Red Leaf Eggnog Matcha Green Tea Review + Giveaway

Disclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial.

Green tea is a lot like wine. You take in the aroma, you look at the color, you enjoy the tannins and complexity of flavor.  There's a ritual that engages the senses.

When Red Leaf Tea sent me a sample of their eggnog matcha to try, I was intrigued. Because along with my love of wine, I also love some boozy eggnog.

Now that I think about it, this review might have been better recieved before the holidays.  No worry, turns out this eggnog flavored green tea has more uses than just spreading some Eastern style holiday cheer.

Upon first opening the package, I was overwhelmed with the smell of vanilla cupcakes.  This makes sense as that's what eggnog often smells like to me.  But, that smell isn't characteristic to green tea.  I was worried that it might be too sweet.

The color, however, was a gorgeous shade of green.  Matcha is ground up green tea leaves so when the tea is consumed, the antioxidant power of the tea is superior to regular brewed and strained tea leaves.  The vibrant green color is a good indication that this wouldn't be some artificially manufactured powder with  green tea flavoring.

I went about my green tea ritual of scooping the powder into a bowl and whisking it with below boiling water to create bubbles and introduce the air into the tea.

Though the whisked tea maintained the vanilla based aroma, there was no sweetener or overwhelming vanilla flavor.  There was a smoothness on the tongue that contrasted with the tannins in the tea well but this was definitely no artificial powder.

Truth be told, I didn't like this as a tea.  I like the green tea aroma and covering it up with the vanilla scent simply detracted from my experience.  Though the smooth aspect on the tongue was interesting, it isn't worth the trade in aroma.

BUT not all is lost.  This particular matcha would be amazing in a green tea macaron shells just in time for the Lunar New Year!

Lemons & Anchovies has a great recipe for Green Tea Macaron Shells on her blog.

She uses a classic matcha powder but I think the vanilla scent of this green tea would kick up the flavor of a macaron to the next level.

Lucky for you, my small but wonderful group of readers, Red Tea is going to give one of you a package of green tea perfectly sized to try out this recipe on your own with enough leftover to sample a cup of tea for yourself.

Just enter the giveaway below. It closes January 22nd.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck friends!
I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

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Red Leaf Caramel Matchaccino Recipe and Review

Disclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial.

Red Leaf Tea sent me two of their varieties of matcha green tea to try.  I was excited to try the Caramel Matchaccino as green tea frappucinos are very popular around my neck of the woods since  coffee based frappuccinos are so passé. We're never really comfortable leaving well enough alone in Southern California. 

Many conversations go like this:

"I'm having a Starbucks frappucino," says someone who proudly frequents Starbucks.

"Don't you know green tea is better for you?  I'm having a green tea frappucino from my local independent coffee shop," says someone who thinks they're better than someone who regularly spends $5 on a blended coffee beverage from a *chain* everyday.

Now I can come in and say, "I make my own vegan green tea frappucinos at home with all natural ingredients and organic coconut milk."

I assume this conversation devolves into someone coming in and saying that they grow their own green tea leaves in their home composted garden.

It's really a battle to see who can make getting the exact same amazing frappucino the most unobtainable to someone else.

And I'm currently a caramel fiend.  I've made sea salt caramels, caramel sauce, caramel apple cider caramel puffcorn.  Yes, I will post recipes one day soon when I get the chance. You know, once I'm done making everything in my life as difficultly unobtainable as possible.

Back to the caramel green tea.  Upon first opening, the package smelled of caramel. As in so caramel scented that I ended up whipping up a chocolate caramel brownie in a mug.  Delicious.

And when classically prepared, the green tea is slightly sweet with this mouth feel that actually mimics the mouth feel of silky caramel. 

Now, I prepared this two ways.  One, straight up as a matcha green tea and as a blended drink. 

As a matcha green tea, this is fantastic.  I really enjoyed the caramel scent layered over the smell of green tea leaves.  The tea that results is lightly sweet while keeping with a robust green tea flavor.  This is fantastic for an all natural product as many of these Frappe/Latte based products tend to be artificial. 

The Matchaccino is only 58 calories so if you're looking for a drink that gives you a healthy energy boost with a dose of antioxidants while staying away from high calorie sugary coffee drinks, this is a good option.

I made the cold latte based on Red Leaf's instructions with the aforementioned vegan twist: coconut milk instead of cow's milk. You can use whatever milk you want but obviously if you're in Southern California, it needs to be as unobtainable as possible.  Next time, I might try some homemade organic hazelnut milk. 

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients
1 tablespoon of latte mix
8 oz of organic coconut milk
1 cup of ice cubes

Instructions
Place all ingredients in a blender and blend.  Pour into a cup and dollop with whipped cream if desired.

Again, this is only lightly sweet so adding some actual caramel would up the sweetness to a more classic caramel frappuccino flavor. But only homemade Hawaiian pink sea salt caramel sauce of course.

I enjoy it lightly sweet because in my family the greatest compliment you can give a dessert is "it's not too sweet" but for the average palate, you will need to add some additional sugar using whatever sweetener you prefer. Like blue agave nectar grown in the backyard of Brad Pitt's desert home.

I think where this would really shine, however, is in a green tea ice cream with chocolate fudge.  Because I really want some ice cream. Made from the finest valrhona noir of course. Or something harder to pronounce.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

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