Uji Matcha – Tea Maru

Today’s super hot, and man a good day for a drink…so I was pleasantly surprised when my mom asked me if I wanted a Tea Maru drink! I’m only spending one more week at home, and recently I’ve been thinking I really want to try more of Tea Maru’s drinks. The best occasion I have to get it is on Fridays, when my sister is doing some volunteering, and the amount is really dwindling before I go back to college… I guess my mom also wanted to get a drink today, so here we are!

I was looking at the menu, and since I had a milk tea yesterday, the Uji Matcha sounded appealing to me. I don’t think I’ve had a matcha in a bit, which might sound ironic given I had the choice to yesterday I guess, but today I’m feeling the matcha. The good thing is, the drink comes with boba, but the default is strawberry boba. I guess they’re doing that pairing matcha with strawberry thing. Now normally, I would sub for brown sugar boba, but recently, I’ve been more open to the whole matcha strawberry/other fruits thing, so I figured I’d give the default a try.

Even at 50% sugar, the drink is a very rich matcha milk tea. The matcha flavor is very apparent, but not bitter. I do have to say it is kind of powdery, but more like you can taste some of the granules as you sip the drink. Regardless, it’s not entirely smooth, but this texture doesn’t bother me much because it’s not a bitter taste. There’s also this hint of sweetness in the background, but I’m not sure if that’s just the sugar or part of the matcha flavor. As for the strawberry boba, at first, I couldn’t taste much flavor, but once I started chewing more, it started to taste kind of like a strawberry candy or gummy, but not in an artificial way. It’s really not the same thing as say, a strawberry jam in a matcha latte, but I guess could be a nice introduction for someone who wanted to see how the flavors work together. Honestly when drunk together, the matcha overpowers the boba, but on it’s own its pretty good because the flavor is just super subtle. The texture is great though!

Details: Uji Matcha; 50% Sugar; No ice; with organic milk; from Tea Maru (Irvine)