Today I’m testing out The Whistling Kettle’s flavored matcha. These are labeled for matcha lattes, so you will want to mix these with milk. There is no sugar in these matchas, but obviously, they have added flavoring. Whistling Kettle does have an unflavored organic and ceremonial matcha if you want a traditional cup of matcha.
I have the Vanilla and Mocha Matcha. Each package is 100 gram/3.50z of matcha. I use 3 grams for around 8oz/235ml serving, so that’s a lot of matcha lattes for $20 package.
The Whistling Kettle’s Vanilla Matcha
The colour of the Vanilla Matcha powder is a light green-grey. This is not a great colour but is to be expected for a culinary or latte matcha.
I electric whisked up 3 grams of matcha and 300ml of cold unsweetened almond milk, then tossed in a handful of ice cubes.
In the past, I’ve always used soymilk for these milky drinks, but I recently switched to almond milk. I dislike almond milk on its own, but this matcha made it drinkable as it added that vanilla cream and thickness. Depending on your sweet tooth, it might be sweet enough with the vanilla and milk, but I did add a 1/4tsp of agave syrup to round out the sweetness to my taste. The vanilla shines through making it sweeter and more creamy. The background is grassy matcha, but I find the vanilla flavoring is on the high side.
The Vanilla Matcha is great for those who want a more ice cream vibe on their matcha. I found this matcha was great for mixing with protein powders and adding a punch to smoothies. I found I didn’t need to add any sweetener if I was adding fruit or protein powder.
The Whistling Kettle’s Mocha Matcha
I don’t normally drink coffee like things, but I was craving tiramisu when I requested the Mocha Matcha. Again, 3 grams of matcha, around 300ml of unsweetened almond milk. I also added ½ teaspoon of light agave syrup to take the bitterness of the mocha off. I feel the mocha needs sweetener, but that certainly will go down to taste too.
Mocha Matcha is creamy sweet, bit grassy matcha, though the flavoring by far is the main attraction. It has a coffee chocolate flavor, with a touch of malted chocolate. Like the vanilla matcha, the flavoring amount is on the high side.
In all, the Mocha Matcha is a good pairing for someone wanting to kick the coffee/frap habit very gradually. It isn’t grassy or bitter but has plenty of flavor.
Again, both teas are intended to mix with milk. They weren’t great on their own, and you can see the colour is quite pale for matcha and doesn’t line up with their stock photos. I would call both of these Matchas from The Whistling Kettle good cheap workhorse matchas. The Vanilla Matcha is great for smoothies and other mixes, whereas the Mocha Matcha is perfect for someone wanting to make the jump from coffee milky drinks to matcha.
(tea provided for review | Amazon affiliate links)
