My opinion on the Sweet Matcha has not changed with further experimentation. Its just too much sugar to enjoy. The "straight" matcha was more...useful.
It comes packaged in twenty, single-serving wrappers, which are ideal for tea-to-go, convenient. Simply add the tea to a bottle of water, shake, shake, shake, and you have a bottle of RTD tea that is far better than what you can buy at a store. I plan to experiment further with powdered sencha and other teas in the future. I think this may be the answer to my lack of tea at work.Traditional preparation is where the lack of quality becomes apparent, though to be fair, it has had some tough competition. The wrappers, which are convenient on the go, aren't ideal in this setting. One serving is too much tea for the traditional 3-4 oz of water. The resulting bowl was harsh, overly astringent. Next I emptied a few into a makeshift natsume, scooping out the desired amount, but it didn't taste as fresh, the flavor, diminished.
I don't like posting negative reviews, but Rishi's Matcha was important in establishing a reference point, for me and for my readers. Previously, all the matcha I had been drinking was O-cha's; I had nothing to compare it to, but now I can begin to create a larger frame of reference.
They also sent an ounce of Chiyo Sakae. I have never seen it offered on their website, so I'm not sure what the story is there, if this is something they plan to offer in the future. It was better, not great, but a passable daily matcha, something to sustain me during dry spells.
5 comments:
It's actually good to see an honest review of Rishi's offerings. I feel as though they a little too revered when some teas just aren't deserving. Don't get me wrong, they're doing great things for tea on a macro scale. I especially like the teaware they offer.
wm, I agree. Rishi is very good at what they do. I remember when I thought that Rishis Teas were the epitome of retail tea vendors. But with time Ive come to realize that they don't have a monopoly on high quality, fresh teas. In fact in some of the tea categories, there's better quality elsewhere and better prices. I also love their tea ware. I just ordered a couple of their Yixing pots, I don't really think these are artisan handmade pots but their a good value.
I think you two have summed up my feelings lately.
Psst, I'm not "supposed" to talk about it, but I took a little crap for that post, so I'm glad to hear that some people agree with me.
Preparing this is something that needs a lot of skills on the person and that is something I do not have. I will better stay loyal to my burritos specialty.
Green always looks good. I love matcha green.
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