I had to correct the brewing instructions on here. 2 scoops at 16oz of water?! that’s almost 3x the suggested amount of water, even for a usucha. I seriously doubt that would make a pleasant matcha.
I typically do 2 scoops from my chashaku to 1/3rd cup(2.6oz/80ml) of 175F water. Den recommends only 1 scoop for that amount(Usucha is typically more water/less scoops, while koicha is more scoops/less water). Definitely use a sifter on this matcha, it tends to clump very easily, resulting in an over-powering grassy-bitterness when mixed with water if not sifted.
Likely due to my quantity of scoop, I find that it froths very easily (using a chasen, not a frother) – Not a bad thing, quite good if anything. The matcha “powder” colour is an almost vibrant green, suggesting minimal oxidation exposure (usually indicative of quality – the higher the oxidation (darker the shade of green), the lower the quality and more bitter. The more vibrant-neon green, is the less oxidized, and the higher the quality/taste). The sweet notes is minimal at best, but the bitterness is not high as some lower end bulk-matcha company stuff you get out there from tea-chains or supermarkets. I’ve had much better matcha(koicha), but the price more than makes up for its shortcomings, for your every-day drinker. Not ideally suited for desert-drinks. Den sells a separate “ingredient-grade” matcha for that, it’ll be easier on your wallet to buy that instead.
Oh, wow… I want to do this!
So you’re not adding any additional milk after the 1/3 cup? And why not the chasen— are you using a spoon or fork or another type of whisk?
No extra milk, and I’m glad I didn’t- I’m afraid the matcha flavor would have been even lighter. I didn’t use my chasen because I was afraid it would get too gunked up and since it’s so delicate it would be a pain in my butt to clean. I just used a spoon and that worked great because I didn’t end up w/ any matcha residue at the bottom of my bowl like when I make it w/ water or milk. I stirred the matcha and chocolate powder together a bit before adding the milk.
I think I’m going to go try this now—I have 3 different drinking chocolates and they’re all spicy. You think this is a good idea?
Oh, and I only have rice and almond milks…
I think it’s a wonderful! idea. I’d go w/ almond milk.
Well, that was truly inspired, Ms. Cofftea!
I had to wing it on the amounts of chocolate and milk, lacking measuring implements here, but as a gesture of compensation, I did use my chasen, which survived just fine. :-)
One scoop of Essencha’s Jade Bliss Matcha plus 3 spoonfuls of Lake Champlain’s Aztec Hot Chocolate added to some amount of unsweetend vanilla almond milk heated just to the point of small bubbles forming on top.
Holy moly. This was nothing less than exquisite liquid truffle. I wish I could sigh and say that oh, I couldn’t possibly have something this rich more than once a week, but that would be a bald-faced lie. I’ll probably do it again before the day is done.
I’ll be playing close attention to any future tweaks you make to this, Ms. Cofftea. The only thing I’ll do differently next time myself is drink it while it’s hotter. I, too, only taste the matcha “in the very back”, and I like the way it works. Maybe I’ll try a different chocolate next time—I do have one that isn’t spicy but has notes of almond and orange in it. That could be brilliant, I think.
Chocolate, almond and orange w/ the almond milk and matcha I think would be lovely! That makes me wonder where my mandarin matcha order from 52 teas is…
I wouldn’t be surprised if you could taste the matcha behind the chocolate. one of the most popular items I make to bring to work potlucks are simple little mini-chocolate cupcakes with a matcha buttercream frosting. They disappear quickly.
@Seattlemeg- I definitely could, although I was hoping the matcha would be stronger.
I had a treat someone brought to me from new york that I’ve never found since – a hershey bar that had green tea as a filler in the squares. Ever seen it? It was actually really good.
Yum! No I haven’t. I’ll stick w/ this, it’s more fun to drink chocolate out of a bowl;)
may I ask where you got your bowl? I’ve been meaning to go to our local humongous Asian grocery store (uwajimaya.com) but haven’t had time. I really need to try more matchas.
I got this set http://www.denstea.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=289_295 I ABSOLUTELY LOVE IT! It was on sale for $52 at the time and there was no shipping because it was over $50. If you’re a 1st time customer they have a sampler that they normally charge $3 for (it’s worth way more than that though) that you can either get free w/ your 1st $15 or more purchase or you pay the $3 and get a coupon for $3 off your 1st order that totals $15. All the Den’s Tea teas I have except for the apple sencha are from that sampler.
cool, thank you, bookmarked!
OMG that sounds amazing! That may be my Happy New Year drink this year.
Oh it was Carolyn…. it was! While it would be a good NYE drink, for me at least, I think that’d take away a little bit of the novelty and fun because part of why it rocked my socks off was because I had it for breakfast. So maybe another flavored matcha at midnite and then this as your watching the sun rise?:)