Fukujuen Ujinotsuyuseicha

As expected of a budget matcha. Right out of the package it smelled… grassy. After being prepared it tasted… grassy. I had to use it sparingly in a latte to get past the taste. Tastes quite a bit gritty too.

I picked this up last year sometime when I was checking out a Japanese grocery store in Columbus. I tried one bowl of it, and determined it is not a drinkable matcha, so I use it in smoothies and sweets.

This company should be flogged for equating this dime-store powder to the Father of Chado (Tea Ceremonies) Sen No Rikyu. I have met the 15th descendant of Sen on Rikyu, Urasenke Grandmaster Hounsai Hanso Genshitsu and he would choke on this stuff if you could get the old guy to drink this.

The taste itself will not kill you but it is no better tasting than the residual Matcha Powder that Costco a.k.a. Kirkland places on it’s Ryohucha generic green tea bags. In Fact I would say the Kirkland one is better. It is very chalky even after well mixed with a 120 Prong Chasen. When you get to the bottom of your raku you will find a goo 1/4tsp of unmixed solids.

It’s drinkable in a pinch as futsucha (regular daily tea) but nothing that will pop your sox. As a food ingredient it will serve you well. I’ll save it for smoothies or Frappuccinos to impress my non tea-freak friends who just love all my Japanophile stuff.

Bought this at my local Mitsuwa Marketplace in hopes of finding a cheap matcha to make some matcha milk tea. It was cheap all right, maybe 5.99 for 40g? However, I didn’t enjoy the flavor much, and the color was a very murky, dark green. Even when adding condensed milk (as l like the added sweetness), there was some lingering… chalky, gritty taste? I would attribute it to my lack of mixing skill, but there weren’t any lumps or anything left like that. I think I’ll be using the remainder with the milk, but most likely won’t be purchasing this again.

I think it’s pretty terrible matcha but still drinkable if you could just ignore its colour which wasn’t as vibrant as those matcha you ordered directly from Japan. I don’t know what grade it is but I consider using this one for cooking or I only drink it when I don’t have any better matcha in hands.