I confess, tea lovers, that sometimes I cheat on tea with coffee. In fact, coffee has become a part of my daily routine. I really do love it, and as much as I wish I could drink it straight, I do often add things to it to help make it more palatable. I don’t do that with tea. But sadly, coffee seems to be the bad boy that I just can’t quit.
But, I love an opportunity I can to combine my two rivaling beverages – coffee and tea. And this matcha sounded right up my alley. Red Leaf included a sample of it for me in my latest order. Would this be the matcha that finally broke up me and my long term beau coffee for good? I had high hopes.
Since this is a sample, it arrived with the normal matcha base and delicate flavoring. I gave it a little bit of a whiff, but the coffee smell was not as prominent as I’d like. I LOVE the smell of coffee, especially freshly roasted, so I was hoping for a little more prominence, even though this only delicate flavoring. I decided to hold off my opinion until I threw it in a cup with some ice and water, gave it a shake, and see what came out of it.
The result? It’s a very pleasant flavored matcha, but it’s not exactly coffee. It’s very faintly coffee, but it’s not exactly the kind of coffee flavoring I’ve come to expect when I see it in chocolate, sweets, etc. I think it’s more like a mellow chocolate-y flavor than that nicely roasted bean taste. It’s a nice flavor, but it’s not coffee, at least not on the lowest level. Maybe if the flavoring was kicked up a notch it would taste more like coffee?
All in all this matcha is not bad at all, but I think it will be disappointing if really want something coffee flavored. I think next time I might try the Espresso or Mocha flavors, since those might be more up my alley.
You can purchase the matcha here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/coffee-matcha.html (and it’s on sale for today too!)
you can drink tea and coffee, it is not irreconcilable at all :)