Tea Information:

Leaf Type:  Green/Matcha

Where to Buy: Red Leaf Tea

Tea Description:

Cranberry matcha is an excellent drink for those who need a splash of brilliant flavor in the even-toned drink. The bitter aftertaste of the cranberry is toned down by matcha’s velvety goodness to bring about a tea that has a hint of excitement and exquisite flavor. Cranberry matcha is ideal for any official or social gathering where people appreciate nature’s abundant choices and varied charms. This is the tea that cannot go wrong as far as savvy crowds are concerned.

Learn more about this tea here.

Taster’s Review:

Recently, Red Leaf Tea has started to offer a sampler of their flavored matcha. You can chose from a selection of preselected flavors,  This is definitely a very cool way to let new and returning customers try different flavours before purchasing a larger 30 gram amount and, with my latest order, I included the smaller size of this sampler in my order. I will be reviewing each of the samples I received.

This is the first of five flavors, all with the default basic grade of matcha and flavouring.

I’ve never really thought of cranberry as a flavour that I needed to experience as matcha; however when I saw it as one of the options for the sampler I knew I had to try it out. Cranberry is a consistent favourite flavour of mine in teas. Opening up the sample packet, it definitely smells pretty strongly of cranberry – like an unsweetened cranberry juice.

I prepared 1/2 tsp. of the matcha in my chawan, but with cold cashew milk instead of regular milk or water. The cashew milk doesn’t froth very well, but it gets very thick and it takes a long time for the matcha to resettle and separate.

This definitely nails cranberry right on the head, but with a very floral and perfume like component. I think this is in part from the matcha itself, but also from the flavoring used. Sometimes Red Leaf Tea’s fruit blends have a tendency to taste somewhat chemical or artificial and I think that’s happening a little bit here. While I don’t mind the floral notes, the “perfume” is very fake tasting and detracts just a little from the overall flavor. I would absolutely be nervous trying this one as a flavor level like “Robust”. I can’t even imagine what it would be like at the “There’s matcha in there!?” level – probably bad.

It is weird experiencing the flavor cold and paired with the light flavor of cashew (from the milk) but in a pleasant way. Harney & Sons has a blend called Boston which is the pairing of cranberry and almond, and the pairing of flavors here reminds me of that tea. This aspect of the matcha works well for me; though obviously not everyone is going to have access to cashew milk to try it this way.

I think I’ll have fun tinkering around with this blend; there’s room for improvement for sure, but if you like the taste of cranberry it’s absolutely worth giving this one a shot!