Eggnog Matcha

So the last batch of egg nog was good, but not amazing. Tasty, but it didn’t blow my socks off. Of course, my first course of action was to order more and bump up the flavor strength. I’m a little afraid of “There’s Matcha In There?”, so I went for the next one down, Robust. I figured if it’s too strong, I can cut it with the delicate matcha and even it out a bit. I’m excited to try it, though. I am in dire need of some egg nog goodness in my life.

The scent is amazing. Spicy, creamy, custardy goodness. The nutmeg is strong enough to even please my father in law! At first sip, I’m a goner. This is my favorite matcha of all time. It’s too late for me to be drinking it, but oh, I want more. It’s just…it’s heaven in a cup. I can’t wait to share it with everyone I know….soy nog will have no place in my fridge this year! It’s Egg Nog matcha all the way! It’s gonna be a super caffeinated Christmas. Maybe some of my Zombie Gingerbread men will be egg nog flavored. This is one I must stock up on. It can be found here: http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/eggnog-matcha.html

Eggnog: My biggest weakness in December. I can seriously stock my fridge full of the stuff and survive on nothing but for the following months. Luckily I’m engaged in someone who feels the same way, but refuses to indulge me for the sake of my health. I had my first go around with homemade eggnog this year too (which is absolutely better than the store bought stuff, though I didn’t think it possible. I did a version where the eggs are cooked up to 170F, though, because I couldn’t bring myself to drink raw eggs.) In any case, I was really excited to try this, but not as excited as Fiance. I am not much of a morning person, and Fiance gets up about 90 minutes before I do most days, but he’s been so excited and very patiently waiting, that I promised him last night that I’d get up with him this morning to make iced matcha with milk for us this morning.

So, I whipped us up a pair of drinks (matcha + 1% milk + ice + sugar in a cocktail shaker) His first sip was “This is good!” and the last sip of the cup was “That was good.” and then I got a text when he got to work “That matcha was awesome”. I’d say the excitement was well deserved for him (and me, because I’ll probably have a matcha budget now. Woo!)

This is very good, though. It definitely smelled like eggnog in the package, and tasted like eggnog (though this is one that really needs add ins to reach its full flavor potential). It’s creamy vanilla custard, with nutmeg and a touch of cinnamon with an undercurrent of tasty matcha. The spices are balanced and seriously nail it. The mouthfeel is creamy and evocative of eggnog as well, but it just can’t match the thickness.

Overall, I’m really pleasantly surprised with how good this was. Nom!

I finally got my Red Leaf Order!! Yay yay!!!!!!!

This was a sample and honestly, you guys can totally bash me on this but I’ve never had eggnog before! I definitely know what it consists of but never tried it or had anything remotely near eggnog. When I first opened the package, it was beautiful! Smells like creamy vanilla and maybe a hint of nutmeg? Anyways, in the package it came with a pamphlet and I literally read everything. It’s really helpful and honestly good internal marketing. With this matcha I decided to make a cold latte. I took a teaspoon of matcha, whisk it with a bit of milk, then it added about a cup of milk and froth it all up. Let me tell you, this matcha is crazy good. Though I tend to like my matcha a little sweeter so I added a bit of vanilla syrup. But all is well I really like this, and I’m glad that my matcha experience went amazing. I do have to say though, I won’t order this particular flavor again, but I can’t wait to try the others!!

Another goodie from the traveling tea box.

I mixed this up the way I have been with matchas. Milk and ice in my metal cocktail shaker.
This smells like eggnog. i havent had actual egg nog in years. My first experince with actual eggnog wasn’t a pleasnat one.

I think this tastes like eggnog, but I enjoy it this time around. Creamy, vanilla, custard, spicy. Yup this is so good. I would probably drink this in place of eggnog throughout the holidays.
I’m not suppose to like matcha. I don’t need a new beverage addiction.

I’m thinking about starting on protein shakes in the am, since I don’t usually eat breakfawt. I wonder how the flavoured matchas would lend to it?

Red Leaf included a sample of this with my order (thanks!). I’ve only had matcha once before. I really didn’t like it then; I remember finding it bitter. It was prepared the traditional way at the Harney & Sons shop in NY, so the taste can’t be chalked up to user error (at least not on my part).

