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I swore to myself that I was not going to try matcha, at least not for a long time. I have too many teas already, I spend most of my personal budget on tea in spite of the fact that I have needed new shoes for forever, and I also know that I will want all the doodads and I have so much tea paraphernalia already that there is hardly room for anything else.

But Azzrian wrote all these amazing reviews, and talked about lattes and pushed me right over the edge! I have tried to justify my purchase – and the ones that I know are soon to follow – by saying that this is REALLY for my eldest daughter, not for me.

My daughter likes “foofy girly coffee drinks” as she calls them but has been drinking green tea for about nine months now for the health benefits. She also uses it to keep her awake on night shift. So the Mocha Matcha was the perfect first matcha to try!

I bought the small 30 gram size but I did not buy the tin this time because I knew I had one small tin that should be really good for it. Next time, I will get the tin because they recommend keeping this in the refrigerator or freezer for freshness, and I feel that their screw on lid is better suited to that than my regular tea tin. I chose robust for the flavor level because I really want her to feel like she is having one of her foofy coffee drinks! I do not have the doodads yet, so I used my powerful Bamix Immersion Blender to mix it, because if that doesn’t do it, nothing will! I can’t wait to buy the bamboo whisk and scoop and the whisk holder and a matcha bowl, though! To buy the matcha, look here:

http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/mocha-matcha.html

Shipping was pretty fast! I ordered this on Sunday and it was a holiday weekend with no mail service Monday, yet I still received my tea Friday.

I am having this early in the day because I have been warned that matcha is…very invigorating, to say the least! I literally argued with myself all night because I wanted to go ahead and try it, but I knew I probably wouldn’t be able to sleep, but I wanted it SO BADLY! I even dreamed about tea last night!

I tried it hot and plain first, and had some chocolate milk standing by, icy cold, to pour it into after tasting it. My Bamix will froth plain skim milk with Nesquik added into a decent semblance of a milkshake because it whips in so much air that it feels thick, so I don’t have to add a lot of calories to this to get a great latte, plus these are things my daughter will have on hand when I get her hooked on…I mean, if she decides she wants to make these, too.

And the Bamix worked amazingly well! After just a couple of seconds pulse, the tea has a nice froth. I was a little apprehensive because I didn’t know what to expect, but I sipped the plain matcha and…smooth! It wasn’t bitter, like I was afraid it might be! There were no lumps and it wasn’t sour or grassy.

The first sip plain tasted like chocolate first, then there was a coffee aftertaste, which is exactly how I feel when I have a sip of daughter’s foofy drinks. I added just an ounce or so to my chocolate milk and it tasted a little like a malted or something, so I poured in almost all of it and added ice. Now it tastes like I just went to Starbucks!

I already know what my next matcha will be. Hubby has a demanding job at times and needs energy, but he doesn’t drink coffee, shouldn’t have soda, and just grabs a glass of Carnation Instant Breakfast on his way out the door. I can hardly wait to try the French Vanilla matcha with vanilla Instant Breakfast! I think hubby is going to love it! Next will be the Pumpkin Pie matcha, again for my daughter because she goes NUTS at this time of year buying everything pumpkin flavored and making pumpkin recipes, and she mourns for good pumpkin the rest of the year. I already saw a rave review for the pumpkin pie matcha, so I know she will love a Pumpkin Pie Latte, and she will be ale to make that herself all year long.

I am going to attempt just whisking some by hand later today. If I get good at it, maybe I won’t feel bad for buying a matcha set. And I can’t wait to see if this makes me get all the housework done!