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Having this as a latte: 8oz nonfat milk at 150F. Two chasaku scoops sifted, added enough 175F water to make a paste.

I just don’t like this flavor. It’s not chocolatey to me, but more this weird chemical cream note and something floral. The matcha is nice and not bitter, but can’t overcome the flavoring. I have a sample of the carob so maybe that’s the chocolate/cocoa flavor I’m looking for.

Royal grade match, distinctive flavoring.

I guess I’m just not a big oolong person. This is nice enough, but didn’t wow me. I didn’t really get the milky aspect, though there are definite notes of sweetness and a floral aspect that I attribute to the Tie Guan Yin base. The second steep was much more flavorful than the first. But at $39 for 2oz, I’m glad I only got the sample. I’d rather spend the same amount on matcha.

A nice light green. I put 1.5tsp in with ~8oz of 175F water. The liquid is light yellow-green, and in my opinion tasted the best while very warm. The peach notes are there but delicate, and I wonder if a touch of rock sugar might bring them out more. When the cup was warm there was no bitterness or astringency, and only a mild vegetal taste. Not what I expected based on my past experiences with sencha having a more briny/seaweed taste. As the cup cooled to lukewarm there was a more pronounced astringent quality.

I remember having some of Den’s Teas flavored senchas in the past and found them more pleasing, so for the price I probably wouldn’t recommend this over them.

Having this with just water and not liking it. Vastly prefer the flavored matchas as lattes. As a latte this is wonderful; smells delicious and tastes vanilla-y, creamy, and doesn’t drown the matcha.

ETA: as I got to the dregs I finally got some more matcha flavor instead of the warm water taste. I may try some of the Red Leaf matchas again plain with just water but using a bit more matcha. This was two chasaku scoops to 175F ~10oz water.

Trying to power through this matcha before I start the Kaimatcha for comparison. Having this made the “traditional” way: two chasaku scoops sifted into a chawan. Added some 175F water to form a paste. Added another 6oz of water and whisked with the chasen.

Not bitter, but has this tongue-coating quality that emphasizes the seaweed-vegetal aspects. Bit of astringency at the end of the sip. As I get to the bottom of the bowl and it’s cooled down that’s when it gets thicker/creamier and a hint of sweetness.

I still prefer the taste of it as a latte, but I enjoy the preparation that goes into the traditional style.

Had this as a latte this morning and I like it a bit more that way than straight. Two chasaku scoops to 8oz skim milk. The milk compliments the sweetness in the matcha, and makes for a slightly creamy cup. Still getting the vegetal matcha-y taste without the slight bitterness.

As a latte I’ll bump the rating up a little bit.

8oz of almond milk with two chasaku scoops of sifted matcha (I finally measured about how much I’m getting with the chasaku and it’s around 3/4 tsp for two of my scoops). Frothed with a hand frother though I’m seriously beginning to consider an electric heater/frother after I burned three batches of milk over the weekend.

This smells very sweet and fruity—almost cloyingly so but not quite to the gross out level. It tastes like a creamier, toned down version of its scent which is nice to drink. This is a matcha where I taste mostly just the flavor instead of mostly the flavor of the milk I’m drinking with the matcha more of a second note. I think this is one I’ll eventually try as an iced latte. I’m not getting any bitterness or much of a vegetal spin at the end of the sip like I have with some of the other flavored ones.

As the cup cools to warm instead of hot-warm the vegetal/mathca flavor is more pronounced but never overwhelms the fruity fig taste.

Royal grade matcha, distinctive flavoring.

Accidentally oversteeped this by about 30sec longer than planned, but it tastes nice. Lightly vegetal, lightly sweet, an all around nice white. Using my new Zojirushi which I have set to maintain temp at 175F, so this was a little cooler than I normally steep my whites at.

Approx. 1.5tsp to approx. 10oz of 175F water, steeped for 3min 30sec.

Re-steeped the leaves several hours later. 8oz of 175F water, only 3min steep. It’s lighter than the earlier cup, but still has those same sweet notes. I admit that I hardly ever re-steep tea and the few times I have (when it wasn’t an oolong) I got distinctly astringent/bitter notes so I tend to stay away. This suited itself well for re-steeping.