Matcha Outlet

The trick to this matcha is do not. Do not. Add more than a half teaspoon per 8oz of milk. And a little extra sugar won’t hurt it. It’s creamy and a tad spicy in the right amounts, but go a hair over and it tastes like Pine-Sol.

I am sipping a hot pumpkin pie matcha latte while sitting alone at the kitchen table after a looong work day. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and my Mom has gone to the US to visit my brother and uncles, aunts, and Grandma for Thanksgiving… I wish I could be there celebrating! My Mom always makes a great Thanksgiving dinner even though we are in Ecuador and invites all of the Ecuadorian family over to celebrate. Now, I really miss having all the love and delicious food around. Thankfully, I have a wonderful boyfriend and friends who have organized a dinner on Friday to make up for it. Still, I miss my family and wish they were here!!!

I am going to take advantage of this quite moment with my tea and dog to make a Thanksgiving Pumpkin pie matcha toast to my Steepster family! I am very thankful to have all of you around! It is great to have so many amazing people to share something I love with! To be able to ramble about tea related thoughts that I know only you guys would understand, also to ramble about unrelated stuff (happy and sad!) and to get feedback and caring from all of you! I am thankful to be part of this wonderful group and hope that it is long lived and that we will enjoy tea and rambling a for many years to come!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! :)

Thanksgiving is coming! :) Even though I am in Ecuador, my Mom is American and we have grown up loving and celebrating Thanksgiving as the beginning of the holiday season. I love everything about it! The food (except the turkey… Being vegetarian, I miss out on that bit of it!) and especially the Pumpkin Pie!!! My mom makes it fresh since here in Ecuador there is no way to buy canned pumpkin! So, pumpkin matcha!?! From Red Leaf Tea? An absolute must have! I bought it and saved it for a moment when I felt Thanksgiving was near enough! The time has come! Now, for the tea review…

I opened the golden package (yes, it is really golden! :) ) and was flooded with pumpkin pie spices! It smelled deliciously festive! There is something about cinnamon and nutmeg that immediately kick starts me into the Holidays. This was just right!

I drink my matcha unsweetened and without milk. So that is how this one got prepared. I drank half a cup of it and realized that this tea needed to be drunk sweetened and as a latte. Imagine unsweetened pumpkin pie… not really something that sounds delicious. So I added milk and sweetener and I got a perfect matcha pumpkin pie latte! It really tasted like liquid pumpkin pie with a bit of green tea flavor added for extra tastiness! It is absolutely delicious! Super tasty! I love how rich and creamy it is, even though I added skim milk.

So, to sum it up, if you want a pumpkin pie tea that will make the best latte ever, this is most definitely it! If you like Pumpkin Pie, you need to try this matcha. You can find it here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/pumpkin-pie-matcha.html .

I love pistachios. Maybe a little too much. They are easily my favorite nut and I have to be really careful when I buy a bag of them because they can get be gone before I know it. Luckily they are pricey, so that helps keep things down. Also, I’m a fan of the raw shelled pistachios, so those are even harder to find.

So, when I saw this flavor of matcha, I was excited to try it. How would it compare to pistachios themselves? I got this with Robust level of flavoring and prepared this in a water bottle with chilled water. I used 1/2 teaspoon of matcha to 16 oz. of water.

This matcha has a very interesting taste, but I don’t know if it’s really true to the pistachio flavor. I think, as another reviewer mentioned, it’s more like pistachio flavoring in ice cream and what not. I’m not really getting the true-to-nut taste that I was hoping for. It’s not a bad tasting matcha, but it won’t satisfy my cravings for pistachio.

I gave my boyfriend a blind taste test and asked him what it tasted like. At first he didn’t what to say, but then he said “it’s kind of got a spice to it.” There’s definitely some spice in there as well. I’m just hesitant to recommend this to a pistachio lover like myself because the flavor just isn’t there like I was hoping. I think people who like pistachio flavored things (which I rarely have) will be more satisfied.

