Matcha Outlet

The smell from the envelope is intoxicating Cinnamon, ginger, cloves and other chai spices are perfectly blended in the most amazing ratio. I can’t get enough of this matcha. I just got my order and already I am planning what my next BIG order will be and for sure a BIG pouch of Chai Matcha will be in my shopping cart! But, don’t just take my word for how delicious this one is, head on over to Red Leaf Tea and pick up your own pouch. One piece of advice, the delicate flavoring is perfection and just go ahead and buy the large pouch…30g will not be enough: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/chai-matcha.html
As I sat at a high school football game last night, all I could think about was how delicious this matcha was…you see I had a quick cup before going to the game. And the minute I got home, I was preparing yet another cup. And then again this morning, I just had to have that Chai Matcha. It is the spices that have me on a binge. The ratio is spot on and I just ordered the delicate flavor level. Plenty of spice for me and did I mention the cinnamon, yes it has the most amazing cinnamon flavoring I have ever tasted in a tea. This one earns a permanent place in my tea cupboard that is quickly being taken over by some pretty decadent matchas from the Red Leaf Tea company.

Well, I’m flailing about this morning.
This week I need to clean the house for thanksgiving guests. I also have to work on an Oolong Owl Special this week. And what happens?

I wake up, check my email and see MEGA YARN SALE AT KNITPICKS! So I spent hours going through yarn and loading my cart. I now have enough yarn to make like 25 owls and like half a dozen mittens and hats. Too bad there was no lace yarn I liked on sale. I didn’t even eat breakfast. Sigh, so I’m set back a couple hours today.

So, I had this matcha, made latte hot, with a couple cookies for breakfast. White chocolate comes out creamy, but I think this matcha pairs better mixed with another flavor for added creamyness.

A selling point for teas for me is having white chocolate in it. I find white chocolate adds a nice sweetness and creamyness to teas. However, most often it doesn’t ring much in the chocolate department. Super pumped to see Red Leaf Tea came out with a white chocolate matcha! Let’s see how their chocolate flavoring works out

Specs on the matcha I’m drinking today:

White Chocolate Matcha
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/white-chocolate-matcha.html
Matcha Quality: Classic (Basic Grade)
Flavor: Distinctive

When I opened the bag, swirls of sweet chocolate smells came forth! I’m trying to remember if white chocolate smells differently than milk chocolate, but this matcha just smells simply “milk chocolate”.

Prepared as a traditional cup of matcha (1/4tsp plus 175f water, whisked), I get a nice creamy cup of matcha. The green tea taste come first – earthy and sweet with no bitterness, then a creamy mouth smoothness coats my mouth and lingers for a few seconds after my sip. I don’t get much chocolate taste, but the creamyness is nice. This matcha is great prepared traditionally, a new twist to the regular matcha with the flavoring being more a creamy sensation.

As an iced latte (getting so tired of this warm weather here in California) this matcha tastes green tea flavor equal to the added flavoring. I made this iced latte with fat free soy milk, but it tastes so creamy that I could be mistaken for full fat soy milk. I’m getting a white chocolate taste on some sips, other sips it simply tastes super creamy.

Overall, I prefer this matcha made traditionally, the only one out of all the Red Leaf Matchas I’ve tried, which I all liked as lattes. Maybe others would get more luck with stronger chocolate flavor with the Robust setting, but as Distinctive it’s not that chocolatey and tastes like the usual creamyness in teas with white chocolate.
I’m thinking this white chocolate matcha would be great mixed in with other flavors. I’m thinking White chocolate strawberry – for a creamy berry taste!

Wow well I am surprised.
Honestly.
I sort of held off reviewing this one as I thought for sure I would have to mix it with something like orange matcha for Mimosa or peach for a sweeter champagne flavor.
I love champagne so I don’t know why but I just expected this to be off somehow.
I should never have doubted Red Leaf Tea!!

This is extremely accurate to a good champagne flavor!

I mixed mine with a little warm water then added cold sparkling water for that champagne bubbly taste!

PERFECTION!

I tried it both with and without german rock sugar.

I liked it both ways!

This is going to be so much fun to mix with other flavors!

I will still do my mimosa as well as trying it with peach but the options are limitless!

I can’t believe I waited so long for this one and the other rating posted is a 100 as well so how can you go wrong unless you just hate champagne!

I can’t drink anymore due to health reasons and well I probably never should have been drinking to begin with but that is another story.

Oh and if you want your own go here:
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/champagne-matcha.html

Mine was order in basic grade matcha with robust flavoring! I always go Robust unless it is a citrus flavor then I go distinctive.

