Matcha Love Culinary Matcha 3.5 Ounce Finely Milled Green Tea Leaves, Japanese Style Matcha Powder

I posted a question, "Is Matcha Green Tea truly Matcha made of Gyokuro? ..." "Hyphen, replied yesterday (Jan/29/2023); "Yes. Very good matcha . . . ." Today, my Matcha was delivered, and it was really good, so good that I chain-drank 5 cups in 50 minutes. It's undoubtedly addictive. From this day on, I would be drinking this yummy and healthy matcha everyday all day; however, I strongly doubt that this matcha drink is "100% matcha" because, in my highschool and college time, I practiced Sadou. Sadou is a traditional, formal Japanese Tea Ceremony in which a host serves "super-sweet one-bite sweets" to his/her guests before he/she makes and serves matcha to the guests. The point is that real matcha is so rich, strong, and bitter that sweet is served before having matcha. Real matcha is served in a very small amount in one matcha cup, and the first guest "take one sip of it" and then pass the matcha cup to a person right next to, who sips and passes it to his/her right next person, ... this repeats until the cup reaches to the last guest. I repeat, "Match is super strong and bitter." In other words, "no way" I could have 5 cups of matcha in 50 minutes! Hence, I believe that this matcha drink is a mixture of a tad of matcha (finely milled Gyokuro green tea, the highest-quality, most expensive green tea) and lots of green tea. I hope Itoen would kindly answer my question.

Having given up coffee some months ago, I'm generally new to tea and very new to matcha. Matcha Love Culinary Matcha is only the second matcha I have tried, the other being a Republic of Tea offering (also very good, by the way).Matcha Love is excellent. I'm surprised that most of the reviews for matchas here on Amazon concentrate on using matcha for lattes and other concoctions with all manner of fruit juices, yogurt, honey...organic/uncured, humanely harvested pollen from free-range bees, etc. The only way I've had matcha is straight up with a touch of sugar, and I love it that way. Matcha Love has a "grassy" quality with a hint of bite which I find remarkably refreshing and stimulating. My prep appears to be pretty traditional: at the bottom of the cup, dissolve a 1/2 (maybe 3/4) teaspoon of matcha in a tablespoon or two of water, work it into a smooth paste with a bit of sugar, add 6 to 7 ozs. of almost boiling water, and whisk until a slight froth forms (about 30 seconds with my miniature, battery-powered whisker). There aren't too many things better than a warm cup of matcha in the afternoon...well, maybe two or three fingers of a nice single-malt whiskey, but that's a different review for another time.

I have used this matcha for cakes, lattes and smoothies so far and it has performed excellently in all three. It's also a great volume for the price. I haven't had any of the issues others have noted about it being bland, lumpy or anything else.For baking, it held its color and flavor very well in a standard chiffon cake.In smoothies and lattes, make sure you are first mixing the tea in some hot water. My tap gets hot enough, but yours may not. This helps you avoid any lumps. For lattes, I do 1 tsp powder and whisk in 3 tbsp of hot water. After well mixed, stir in 2 tsp of sugar or honey. Sometimes I add about 1/4 of a tsp of vanilla paste. Steam the amount of milk you prefer and pour in. It's very important at this point to allow the mixture to sit for a couple of minutes to "brew". If your water isn't hot enough or you skip this step, your latte will be gritty!

Firstly, I'll admit that I'm not a matcha connoisseur - I have tried only 3 different brands of matcha, so far. Also, I don't have a macha whisk, or any professional knowledge on how to properly prepare matcha tea.BUT I like this matcha just fine. It has a good strong flavor, in my opinion. I also really appreciate the little container it comes in, which is much easier to manage than the resealable pouch I usually find matcha in. (To be perfectly honest, the container is the reason I gave this matcha a shot. I plan on reusing it)So, my reason for docking a star, is that this brand doesn't seem to dissolve well. There is always some green 'sand' at the bottom of my cup, as well as green 'floaties' throughout. I DON'T think this is due to my lacking a matcha whisk, or my improper preparation of the tea, because other brands I tried have dissolved much better. And, on that note, I won't be returning to this brand.But, again, maybe I just don't know what I'm doing when it comes to matcha. Mainly, I make my own lattes.--- I use an 11oz mug, as pictured, add a teaspoon of matcha (I really like that there are 50 servings in this. It's definitely worth the price, in that respect) mix in some sweetener, fill 1/3 of the mug with boiling water, vigorously stir, add a splash of heavy cream, fill remaining 2/3 of the mug with milk-of-choice ---If that's the wrong way to do it, then shame on me. But it tastes good :DFor all I know, real quality matcha is supposed to have floaties and sand. But, if so, I think I'll settle for the lower quality stuff

For matcha, I only use name brand teas from Japan, as you're actually ingesting the tea, and many Chinese brands contain lead. I had been using Republic of Tea but the price went up, so I decided to try out this cheaper brand. While it may not be immediately obvious from the Amazon listing, it's by Ito En, which makes my favorite bottled/canned green teas. In smoothies, it's equally good, so I will stick with it for that purpose. It's culinary matcha, so I'm not sure it's really meant for making regular tea, but I tried anyway and it's not as good as Republic of Tea. But my main use of matcha is smoothies, so I'm very happy with it.

An awesome combo especially with a sponge cake crust. This is the perfect matcha for your baking needs