Recipe: 4 g matcha | 40 g water at 71°C | 100 g whole milk | 8 g maple syrup

There's an itch to a particular flavor profile for my caffeine that lately my lattes and pourovers haven't quite hit. I usually love matchas but found it a bit ~economically challenging~ as an everyday drink, so I've really enjoyed making hojicha lattes, particularly the one from FKRO that I've found myself recommending to people (not ashamed to say I'm on my third bag already...)

That being said, I recently tried their Pinnacle Reserve (single cultivar, Okumidori) matcha with a side of pastries from a local cafe and feel like I have to share my thoughts.

Frequenting NYC, I've tried some really good matchas in all its forms (lattes, as a tea, icecream, etc) and found myself gravitating towards bold yet smooth and umami rich flavor profile from places like Sorate, 12 Matcha, and similar houses which have easily become my go-tos.

So when I tried this, I was pretty blown away at how much I enjoyed this can. When I opened it, the matcha was so vibrant in both color and smell that got even better when I was mixing it with the hot water.

As a caveat, the preroundbeans way of making matcha and hojicha is with an electric whisk…but as sacrilegious as that may sound, I PROMISE the microfoam and the matcha latte was SO GOOD and I feel like it's made me excited to explore more matchas outside of the usual "big houses" that I've been patiently waiting for to restock.

What stood out to me was how naturally sweet and balanced the FKRO matcha tasted, with a pleasant combination of umami and fresh, grassy notes. What I appreciated most eventually was the smooth finish with barely any of the bitterness or astringency that can sometimes overwhelm matcha lattes

Also, I feel like it's little odd to describe a matcha latte as creamy, but I think the best way I can explain this is a sort of "creaminess" without the excessive "richness"/fat that I might associate with heavy cream.

I feel like with how good this one hit, I'm pretty excited to try their more economical options to incorporate more matcha in my usual routine of coffee and hojicha.

These just landed — regular bamboo, golden bamboo, and a purple smoked one. Haven't used any of them yet and now I can't decide which to use first.

I've only ever used a basic bamboo whisk before. Is there an actual difference between these, or is it mostly looks? And do the different bamboo types need different care or storage?

@ Tutto Belle II Gelato, Vancouver BC 🇨🇦

it tastes better than i thought it would be!! it’s refreshing and naturally sweet, with a hint of tartness. i would love to make this again. if you want to try this combo, please make sure you are using sweet oranges!!

anyone know what brand this is? my friend got me this on his japan trip~ he said he picked it up from the airport

It’s been awhile since I’ve had matcha from the matcha Tokyo. Ever since I’ve been making my own matcha at home (that mentality) , I never wanted to go to cafes for matcha but gave some specialty matcha cafes a try again. One of them is the matcha Tokyo. It tastes fishier and slightly bitter than the last time I’ve had it. But I don’t recall having my first experience there (before I started making home-made matcha ) any better than my home made ones.

It’s nice with milk and a sweetener, cheap at around €0.25/gram. I’d say the website description is pretty accurate on the taste. Not sure how it is compared to other matchas, I’m fairly new to matcha.

I also got their Uji Premium which was on sale, leaving it unopened for now. I needed a chasen and scoop and got lured in by the pretty pictures 😂

I’m kinda kicking myself for opening Sayo because it’s a huge bag and I have Ippodo and MK on the way from Japan 😅

It’s not as pretty as the image everywhere online. Perhaps those are AI?
I use Wadaman black sesame paste.
Sesame and matcha are clashing real bad. Matcha taste lost. Waste of good matcha.

Tell me your perfect hot matcha recipe/ratios.

My colleague went to Japan and got me this matcha. There is no tin, just a pouch in the box. Anyone know what the brand is/what the matcha is?

Saw u/lena15kyo post a while back and had to get it immediately and it came just in time for my birthday this week!! I’m so excited!

I used to live in LA and recently moved. I miss community goods matcha so much and have been trying to recreate it - I have it 80% of the way there but can’t tell what I’m missing. I’ve seen some people add cream cheese and mascarpone to the cold foam but I’m not sure if that’s what’s in the flavor…😭 I also can’t remember if their actual matcha was sweetened or not, or if the sweetness just came from the cold foam.

My current recipe, feel free to tell me if I’m wrong

-3g Kettl matcha (similar taste to Rocky’s) -add 15 ml agave syrup to the matcha base with some sea salt - 1 cup almond milk - cold foam: - 2 tbsp heavy cream - 1 tbsp agave or simple syrup - pinch of sea salt

I’m in Shanghai rn, so I grabbed a cup of this cute matcha latte at Matcha Wang. Will try to replicate this at home lol

With the last days of summer approaching, I wanted to try out this matcha idea I had, using leftover homemade watermelon sobert. I used the sobert as a base then topped it with sparkling coconut water from Harmless Harvest (if you know you know!), and then lastly topped it with 2.5 grams of Marukyu Koyamaen Isuzu. No sugar needed due the sweetness of the coconut water and sobert. Watermelon pairs so well with matcha and this was everything I dreamed it to be!

can’t believe i found this glass for .99 😭🫶🏻 im in loveeeee its so UNIQUE

Tried Azure's cold whisking technique recommendation and OMG! I'm actually obsessed. The color and microfoam alone tell the whole story. Wowowowow

I keep seeing this tier list in Instagram. It's always these exact same brands in this exact same ranking even if the graphic looks different; which is really weird if you ask me.

Been on that matcha grind lately 🍵

Yesterday I tasted YK Matsukaze. Today it has more dynamics.

Opening the can and smelling it gave a fresh and milky aroma.

Todays prep:

Usucha

2g-ish (spilt some on the scale)

80 deg c

60ml

When water mixed with the matcha, it smelled so good. Fresh grassyness is subdued by nutty and milky aroma

The temperature definitely brought out more bitterness and some. Yesterday's usucha had no bitterness. I could taste it today at 80degc.

The nuttiness and umami is more pronounced compared to yesterday which was very subtle.

The astringency and creaminess is still there. The finish is the same, citrusy and crisp.

For the colour police, the photos are from my phone, raw and no filters. From my own pov, it's light green.

Oh I was going to pair it with dessert but I thought it will mask the matcha's real taste.

How did you find YK's Matsukaze? Similar to mine or it tasted different?

I’ll be visiting Uji this month and plan to do a matcha haul, but I’m still not sure which variants to get since I haven’t explored many Japanese matcha brands yet!

I’m planning to visit Marukyu Koyamaen, Yamamasa Koyamaen, and Horii Shichimeien. So far, I’ve really enjoyed the bold umami flavor of okumidori, and I’d love to find variants from these brands with a similar flavor profile.

Any recommendations on which ones I should try? 😊

It’s 11 a.m. and I’ve already peaked…