230/365
I made this one up as a “UV Unicorn” today, using Bird & Blend’s recipe. It’s 1/2 tsp of Ultra Violet matcha, mixed with 150ml of Blue Raspberry and poured over ice. I topped mine off with sparkling water. I wasn’t sure whether I liked it at first. It’s very green, both from the matcha and the Blue Raspberry’s sencha base, and typically cold matcha isn’t my thing anyway. It grew on me after a few sips, though.
The matcha provides the bulk of the flavour, and while it’s floral, it’s that unique kind of fragrant-candy kind of floral that violet has. If you’re familiar with parma violets, you’ll probably know what I mean. It tastes like those, only with an edge of something I recognise from other Bird & Blend matchas. I adds additional sweetness and is kind of mapley, and so I’m pretty sure it’s the carob.
The Blue Raspberry doesn’t have a lot of impact on the flavour. There’s a light raspberry flavour in the background (not so noticeably sour, this time!), and a faint hint of butterfly pea. Mostly, though, it’s violets and grass.
I almost like it. I don’t think I’d rush to make this particular recipe again, although there’s nothing intrinsically bad about it. I actually think it’s a pairing that’s well thought out – both teas have floral elements, the sourness of the raspberry is balanced out by the candy-like sweetness of the violet, and they both have green bases so everything hangs together around that central similarity. It’s maybe a bit over green for my tastes, but I can still appreciate it. I definitely want to try this matcha as a latte, though (maybe even an iced latte…), since the thought of liquid parma violet is really quite appealing…
I like that Bird & Blend are becoming more experimental with their matcha flavours. Ultra Violet is part of this year’s spring/summer Curious Matcha collection, and I’m looking forward to trying the others on the strength of this one.
Sounds scrumptious!