Mermaid Matcha

I wish this had more berry and less of the creamy note. I’ll make this hot next time but I do like it iced. : )

Another gift from amandastory516 that I’ve had for a while but haven’t tried yet. I know exactly why I’ve been putting this one off though – MATCHA. Matcha intimidates the crap out of me. I don’t know why, but I’m always afraid I’m going to mess it up and so I never get around to trying it. I’m so glad I finally decided to try this one though because I loved it! Right out of the package, it has this green aroma. It’s not earthy and it’s not quite mineral. It’s more like spirulina. Once the water hits, it’s cake batter – just like everyone says. I started with a small amount of water and made a paste, slowly adding and whisking until everything was combined, then added a little cream and a little sugar syrup. It was a perfect warm and cozy drink, kind of like a cake-flavored hot chocolate (but without the chocolate). If not for the caffeine, I think this would make a fantastic nightcap. I’d certainly be happy drinking it every night.

Honestly this smells and tastes exactly like vanilla cake frosting. Like uncanny flavor capture to vanilla cake frosting so I am happy. Plus, it’s blue. So blue. Which makes this fun and sort of nostalgic since you usually tend to get fun colored vanilla cake frosting as a child…at least I know I did.

ETA: The one thing I don’t love about this is it leaves an aftertaste but it is delicious while drinking it.

Holiday Tea-son! Ooo, I’ve been wanting to try this one! Little known fact about me, I collect mermaids! I actually added a mermaid mug to my collection on my last tea-cation!

I wouldn’t say I’m the biggest fan of Butterfly Pea Flower, but I don’t hate it, either. I’ve sort of adapted my palate more and more to the earthy flavor of it over the years, but still don’t prefer it plain; typically I take it with citrus (often lemonade or lemon juice) and sweetener (sugar or honey). I’ll be making this matcha with my typical latte formula for this little sticks, mixing the matcha in 100ml of 175F water, mixing 200ml of vanilla almond milk on the warm setting of my frother, and then combining the two in a mug for 300ml of matcha latte.

It’s a lovely sea-green color beneath the layer of white milk foam on the top of my cup. The flavor is quite vanilla sweet, but I’m uncertain how much of that is coming from my milk, and how much of that is coming from the matcha. It is a little cake frosting like, though, and only toward the end of the sip am I starting to pick out the pea flower flavor. It’s really quite subtle though, at least in latte form, and using a milk as sweet as I do. It really is reminding me of vanilla cake frosting. I don’t really think it is different enough from Bird & Blend’s Ice Cream Matcha, though, aside from the novelty of the color, and tasting even less matcha-grassy.

I still love the name, though. Because mermaids!

Day 3 – Matcha Advent

Holy moly…it went dark blue! From green to blue in the blink of an eye. It made a decent foam though with a beautiful shine.

It tastes like chocolate(along with the smell), it’s sweet but with a creamy undertone. The flavour isn’t strong but the delicacy of it is pleasant.

The after taste is sweet with some dryness and a quickly dissipated chocolate tone.

It was nice though very un-matcha like and I found that a little off putting. Sure it’s cool that it changes colour and I like chocolate (not a huge chocolate fan), but I love matcha for the grassy, seaweed flavours. If it’s going to be flavoured I feel it has to be done well, and this one just isn’t for me. Though I’m glad to have tried it.

For pictures and more info visit my blog
https://kittylovestea.com/2018/12/03/day-3-birdblend-matcha-advent/

Bird & Blend Matcha Advent Calendar 2023 – Day 8

Blue matcha today! Personally I find this a bit weird, but at least the butterfly pea flower doesn’t seem to affect the flavor much? There is a slight grittiness to the texture, but it’s not noticeable as a latte.

Otherwise, it’s a pleasant vanilla cake sort of flavor. Quite buttery with a sweet and creamy vanilla note. Not my personal favorite as I prefer fruitier matcha flavors, but still very enjoyable.

358/365

I’m having a lot of success with matcha shots at the moment, so I decided to make another one! My relationship with butterfly pea flower is a bit hit and miss, which is why I’ve left this one until almost the end of my challenge. Having tasted it, I know now that I really had nothing to fear.

It reminds me a lot of Mermaid Mist, which came out earlier this year as part of Bird & Blend’s Fairytale Collection. If you tried that one and liked it, you’re definitely going to enjoy this. It tastes almost identical. It’s a flavour that’s hard to describe, though, since it bears little resemblance to anything in the natural world. The closest I can get is vanilla cake batter. I made my shot with whole milk, and that augments it perfectly. It’s so soft and creamy, a real delight.

It’s also blue which is never a bad thing, although fairly rare in tea. I believe this one was released as part of B&B’s Rainbow Matcha collection, hence the gaudy colouring. It’s a novelty, though. There’s absolutely no funkiness from the butterfly pea, which was a relief. Just sweet, desserty awesomeness. I need to remember not to be so scared of matcha, since when I drink it I tend to enjoy it…

No issue with this one. It’s fab.

Well, this definitely isn’t the freshest matcha anymore – but it’s still ok.

Flavour wise, this still tastes like a buttery vanilla cake frosting to me, but this cup also had a sharpness to it that was like a sour grassy note – possibly from being overleafed? Possibly from age? I’m not sure what exactly caused it but it’s not something I’ve observed in this way from this matcha before. The colour was also REALLY dark blue; sort of a murky blue-y green colour that reminded me more of concentrated spirulina that the brilliant blue you usually get from butterfly pea flowers. It was good overall in terms of flavour and I’d rather this be ‘overly blue’ than not blue at all given that’s what the selling point of the tea actually is.

But the texture! Ugh, the texture! The butterfly is just so mealy – and it floats on the surface of the liquor because it’s so light and isn’t finely ground down like the matcha. Really detracts from the experience and it makes me feel like I need to strain my matcha – which is a sentence I should never have to utter for matcha.