The Return Of Matcha Madness - Set Two

Alrighty, we continue our journey of blind taste testing various matcha. The original Matcha Madness was a comparison of lower end culinary grade powders suited for use in lattes and cooking. Although, frankly, there was at least one that I enjoyed straight without additives (Red Leaf Tea Deluxe Matcha). In The Return Of Matcha Madnesss, we stepped up a notch to better culinary grade tea. Now with the current round (set two of three) we move up another step to middle grade matcha. There are 9 samples in this set. All matcha samples have been supplied by Red Leaf Tea. Having a sponsor in no way influenced my reviews as I was not aware of what or who's each tea was until after completing the tastings.

Now on to the sampling:

Red Leaf Tea, Royal Matcha

The dry powder was green, though not as green as some of the Set One teas. The dry smell was hay, grass, and a combination of nuts and popcorn. The dry taste was nuts and popcorn with no bitterness. The powder mixed easily and made a nice thick foam. The color was a cloudy but bright jade green. The taste was of seaweed and kale. It ends with a bite of bitter. Has a nice sweetness.

Since this is the first sample, I am setting all the scores to 5, and all other teas in this round will be adjusted accordingly.

Aroma: 5  Color: 5  Taste: 5  Sweet to Bitter: 5

Price per ounce: $9.99 ($4.99 volume discount)

Price per bag: $9.99

DoMatcha Green Tea, 2nd Harvest Matcha

Nice green powder here. It is a little brighter than the first in this set. The dry scent was not as aromatic as the first. It was a mix popcorn and bread. The dry taste was similar. I had a little more trouble getting this to mix but did get a good foam. The cup is bright green in color. The taste was too similar to the first for my limited ability to taste the difference.

Aroma: 4  Color: 6  Taste: 5  Sweet to Bitter: 5

Price per Ounce: $10.55

Price per tin: $29.74

DoMatcha DoMatcha Organic 2nd Harvest Matcha

The color is just a tick more yellow than the last. The dry scent is interesting. It is a mix  of the popcorn and nuts from the first along with the bread of the second. Truly, it smells like banana nut bread. The dry taste is more buttery popcorn. The cup isn't as brightly green but a definite improvement over the lower level powders. The taste is more vegetal and grassy to my tastes. There is enough bitterness to be interesting but leans towards sweet. It is good but just feels a little subdued. Maybe I'm just disappointed it doesn't taste like the dry aroma.

Aroma: 7  Color: 4  Taste: 4  Sweet to Bitter: 5

Price per Ounce: $12.51

Price per tin: $32.11

iMaccha Kazuma, Organic Ceremonial Grade Matcha Green Tea Powder

This one seems the most green so far. Bright spring green. The dry powder smells of hay, grass, and chocolate? Yes, I had to open the sample a second time to check. The dry taste is of buttery popcorn and nuts. This mixed easily but I felt I had to work at getting a good foam. The cup color is very nice. Very little bitterness. It feels creamy. The taste is hard for me to come up with comparisons. It is almost like drinking a mild vegetal green tea with a little seaweed and kale. This is a mild cup but I like this one.

Aroma: 8  Color: 7  Taste: 7  Sweet to Bitter: 7

Price per ounce: $12.83

Price per bag: $44.90

Red Leaf Tea, Imperial Matcha

This one is a duller green than the others have been but still more green than the average run of the mill culinary grade tea. The dry aroma is lightly nutty. Actually, the aroma is just overall light. The dry taste is... earthy? With no bitterness. Interesting. The cup color leans towards a darker algae green. The taste is leafy, seaweed, and kale. There is a solid touch of bitter and a creamy sweetness. Based on what I have read on various websites, this is what matcha is supposed to taste like, but my rating reflects my personal unrefined tastes.

