i tried Trader Joe's Matcha Packets... i was shocked

Welcome back to MashaMondays with Michelle. Today we're doing another grocery store matcha. Today I'm trying Trader Joe's matcha green tea powder. This has seven single serve packets in it. This is what the packet looks like and each packet contains 1.5 grams of matcha. So in total you get 10.5 grams and this was $7.99. So per gram it's about 75 cents which is not too bad. I did also just post a short showing you how to make this if you were to actually make it on the go. So if you want to see my thoughts on that I'll leave it linked in the description box. But today I'm going to try this as usu cha, koi cha, and as an iced latte. So I'm excited. I'm just gonna rip right into this. I do want to try a little swatch test. Oh that looks pretty good. The color actually looks really nice and it's a little streaky but honestly not too bad. Okay I'm gonna prepare this like I'm preparing usucha. I'm gonna put it into my sieve first. It does look a little clumpy and not super fine. Then I always sift and now I'm gonna add 70 grams of water. Actually that's how much I usually add if I use two grams of matcha. This is only 1.5 so I might just do a little bit less. Maybe like 60. Now let's whisk. Oh very foamy. Look at that. Wow. Let's try it. Cheers. That's like really good actually. Okay it's not bitter. I thought it would be really bitter but it's not as bitter as I thought it would be. There's like a little bit for sure but I don't know. I thought it would be more bitter. It's quite vegetal though like very spinachy. A little bit like kale too but it is umami. There's an umami note to it and it is kind of sweet. The strength of flavor is like maybe like a three out of five as well. So like not the boldest but also not the weakest. It's also not grainy like it's pretty smooth and it's not even astringent like not at all. Wow I'm surprised. I'm really enjoying this. Okay let's move on. I'm gonna try it as a latte now. So for that I'm gonna use two packets. Okay the same thing just gonna empty it out. Packet number two. I will say this stick is a little bit harder to get the matcha out of at least compared to these stick matchas. I really like these two. The blue one is Rocky's Matcha. This one is Aya Matcha. I've used these a bunch and I really like those. Those are easy to tear right across. This one you can't really tear right across. You have to like do it on the corner so it's a little harder to get the matcha out. Now I'm gonna add 30 grams of water and whisk. Wow the color looks really good. It's a really deep green. I wasn't expecting that. You guys do you see this? This looks really good. Okay Trader Joe's I see you. Matcha test. Let's go. That's good. What the heck? That's actually good. Wow I'm shocked. There's like no astringency. It's smooth. It's not grainy. It's grassy but it's also umami. The umami really comes through and it's actually not that bitter. Plus it ends on a sweet note. That's crazy. This is actually so good. Now let's make it a latte. I always do iced lattes. 80 grams of milk and now we pour. Get every last drop and let's mix. That looks really good. All right moment of truth. Let's try it. I like it. I think it's so good. I came into this with like very low expectations. I'm kind of blown away. It holds up in milk too. Genuinely I think it's so good if you want to enjoy it the like traditional way or if you want to drink it as a latte or if you want to shake it and take it on the go. I would actually recommend it. So yeah let me know if you guys have tried this and what your thoughts were. Like and subscribe for more Matcha Mondays. Thank you for watching and I'll see you next week. Bye!