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“I’ve been curious about this matcha for a while, and am happy to have finally gotten the chance to try it (and save myself the $$ of buying a full tin). In the Insta/TikTok matcha world, this...” Read full tasting note
Origin: Shizuoka
Cultivar: Yabukita, Okumidori, Saemidori and Asanoka
Tasting Notes: Vegetal, Umami, Floral
Matcha Harvest: Spring (First Harvest Leaves)
Weight: 30g
Meet Nami Matcha’s Kana Blend. Kana means strong, powerful, and fragrant in Japanese, which is exactly what this matcha is! It’s a robust & high-quality (first harvest) blend of 4 different cultivars (Yabikuta, Okumidori, Saemidori, Asanoka). This combination was chosen very intentionally to create a clean, smooth, and rich profile that performs beautifully in milk.
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I’ve been curious about this matcha for a while, and am happy to have finally gotten the chance to try it (and save myself the $$ of buying a full tin).
In the Insta/TikTok matcha world, this specific matcha has basically gone viral for its super iconic notes of tomato vine and white chocolate. Very intriguing! I’ve really loved the other matcha I’ve tried from Nami, so this one with its more uniquely described profile was certainly calling to me even though it’s made with cultivars that aren’t typically my jam…
I tried it as usucha first (hot) and have to admit that I wasn’t into it. I definitely got that bright and bitter vegetal flavour that I do think mirrors the tomato vine notes that Nami markets this as having, but I wasn’t enjoying it. To Nami’s credit, they specifically call out that this matcha performs best when used in a latte and that makes PERFECT sense to me because you need a bolder and more bitter/astringent matcha to balance out the sweetness and fat that comes with making a matcha latte. Especially if you’re adding sweetener or syrups. Something more gentle and nuanced will just be abused in a latte prep…
So, I decided to turn the rest of my usucha into an iced matcha latte and that was much more pleasant to my palate. Still a stronger profile with a bold vegetal lean, but not as sharp or bitter. So much more balanced. I found it also brought out a more heady floral note, which I sometimes can enjoy in a matcha. The “white chocolate” was totally absent for me, however.
To be clear I wasn’t expecting the sweetness/cream of actual white chocolate. I have read/watched more than one review of people trying this matcha and just simply NOT understanding that when someone describes an unsweetened/unflavoured matcha as tasting like white chocolate they’re not literally meaning the taste of white chocolate. It was still missing in this matcha for me, though…
In this case, the matcha is still more on the vegetal side than I prefer. However, I think the quality is solid and definitely matches how Nami is recommending people consume it!