You can buy the matcha here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/pistachio-matcha.html

Believe it or not… I had not had this until today!
Wow – I am surprised at just how good this is!
One reason chocolate was never something I wanted to order is because well – its chocolate – and I am such a chocolate snob I didn’t want to be disappointed, I mean also if I want chocolate (when don’t I?) I figured I would just have chocolate – not chocolate matcha BUT …
This has such a really great chocolate flavor … and this is not even robust or distinctive flavor! I mean I can only imagine how crazy good this would be in a stronger flavor – or perhaps being more delicate is why it is so good – Whatever – its awesome!
I can’t even get my mind around it right now its so yummy!
Whatever preconceived notions I had before are gone.

Hmm, this one is not as expected. The dry aroma is spot on Oreos. But the taste doesn’t translate. I had plenty of matcha in my sample, so I know it’s not a leaf to water ratio thing. Can you describe matcha as having leaves since it’s powdered?

Maybe Oreos and matcha just aren’t a good mix. Oh man, but now I really want Oreos. So far, caramel matcha is the clear winner in the matcha taste test. More to come later! Thanks for the sample, Indigobloom!!!

I’ve tried this particular sample three times before writing this note. I bought Red Leaf Tea’s new flavored matcha sampler. In total, I bought 12 teas for $25. This was the first one I tried because I’ve had it before and I loved it back then! That time it was robust flavoring with the classic base. Apparently, the entire sampler is made with delicate flavoring on the classic base. That flavoring level really makes a big difference.

I thought the dry leaf aroma was recognizably strawberry. But the brewed tea aroma was a little gross. Sadly, the first time I tried this sample, it was a bitter yucky mess. I prepared it with 175 degree water in my Nespresso Aeroccino. I waited a few weeks and then prepared it this way again. It was much better the second time so I must have done a better job at getting the right water ratio. However, it still just wasn’t quite right. There’s barely any strawberry flavoring to this at all, which is a huge disappointment. It tastes like the matcha powder isn’t dissolving in the water. So I’m drinking warm water with powder floating around in it. Yuck. I even put it through the Aeroccino twice so it was definitely whisked enough, and that’s the way I’ve prepared it in the past when I did like it and drank matcha frequently.

The third and final time, I decided to try out Red Leaf’s recommended cold latte. I still used the Aeroccino and I didn’t add ice. I also did start with warm water to get a paste going since the matcha dissolving in cold milk could be a problem. It frothed up huge this time, but I actually find the matcha foam off-putting. Drinking the cold strawberry matcha latte is weird. I can taste the matcha about the same as I could in the warm water. There’s no additional strawberry flavoring making itself known. Now there’s just the added flavor of skim milk.

Honestly, I am not a fan. I don’t know if it’s purely to blame on the flavoring level or what. I guess time will tell on that front because I have A LOT more samples to go through. So far, I’m really disappointed though. I spent a lot of money on this sampler and I could have just gotten a couple 30g packages at robust flavoring that I would have actually enjoyed. I think this sampler was a mistake. I’m leaving the rating unchanged from a few years ago, but I cannot recommend this sampler or flavoring level. I would probably rate this a 27.

ETA: I take back my negative review of the flavored matcha sampler. This particular matcha appears to be an outlier. The others I’ve tried are delicious.

Holy cow! Strawberry matcha is incredible! The aroma alone is intoxicating. But that taste! Ooooh, that taste!!! I want to bathe in this stuff! FYI: Milk frothers make great matcha. Verry smooth. No grit. Thank you soooo much to Indigobloom for sharing with me! I enjoyed this so much that I’m off to make another matcha sample!

Sipdown, 127. Lala’s notes on this reminded me that this has been languishing in my freezer ever since that first fateful time. I finally got around to trying it again.