Aroma: 4  Color: 4  Taste: 5  Sweet to Bitter: 5

Price per ounce: $13.99 ($6.99)

Price per bag: $13.99

Red Leaf Tea, Shokuku Matcha

The dry powder on this one is yellow green. The aroma is oddly attractive, and not so much, at the same time. Initially it hits as kind of a fresh latex paint smell but then it is recognizable as fruity, like strawberry. The dry taste has little, to no, bitterness and has a popcorn and leafy green taste. This mixed easily enough but failed to develop a good foam. The color of the cup is drab algae. That said, I liked the taste of this one. There is little, to no, bitterness in the cup. It is green and leafy and reminds me of tender fresh uncooked spinach leaves. Sweet with a pleasant aftertaste.

Aroma: 5  Color: 4  Taste: 6  Sweet to Bitter: 8

Price per ounce: $14.99 ($7.49)

Price per bag: $14.99

Red Leaf Tea, Tenryu Matcha

The dry color is leaning towards brown. The aroma lacks the fruitiness of the previous sample, leaving only the latex paint scent. The dry taste is bitter. This mixed easily but failed to hold the foam once it was whisked up. The color is drab algae. Nothing about this sounds right, but I like the taste. It has a little bitterness. The taste is a simple fresh green leafy tea with a sweet finish.

Aroma: 3  Color: 3  Taste: 6  Sweet to Bitter: 7

Price per ounce: $14.99 ($7.49)

Price per bag: $14.99

Red Leaf Tea Connoisseur's Matcha

Hey, we are back to vibrant green again! I am not getting a lot of scent off the dry powder. I maybe a victim of the paint fumes ;) What I am catching is nutty and buttery. The dry taste is popcorn and malt. Yes ladies and gentlemen - malt. Mixed easily and foamed well. The color is back to jade green. Tasting I get seaweed, kale, and green leafy tea with malt in the background. I thought I also detected brief hints of chocolate. It is creamy with enough bitterness to be interesting. The sweet leafy aftertaste lingers on this one. I think this is my pick of this set, just edging out Kuzama.

Aroma: 5  Color: 7  Taste: 7  Sweet to Bitter: 7

Price per ounce: $15.99 ($7.99)

Price per bag: $15.99

Red Leaf Tea, Kennin Matcha

This is as nicely green as the last sample. The scent is similar. I am noting hay and malt. Along with the nutty and buttery popcorn notes. The dry taste is again much like the last, malt and popcorn with just a hint of bitterness. Mixed easily. Foamed well. Pretty jade green color. A little bitter. A little sweet. Creamy. This is certainly easy to sip. The problem with it is that after tasting all these teas in a row, this one doesn't stand out. It is grassy and pleasant. It may be a victim of being overshadowed by the previous sample. I certainly can't find a fault with it.

Aroma: 5  Color: 7  Taste: 6  Sweet to Bitter: 7

Price per ounce: $16.99 ($8.49)

Price per bag: $16.99

The Return Of Matcha Madness

A short while back, I had the pleasure of participating in a blind taste testing of a dozen culinary grade powdered teas. I was a bit nervous as I thought I was a little too inexperienced for the challenge. Turns out my insights and opinions lined up fairly well with the more experienced matcha drinkers and bloggers who also participated. So, go me! You can find the original set of reviews here.

Now, a few of us have been given the opportunity to continue on where the first testing ended. There will be three sets of matcha. Each set has been selected to contain similar quality teas, and are intended to progress upward in quality with each. I plan to dedicate one post to each set of samples. The third set may span more than one post. I'll decide about that later. I feel a lot more confident going in to this round.

The Sponsor:

This testing is sponsored by Red Leaf Tea. They supplied all the matcha samples to the testers. At least one of the samples in each set belongs to Red Leaf Tea.

Methodology:

The matcha was divided and packaged in individual aluminum sample bags. A label was affixed to each saying simply "Sample 1",  "Sample 2", etc.. After the testing was completed, I received a file containing the actual product names to match to the appropriate sample.

Each of us is allowed to prepare our matcha as we see fit. It is my intention to treat each in an identical manner (but see below for my mixing goof). My methodology will be the same as I used in the original matcha madness testing:  Measure out 1/4 tsp of matcha into the cup. Add 2 ounces of filtered water heated to 160 F and stir until well mixed.

