Cheesecake Matcha

Bananas are bullies. Yep. I’ve added this to my smoothies before, but today was the first time where I removed the banana entirely. Today, it was just almond milk and pear. And oh boy did it ever make for a creamy cheesy delight! Kindof stale tasting, but only on the occasional sip, and that could be the almond milk.
A spoonful of sugar seriously punches it up.
I’m not sure if this one is worth re-ordering, but my experience today certainly has me questioning that!

Oh sweet heavenly goodness! This matcha makes me laugh. I bet I sound like a crazy person now so I will explain why it makes me laugh. When I was told I had a gluten allergie it sucked big time, alot of food has gluten in it. So for my birthday all I wanted was a gluten free cheesecake. So me and my friends went on this huge adventure around town to find a gluten free cheesecake for me. So we found this little bakery online that sold glutenfree cheesecake I was so excited and happy. So we went to find this place, we got lost 3 times bused all around town, walked in circles for i don’t know how long, then it started to rain. We almost gave up but we finally found it in this little hidden strip mall. So we all ran into the store and there it was, so we asked for one which they had in the back and got it all packed up ( everything gluten free seems to cost so! much more!) and started back to my house. Well as soon as we got home we took it out of the box. And jeeze! glutenfree my butt! all they did was scrape off the crust! So when I think about anything cheesecake that is the first thing I think of.

Now enough babbling, so what I got was Size: Small (30 grams), Quality: Basic Grade, Flavor: Delicate. One of these days I’m gonna have to try different flavor strengths and compare. So I made this into a iced latte because cheesecake is usually cold so I wanted my matcha to remind me of a real cheesecake. I first tried it without sweetener then with it. I have to say when i added the sweetener I found it gave it more of a real cheesecake sweetness. But it has a sweetness on its own, but im a lover of everything really sweet so it depends on your preference. And its not a fake store bought taste, its a made at home with love cheesecake taste. Got it here http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/cheesecake-matcha.html

I also made it into a smoothie. I made my matcha the normal traditional way, then added half a cup of milk, a bunch of frozen raspberry my matcha, and blended it all up. And OMG raspberry cheesecake anyone amazing! The sweetness of the raspberry and the cheesecake is perfect, my drink didnt even last 5 minutes. But now im sad cause its gone.

I’ve been trying to cut down on my sugar consumption lately. I’m done having babies so it’s time to attempt to reclaim my body… hasn’t been nearly as easy to bounce back as it was pre-babies. So… I’ve given up one of my favorite things. Honey. Not for good, but until I feel more like myself again. Cue search for alternative sweeteners…

I like honey because it’s a whole food. No processing (I use raw unpasturized). Even Agave nectar is processed. Stevia is a chemical and tastes awful. So I was at New Season’s and asked the nutritionist for some help. She steered me to Yacon syrup. It’s a whole food and in 2 TBSP there is only 40 calories and I only ever use 1 tsp max of any sweetener. I tried it last night with some black tea. It tastes pretty decent, but can definitely overshadow the tea. Kind of a cross between molasses and maple syrup, but with a kind of nutty flavor to it.

So last night I was thinking of teas that yacon would mix well with and I thought my flavored matchas would go well and I was right! The cheesecake matcha mixed with the yacon syrup is so friggin good. Kind of nutty cheesecake flavor. 1 tsp yacon, 2 tsp matcha, 12ounces of water. YUMMMY. So creamy without any need for milk, which I normally add to matcha. This will definitely be turning into an afternoon ritual! I’m anxious to try it with the caramel or the creme brûlée or the caramel popcorn!!!! So fun!

p.s. I know Dr. Oz did some kind of special on Yacon. I’m not into all that stuff, simply like it for it’s sweetening effect. All of the miracle pill/syrup/diet stuff drives me crazy.

This is one matcha that I inhaled long, slow, deep breaths of the dry aroma. It smells very interesting. Definitely good, but hard to describe. Creamy, sugary, buttery? I think that’s the aroma. It’s hard to be sure because it also smells like matcha. LOL!

