Yerba Mate Matcha

#adventageddon Day Two – 2/5

I’ve been curious about this ‘matcha’ for a long time but it’s so expensive to blind purchase Bird and Blend’s matchas, and I’m at a point where I’ve sampled enough of the flavours that buying one of the kits that has smaller sizes just isn’t worthwhile for me because I get too many I’ve had already – so I added a lot of matcha/powder to my BYO calendar because it seemed like the PERFECT way to sample the flavours I would be too hesitant to buy full tins of blindly but that I just need to know what they taste like…

I think this is a cool concept – matcha is high in caffeine and is often drank for energy or focus, and those functional benefits align with yerba mate really closely too! However, I had the same issue that I do with a lot of Bird & Blend teas where texturally the grind on this matcha was just REALLY rough and I found it settled really quickly and felt fibrous as I drank it. As my manager would say, “it was chewy!” Sadly the flavour wasn’t great either – very abrasive and really grassy and smoky in a bit of a bitter and muddy way. I thought it was drinkable but not pleasant.

I do still think there’s functional usage of this powder though for focus/energy – maybe in the form of “matcha shots” where you’re shooting back the matcha and not paying as much attention to the flavour or mouthfeel? So I wont go as far as to say I wouldn’t recommend it; just not for the taste, anyway…

Day 8 – Matcha Advent

Bubbles formed and then immediately dissipated into nothing.

Once Steeped the resulting liquid is golden brown and bares a very dry and herbal scent. Reminds me of dirty paint water.

Flavour wise it’s dry and wooden with a herbal and sour after taste that lingers with some astringency. It also has a refreshing quality similar to liquorice.

I took a large gulp and shuddered in disgust, that’s how much I dislike Mate. But that’s a personal thing. Besides, I doubt people drink it for the flavour.

It was interesting and perhaps better than your average Mate, but it’s still not for me. Perhaps it would be better mixed with other things, like as part of a smoothie where I’m covering the taste.

https://kittylovestea.com/2018/12/08/day-8-birdblend-matcha-advent/

Baby tin sipdown!

I prepared this with a mix of dairy and oat milks, as I didn’t quite have enough dairy milk left. I think the oat milk was actually a good idea, because it goes quite well with the yerba maté flavor.

Anyway, this one just isn’t great. I actually really like maté, but I feel like this is a terrible representation of its worst qualities. There’s a lot of smokiness going on, and also a lot of bitterness. The oat milk does help bring out the pleasant hay notes here.

Also, the texture is weird and grainy. I wouldn’t call it “gritty”, as it’s sort of a chewiness? Not awful, but weird.

Even as a maté fan, this is just not good. It’s mostly the strong bitterness that ruins it for me…