It’s pumpkin. It has to be good. Alone, sort of shot-style, it’s spicy, not like hot-spicy but like pumpkin spice spice-y. I stir it into hot milk and then it’s creamy and pumpkin-y. Overall it’s hella better than green tea and hella healthier if what they’re telling me is true. Absolutely rivals the pumpkin spice latte in my opinion due to the fact that it is creamier, lower calorie, and much healthier. I’ve tried two of the other matchas (the berry and the caramel) and this one is better than both to me, however I am a sucker for pumpkin and just finished a big container of roasted salted pepitas from Lowes Foods in three days. When I make it, I pour about a quarter cup of milk into a mug and heat it in the microwave for about twenty seconds, and then whisk a half teaspoon of the matcha powder into it with a fork. Then I fill the mug the rest of the way up with milk and add about a half teaspoon of sugar (naughty, I know, considering plain green adds no calories or sugar to my diet) and then heat it up. It’s very warm and cozy but different from a cocoa and healthier than cocoa, which is a good switch for me because I really go for my cocoa in the wintertime.

Here’s the stuff. It’s worth a shot. At the worst you get some hot rich anti-oxidants. But it’s really good. It’s pumpkin, how could it be bad.

http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/pumpkin-pie-matcha.html

Sip down!

I have so much matcha, I was in disbelief that this was the last of the tin. This and the blueberry matcha is the only ones my husband will drink. Maybe the Acai one, but that one is MINE! He really dislikes the taste of tea, but I can hide flavored matchas in smoothies for him.

Anyways, it is one of those rare mornings I woke up before my husband as my sleeping has been off lately. He is always really tired in the morning, more than anyone else I know, and doesn’t drink much in caffeine. So, I made him a strawberry matcha smoothie with husband appealing ingredients: Whole Milk (eww), whey, frozen strawberries and strawberry matcha hidden in there. Of course, his giant bucket of protein powder is place on the highest spot in the kitchen where only tall men of my house can reach. Bleh!

I think I’ll see if I can sip down some more matchas, maybe put an order in for that coconut matcha I’m eyeing.. nooo I’m on no buy!

(see previous notes for full review)

uh oh! I can see the bottom of the tin now!

I made this matcha as a breakfast drink – so soy milk, some ice cream, frozen strawberries, soy protein powder and matcha. yum!

I feel like having adventures today, a sunny saturday in Long Beach! Hmmmm.

I love strawberries (though I love blueberries more) – the strawberries back home in Canada were petite and full flavor – all the strawberries packaged from California were kinda large and bland. Now that I live in California, the strawberries are GIANTIC and full of flavor! I procrastinated on getting this matcha.. just strawberry? I like wild matchas like Eggnog and Pistachio! But really, strawberry matcha seems like a mandatory flavor to try (and add to my cheesecake matcha).

Specs on the matcha I’m drinking:

Strawberry Matcha
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/strawberry-matcha.html
Matcha Quality: Classic Basic Grade
Flavor: Distinctive

Out of the gold foil package, the matcha smells like juicy strawberry, like smelling strawberry fruit leather or a strawberry flavored candy.

Prepared as a traditional cup of hot matcha, 1/4tsp of sifted strawberry matcha whisked in some 175f filtered hot water, the green tea comes out as deliciously earthy with no bitterness. The strawberry is bright and present, adding a hint of sweetness. The taste combined almost reminds me on when I eat strawberries too fast and I accidentally eat the stem or a leaf, which happens often haha!

Now my favorite part, making this matcha into an iced strawberry soy latte! I did about ¾ or 2/3 cup of light soy milk (ran out of milk), bit of sweetener, 1/4tsp of matcha and whisked it. The result: very tasty strawberry balanced with the taste of matcha. Even better than strawberry soy milk as it tastes just like strawberry candy. An amazing treat for under 90 calories!

Overall, very delicious if you are into the strawberry candy flavor. As a traditional cup it is pretty good, but even better as a latte. I suggest not to pass this one up.

EDIT: tried this straight iced, a tumbler of water with 1/4tsp of this matcha = really good! The strawberry is bright and barely sweet.

Now that I’ve tried a couple Delicate, Distinctive and Robust matchas – delicate is like the flavoring is really like a hint of flavor. Distinctive the flavoring seems 50/50 60/40. Robust is pretty strong flavoring, and depending on what you are getting (IE: eggnog, pumpkin pie) the matcha is barely there. I’m guessing fruity matchas are best at Distinctive or lower – my raspberry matcha at Robust seemed pretty over the top strong.

I am having some of this Matcha at the moment … in English Toffee form! AlphaKitty added some English Toffee as an extra gift in her 12 Days of Christmas swap package. I’m finishing off the last of the tea that she sent, and decided I needed to talk about this amazing English Toffee. OH MY GOODNESS it is so good.

