…it’s going to be a long day! I had a screaming headache last night that nothing seemed to cure. I ended up being awake until about 4am at which point I finally passed out from being utterly exhausted. Of course that meant I was up 2 hours later to go to work. My headache’s still there, so I’m hoping i can convince it to lay low for the rest of the day. Why you might ask? Because it’s also our christmas party this evening and that’s going to make today super long!

So i figured i’d kick things off this morning with a bang! English Toffee Smoothie! Followed by a coffee smoothie (short note to come soon). I prefer to mix them in together, but figured what the hell since it’s going to be a really long day. I’m hoping i can sneak in a quick matcha latte this evening too before i have to come back downtown for the shin dig.

English Toffee match…you are sweet creamy deliciousness that makes me smile.

I am cold this morning…so very cold. It’s like i’m chilled and can’t seem to get warm…so what do i drink? A cold smoothie. yeah i know. But believe it or not it takes longer to make a hot latte and then it means i have one less travel mug full of tea to bring to work. heh Still loving this english tofee matcha, though i realised this morning I am starting to run low on a few of the matchas i “add” to my single flavours in order to spice them up. Here’s hoping it’ll give me a chance to run through some of the other flavours i have before i need to place an order. eesh!

oh. my. god.

So i made this into a smoothie with coffee matcha (2:1 Ratio) and oh.my.god is it amaaaazing. I may need to do this again!

backlogging!

In some ways i’m greatful for the excuse to try this again soon since steepster was down. I had this in latte form on the weekend and it was DELICIOUS!

OMG – this is SO good. Thank you Azzrian for sending me some of it! I love this … this is actually one that I’ll be adding to my stash at some point because I’m really loving it.

Sweet and nutty – the two elements play with one another so well, both are sweet and creamy, and they seem to accent each other in such a beautiful way. Dinosaura likened this to liquid marzipan, and I agree… it is so good, like a dessert! Loving this!

Whoa. I’m not sure what flavoring level this is, but I’d bet it’s at least robust. This is so peppermint-y that it burns my nostrils and not in a good way. Oh boy.

First sip is pure liquid peppermint with a weird aftertaste. I know it’s the matcha base trying to come through. But it kind of tastes like strong peppermint followed by earwax. Either earwax or maybe a dandelion. Not entirely pleasant either way.

I suspect it could be great if used in baking. But when it comes to drinking straight matcha, I think I’d enjoy this one more with the delicate flavoring. Thanks to Indigobloom for the sample! This isn’t my cup of tea, but other samples have definitely been winners. :)

This is my second sample from the flavored matcha sampler. It’s delicate flavoring with the classic base. The dry leaf aroma is as I remember Cheesecake Matcha to be. That’s a good sign. The flavor is definitely light but it is spot on cheesecake. Thank goodness! I’m so glad this is better than the Strawberry Matcha sample. I guess there’s still hope for this sampler after all.

I definitely recommend getting a higher flavoring level than delicate though. This is mostly matcha with a touch of cheesecake. The powder seems to have blended better with the water this time too. I can absolutely enjoy the rest of this sample, but I really prefer stronger flavorings in my matcha. If you’re looking for a good flavored matcha to try out, this one is a safe bet. I can confidently recommend it.

I’m really enjoying this one today. Creamy cheesecake in matcha form. Tangy and delicious! This one is a keeper and almost better than the real thing. :)

First, I made this with only hot water. Then I tried my first ever cold matcha latte with skim milk! It wasn’t bad! But I do think I prefer matcha with just hot water. It’s less calories that way too. ;)

This is one matcha that I inhaled long, slow, deep breaths of the dry aroma. It smells very interesting. Definitely good, but hard to describe. Creamy, sugary, buttery? I think that’s the aroma. It’s hard to be sure because it also smells like matcha. LOL!

At first, the brewed aroma was awful! It was potent and chemically and made me say, “Oh dear!” But I think that happened because I made it concentrated and then diluted it. Once diluted, it smells more like the dry aroma with a nice matcha grassy undertone.

First sip…and the verdict is……delicious!! YUM!! This stuff is sooo good!! Just make sure you get the right water to leaf ratio and then you’re golden! Mmmm, this is uber delicious. I can’t even think of any other descriptive words. I just want to drink more of it! Oh, and I forgot to mention that this is the basic grade matcha with robust flavoring.

No clumps in this one. I did a better job. ;) Awww, but my cup is empty. :( I’ll just have to go make more samples to appease my newfound love of flavored matcha. Thanks so much to Indigobloom for rocking my world!! This is definitely one I’ll buy!

This is a sample of the old formula cherry matcha from Indigobloom. Thanks!! The dry aroma is recognizably and undeniably cherry. This one froths up really nicely! Super frothy!! Seriously, it’s significantly frothier than any of the other matcha samples I’ve tried. Of course, I did use my milk frother for ease and speed, but still. It’s been at least 5 minutes and there’s still a substantial layer of froth sitting on top. Yum!

The taste is fantastic too! Just like the aroma, it tastes cleanly of matcha and cherries. Now this cherry taste is not like cherry cough syrup (thank goodness!). It’s kind of like cherry candies because it smells very sugary and sweet. Come to think of it, this is akin to cherry Skittles. But the matcha’s innate bitterness calms down the sugar so that this cup is neither sugary nor bitter. It’s a perfect mix of sweet and smooth and tasty!

I really like this one a lot! I’m surprised that they decided to re-make their cherry flavor. This formula seems fine to me! Better than fine really. It’s great! (Thus the overuse of exclamation points in this tasting note). ;) Oof, there was a big clump at the bottom. Dang. I’ll have to be more careful next time. I’m sure using a sifter would have prevented that.

Overall, I’m really pleased with the flavor. It’s not as overtly scrumptious as say the caramel matcha, but it’s still delicious nonetheless. I’d recommend this one to people who prefer savory over sugary. I’m definitely the latter. So while this was an excellent sample, I’m not sure if I’ll purchase it for myself. Thanks again to Indigobloom!!!

I had to add this thing but I know I’m not the only one of you nerds who tried it so maybe I don’t actually know what it’s called. Once again, don’t add more than a half teaspoon per 8oz of milk or it gets bitter. I add a half teaspoon of sugar. It’s lightly chocolatey. If you added cocoa mix to it you’d never know it was there. Good stuff. Not as good as the pumpkin pie spice one but what is?