Pistachio Matcha

This tasting note is pretty much exclusively a check-in for me. Some of you may know that I live on Long Island in NY, which was hit hard by Sandy. Fortunately for me, I have been in Ohio visiting my boyfriend since last Saturday. I was originally scheduled to return to NY on Tuesday, then Thursday, but horrible conditions in NY and Long Island have kept me trapped here until the weekend. But my school has been closed for the rest of the week, so I don’t have to worry about my teaching obligations. I know that my apartment fortunately didn’t flood, but that it probably still doesn’t have power (too bad for my food in the fridge/freezer).

I drank this cold on my drive down to Ohio, and definitely thank it for keeping me awake.

Well, I managed to brick my poor computer. Heres to hoping my software engineer husband can fix it and recover my data. The main PO is losing my resume template! Perk is I get to play on my husband’s new laptop until my computer is fixed (yay google for saving all my passwords and bookmarks!)

Once my computer died, I gave up and made some matcha – this one, blended with some ice and milk. YUM! Pistachio! Very tasty and peppy.

So this does not beat my love for macadamia nut matcha and I probably even like the almond matcha more HOWEVER this is a very good matcha!
Its funny because pistachios are my favorite nut although macadamia does run a close second the things are just too darn expensive! Not that pistachios are cheap or anything but for the price – heck I will just buy matcha instead!
This pistachio matcha really does smell like pistachio.
There is a slight very slight chemical like smell but it does not come out in the blend when you make your matcha regardless of if you use just water or make a latte with it.
I really do like this matcha and the base comes through very nicely and with pistachio for some reason seems to make even more sense because pistachios have green on them. Yeah I know its a mental thing and I am after all somewhat mental however this may also be quite nice in a white base as well!
As per my usual I got the robust flavoring level.
Love me some Red Leaf Tea Tins as well – if you are new to ordering from them get one and see! Screw top lids make all the difference especially when it comes to matcha!
I feel that the price on them is more than fair as well.
So all in all nut my favorite nut from Red Leaf but even in saying that you can’t go wrong because it is a very fine nut matcha! Hey we all have our favorites! :)
Get yours here:
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/pistachio-matcha.html

I love pistachios. Maybe a little too much. They are easily my favorite nut and I have to be really careful when I buy a bag of them because they can get be gone before I know it. Luckily they are pricey, so that helps keep things down. Also, I’m a fan of the raw shelled pistachios, so those are even harder to find.

So, when I saw this flavor of matcha, I was excited to try it. How would it compare to pistachios themselves? I got this with Robust level of flavoring and prepared this in a water bottle with chilled water. I used 1/2 teaspoon of matcha to 16 oz. of water.

This matcha has a very interesting taste, but I don’t know if it’s really true to the pistachio flavor. I think, as another reviewer mentioned, it’s more like pistachio flavoring in ice cream and what not. I’m not really getting the true-to-nut taste that I was hoping for. It’s not a bad tasting matcha, but it won’t satisfy my cravings for pistachio.

I gave my boyfriend a blind taste test and asked him what it tasted like. At first he didn’t what to say, but then he said “it’s kind of got a spice to it.” There’s definitely some spice in there as well. I’m just hesitant to recommend this to a pistachio lover like myself because the flavor just isn’t there like I was hoping. I think people who like pistachio flavored things (which I rarely have) will be more satisfied.

You can buy the matcha here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/pistachio-matcha.html

This one is interesting. It smells so much like sweet, creamy, pistachio. Reminds me of pistachio pudding. But it does not taste like pistachio. Still very good though.

I made this one cold shaken in about 8 oz water, 1tsp matcha. It smelled fairly sweet so I didn’t add any sweetener. I had robust flavour, basic grade.

It tastes definitely nutty. Not specifically pistachio but along the same lines as a rich creamy nut flavour. There is a light spice to it as well. I am thinking of cinnamon. Reminds me of Christmas Eve for some reason.

Not what I expected but still very good. Those are the invests surprises!

A sample from Roswell Strange. It’s taken me a while to get around to trying this one, for various unrelated reasons, but today’s the day! I find I drink more matcha in autumn/winter, anyway, because that’s when my energy levels typically tend to slump. I don’t think I drank any matcha this summer, which is surprising now I think about it.

Anyway. This one. I made it up as a latte (because I’ve worked out pretty conclusively now that that’s the only way I can drink matcha and enjoy it.) I used 1/4 tsp of powder, whisked it into about 1.5 inches of boiling water, and then topped off with hot milk. For reference, this is the basic grade matcha with the distinctive level flavouring.

I should probably say upfront that pistachios are my favourite nut. I found the initial sip a lot sweeter than I was expecting, for some reason, but then there’s a distinctive creamy nuttiness that’s almost identifiable as pistachio. It falls a tiny bit short in terms of flavour definition, but it’s definitely nutty, and it’s really almost there, so I’m going to say it’s good with me. It’s more of a pistachio flavoured puddingey, custardy effect than just straight pistachio, but it turns out that’s a delicious thing. I’m pretty sure I have an almond matcha sample tucked away somewhere, so it’ll be interesting to compare when I try that one.

This is a queued tasting note.

Pistachio matcha milk. Not really a lot to say about that one, to be honest.

However, other exciting news! People who’ve been following me on Steepster for a while now know that I’ve had problems with my teeth for a long time now. Well, good news! Next Wednesday I finally am getting my wisdom teeth removed! When I found out I was finally getting in to get it done I damn near cried. I’m just so relieved to finally be getting them taken care of.

I was so excited to try this flavor this morning! Thanks for the sample Red Leaf!

I made myself a cold matcha latte out of this. I love pistachios, and while this is a very tasty matcha flavor, I wouldn’t say the taste reminded me of pistachios really. It definitely has a nutty vibe. Maybe like a pistachio candy of some kind? Or nougat. It is somewhat nougat-ish.

Anyway, very nice flavor! I’ll happily finish my sample but this one won’t be a re-order for me.

Thank you Red Leaf Tea for this lovely sample!

Pistachio ice cream is a favorite of mine, so I had high expectations. Oh, this is wonderful! Creamy, nutty just what I would expect.

I made this with cashew milk so it was extra creamy but only 35 calories per cup. It doesn’t seem to froth as much as sometimes but I think of it might be the cashew milk. I’ll have to try it with soy, almond or coconut.