It is crunchy, sweet and buttery. And I love the taste that the Gingerbread Matcha contributes to this. It is ginger-y, of course, slightly spicy, and it gives a nice contrast to the sweetness of the toffee.

Really, my only complaint about this is that it is now all gone. It was so yummy! Thank you so much AlphaKitty … I think you and I should set up a permanent swap schedule. I will send you a box of tea samplers every month if you send me some yummy toffee every month. :)

I decided to try something a little different today so I sifted some Matcha over my plain, unflavored yogurt and stirred it up until incorporated. It’s pretty tasty this way, although, I think it would be better with either unflavored Matcha or a different flavor of Matcha. I don’t know why I chose the gingerbread, except that it was the first one that I grabbed out of my stash of Matcha. It’s good, but, I prefer the gingerbread prepared as a latte, I think!

Mmm! My first couple of sips, I wasn’t completely sold on this, but, I decided to try it with a splash of milk to go latte with this, and that made all the difference in the world.

Without the milk, I didn’t taste much of the bake-y cookie/cake/bread-y kind of taste I was looking for to distinguish this as a gingerbread Matcha rather than just a spiced Matcha … but the milk helps bring out that bready/cookie kind of taste that I wanted.

The spices are strong, making this a bit more like a gingersnap than what I’d expect from gingerbread. But that’s OK, generally speaking, I’d rather eat gingersnaps than gingerbread because most gingerbread tends to be more of a sweeter, cake-ier kind of treat with a muted ginger flavor. When I eat ginger cookies or gingerbread … I WANT ginger! (The best ginger cookie I’ve ever had, in case you’re curious, are these Ginger Snapdragons from Liz Lovely: http://hungryinportland.com/2011/04/26/ginger-snapdragons-from-liz-lovely/ … oh yeah, and they’re VEGAN! Hey, TeaEqualsBliss did you see that?)

Anyway… back to the bowl of Matcha that sits in front of me. If you have this Matcha, I recommend trying it latte if you haven’t already. It takes it from yum to SUPER-DUPER-YUMMER-ISTIC! And if you haven’t yet taken the plunge and bought this Matcha, you can do so here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/gingerbread-matcha.html By the way: what are you waiting for? The holidays? They’re just around the corner! Imagine adding some of this Matcha powder to your favorite ginger cookie recipe – that would be AH-mazing!

This has a strong ginger flavor, but, it’s not a super-spicy ginger, it’s warm, but also sweet. There is a brown-sugar sweetness to this in the background, sort of molasses-y, just like in real gingerbread. There is also notes of cinnamon that meld delectably with the ginger to create a very warm and festive flavor that is very holidays-y-ish to me.

And the matcha is not overwhelmed here, it adds a very pleasing, smooth, creamy taste to the cup (err… bowl) that is not overwhelmingly vegetative … it’s more buttery than anything and I think that this buttery, slightly vegetative taste really lends itself well to the bakey-cakey kind of taste of the overall flavor.

I ordered this using my go-to specifications: basic/classic Matcha with distinctive level of flavoring. And I don’t think I’d change a thing with these specs … although I am curious about how this might taste with a black Matcha base as well as a higher grade of Matcha. But as it is, I really like this a lot. Very comforting and yet invigorating at the same time.

Okay, I finally got the recipe up!
So this is the recipe I tried for my first attempt at Zombie Gingerbread Men – of course ALL credit goes to aisling of tea for this incredible idea! You rock my world, gal pal ;)

http://www.daisychubb.com/recipe-zombie-gingerbread-men-matcha-ginger/

The ginger flavour was very prominent, and I did sprinkle them with some Madagascar vanilla matcha, which I think remains my favourite matcha to bake with.

I made some cookies today with this one!
I didn’t think they were that good, but the people I brought them for loved them! I’ll put a “recipe” up on the blog soon – at least they were fun to play with!

Ah gingerbread. Is there anything more comforting than a chewy ginger cookie around the holidays? Well yes, probably (haha realism!) but that is definitely one of my favourite things! My simple pleasure. One of my other simple pleasures is a perfectly golden brown grilled cheese! Hmm all of my simple pleasures soon to revolve around food… I digress!

Simple pleasures in matcha form! Way quicker than to bake a cookies, cheaper than buying a batch, and I can drink it! YES! I am very pleased with this matcha. : )

The first time I tried it was shaken in a waterbottle! This was not the way to go haha. It tasted like ginger water – definitely tasted like it was good for me! Just not too palatable.

