Matcha Review: Organically cultivated Matcha Gold by Marukyu Koyama-en
Marukyu Koyama-en is one of my favorite tea vendors for many years already but I never bought one of their organic Matcha green teas until now.
Matcha Gold is a solid high quality Matcha, but doesn't stand out from the crowd of organically cultivated Matcha green teas.
Organically cultivated Matcha Gold by Marukyu Koyama-en
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| Organically cultivated Matcha Gold by Marukyu Koyama-en prepared as Usucha |
有機栽培抹茶 金印
Name: Organically cultivated Matcha Gold
Note: JAS Certified Organic
Grade: Gold
Origin: Uji, Japan
Producer: Marukyu Koyama-en
Shop: Kogetsu-en
Year: 2015
Packaging: Tin without an inner bag, pull-tab can
Weight: 20g
Price: ¥ 1,800
Marukyu Koyama-en writes about organically cultivated Matcha:
- Matcha grown without use of any agricultural chemicals and artificial fertilizers at all is very limited. However, please drink our other teas without any anxiety, as we strive to use only natural fertilizers for our regular tea leaves.
Source: Varieties of Matcha. marukyu-koyamaen.co.jp/. http://www.marukyu-koyamaen.co.jp/english/goods/goods_01.html (Retrieved 02.02.2016)
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| Matcha Tin of Organically cultivated Matcha Gold |
Packaging:
The Matcha tins by Marukyu Koyama-en are characterised by an easily recognizable design: The green screw-on lid with silicone sealant inside the lid, the black font on white ground and the information boxes framed in grey create a fresh appearance.
The JAS logo is shown on a certification label, found on the right side of the Kanji characters for Matcha. Next to this on the left side is a golden sticker which stands for the name and quality of this organic Matcha green tea.
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| non-sifted vs sifted Matcha powder |
Appearance of the Matcha:
The non-sifted intense green-colored Matcha powder is barely lumpy and sifted very easily. It has a fine powder texture and the aroma is lightly sweet-vegetal.
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| Organically cultivated Matcha Gold by Marukyu Koyama-en prepared as thin tea |
Prepared as Usucha
Dry Powder Amount: ca. 2g
Water Amount: ca. 60ml
Water Temperature: 85-90°C
Type of Whisk: 120 thin pronged
Preparation Method: traditional
Whisking Action: rapid "w"-action
Consistency: thin with plenty of froth
Matcha Gold is light and delicate in the mouth and has a mild, but full-bodied and vegetable-like taste which is almost completely void of astringency.
Sweetness is present, but too light for my taste.
The finish isn't too long on the palate but smooth with a shade of umami.
Summary of the most important points:
- vegetal and full-bodied
- subtle sweetness
- a harmonious overall taste
- good foam
- best suitable for mild Usucha
- whisk at higher temperatures for fuller flavor (!)
You can't really go wrong with Matcha Gold by Marukyu Koyama-en. Even if the lack of sweetness is a minus when considering the price.
Personally, I like to drink this Matcha on a regular basis, because to me it is everything that a good bowl of Matcha should be.
What is your most favorite organic Matcha these days?
Labels
for everyday drinking,
Full Bodied,
Gold,
High Quality,
Marukyu Koyama-en,
Matcha Review,
Medium Budget,
Milder Tastes,
Organic Matcha,
Uji
How does this compare to Wako? I was thinking of bulk ordering matcha 3 - 4 months at a time because I know that matcha sealed lasts for 6 months at a time. I like the gold matcha from Marukyu (organic) because of the amount of umami it had (different taste buds maybe). I wanted to order Wako because I was under the impression that it had a lot of umami but I'm not sure.
ReplyDeleteI still haven't had time to do a side by side tasting of Wako and Matcha Gold. But I think Wako isn't as smooth as Matcha Gold and has more bitterness.
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