Tag: Naoki Matcha

Uji Harmony by Naoki Matcha
Green Tea (Matcha) / Straight
$50.00USD for 60g

Uji Harmony is part of Naoki Matcha’s Masters Collection Matcha Set, a collection of three different ceremonial grade matcha. Uji Harmony makes up 20g of the 60g set. Naoki Matcha has provided me with Uji Harmony for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Arriving in a sealed, resealable pouch, Uji Harmony is the third matcha in the Masters Collection Matcha Set from Naoki Matcha. Uji is a city located near Kyoto, Japan, and Naoki Matcha describes it as being a well-known matcha producing region. Green tea has been produced in the area for centuries, and is also home to one of the oldest tea shops in Japan (established in 1160!).

Uji Harmony is described as a matcha blend by Naoki Matcha – but it’s still 100% Japanese Matcha. The colour is a bright spring green, with a light grassy aroma to it. Just check out that beautiful powder! It’s such a nice colour. Fun fact about matcha – it takes hours and hours to produce matcha that’s traditionally produced using a stone mill. If the tencha is ground too quickly, it can cause degradation of the tea. But look at that beautiful colour:

Preparation

Now, there is no preparation instructions on the packaging, but there is a referral to go to the Naoki Matcha website. I opted to prepare Uji Harmony in a traditional method with a bamboo whisk and bowl (my method described here).

First Taste

After a whisk of Uji Harmony, it becomes a lovely grassy green with a thin layer of bubbles and froth across the top. The flavour is grassy, vegetal, with a good amount of umami. I found while drinking that there was a bit of a nutty undertone that reminded me of cashews. It has a a nice flavour profile in that there are subtle changes through each stage of a sip.

A Second Cup?

As with all matcha, there are no second steeps with Uji Harmony.

My Overall Impression

I loved Naoki Matcha’s Uji Harmony. The flavour profile of this matcha was a treat to prepare and drink. Uji Harmony sifts and whisks up easily, and it is easy to drink – which is always a nice feature in a matcha. It has an interesting flavour profile, with the nutty undertones, which makes it a delight to drink and experience. While I enjoyed Uji Harmony straight up, I would imagine it would do well also as a latte or iced. This is not one that I would waste on blending into smoothies or other culinary pursuits.

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Nishio Bloom by Naoki Matcha
Green Tea (Matcha) / Straight
$50.00USD for 60g

Nishio Bloom is part of Naoki Matcha’s Masters Collection Matcha Set, a collection of three different ceremonial grade matcha. Nishio Bloom makes up 20g of the 60g set. Naoki Matcha has provided me with Nishio Bloom for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Nishio Bloom comes in a sealed, resealable pouch from Naoki Matcha. As with my first review of this trio, Nishio Bloom is a 100% Japanese matcha, where the labeling features the name of the matcha hand written, with an expiry date (I think it’s a year after packaging), and instructions to head on over to their website for information on how to prepare the matcha and more recipes. This particular matcha, Nishio Bloom, is from the Aichi Prefecture, an area that produces what Naoki Matcha describes as “top-tier quality tencha leaves for matcha” – what a treat to be able to experience this!

The matcha itself is a bright, vibrant spring green. It’s quite inviting. For anyone opening a new pouch of matcha (ever), I would highly recommend tapping it against a hard surface, like a table, before ripping it open because it’ll help knock some of the matcha that’s at the seal of the bag down to the bottom. This helps to prevent waste (or a puff of matcha cloud when you open the packaging). That said, Nishio Bloom has a bright fragant – I would describe it primarily as vegetal (reminds me a lot of spinach), with a light floral note in the background.

Preparation

Naoki Matcha does describe on their website several methods of preparing matcha. I opted to prepare Nishio Bloom in a method that’s very familiar to me – the traditional method using a bowl and a bamboo whisk. I also have a detailed guide here on how to prepare matcha – I sifted the powder, and then poured a small amount of heated water into the bowl to whisk, before topping up and whisking some more.