Whisking it up hot with a pinch of brown sugar is definitely the way to go! Holy moley that’s good! Sweet and gingery (VERYgingery) with the depth of molasses. I tamed the ginger with a splash of cream and was more than happy with the result.

This is another of many amazing offerings from Red Leaf tea! (http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/gingerbread-matcha.html) Unique and delicious flavours! I will definitely take my cue from aisling of tea and bake up a batch of green zombie gingerbread men this Halloween! Thanks for the awesome idea – I might even have to make some zombie santas for Christmas too ; )

Trying this first as an iced tea in my water bottle today – wasn’t the best choice I must admit. haha!
Kind of a strange ginger water. I’m sure it’ll ward off sickness though!

Next try will be a nice creamy latte and all will be well :)

Mint mint mint! This is my review of how to love mint matcha!
First of all – they’re both green! That helps with that feeling of “I’m drinking a strawberry flavoured drink but it’s green instead of red! Ow my brain!”

It freshens your breath! Don’t do what I do and make your matcha way too strong – otherwise associations of swallowing mouth wash come to mind. Oops!

It’s classy! Think of crème de menthe. Okay crème de menthe way be a little old fashioned, but it still hits the spot when you sip from crystal glasses. Drink this matcha from a crystal bowl! Now you’re fancy too!

It’s great for cookies! Peppermint shortbread is one of my favourite Christmas cookie flavours. Nobody will blink at a red and green cookie – so go for it!

It’s a perfect mixer! I know this is a strange and unorthodox review, but this is finally the part when I drink the matcha and love it! Chocolate mint my friends. I mixed a healthy dose (1/2 tsp) of Belgium Chocolate matcha with a small amount (1/4 tsp) of mint matcha! The mint is quite strong, but after experimenting I’ve found this to be my favourite mix. For an extra treat I add the matcha right into warm milk and froth it up!

It is delish and reminds me of an After Eight hot chocolate. If that’s not a treat, I don’t know what is!

Here’s where you can pick up some minty goodness, but be careful, it’s STRONG! (http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/mint-matcha.html)

Alriiiight I am so glad I decided to get this one now! (http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/eggnog-matcha.html) I definitely debated as to whether I should drink it before Christmas. My curiosity got the better of me and I had to open it when it arrived. Oh! The smell is creeeeamy. It reminds me a lot of Bavarian Cream matcha but with a hint of allspice.

I whipped it up and added a bit of sugar. Eggnog as a beverage is usually thick and creamy and coats your throat! I routinely cut mine with milk to make it a little more thin. This technique also makes the Eggnog last longer! The taste of the matcha reminds me a lot of my “milked” down version – the texture as well!

For my next cup I upped the creamy ante and added cold milk (I’m not a hot Eggnog drinker, always has to be cold!). This helped a lot with the eggnog taste! It was sweet and just a tad of allspice was present. I’ll admit the taste does remind me more of the Bavarian Cream than Eggnog – but that is not a problem in this household!

All in all it’s a very tasty matcha – does leave a bit to be desired when it comes to associating with the name, but the amazing flavour certainly makes it worth it. Once I get some spiced rum, it’ll be splashed in with vigor!

Had a huge creamy latte with this today!
SO tasty, but I have to agree with some of those notes that it isn’t quite "eggnog"y enough for my taste buds to make that association, but still tasty. Full review to come!

Tis the season for pumpkin pie! And hey, happy Thanksgiving fellow Canadians! I am thankful for this matcha.

So frothed up on its own (no additions) it was quite spicy. Well, not spicy hot but tasted a lot like spices! The pumpkin was definitely in the smell though, so I knew it was a pumpkin tea and not just a spice tea! I did spring for Robust flavouring which might have been the result of the spices.

Of course, what’s a pumpkin pie matcha without a latte? This is where the tea did SHINE! I frothed up the matcha with a bit of brown sugar then added about ¼ cup warm water. I then heated up the rest of my Vanilla Almond milk, added it and topped the cup with a healthy helping of whipped cream – oh mama! The brown sugar brought out the sweet pumpkin flavour – I could even taste a bit of crust! I love when that happens.

To be honest, this isn’t my perfect Pumpkin Pie Matcha – I find the clove to be very overpowering, which I don’t mind, but I could use more pumpkin in my perfect flavouring. That’s just me though, everyone is different!

I definitely recommend this tea as a hot latte on a crisp fall day in your cutest flannel and plaid scarf. You can add in some friends to share, or be like me and keep it all to yourself.
Either way, here’s where you can find it: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/pumpkin-pie-matcha.html

So when I think of cotton candy I think of those little fairs that they have in malls during the summer. So when I saw this I had and AWE I miss being a kid moment. And knew I needed to try this as it would bring back a food memory.

