Lemon Matcha

Sip Down & Backlog

I made two mistakes with this last cup of matcha. Firstly, I made it too strong in mind of making it a latte; however, I ran out of milk (the milk was supposed to cut the intensity of the heavy-handed serving size). Secondly, I made it too strong. Perhaps there was too much matcha for one last cup of tea. Ideally, there was plenty of matcha to make TWO lattes…I was feeling the desire of the sweet, sweet caffeine rush to take the 5 seconds to scoop out the extra matcha. Whoops. I’d note that amongst the stronger, bitter notes, there was a bit of lemon zest. Lol

Only my second Matcha but this was much nicer than the first, better foam and certainly a better flavour.

This one is mostly matcha flavored with a strong tang of lemon. It’s really fresh tasting like lemon zest. Sometimes the matcha takes over and is a little too savory and overwhelming, but I love when I can taste that awesome lemon. Weirdly enough, about a third of the way through the cup, the lemon disappeared and I tasted only matcha for the remainder.

I have a half-gallon of coconut milk that was unopened in the fridge but getting close enough to the date that if I don’t start working through it now, most of it is going to be wasted, so I started looking through my teas for something that might go good with it. Found this matcha sampler I hadn’t opened yet, and thought that would be a solid flavor combo. I used a teaspoon in 350ml of coconut milk in my milk frother on the heated setting. I may have used a little more matcha than necessary but wanted to make sure the flavor would come through the strongly flavored milk, and it was pretty good! Oddly enough, it reminded me of pina colada, despite there being no pineapple flavor… something about the creaminess, and the sweetness of the coconut paired with the lemon flavor made the citrus read more as a pineapple flavor in my mind, I suppose? There was a touch of grassiness but mostly I tasted smooth and creamy pina colada latte. My only real issue was some issues with separation and having to open up my thermos and restir occassionally, which was annoying enough to keep me from rating this higher for how much I enjoyed the flavor.

Adventageddon Day 3 – Tea 1/4

Started my morning with a nice iced cup of this matcha mixed with some hop infused tonic water. I picked it up while grocery shopping just because I was curious, and when I saw today’s matcha I thought it would make for a great combo – sort of like a non-alcoholic gin type of vibe but citrusy.

I found the combination of bright and zestier lemon notes worked super well with the vegetal matcha and overall botanical flavour direction, and in particular the gentle bitterness from the tonic water really did a great job leveling out the lemon notes which (from past experience) can err a little bit more on the candy side. Very lemon lollipop. Not here, though! This was really well balanced and elevated tasting.

Today’s Advent Photos: https://www.instagram.com/p/C0aC3COOTwI/?img_index=1

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqYfyza4e-c

Day 4 – Matcha Advent

Flavour is lemony but in a waxy sort of way. Some astringency also which adds to the waxy lemon rind taste. It’s not like, super lemony either considering the rind is so strong.

There is no sweetness to it either which I expect from lemon. It’s sour but sweet, yet all I can taste from this is waxy rind with a lingering aftertaste.

In comparison to this Lemon Matcha and the one I get from Pure Chimp I say I fully prefer the Pure Chimp blend. The Bird&Blend Lemon Matcha is heavy on the rind and waxy whereas the Pure Chimp Lemon Matcha uses lemongrass instead of the fruit so it’s fragrant and creamy but with full on flavour. For me lemongrass blends better with the Matcha base. (Plus it has to be said that Pure Chimp is a lot cheaper).

I feel a bit cheeky for the comparison but I have the Pure Chimp matcha often and have for a long time. This blend just doesn’t Matcha-up to that one. (Sorry, I had to).

For pictures and more information visit my blog.
https://kittylovestea.com/2018/12/04/day-4-birdblend-matcha-advent/

Bird & Blend Matcha Advent Calendar – Day 4

Another single-serve stick. Sigh…

I don’t know if I’m just being entitled, but these single serves in the matcha advent are really irritating me. At the price I paid (£65 + shipping) they really should have just made all of these mini tins. I’m four days in and so far, two of the days have been single servings…

Anyway, on to the matcha. Prepared the half-teaspoon serving with 4 ounces of plain soy milk.

I quite like this one. The lemon flavor reminds me of lemon drops without the sugar. It’s definitely not authentic lemon, more of a candy flavor. But I like it! It’s not overpoweringly flavored either. The matcha base is quite weak (as usual), but at least I can taste it a little under the lemon. I would consider buying this one (though in all likelihood, I’ll just order a lemon matcha from 3 Leaf, as I like their base much better).

From Bonne Maman, we have Orange-Cinnamon (Orange-Cannelle) spread. I’m not a huge fan of marmalade, but this smells delicious. The smell actually reminds me more of honey than jam. There are some orange rind pieces mixed in. The spread itself is a bit bitter (being a maramalade), but the cinnamon really helps to sweeten it and counteract the bitterness a bit. A delicious combination! :D

Sipdown! Finished off my sample tin whisked into coconut milk; I was going for a kind of creamy-lemony-desserty kinda vibe. It almost succeeded. My main problem with this matcha is that it isn’t very lemony – and it’s not age; it just never was. It’s more vegetal in the way of plain matcha, with just a hint of lemon.

So – it was okay. Drinkable, but not as good as I’d hoped. I think I knew that, though. I might buy another sample in the future to see if anything’s changed – maybe it’s more lemony now than it used to be. I’ve read some reviews which make me think it might be. The best preparation method so far for me, though, has been as a lemonade – and I’ve added extra lemon juice every time. I’d be interested to experiment a bit more with this one in the future, though. It’s not one I’d rush out to buy, but it’ll probably make a return to my cupboard at some point.