Hey there Teacups…Happy Matcha Monday! For this week’s Matcha Monday post I’m going to be reviewing The Zen Tea Company’s – Organic Emerald Matcha (ceremonial grade). The Zen Tea Co is a newly launched tea company focusing on all this premium matcha. They currently only offering their Emerald Matcha, both on its own and in a gift set but I assume they will probably expand their range as time goes by. Going into this tasting session I was definitely interested to see what this new company had to offer and whether or not their matcha was going to top any of my favourites. You really have to take the plunge when it comes to new companies because you never know what you’re getting yourself in for, so I hope this review will help anyone out there who is considering giving this matcha a go but wants to hear what someone else thinks of it first before buying a full tin.
Here’s what The Zen Tea Co have to say about this matcha over on their website: “Our Emerald grade is the highest matcha tea powder grade, sourced in Uji, Japan, meticulously cultivated on a family-owned organic tea land and harvested twenty days after being shaded. First harvest, made in Spring. Ceremonial grade.
Take a few minutes to experience the matcha ceremony, taste the best organic matcha and enjoy this special moment of zen!”
Ingredients: 100% organic matcha green tea. Preservatives free and colorants free.
Tea Tasting Notes
For this tasting session, as with all of my matcha tasting sessions I simply tried this matcha prepared one way: on its own (hot). I have no doubt in my mind this probably would be great with milk and make a fantastic latte but for a post like this I like to try the matcha on its own and see what it has to offer without anything additional added. I will go on to try this prepared different ways in the future, but I’ll keep those post over on Instagram and these reviews solely for what the matcha has to offer on its own. I used 3-31/2g of matcha and 100-120ml of filtered water at 83-85°C.
In terms of its flavour profile this matcha is vegetal and ever so slightly bitter. It’s has a taste of buttered greens to it, like spinach and green beans mixed if that makes any sense. It frothed absolutely brilliantly and it held for a really long time as well. I was honestly quite surprised by how quickly I was able to form a froth with this matcha and just how sturdy it ended up being. It has a touch of natural sweetness to it but it’s not like a candy sweetness and more like the kind of sweetness that you find in green beans.
In terms of its mouth feel, it was mostly very smooth and easy to drink, with and ever so slight creaminess to it. But towards the end of the bowl it did get a little bit drying. In it’s aftertaste it had a hint of mint to it, but mostly in the way that mint makes your mouth feel and not the way that it taste, and that definitely came out more as it cooled down, as did the vegetal notes. The matcha also lost its sweetness as it started to cool and became a little more bitter, so I would recommend having it one prepared hot rather than iced.
Overall this matcha really took me by surprise, as I wasn’t expecting to enjoy it as much as I did. It’s not the best matcha I’ve ever had but it’s definitely up there with some of the great ones I’ve had recently and I would definitely consider purchasing it again. It was a unique enough experience that it stood out compared to matcha I currently have in my tea collection, which is important to me when it comes to considering what I’m going to repurchase. If you love matcha and your are looking for a new company to try out, I definitely recommend giving The Zen Tea Co a go you are likely to have a fantastic tea experience with them.
Overall Teacup Rating: 4.98/5
If you want to find out more about The Zen Tea Co and purchase some of this matcha to try 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 expressed are my own and have not been paid for*
Kimberley's Kyusu 
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