So I was a little hesitant at first to try this cause when you think cotton candy you think pure sweetness and sugar overload. Not so much as sugar and earthiness from the matcha. So I wasn’t quite sure if this was going to work out okay. But alot of people have said in reviews its a good combo, so well heck I gotta try it.

So what I got was Size: Small (30 grams), Quality: Basic Grade, Flavor: Delicate. I’m going to have try this in robust flavoring to see the difference. So first attempt at drinking it I made it into a Iced latte. Yum definitely the right choice, I had to add a touch of sweetener cause I’m a sugarhollic and need everything sweet. I’m actually really surprised how the sweetness works with the matcha. Red Leaf you’ve done it again! Blown my mind, even when you think oh no that’s not going to work at all it does. You can taste the matcha which I like but its got this sweet, soft, creaminess to it, that reminds you of cotton candy. And its not too sweet where you feel after you drink it your going to go into sugar shock. If I closed me eyes and drank this I wouldnt be like OH! this is cotton candy matcha. Its got a sweetness to it but I also got it in delicate flavoring, I bet in robust flavoring you’d know it was cotton candy :) l This is where I got it http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/cotton-candy-matcha.html

I think this would make an amazing matcha ice cream. Oh no I see a cooking adventure in the near future with this. Cotton Candy Matcha Ice Cream sounds perfect!

I started doing a cleansing diet, so no tea for me except green tea. So I mad this into a smoothies yesterday with frozen peaches and strawberry’s. GAH! its was amazing!!! I usually make my matcha with milk but smoothies are the way to go! So delicious!

Oh sweet heavenly goodness! This matcha makes me laugh. I bet I sound like a crazy person now so I will explain why it makes me laugh. When I was told I had a gluten allergie it sucked big time, alot of food has gluten in it. So for my birthday all I wanted was a gluten free cheesecake. So me and my friends went on this huge adventure around town to find a gluten free cheesecake for me. So we found this little bakery online that sold glutenfree cheesecake I was so excited and happy. So we went to find this place, we got lost 3 times bused all around town, walked in circles for i don’t know how long, then it started to rain. We almost gave up but we finally found it in this little hidden strip mall. So we all ran into the store and there it was, so we asked for one which they had in the back and got it all packed up ( everything gluten free seems to cost so! much more!) and started back to my house. Well as soon as we got home we took it out of the box. And jeeze! glutenfree my butt! all they did was scrape off the crust! So when I think about anything cheesecake that is the first thing I think of.

Now enough babbling, so what I got was Size: Small (30 grams), Quality: Basic Grade, Flavor: Delicate. One of these days I’m gonna have to try different flavor strengths and compare. So I made this into a iced latte because cheesecake is usually cold so I wanted my matcha to remind me of a real cheesecake. I first tried it without sweetener then with it. I have to say when i added the sweetener I found it gave it more of a real cheesecake sweetness. But it has a sweetness on its own, but im a lover of everything really sweet so it depends on your preference. And its not a fake store bought taste, its a made at home with love cheesecake taste. Got it here http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/cheesecake-matcha.html

I also made it into a smoothie. I made my matcha the normal traditional way, then added half a cup of milk, a bunch of frozen raspberry my matcha, and blended it all up. And OMG raspberry cheesecake anyone amazing! The sweetness of the raspberry and the cheesecake is perfect, my drink didnt even last 5 minutes. But now im sad cause its gone.

I had some excitement at my mailbox yesterday when I found my package from Red Leaf tea and I knew my two matcha selections had arrived: Boysenberry and Pumpkin Pie. Which one to try first? With a bit of fall in the air, I decided I was in the mood for Pumpkin Pie. I had high expectations for this one because Caramel, my first flavored matcha from Red Leaf, was so wonderful. Well, Pumpkin Pie was equally fabulous-in fact for my own personal taste, since I am a big pumpkin pie lover, Pumpkin Pie trumps, but you can‘t go wrong with either choice. I opened the packet and immediately knew I was going to like it, since the scent was delicious. So far, I have found I prefer chilled matcha to hot,but I haven‘t tried a latte yet. That might be good. This time, I mixed a teaspoon of the matcha with 2 oz hot water and whisked it until it had some froth. I then put it in a shaker with 15 oz unsweetened almond milk, a splash of cream, and some sweetener. Added a few ice cubes, and Wow, fantastic!! Pumpkin pie without so many calories. I am amazed at how well it captures the real thing. A fabulous frothy dessert. Just go to http://steepster.com/teas/red-leaf-tea/29698-pumpkin-pie-matcha?post=133233to order.