I think it’s funny that there are very polar review on here. I LOVE bergamot, and usually cannot get enough of it, but at least at the robust flavoring level, this is nasty. I could hardly bring myself to take a sip. It still smells, and tastes, like cleaning solution. Bleh. No thanks.

I am a huge Earl Grey fan, but I’m also a pretty picky Earl Grey fan. I went back and forth for a while on whether I would order the Earl Grey matcha; on one hand, how could I not? But on the other I am happy with regular Earl Greys, so why do I need a matcha one? In the end, obviously, the former one out, and I ordered the matcha with the classic (basic) grade, with robust flavoring, from here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/earl-grey-matcha.html

Upon opening the package, my first thought was holy moley, that’s strong. Like, cleaning solution strong. And it preparation it remains strong, and not in a good way. This bergamot is pungent and floral to the point of bitterness. This is bitterness not in the matcha, but from the sheer amount of bergamot in the cup. After a bit I added some sugar to try to dampen it a bit, and it did work a little, but as it cools it is coming back with a vengance.

I would not recommend ordering this one at the robust flavoring level, even if you loooove bergamot as I do. I will see how this does in a latte, and I will be definitely mixing it with a variety of other matchas to try to tame it. A biiiit to much for me.

SIPDOWN!

Oh yeah! such a good thing too since last night i received my small order from Stacy as well as tea samples from a friend of mine. Included in that delicious and wonderful packages of amazginess was my custom blend from Stacy. Coming soon to a store near you :)

I decided to celebrate by finishing off a couple of teas this morning since i now have 120 servings of my tea LOL. Not to mention Red Leaf is temping us all with the possibility of GC’s paying for 50% of an order for new reviews…so i need room in my cupboard!

Apparently i’m in full on sipdown mode. This should be finished up this week of if i get a few more smoothies in with it, so i’m going for it. I’m starting to hit the wall of flavours i’m not crazy about so i’ll need to figure out what my plan is for them over the weekend lol. I have declisious wonderful flavours waiting to be opened so I need to get cracking on sipping the others down.

This morning i added a bit of white chocolate matcha to this one and that also helped to soften the taste of this one that i find a bit harsh. Overall i’m just happy to be starting my day with matcha smoothies again! :)

Morning Smoothie! oh how i’ve missed you :) Made one of these this morning for my first actual day back to work. It’s nice to have access to my matcha stores, though i’m feeling a little guilty because my pregnant friend just passed on all her tea to me and in it are 10 cans of matcha. That I now have to drink because she won’t be able too lol. So I WAS making progress with my matcha sipdowns so that I could place another redleaf order but now i’m back to having too much to get through haha

I still really enjoy this one, but only with the addition of a bit of french vanilla matcha to smooth out the flavours.

mmm yeah that’s right, I’m having this two days in a row! Now that I’ve found that sweet spot with milk, french vanilla matcha and this matcha i could drink this all day. It’s still not tastier than some of my other combinations but in a pinch this would be another of me go too matcha smoothies.

Oh man…so i initially wasn’t totally crazy about this matcha, but I appear to have found my sweet spot. A 2:1 ratio of pumpkin pie to french vanilla matcha and I am laughing all the way to crazy town. Seriously! The vanilla makes the pumpkin just a little sweeter and adds a creaminess that when combined with the spices is A-MAY-ZING! Love it! Bumping the rating a little even though it’s the combo with french vanilla to make it supercalafragilistically wonderful!

So i think I’ve finally figured this one out. I made this as a smoothie this morning with a bit of cheesecake matcha to smooth out the taste. What i neded up with what a great tasting matcha pumpkin spice smoothie. I’m not getting “pie” from this, but i’m happy with just the pumpkin spice flavour. Not my favourite from Red Leaf but still a pretty enjoyable cup, esp if you like pumpkin flavoured things.