First Taste

Nishio Bloom whisks up quite easily – especially with a sifted powder. It forms a froth quickly across the top, in a bright spring green while the suspension itself is more of a grassy colour. The aroma remains vegetal and lightly floral. I found that Nishio Bloom has a punch of umami on each sip, which gets balanced out by the vegetal notes that linger on the tongue and it has a sweet floral finish that reminds me of chrysanthemums. Nishio Bloom has a really smooth texture to it, and the mouthfeel that you get from the umami flavour really has me wanting more and more of it.

A Second Cup?

As Nishio Bloom is a suspension, there are no second steeps with the same matcha powder.

My Overall Impression

I loved Naoki Matcha’s Nishio Bloom. I preparing this single origin matcha was a treat – it whisks up nicely in my matcha bowl and it results in a very smooth matcha, with a nice texture and a nice amount of umami that makes you wanting more. The floral sweetness in this matcha makes it enjoyable and easy to drink, and I found it to be a delight to drink straight up (although I’m sure it would do beautifully in a latte if you’re not one of the umami-ness of it all).

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

Wazuka Hilltop by Naoki Matcha
Green Tea (Matcha) / Straight
$50.00USD for 60g

Wazuka Hilltop is part of Naoki Matcha’s Masters Collection Matcha Set, a collection of three different ceremonial grade matcha. Wazuka Hilltop makes up 20g of the 60g set. Naoki Matcha has provided me with Wazuka Hilltop for the purposes of writing an honest review.

First Impressions

Being asked if I was interested in trying out a new collection of ceremonial grade matcha was a pretty easy question to answer. Naoki Matcha reached out to me and I wholeheartedly said yes. This is part of a collection called the Masters Collection Matcha Set, and I’ll be splitting up the reviews individually because that’s just how I’m rolling these days – plus it just allows me the opportunity to focus on each one individually.

To start off with, this is Wazuka Hilltop – the name comes from the location of origin (the village of Wazuka in the Kyoto Prefecture in Japan). The packaging is an almost plastic-feeling pouch that is sealed and resealable. The front mentions the collection and weight, while the back has the name of the tea hand written with a reference to the website for information how to prepare the matcha itself.

The vibrancy in this matcha is pretty outstanding. If I had to name the colour, I’d be tempted to call it chartreuse or even lime. It’s fluorescent in some lighting, and screams spring to me. Wazuka Hilltop smells grassy and very lightly sweet to me.

Preparation

I decided to check out Naoki Matcha’s website to see how they recommended to prepare their matcha – and there were quite a few methods mentioned!

The method that I opted to use for Wazuka Matcha was the cold brew method. Simply put, I mixed the matcha with cold water into a shaker bottle and shook it up until it was fully suspended into water and then drank it. So I used room temperature water and matcha together. I’ll use different methods of preparation for the other two ceremonial matcha in this set.

First Taste

Wazuka Hilltop mixes up to a pretty vibrant green. Because I didn’t opt to use a whisk, there isn’t that traditional layer of foam over the top – just a thin layer of micro bubbles across the top. The vibrancy in the colour is beautiful – I would describe it as a similar green to say petite peas or edamame. Just a very familiar green colour, that’s not quite as bright as the dry powder. The aroma is grassy, lightly vegetal.  The flavour is a bit different. I found it had a crispness to it that blended with umami notes, strong grassy notes, and then it lingered on the tongue with a nutty finish that reminded me a lot of hemlock needles. There’s just something about it that reminds me of the hemlock needles that I used to nibble on during camping trips.

A Second Cup?

Like other matcha, Wazuka Hilltop cannot be resteeped since it’s a suspension. But here’s another photo of that bright green powder for further appreciation:

My Overall Impression

I loved Naoki Matcha’s Wazuka Hilltop. I think it has a beautiful flavour to it, and it really makes me nostalgic for simpler times. I had a fun time shaking up the bottle to get this cold brew method going, and found that the flavour was just really fun. I appreciate the experience from start to finish, and found that the colour was just really enticing and inviting that made me want to try this matcha. Of course, I do have to touch on the price a bit – right now this is only available on the Naoki Matcha website as part of the trio set so it’s a bit of an investment if you don’t end up liking one of the three – but it’s also a typical pricing for a single origin or premium matcha (approximately $1 per gram), but it’s also a bit of a want type of tea pricing, versus a need.

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