At first, the brewed aroma was awful! It was potent and chemically and made me say, “Oh dear!” But I think that happened because I made it concentrated and then diluted it. Once diluted, it smells more like the dry aroma with a nice matcha grassy undertone.

First sip…and the verdict is……delicious!! YUM!! This stuff is sooo good!! Just make sure you get the right water to leaf ratio and then you’re golden! Mmmm, this is uber delicious. I can’t even think of any other descriptive words. I just want to drink more of it! Oh, and I forgot to mention that this is the basic grade matcha with robust flavoring.

No clumps in this one. I did a better job. ;) Awww, but my cup is empty. :( I’ll just have to go make more samples to appease my newfound love of flavored matcha. Thanks so much to Indigobloom for rocking my world!! This is definitely one I’ll buy!

Cheesecake Matcha

Buy it here:

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

Your crazy if you don’t get some NOW as it is on sale for 11.19 – that is an insanely low price for an amazingly good matcha – both in flavor and base quality! I love Red Leaf Tea the company, their service, their dedication to customer support and involvement and their teas, especially their matcha but they offer many other wonderful teas as well.

This particular matcha tastes EXACTLY like cheesecake and not that fake cheesecake made with inferior “cheesecake” stuffing stuff you can buy pre made in the store but real cheesecake made at home from scratch or from a fine restaurant or bakery!

It is not overly sweet either which I was surprised at because I honestly was expecting something more fake tasting and overly sugary.

I was both surprised and pleased when I took my first sip and realized this was the real deal! I still am amazed that Red Leaf Tea can get such excellent flavor from all natural sources into a matcha!

This flavor melded perfectly with the green tea base giving it a beautiful slightly sweet and creamy earthy flavor! I imagine it would be insanely good in a white base as well!

Now I will admit this is not my all time favorite flavor from Red Leaf but with so many to choose from that is not shocking I mean everyone has their own personal flavor favorites and I am not the ultimate cheese cake fan, although lately I have been sipping a lot of cheesecake flavored teas and I do love a good slice of cheese cake now and then but there are other flavors for me personally I would prefer but again that is just a personal flavor favorite thing and has NO reflection on the amazingness of this matcha flavor!

You can almost taste the crumbly cheesecake crust in this as well as the taste of the filling so you do get that whole cheesecake experience.

My matcha was composed as the following:

Options:
Size : Small
Matcha Quality: Starter (Basic Grade)
Flavor: Robust
Storage : Add Small Metal Tin Container (Holds up to 45g)

The tin is 4.00 extra but well worth it as it has a nice screw on lid that keeps you from spilling your matcha and makes scooping much easier than out of the bag!

I have been perfectly happy with the starter grade of matcha but there are other grades you can purchase. I drink most of my matcha in lattes so the grade is not AS important to me but I have also very much loved the Royal grade as well. Also consider the many options of base matcha Red Lead offers because they have recently expanded the selection to include Black and Red as well as a 50/50 blend of green and white!

Between the amazing flavor offerings, the many ways to make your matcha personal to your taste and the supreme customer service and support Red Leaf Tea offers you can’t go wrong!

Now if you want to get yourself some of this cheesecake matcha and get it at a steal of a deal do so as soon as possible because deals like this only last so long!

Here it is again http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/cheesecake-matcha.html

And if you are reading this after the amazing deal is over please know its still worth every penny of the full price and you should’t cheap out on yourself when selecting a matcha – you won’t be disappointed in Red Leaf matcha and I can’t say that for all matcha out there – only Red Leaf so far has put a smile on my face!

Busted out the matcha again this ‘morning’ (it’s 1pm here), because I’m devoted to trying all of my various incarnations of these delicious drinks before I manage to share them all in swaps.

So cheesecake it is today, although there may have been some pineapple on the spoon as well from having just packaged up some for JennyFur.

