UKIYO

It’s #matchamonday and this is what I chose to start the day – good for a chillier morning!

I’m not normally a ginger fan unless it’s paired with fruit, but every now and then I find it perfectly comforting and cozy, like the bowl I whisked up today!! Definitely packed some heat, but worked well with the cool temperature and was nice on the throat. Completely masked the matcha flavour; it’s a strong ginger note for sure! The matcha bowl was something I picked up at the MTL tea festival last year; I love the drips and swirls of thick green glaze around it that so perfectly represent matcha!

Photo: https://www.instagram.com/p/CBeA8yZAMtz/

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IjXbwg0lhw

The other day we made Dalgona Coffee (whipped coffee that has gone viral this month) and it worked well so today I decided to try Dalgona Matcha. It didn’t work. Instead of whipping, it became a thick syrup that sunk to the bottom of the iced milk as opposed to sitting on top. Here are pictures: https://www.instagram.com/p/B-PwSjCgGV5/?igshid=828e65c8ocbe

Tastewise, I was sort of worried about this because (1) I usually use 1/2 tsp of matcha in 8 oz and today I used 1 tbsp of matcha + 1 tbsp of white sugar and (2) ginseng and mate are not something I typically enjoy. Despite the failure of my experiment, this tastes alright. It’s very sweet fake blueberry more than anything. Definitely too sweet and didn’t need the sugar. It’s not my favourite prepped this way but that could be due to the sheer amount of it used and the added sugar. I think it could be good made my usual way though so thank you Roswell Strange! for sharing and being so generous that I could experiment.

The best overnight oats w/ matcha that I’ve made to date!!

2 Perfect Matcha Spoons of Matcha
1 Cup of Oats
1 Cup of Almond Milk
1 tsp of Vanilla Agave
2 tsp of Chia
4 tbsp of frozen, locally grown blueberries

Mixed that all up together, dumped it into a mason jar and let it sit in my fridge for like twelve hours. Afterwards poured it into a bowl for breakfast, added a splash of milk over top since it was pretty thick, gave it a quick stir and popped it in the microwave for two minutes. Then sprinkled a bit of extra matcha on top…

Literally tasted like blueberry pie.

Perfect in every way.

#mugtober

This was for a prompt from a few days ago themed around apples! I thought it was a good excuse to brew up this tea since it’s one of the oldest matchas in my assortment but also perfectly on theme and autumnal.

I made it into an iced cashew milk latte and the resulting brew was pretty good despite the age of the tea. Definitely less of a punchy apple flavour than it used to have, but the cinnamon was nice and cozy even in this chilled format. Very smooth and creamy, with a nice baked apple flavour thanks to the contributing cinnamon.

Song Pairing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gxoGkyptKk

Really lovely autumnal flavour – like warm apple cider with cinnamon or cinnamon apple oatmeal, with a hint of the honey and wood notes of the rooibos. A bit of an unattractive brown colour, because of the rooibos matcha and cinnamon powder – and some issues with the rooibos matcha settling super quickly, but just so delicious!

Iced latte!

First time actually drinking this tea, and not just eating it mixed into overnight oats, I believe. Ironically, it tasted like a super creamy version of Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal though! Delicious, and well balanced – though I wish it was less oat-y. Some issues with separation, but nice texture otherwise.

Refreshing and yummy!

So, like the stereotypical white lady who works in an office that I am, I’ve started getting really into making overnight oats…

It’s just really quick & easy for me to be able to set it up in the evening then grab it from the fridge in the morning and have something ready to go/eat at my desk when I get in to work for the day. I’d be remiss if I didn’t try to incorporate tea somehow though, so I’ve been mixing matcha into my oat mixture as well. This was my first attempt/choice and I went with it because it seemed like the safest and most straight forward choice. After all, Cinnamon Apple is a regular oatmeal flavour.

It was actually delicious too! My oats mixture had quick oats, almond milk, maple agave (in place of the recommended maple syrup as sweetener), crushed pecans, and two matcha spoons of matcha. Then, in the morning, I put some pineapple on top too. The cinnamon/apple flavour was actually so strong but not in an off putting way – it was actually almost exactly as if I had just selected an apple cinnamon flavoured instant oatmeal packet instead of making my own version.

I loved it – and it 100% got me inspired to try a whole bunch of other matcha variations.

First experience trying anything from this company. Their description of the tea is weird. “Good for warming your cockles”!? What an odd statement to make…

Taste wise, this tastes kind of like a candy cane to me, but with a black liquorice heavy finishing note. I like liquorice a lot, actually, so I’m kind of down for a black licorice matcha – but I can totally see other people finding this profile absolutely repulsive. Though, as much as I’m into black liquorice I’m not totally sold on the idea of black licorice candy canes…

Also, hopefully this isn’t a trend with all this companies matchas, but it settles super quickly into this very nasty matcha sludge in the bottom of the bowl that I’m drinking it from. Which is gross.

I think what I’m saying is that I’m 50/50 on if I enjoy this or not? Also, I’m not quite sure if my cockles have been warmed – but at least I feel a little more caffeinated.