Grace & Green

Sipdown (115)!

My sister and I used up the last of this matcha baking this evening; we made banana chocolate chip muffins! They came out deliciously, though unfortunately you can’t taste the matcha at all, but it still counts as tea! Though it did take a lot of convincing to get anyone in my family to actually try eating one: while you can’t taste the matcha you can see it – the cupcakes all took on a rather unappetizing greyish brown hue which, as my sister so kindly pointed out, looks a little like chunky (because of the chocolate chips) vomit…

And speaking of matcha; I found the most adorable Chawan on Riyku tonight! Halloween has always been my favourite holiday; and wouldn’t this be such a wonderful piece of teaware for the season? Though, I suppose it’d look a little out of place during the rest of the year. Anyway, some pictures:

http://www.rikyucha.com/item/list3/164081/
http://www.rikyucha.com/item/list2/164081/

I know it’s likely not gonna happen what with the move and my just now getting a job, but should I happen to find myself with some extra money during October this is totally what I’m gonna spend it on.

Thank you Scheherazade for the sample!

I made this one iced in my timolino, and it was pretty tasty! I have to admit, it’s been a fair while since I had an unflavoured matcha and it was initially a little bit of a jarring switch up but after that initial shock was over I quite enjoyed this.

The most prominent thing for me was the lovely floral notes of the matcha; sure it was quite vegetal with very strong grass notes and a touch of more marine seaweed flavour, but the flowery delicate finish is what made this stand out to me. It was a very clean refreshing taste overall as well. One downside for me was that I found it to be quite clumpy, and not easily suspended within the water so I was constantly shaking up my timolino to keep the matcha from sinking to the bottom but while tedious that is a fairly small problem overall.

I’m SO tired this morning that I honestly feel close to dead. I’m not even sure why I’m tired – I had an early night, decent sleep, sit-down office job…I’m still shaking off the last remnants of my cold, but the worst is definitely over. I think there’s probably some underlying heath issue, but the doctor is being no help whatsoever in helping me determine what that might be. They’ve put me on gluten free food for three months to see if it’s a wheat allergy, but somehow I don’t think that’s going to cut it. I can’t go on feeling like this long term, though, because it’s awful.

The only thing I could think of to help this morning was matcha, which I’ve had some success with before. It doesn’t solve the problem, and I’m not expecting it to, but it does seem to provide a welcome energy boost. I’ve stayed away from the flavours because of my lingering sore throat, and this morning’s cup is plain instead. It reminded me that I’m not scared of plain matcha anymore, if nothing else. It’s quite vegetal, but it also has an underlying nutty but lightly floral flavour that’s more palatable than I recall. This morning’s cup seems a little salty, and overall quite savoury. A good experience.

1/4 tsp, boiling water. Prepared as a latte.

Matcha latte this morning. At the moment, lattes seem to be the only way I can really drink matcha without feeling nauseous. The irony of that isn’t lost on me, either, because hot milk is sweet and maybe not particularly well suited to early morning drinking. Still, it seems to be working for me. I actually quite like the flavour of plain matcha when it’s mellowed out with milk.

This morning’s matcha was a plain latte made with 1/2 tsp, a bit of hot water, and lots of milk! I thought at the time that the powder had incorporated well, but I did find clumps that had settled to the bottom once I got to the dregs. Clearly my whisking technique needs more work! I think it’s pretty safe to say that I prefer flavoured matcha – it’s just so much more palatable. I didn’t mind this, though – it’s a bit grassy, and that’s an odd contrast at first with the sweetish flavour of boiled milk, but it’s not overwhelmingly pungent. I think it’s doing me some good, too, so I can tolerate it just to feel better.

My second matcha of the day – I’m going to try and stick to one morning matcha and one post-lunch, which is when I really start to flag. This afternoon’s is a quarter teaspoon of Morning Organic Matcha, whisked into a shot glass of coconut water. It certainly looks healthy.

I have to say, I’m not such a huge fan of this particular preparation method. The coconut water is sweet and slightly thick-tasting, exacerbated by the matcha which thickens it still further and has a natural sweetness of its own. Plus the flavour of strong, grassy green tea. It’s not the best of pairings, at least in my book. I’ve hot and cold water and milk still to try, so hopefully I’ll find a “shot” version that does agree with my tastebuds.

I hasten to add that there’s nothing wrong with the matcha – that I have no quarrel with. It’s user preparation error only, and for that reason my rating remains unchanged.

I started this morning in my favourite way – with a matcha latte! Grace & Green kindly sent me a sample of their Morning Organic Matcha to try, and as a matcha fan, I was very keen to give it a try!

See my full review here: http://sororiteasisters.com/2015/07/13/morning-organic-matcha-grace-green/