Matcha Mania

So, I am a huge fan of tea. Recently I even replaced my weekly coffee budget with a weekly tea budget. One of my favorites is matcha, or powdered green tea. It's probably more complicated than that, but that's the general idea. You add water, or milk in my case, and whisk it with a bamboo whisk. I take my matcha making pretty seriously. 

my matcha set, stained green with use

deliciously bitter. but I have to add a little honey to drink it

I have also been on a quest to find Green Tea/Matcha ice cream. Several years ago for the summer Haagen Das made a green tea ice cream I adored. It wasn't cloyingly sweet. While its never come back to Oklahoma, I have found it in Fred Meyer stores in Washington.

This pic is from the Haagen-Dazs website. I always stop at Fred Meyer to get this when I'm in Washington

I was looking for something similar in OKC or anything matcha/green tea flavored other than typical tea drinks.

Apparently there has been a green tea explosion lately. Here's what I found:

I'm pretty sure it's green tea and white chocolate. It's about $5 at the Asian supermarket in OKC. They also carry strawberry KitKat which has strawberry puree in it.

 

basically snack-sized packages inside

so cute! and green (don't worry, it's supposed to be that color)

Also green tea and white chocolate. For those who don't know, they are sweet dipped savory biscuits.

These seem to be shorter and have more green tea/white chocolate than regular Pocky

These are green tea/white chocolate cream filled crackers. The crackers are savory but the filling is sweet.

All of these treats are very yummy, but still no green tea ice cream. :(

We decided to go to the new sweet shop that is connected to our favorite sushi place. There I found it:

It's almost got a fruity taste.

It's half eaten in this pic because I started eating it before I even though to take a picture. This is the "original" but they also have a "sweet" version too. Other Japanese flavors there are adzuki bean, plum wine, ginger, and cinnamon (I think). They also have European-style treats, Boba tea, and a frozen yogurt bar. I'm glad they opened after we moved or I would go far too much.

So, here are the breakdowns:
Matcha tea: Awesome with milk and honey, or mixed with fresh squeezed lemonade (which I get sometimes at Whole Foods). It's expensive, so I try to make it last. I have seen some videos from Japan where they have matcha at the tables and hot water spigots so you can just make it yourself for your drink. Matcha also has amazing health benefits since you are getting the entire leaf instead of just the water in which it steeped. I would totally have some while making this if we didn't just get 4 new teas to try today in the mail.
Haagen-Dazs green tea ice cream: I've had it a couple of times since that magical summer, and it's not quite as good as I remember it. It's still good and I'll still get it, but memory often seems better than reality. Like the ice cream at the sweet shop it has a sort of fruity flavor, but not overpowering. It's not as sweet as normal ice cream which I like a lot.
Green Tea KitKat: This is actually the second time we had gotten these. They are delicious and not as much a kick in the face as the strawberry ones are. I like how small they are, just big enough for a snack.
Green Tea White Chocolate Pocky: Better than regular Pocky, I think. They were kind of meh, but nifty to find.
Green Tea Lotte Koalas: There are Lotte Koalas and there are Meiji Koalas. Lotte Koalas are better in my opinion.. The crackers are tastier, printed better, and have a slightly better cream.
Japanese Original Green Tea ice cream (GoGo Sweets): It was just the barest bit fruity and rich, but it wasn't that indistinguishable from the "sweet" green tea ice cream. Probably something I will get again after I try the other Japanese ice creams there.

Not sure what or when my next post will be. If anyone has ideas (other than mayo or umeboshi) let me know and I'll try them. :)