Red Leaf Tea, Caramel Matcha

Red Leaf Tea Description:
For those with an unrepentant and unwavering sweet tooth, there is no better tea than sweet caramel matcha. This fine tea blends the eastern traditions of matcha with the modern caramel flavor to brew a delectable tea that is sweet to take as a mid-morning snack, before lunch aperitif or after dinner relaxing drink. The toned-down caramel matcha is ideal for those who need a sweet tea without adding any extra sugar.

Ingredients:
Pure Matcha powder from green leaves, Caramel Natural Flavor

My Review:

I've already had my usual morning cold milk/matcha latte. This morning I mixed strawberry and French vanilla matcha from Red Leaf Tea. It was very good, although I may prefer each of them by themselves, as I don't want anything getting in the way of the flavor of either. Weird, but true.

I thought I would have this one as a treat after lunch. I have read so many positive reviews, I wanted to check it out for myself. That being said, I am not a major craver of all things caramel, so we will see.

This is the basic grade matcha sample. It is what you get if you don't click anything but sample when you order. The powder is a greenish yellow-brown.

I used about a level teaspoon of powder in my mug and added 4 ounces of milk. Using a battery operated frother, I was able to completely fill the mug to overflowing with froth. I used the spoon to stir the mix to make sure I had gotten all the powder off the bottom blended in with the milk. This is why the mug doesn't look full in the picture. After the picture was taken, I added more milk.

So my first sip was pleasant enough. To me it was a little too light for my tastes. It didn't seem like it was worth all the fuss I had read about it.

Then I added a half packet of Splenda - equivalent to about 1 tsp of sugar - and what a difference. Caramel topping like you would add to ice cream or caramel like found in candy bars, is ok once in a while but I don't get too excited about them. This on the other hand was delicious enough I could enjoy it everyday.

This is obviously sweet but it isn't gross sweet even after my addition. It is very smooth and buttery feeling. The taste seems so natural and totally resist getting all up in my face. The perfect comination of flavor, sweet, and texture. I'll have this one again.

You can find Red Leaf Tea Caramel Matcha here