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Raspberry Matcha – White Matcha base

It took me awhile to put two and two together to figure out Red Leaf Tea’s Matchas http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/ white, black and red matchas are actually from white, black and rooibos teas! Derp! What is super cool with Red Leaf teas is that you can get white/ black/ red matchas on their own, or select it as the main base for your flavor matcha!
For me, I love white teas with fruit in them – the white tea is delicate, delicious and does not take away from whatever fruit is in it. With that said, I felt I wanted to try something new, so I selected a white matcha to play with fruit elements.

My matcha specs:

*Raspberry Matcha
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/raspberry-matcha.html
Quality: White matcha
Flavor: Robust *(again, I love a strong flavor so might as well go with a bang!)

I went with raspberry as I find it slightly uncommon as a fruity tea, and often is tart. Raspberries are very tasty too!

With this order I snagged a tin for my matcha for $3.99. The tin is a perfect size for the matcha as well as having a good seal. I think I’d like to bling my tin sometime with those foil fruit stickers or glitter polish once I get time. Anyways, I recommend ordering the tin because the matcha comes in a non resealable bag and you don’t want to get the deliciousness ruined by the air.

Out of the package, the white matcha is mysteriously weird brown grey powder. However, there was AN EXPOLSION OF RASPBERRY SMELL! Holy cow! I felt as if I was getting smacked around by a sweet pump raspberry.

I sifted up my matcha over a wide mug using a fine tea strainer. From there, used 180f water and whisked the matcha. This matcha was hard to create a froth and the froth did not stay, despite my efforts.

As a traditional cup of hot matcha, the taste is super bright and strong raspberry essence! The raspberry flavor reminds me of those raspberry syrup shots you can get at a coffee shop but unsweetened. No tartness here! The white matcha was lovely and rich. It wasn’t veggie tasting or bitter and was a great base to not disrupt the raspberry attack. However, there is astringency present, drying my throat, which lingers for awhile after drinking. The colour of this cup of matcha was an interesting brownish green. The astringency and power of the raspberry was a little much for me – next time I will need to go easy on the amount of matcha I add as I think I went with 1tsp.

Of course, I needed to try this matcha as a latte – I’ve fallen in love with how amazing Red Leaf’s matchas are in lattes and it’s way better (and cheaper) than getting it made at a coffee shop.
I added 1/2tsp of matcha sifted and whisked in hot water and sugar, topping it with vanilla soy milk. The colour of the latte is a pretty light creamy brown. The taste is wow – the perfect tea latte with a shot of juicy raspberry! The white tea is present and makes the latte really light. The astringency is gone as far as I can tell.

Overall, very delicious as a latte and I think this matcha would be killer to mix with another flavored matcha – I’m thinking chocolate matcha with this would be insanely yummy! For someone looking to order, this would be great as a 50/50 with another flavor (a cool option Red Leaf Tea has).
Commenting on white matcha, I think an awesome combo would be grape flavoring, which would work well with the astringency.

Preparation
180 °F / 82 °C
Sil

how do you feel about the white versus the green? I know a lot of ppl have mentioned they prefer the green…

Oolong Owl

I like the green more. I’m not a fan of astringency unless it’s helping or creating a flavor experience (like wine). With no astringency, its pretty good. I think the green is more fun with the froth and happy green colour as well.
My upcoming order will have a black matcha, might as well try them all! I’m scared of the red matcha though, but will try it sometime soon.

Sil

Nice. Looking forward to the reviews. I’m thinking I’d enjoy the black

Babble

I was not a huge fan of the white, but it’s worth a try. I spend it on whatever matcha is on sale so it’s not as expensive.

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Comments

Sil

how do you feel about the white versus the green? I know a lot of ppl have mentioned they prefer the green…

Oolong Owl

I like the green more. I’m not a fan of astringency unless it’s helping or creating a flavor experience (like wine). With no astringency, its pretty good. I think the green is more fun with the froth and happy green colour as well.
My upcoming order will have a black matcha, might as well try them all! I’m scared of the red matcha though, but will try it sometime soon.

Sil

Nice. Looking forward to the reviews. I’m thinking I’d enjoy the black

Babble

I was not a huge fan of the white, but it’s worth a try. I spend it on whatever matcha is on sale so it’s not as expensive.

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Bio

I’m a tea blogger – The Oolong Owl
www.OolongOwl.com – I do tea reviews, obsessively photograph teas with mischievous crocheted Owls and get tea drunk. I am also a crochet and knitting designer at Awkward Soul Designs.

To contact me for reviews, check out details at OolongOwl.com/about or email me at char@oolongowl.com

I was raised on floral oolongs and green teas, mostly “beauty” teas. Early on as a kid, I can guzzle an entire pot of tea (or two) at a Chinese or Japanese restaurant.
These days I like adventurous and interesting tea blends. I’m fearless in trying new teas! I’m into oolong, pu’erh, white, green, black, guayusa, mate and herbals. I’m not into red rooibos but I keep buying it anyway.

The tea brand that got me started into loose leaf teas was DAVIDsTea. I used to live in Vancouver Canada and had access to their shop, however that is now limited since I moved to southern California.

However, the perks of living in the US is ultra cheap, fast shipping! Since then, my tea stash insanely expanded.

Other stuff I’m into that sneaks into my tea notes: Brazilian jiu-jitsu, metal music, drawing, painting, cooking, photography and nail polish.

BTW, my Steepster cupboard is not even close to accurate and I track my teas on a spreadsheet. Last update 573 Teas – August 2015.

Location

Seattle, WA USA

Website

http://oolongowl.com/

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