Tag: Gold Kili

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Gold Kili’s Matcha Latte

Instant Matcha Latte by Gold Kili
Green Tea (Matcha) / Flavoured
$6.95 for 250g (ten 25g sachets)

First Impressions

Instant Matcha Latte was purchased on a whim one day when I was at the grocery story. The box was bright green, definitely eye catching and intrigued me enough to buy it. It’s a box with ten portions of Instant Matcha Latte drink mix. The box itself is a glossy cardstock, each packet feels like a plastic-coated foil.

Instant Matcha Latte consists of: sugar, refined fully hydrogenated vegetable oil, green tea powder, skimmed milk powder, matcha powder, dipotassium phosphate, mono- and di-glycerides of fatty acids, salt, silicone dioxide, natural flavours, and carotene. It weirds me out how low on the ingredients list that matcha shows up – green tea powder shows up earlier than it does, and sugar is number on! For those curious, there is 14g of sugar per packet and each one is only 25g. The aroma of the powder is really light on the matcha aroma, it otherwise doesn’t have much of a smell to it at all.

Preparation

Gold Kili recommends to pour the contents into a cup, add hot water (180mL), and stir. To make it iced, dissolve in 90mL of hot water and add ice. I opted to have it hot, and I used 185°F (85°C) water since there wasn’t a temperature specified.

First Taste

Instant Matcha Latte is a pale pistachio green, it has a nice lightness to the colour of the matcha that makes me think of a matcha latte. It’s not as deep of a green that I would honestly prefer, but I think it has a lot to do with the amount of matcha that’s present in the mix. The aroma is that of matcha, it’s light on aroma as it is on colour. The flavour is sweet first, grassy notes second. It lacks the umami notes that I look for when it comes to a nice matcha latte.

A Second Cup?

As matcha is a suspension, there were no second steeps with the powder.

My Overall Impression

I thought that Gold Kili’s Instant Matcha Latte was just okay. It’s a quick and easy to make – just heat up some water and stir in the mix. The lack of information about recycling the packaging is a bit disappointing, also the sheer amount of matcha not present in the mix. That said, I think it’d be great for someone who’s always on the go, or for the person who can’t keep matcha making equipment at work. I think it’s a touch too sweet for me, but I think it’d be nice iced and makes for an easy matcha latte when you’ve got a time crunch. It’ll definitely be something that I end up taking to work for an easy matcha latte in the staff room since I don’t get the time needed to whisk and find some zen.

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Gold Kili’s Double Shot White Milk Tea

Double Shot White Milk Tea by Gold Kili
Black Tea / Flavoured
$6.95 for 280g (eight 35g sachets)

First Impressions

I picked up Double Shot White Milk Tea on a whim while grocery shopping a little while ago – that’s the funny thing about going grocery shopping now with the arrows that dictate what direction you’re meant to go down each aisle, you sometimes start wandering down an aisle that you didn’t need anything but end up picking up something anyways.

In a bright orange cardstock box, Double Shot White Milk Tea intrigued me enough to pick it up. There’s a nice photo of latte art in the front. This box contains eight portions of the instant tea mix. Double Shot White Milk Tea consists of: sugar, refined fully hydrogenated vegetable oil, skimmed milk powder, instant tea, dipotassium phosphate, sodium caseinate, mono- and di-glycerides of fatty acids, silicon dioxide, and caratene. Potential allergens listed are: sesame, soy, wheat and gluten. There’s basically no smell to the powder at all.

Preparation

Gold Kili recommends mixing one pouch with 180ml hot water and to stir to mix. For iced, they recommend using 90ml hot water, and then adding ice. I opted to prepare it hot. With no water temperature suggestion, I opted to heat my water to 100°C (212°F).

First Taste

Double Shot White Milk Tea easily dissolves, and has a light brown colour. Obviously the latte art doesn’t magically appear, but it’s a nice colour. Once the powder is mixed, it does smell like milk tea. The flavour is interesting – I can taste black tea, and there’s a nice milk flavour to it. However, it’s not as creamy as I would prefer in a milk tea, and there’s actually a slight bitterness to it like an oversteeped black tea. It’s not as sweet as I expected, given that sugar is the first listed ingredient and each 35g pouch has 16g of sugar.

A Second Cup?

No second cup as everything dissolves in the water, much like a matcha or drink mix.

My Overall Impression

I thought that Gold Kili’s Double Shot White Milk Tea was just okay. The flavour wasn’t quite what I was expecting, maybe because I’m a bit particular about milk tea in general (proof) – I like mine a bit sweeter, with a heavier milk presence (which is why I use evaporated milk). The nice thing about that I do like about the Double Shot White Milk Tea is the convenience of having milk tea on-the-go, and how easily it dissolves in water. I will definitely be having this iced this summer since it’s so easy to make, and having a packet or two with my lunch for work since it’s just more convenient than heating up a kettle and carrying around evaporated milk with me.

Curious about the cup rating system? Click here to learn more.