Kimberley's Kyusu

Hey there Teacups, happy Matcha Monday! I’m of course back again today with another Let’s Talk Tea post and this time around I’m going to be reviewing Matcha Fuel’s – Organic Ceremonial Matcha. They very kindly gifted me one of their 30g bags so I could try it out and review it for you all for this weeks Matcha Monday. As much as I love flavoured matcha, having it in its natural form without anything at all added into it is my favourite and something I always reach for first before the flavoured ones.

That is not to say that I don’t enjoy the flavoured ones, I definitely do but because my personal matcha journey started with a normal ceremonial matcha I learned to love it in its best form and it very quickly became on of my favourite teas to drink and prepare. So while the flavoured ones are nice they will always come second to me. So, I always love getting the chance to review a new ceremonial matcha for you because not all matchas are created equal and each one has its own unique flavours and attributes.

Here’s what the team over at Matcha Fuel have to say about this matcha over on their website: ”Born in the beautiful rolling hills of Kagoshima Japan, our renowned ceremonial-grade matcha is exclusively grown only once a year. It consists of the utmost finest first harvest baby leaves, which have been shade grown for up to 4 weeks, and then traditionally stone milled into a fine velvety powder for maximum strength. The result is a deeply rich and balanced flavour profile, boasting notes of creamy dark chocolate and roasted hazelnut, with a very smooth yet floral umami finish. Nutrient dense and packed full of energy boosting and immunity boosting antioxidants, this rich delicacy will have you launching into a soothing state of alpha brain-wave nirvana”.

This matcha is quite a bright green but not as vibrant as some other ceremonial matchas I have had in the past. In terms of its dry aroma, aside from a grassy vegetal note that smelt exactly like fresh cut grass in summer, I could pick out the floral notes Matcha Fuel spoke about in their description and an extremely subtle dark chocolate. It smelt a lot fresher than a few matchas I’ve had recently. The only way I can describe it is that this matcha smells like spring; If you could bottle the stereotypical aroma of spring it would smell just like this matcha.

Tea Tasting Notes

After reading what Matcha Fuel had to say about this matcha I was so excited to open this pouch and try it for myself, a ceremonial matcha boasting notes of roasted hazelnut and dark chocolate with a smooth yet floral umami finish sounded amazing to me. To be completely honest it sounded too good to be true and I was expecting to be disappointed but I was so wrong and it only took one sip of this matcha for me to change my mind completely. For this tasting session I tried this matcha three ways, firstly i tried it on its own (hot), secondly I tried it with just a teaspoon of honey (hot) and then lastly I tried it as a latte with honey and frothed soya milk (hot). Normally I would tried it iced as well but I just haven’t gotten round to trying it iced yet though I’m sure I will do soon.

This is normally the part of my Matcha Monday post where I show you how this matcha frothed in my matcha bowl but sadly after a very long time trying to get this to froth it simply just would not build or hold a froth which was a little bit disappointing, however I was pleasantly surprised by how vibrant of a green this matcha looked in my matcha glass. The picture above is the matcha on its own with absolutely nothing added to it, I try it this way first to make sure I am trying it for what it truly is so I can give you all my honest opinion of it before I add different things to it.

On it’s own this is different to a lot of the matchas that I’ve had in one very specific way, that floral umami aftertaste! I don’t think I’ve ever had a matcha that has had that and it stood out so much to me. I’ll be honest in that I couldn’t pick out the roasted hazelnuts which was disappointing but I could pick out that subtle dark chocolate note that was present in the aroma. To me that note tasted like the aftertaste of dark chocolate with that trademark bitterness and I didn’t hate it. It didn’t have that creaminess that I love about matcha but like I said not all matchas are created equally and this one stands out to me because its so different.

The cup I had with a teaspoon of honey in it was nice but it seemed to completely get rid of that dark chocolate note that I actually quite enjoyed so I wouldn’t really recommend adding any sweetener too it not unless you think you won’t like that dark chocolate note and you want to pretty much remove it. I was a little worried that it wouldn’t hold the frothed milk very well and that the soya milk was going to over shadow all of its best notes but I was so wrong. The addition of the soya milk added a nice creaminess, that dark chocolate note was still present but just a little bit subtler and the floral umami finish with the addition of the milk was so smooth. I can see myself making both hot and iced lattes with this. As well as enjoying it for what it is on its own because its delicious and well balanced.

If you’re a matcha lover like me and you’re looking for a matcha that a little different that what you are used to from a ceremonial matcha, you need to give this one a try. I think that going forward this will be a matcha I repurchase; I’m going to use what I have throughout the spring and summer because the flavour profile this has is perfect for those seasons.

Overall Teacup Rating: 5/5  | I was going to give this a 4.95/5 because it would build or hold a good froth but in the end taste wise I really enjoyed this and I just felt like it deserved a 5/5 for that.

If you want to find out more about Matcha Fuel and purchase some of this matcha for yourself, you can do both here. As always if you have any questions at all either stick them in the comments or send them to me on Twitter/Instagram @teaisawishblog and I’ll answer them all as soon as I can.

Speak to you all again soon. Happy Steeping – Kimberley

*The tea featured in this post was gifted to me for the purpose of this review. All opinions are my own and have not been paid for*