Anyway, this is light years away from my previous experience. I make this as a latte using ~1 heaping teaspoon in 8 oz of hot rice milk blended with a handheld electric milk frother. So. Good. I can’t stand eggnog but this comes out as a creamy vanilla. The sweetness of the rice milk really complements the flavor nicely. I had this with a bagel and cream cheese for brunch today. It really held its own without overwhelming the food. If it didn’t take a few more minutes to make than regular tea, I’d probably be having this every morning.

I don’t have enough experience with matcha to measure against, so no rating for now.

This sample was near perfection. I got this as part of my Black Friday purchase. This was the December sample:) and a great one at that!
I made this with whole milk a tad of sugar and a handful of ice and in my ninja pulse blender it went:)
I sware this could pass as the real deal egg nog except for the color and the texture of course ha ha.
The flavors here were spot on. The nutmeg, the cinnamon, the creaminess!
This is genius I say! Pure genius! This one tastes just like the eggnog tea I had last week! I think it is amazing how spot on some teas can be! If you haven’t tried this and love egg nog I highly recommend it! This sample was delicate flavor intensity, if I had the money I would so love to try the intensifies versions of this or maybe a white matcha version of this!
Ooooooh yummy I’m just drooling at the concept. Ha ha. Anyways…
LOVE THIS! End of story. I may have to splurge and purchase just this one.

I ordered this sample from Red Leaf back in December, but I’m just now getting around to making it. I’ve been curious about the flavored matchas for a while, so I’m excited to finally get to try one!

This was prepared as a cold latte following the directions sent with the tea. It’s ok, but it needs some sweetness. After adding a teaspoon of raw sugar I can say that this is really nice! Definite eggnog flavor. It’s creamy with a strong vanilla custard flavor and a strong nutmeg finish. Wow, I could get used to drinking these.

Now that I understand what all the fuss is about I’m off to see which flavors I want to try next.

http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/eggnog-matcha.html

I love Eggnog and Eggnog Tea, but there is NO match for this:
This is good as a hot or cold latte or classic preparation of matcha,
But I prefer to drink the Classic Eggnog in a cold latte with whole milk…
I am addicted and unashamed
The quality matcha that Red Leaf supplies to its customers
is tasteful and honorable…I would not be ashamed to serve it to anyone.
Eggnog is my favorite flavor and
YES! I highly recommend it

More matcha……

The matcha experiment continues. I did order the December free sample, too. Thank you Red Leaf for doing this promotion. I am looking forward to trying other flavors and have no issues with paying shipping for my free sample. Comments on that: I did notice that the Eggnog sample was a little smaller than the Caramel sample. To me, this is not a big deal at all because the purpose of the samples is that the customer can try a flavor before they buy, not drink matcha every day for three weeks…. I hope Red Leaf can work this out to be a sustainable and profitable program.

As for my little experimentation: I was surely thinking that I would like black matcha best. I was completely wrong as I seriously prefer the green. I will have to play around a little more with my French Vanilla Black Matcha before doing a review. I am not sorry I purchased it, though. It was part of the great deals for Black Friday, so I got a small size at a discount. I have also determined that we would probably like just a little more flavor. Yes, we. My son loves this and is looking forward to trying more flavors. Now to get my daughter, the non-coffee and non-tea drinker to give it a try in the frappe form.

The Eggnog flavor itself is good. Since we seem to like the frappe preperation, I think flavors that lend themselves to good milkshake flavors will probably be huge winners.

Thanks again to Red Leaf Tea!

Drank two cups of this this morning: hot milk and cold milk. The smell of the dry matcha is intensely eggnog. I’m picky about my eggnog (mom always buys the low-fat stuff, oh no!). This smells like the good stuff.

Sadly the taste is pretty generic. I’m not sure what strength the flavor is in Red Leaf’s samples, but this one tasted mostly like matcha to me. It wasn’t even a generic vanilla flavor, just matcha with a slightly sweet edge to it. It might be good in their robust style, but I don’t have much opinion on it right now other than “I didn’t hate it.”