Testing & Rating Process:

Each dry sample will be examined for color. Traditionally, the deeper green the powder, the better.  Next, I will taste the dry powder. Finally, the matcha will be prepared and tasted.

A rating, will be given  for color, and one for taste, with a rating of 1 being lowest and 10 highest. A third rating is for sweetness /bitterness. Here, a rating of 1 is extreme bitterness, and a 10 is sweet with no bitterness.

Now On To The Sampling:

First, a word about the cup pictures - I changed procedures during the tasting which I should not have done. With the first and second teas, I mixed with a spoon because that is my daily routine when making lattes. For the rest, I used a whisk because we aren't making lattes here, are we? Obviously, the whisk works better at creating a foam. In all fairness the first two will foam nicely when done properly.

Red Leaf Tea, Starter Matcha

The powder is kind of lime green. The dry taste is a good mix of sweet and bitter with a nice leafy taste. The liquor is a murky algae green. The taste is strong and seems a little more bitter than sweet and has some nice grassy hay notes. The aftertaste lingers. This is very inexpensive and a nice latte worthy tea. In fact, this will be my new everyday latte powder very soon. My ratings for this one are lower than my original review, as I am using it as the baseline to compare the others in this set.

Color: 5  Taste: 5  Sweet: 5

Price per bag: $14.99

Price per oz: $0.94

Red Leaf Tea, Deluxe Matcha

Yes, I recognize this one as Red Leaf Tea Deluxe Matcha. It was my top choice in round one.  The color is a little more green than the first. The dry taste is sweet with floral notes. The liquor is a dark murky algae green. It tastes floral with a nice bite. To me, this is what I imagine a green oolong would taste like if powdered. The aftertaste lingers and is very pleasant with floral and grassy notes.
  

Color: 6  Taste: 7  Sweet: 6

Price per bag: $24.99

Price per oz: $1.56

JK Tea Shop Ceremony Grade Matcha

This one is very different from the previous two. The dry color is about the same as the first. The dry taste is very dry with no bitterness. I got a nice foam on this one. Tasting this I get almost no bitterness, just a pleasant bite. The taste has a dark green leafy taste. It doesn't make me think spinach exactly but it isn't seaweed either. Kind of in between the two. The aftertaste has a sweet floral and leafy taste.

Color: 6  Taste: 8  Sweet: 6

Price per bag: $19.00

Price per oz: $5.28

Red Leaf Tea, Classic Matcha

Out of the bag, this is the greenest powder I have seen so far. The dry taste had an umami presence, yet reminded me of movie popcorn without all the salt. It mixed well and had great color though still kid of murky. Maybe that is true of all matcha? I have no idea at this point. It isn't bitter or particularly sweet. It is a bit seaweed and again the umami notes. Mostly it is just kind of flat to me due to the lower sweetness, but it is easy to drink. It didn't move me as something I would drink straight but seems perfect for sweetened lattes.

Color: 8  Taste: 6  Sweet: 4

Price per bag: $7.99

Price per oz: $7.99 ($3.99) 

iMaccha, KIWAMI Supreme Ceremonial

Oooh, another that is very green out of the bag. Maybe this will be the new normal as we go through the remaining sets of matcha. Hope so. The dry powder tastes smooth and malty with a touch of seaweed. Mixed easily. This tastes good. Not very descriptive I know. I get malt, seaweed and floral with a touch of hay. There is enough bite to be interesting without calling it bitter and mixed with enough sweetness to make it easy to drink. My hands down favorite so far from this set.

Color: 9  Taste: 9  Sweet: 7

Price per bag: $29.90

Price per oz: $8.54 

Yunomi, Obubu #19: Excellent Kitchen Grade Matcha 

The powder is as pronounced green as the last. The dry taste is kind of a mix between malt and the umami popcorn I noted earlier. Foams up easily and the color is bright jade green. Now, the taste leans more bitter than I expected. It is malty and leafy green vegetal/seaweed. There may be nothing wrong with this one but I wasn't a fan, which is interesting as this is the most expensive of the set.

Color: 8  Taste: 8  Sweet: 5

Price per bag: $32.50

Price per oz: $9.29