Review: Kiss Me Organics Organic Green Tea Matcha

I've been continuing to explore how to incorporate matcha green tea into my diet and have been enjoying trying out Kiss Me Organics culinary grade organic green tea matcha.

Culinary grade is best suited for using as an ingredient in smoothies, cooking and even body care products, while ceremonial grade is intended primarily to prepare a traditional cup of matcha tea.  Culinary grade matcha tends to be a good bit less expensive, so unless you're an aficiando of hot matcha tea, it's the best choice for experimenting with cooking with matcha green tea. 

I was provided with a 4 oz. bag of Kiss Me Organics Organic Matcha Green Tea for review via Tomoson, and happily set to work finding out how I might use it.   There really are tons of ways to blend matcha into your recipes - a quick trip to Pinterest will give you dozen of ideas, and Kiss Me Organics will provide several more recipes if you go to their Facebook page.  Most recipes take no more than a teaspoon of tea, so at 4 ounces, this bag will last a good while.

The Kiss Me Organics Matcha has a vibrant green tea scent on opening the resealable bag, and before I did anything else, I went ahead and tried using it in the traditional way - whisked into some boiling water as a tea (and then added a splash of milk to it).  In contrast to the ceremonial grade matcha I've tried, this was a lighter green in color and less sweet.  In fact, there was a slight peppery quality to it in addition to the strong green tea flavor.  While it is perfectly drinkable, especially when sweetened, it did explain to me why the two grades are labeled as they are. 

That strong, less delicately sweet taste is what makes it shine as an ingredient that can hold its own in recipes, and I have several bookmarked to try over the next couple of months.  It lends a bright spring green color to foods, making it a wonderful natural alternative to green food coloring for baking.

I hit on a nice and very simple way to use it without needing to use the oven (while things are finally getting cool-ish here in DC, I'm still looking more for cooling refreshment than anything that's going to heat up the house).  Matcha makes for excellent smoothies, but there again, I'm a bit lazy and rarely inclined to break out the blender unless absolutely necessary.

The answer? A mason jar!  The recipe below makes an Orange Julius style cold drink that is ramped up nutritionally with the addition of a teaspoonful of matcha tea, and it's as easy as combining in a mason jar, sealing it completely, and then giving it a good shake.  The result is delightfully frothy and delicious to drink

Mason Jar Matcha Orange Creamsicle Cooler

1 tsp Kiss Me Organics Organics Green Tea Matcha
3/4 cup Orange Juice
3/4 cup Milk (of choice - cow, almond, coconut, etc)
3 or 4 ice cubes
1 mason jar, large enough to contain ingredients

Spoon matcha into the mason jar.  Add orange juice, and shake about 30 seconds to blend.  If you see any matcha clinging to the glass, use a spoon to scoop it off and blend into the juice.  Add milk, and shake another 30 seconds or so, until the drink is fully blended and frothy.  Add ice as desired.

You can either drink this straight out of the mason jar, or put ice in a glass and pour it over.  Either way, enjoy it for the taste and pat yourself on the back for giving yourself a delicious anti-oxidant boost!

Adult beverage version:  Add all to a shaker with ice, along with a splash of vodka.  Enjoy!

Matcha green tea powder is not only full of anti-oxidants, but it is also a turbo charged way to access the benefits of green tea.  Making Kiss Me Organics a part of your nutritional arsenal can assist with boosting the metabolism, provide a far more balanced and gentle hit of energy and mood uplift than coffee without the shaky side effects and perhaps even improve the quality of your skin. 

Sprinkling a bit of matcha into prepared foods (just as you would any herbal seasoning) is a very easy and low-maintenance way of ramping up the nutritional content of the things you already cook, and as you get used to the taste, I'm sure you'll find, as I do, that it adds a pleasant extra flavor boost, too.

Kiss Me Organics Organic Green Tea Matcha is available for purchase exclusively through Amazon, and available on Prime.

I'd love to hear how you use Matcha in comments!

 

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