My matcha order was the following:
Size : Small
Matcha Quality: Starter (Basic Grade)
Flavor: Robust

After having to see Helena’s posts about pumpkin pie matcha for the past few months? Weeks? I finally got the chance to order some of my own to try. Since it’s only recently that I started drinking pumpkin anything drinks, I opted to go with hot, since I’m not sure cold will do the trick for me.
As always, I brewed this up into a warm latte. Let me tell you friends, this did NOT disappoint! It’s pumpkin, it’s spicey…. there’s a richness to this that brings out the pumpkin and cinnamon flavours. I don’t get much in terms of the pastry side of “pumpkin pie” but i usually have trouble with that aspect of tea and drinks.
I don’t think I’d drink this straight but as a latte, the creaminess of the milk helps offset the spices. If you don’t like cloves though, stay away from this one! The robust flavouring in this one works well with the added milk since the flavour isn’t lost either.
Mmmmm a replacement for those starbucks pumpkin spice lattes for sure! This matcha is so much better :) I will be forcing my better half to try this soon. I know he’ll love it!
Buy it here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/pumpkin-pie-matcha.html

I will do a much better review of this tomorrow but I just had to say, this is damn tasty! Popped open the package and made this right after getting home from being out at Costco and coming home on the bus in the cold rain. Delicious!

mmmm morning smoothie today. Glad to be back and in business with matcha! I’ve got too much in my cupboard and I’m already looking for my next order in April haha

Morning Matcha smoothie!

I’m having a tough time trying to decide if i should place another red leaf order to get 50% off GC so that i can place a second order with that 50% off. The problem is, i have a few unopened packages of my favourites sitting in the cupboard waiting for me to get through a few of my less enjoyed matchas (chai, pear, raspberry truffle i’m looking at you). Decisions, decisions…especially since there are so many other flavours i still want to try from red leaf!

This one is a delicious fruity matcha, though not likely one i need to restock. I’m happy it’s in my cupboard and I will enjoy it for the next few smoothies i make but that will be it. :)

Morning smoothie! Having a bit of a rough time this morning but this is starting to do the trick. there’s a bit of a bitter/tart taste at the end of my sip so it’s possible that I put in a bit much of the matcha this morning. It could use a little sweetner. Otherwise still an enjoyable smoothie this morning so far :)

TADA! Betcha thought this was going to be strawberry…or blueberry but it’s not. I picked this up a while ago and haven’t gone back to revisit it. I still really enjoy it. I love the berry taste. It’s been a long time since i’ve had boysenberries but this matcha reminds me of the memory of having them. All in all, a nice tasty matcha morning kick off!

My matcha order was the following:
Size : Small
Matcha Quality: Starter (Basic Grade)
Flavor: Distinctive

So it’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to try a new matcha flavour. In part because it took forever to get here but also because i’ve been seriously busy AND have been trying to drink the other things that I have.
I blended this up with a little milk and ice and i have to say that this is a great matcha! I think that given a choice between ordering this and the berry again, I’ll stick to this one. It’s got a light berry taste but it is without hesitation “boysenberry.” Now admittedly I haven’t had fresh boysenberries in a while, but this tastes like the boysenberries i remember. I drink all my matcha without sugar – sweet comes from the banana i add if i go that route. This matcha though…makes me feel like if i added just a touch of sweetner to is, my mouth would explode from the fruit juiciness. This is a winner in my books!
I’m glad that I chose the distinctive flavouring, though unlike the pear i think that this one could go up to the robust flavouring without coming across as artificial. This might actually be a matcha that I could drink straight – i’ll have to try that sometime 
Buy it here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/boysenberry-matcha.html

Yay! I found my tin of pumpkin pie matcha when I was reconfiguring my cupboard!

Since I like these as a cold latte I had it as a dessert last night. I don’t really think I got much more than pumpkin pie spice and green tea flavor but that was more than enough for me.

Once I clear out my matchas I will definitely be placing a bulk Red Leaf order – these matcha lattes are going to be PERFEECT for desserts in the summer.