Okay, yes, I DEFINITELY need to do a Red Leaf order as soon as I have some spare cash! (ugh, horses in Victoria, why you so expensive?!?!)
Got a very generous sample from the lovely CrowKettle during our tea swap last weekend, but saved it until this weekend when my BFF came home for Easter/her birthday (it’s Monday but since she has to head back to school that afternoon, we had tea and then went out for a group dinner at Red Robin with some of her other friends to celebrate early) so that we could share it and celebrate. So I made us each a latte!
First of all, I have to rave about a nifty little tool that I found deep in the pantry when we were ripping everything apart to get ready for new flooring. I should start off by saying that I’ve had a Bodum frother wand for a while now, but have never loved the foam it creates – the bubbles are big and the foam “flops” way too quickly, making the latte sipping experience kind of blah. But I found another neat tool, also by Bodum, that we have apparently had for a long time (but it was hiding so I didn’t know about it, apparently), and it’s AMAZING! It’s specifically for frothing milk, but it’s a glass caraffe with a black line on it, that you add milk up to that line, put on the lid (that has a plunger and filter mesh similar to a french press, just without the “cup” around the bottom edge, and the mesh seems a bit finer than that of my Bodum french press), pump the heck out of the plunger, pop the lid off, zap it in the microwave for a minute, then take it out, pump again, and it creates this amazingly fine, dense foam. I LOVE it!!! After it’s foamed to the point I want, there’s still enough liquid to make 2 lattes, so I add a dash of sweetener, hit it with the frothing wand to mix it in nicely without killing the foam, and then top off my lattes.
But back to the matcha. I dished out the matcha into my bowl (enough for two lattes), added about 1/3 of the water I’d eventually be using, and whisked away with my little bamboo whisk. I used to just throw the water and matcha into a cup and use the bodum wand, or throw them in a mason jar with the lid on and shake it up, but the bamboo whisk really does create a nicer texture and is worth the extra cost and effort for anyone interested in matcha. I was skeptical, but for someone with texture aversions, it’s really worth the investment/extra minute of time and effort.
every so often I’d add a bit more water, whisk some more, and then added the last bit of water, hit it with the bodum wand (so I didn’t whisk it over the edge of the bowl) and then dished it out between the two cups. My friend added her preferred amount of sweetener (she opted for my vanilla syrup) while I went unsweet, topped it off with the milk and foam, and sat down to enjoy! Now, 24 hours later, my room STILL smells like caramel matcha, and I love it, haha!
This is the smoothest (texturally) matcha I’ve had! I really like that there’s an initial “oh my god CARAMEL!”, then “wow, what a lovely green tea!” followed by a “My breath still tastes like caramel!” haha! Translated: While it’s definitely quite obviously caramel flavoured, it’s not so strong that it completely masks the lovely flavour of the matcha itself.
I’m really eager to do a Red Leaf matcha order as soon as I have the spare cash to do it, because I can see some of the fruity flavours being really good in smoothies, and some of the other richer flavours (including the caramel) being great for curbing my horrible sweet tooth!
Thanks again CrowKettle!!!
Yay! This matcha was a success! :)