Size: Small (30g)
Flavor: Delicate
Quality: Classic
Type: Regular
Quantity used: one matcha scoop in 8oz of cold coconut milk
Mixed with a chasen
http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/cheesecake-matcha.html

All I smell when I open the package is butter. Creamy butter. Lovely, however not what I normally associate with cheesecake. Drinking it also gives me butter at the start – which is delicious! Still, I want more cheesecake-y tang. After about half of the cup is finished however, I start to get the tang – so maybe I just needed to use more chasen-whipping skills to get this right. Yum….

Hey, did anyone see the newest offering on Red Leaf yet? Starbucks-comparable green tea frappuchino. Oh.. this makes me excited. I used to down those things like nobody’s business…

Made this one cold shaken, 1/2 heaping tsp in about 6 oz water. It is not as good cold as it is hot. But still delicious. I feel like I’m getting kind of a spice taste when it is cold, like cloves or nutmeg or something like that. Hard to put my finger on it. Still get cheesecake flavour but feels much more watered down when it is cold vs hot. I think next time I am going to try a full tsp and see if that makes a difference.

Edit: Had this one again this morning made with 1tsp of matcha. The taste was much better. Still not as thick and creamy as it is when hot, but I think some matcha flavours are just better hot and seem are better cold.

I’m getting near the end of this so I thought I’d better try this with hot water instead of milk because I keep forgetting that matcha doesn’t have to equal latte.

But it should. This one was better as a latte. :)

Ohmagerd.

My new matchas came in the mail today, and I had to rip into this one right away. I don’t have time to write a full review right now, but I couldn’t contain my excitement about the delicious concoction I made with this, and had to share with you folks immediately.

Ready for it?

Strawberry. Banana. Cheesecake. Smoothie.

It was possibly the best smoothie I’ve ever made/had. Sweet and tangy and creamy with this deliciously smooth cheesecake flavour that was waaaay more true to life and delectable than I expected.

Voila: my smoothie mix

-Generous helping of vanilla yogurt
-3/4 tsp sifted cheesecake matcha
-Handful of frozen strawberries & bananas
-Good pour of pineapple orange banana juice

All whizzed up in my magic bullet! It tastes like fruity liquid cheesecake (if liquid cheesecake were delicious. I imagine it would actually be kinda gross.)

So I received my redirected matchas yesterday, woo! As I’m heading into the lab, a shot of energy seems appropriate, so time to try the much-loved cheesecake matcha. I ordered the robust strength with the regular base, as that seems to be the preferred combination here. http://www.redleaftea.com/matcha-tea/cheesecake-matcha.html

When I first tore into the packet, I have to say that I was surprised/shocked to smell not cheesecake, but strawberry. A similar thing happened to me with the Madagascar Vanilla, where I smelled not vanilla, but strawberry. A bit disappointing, as I was expecting a strong tangy cheesecakey aroma. Upon further sniffs, I detected a bit of a milkyish, possibly cheesecakey flavour, but given that this is “robust”, I really expected more.

As usual, I decided to make this into an almond milk latte. I used 2 heaping teaspoons of matcha whisked into hot milk, then mixed with cold almond milk. To my surprise, the latte tasted like nothing but a generic matcha latte. Not even a hint of cheesecake. So I added another generous tsp or two to a new small bowl of hot milk, whisked, and added it. Same deal. And keep in mind… I think I’ve used about half of my 30g packet by now. This is one EXPENSIVE latte… I added some maple syrup as sweetener (no other options), and now I have quite a tasty drink… but definitely not what I was expecting. I can almost smell cheesecake if I sniff quite hard, and a sip of the latte leaves a bit of a cheesecake aftertaste, but this is unfortunately not what I had hoped it would be. Perhaps the cheesecake blends in too well with the almond milk? I wouldn’t have expected that, given how well my delicately flavoured Caramel matcha worked with it (and also, I tried a taste of the plain milk + matcha and couldn’t taste cheesecake either). I would love to blame this on my tastebuds or something, but I have a series of other teas with me that I can definitely smell and taste quite fine, so that’s not the problem.

Oh well. I do love the caramel matcha, so perhaps will simply stock up on that one instead!

ETA: It just occurred to me that I may have made a fatal error by drinking almost my entire latte on an empty stomach… uh oh…