Matchabar Fuji apple ginger iced matcha tea: Was feeling sleepy, so I picked up this matcha beverage at The Foodhall en route to The Chapel. This dark green beverage is a mix of green tea, Fuji apple, and ginger. It has a fantastically clean and balanced flavor, where each component is easily identifiable. The ginger leaves a tingly spiced flavor in your throat, as any good ginger beverage should. And it definitely woke me up, but not in a way that made me feel jittery or gave me a headache. Super quality beverage that I would recomm... (read more) 4.5/5.0
exceptional drinks matchabar fuji apple ginger iced matcha tea 4.5
Matchabar Rose matcha milk tea: I really enjoyed a bottled Fuji ginger matcha drink from Matchabar a few months ago and decided to try a freshly-made beverage from their small to-go window in Soho. This rose matcha milk tea, while colorful, was actually quite bad - very sweet, and quickly diluted. Hardly any green tea flavor, and tasted like watery milk after only a few minutes. Definitely $5 wasted. 1.5/5.0
avoid drinks nyc matchabar rose matcha milk tea 1.5
Matcha Cafe Maiko Matcha soft serve with matcha powder and mochi: According to the Matcha Cafe Maiko website, the San Francisco shop located in the Japantown center is the first to open in the "American mainland," with an original location in Hawaii. Its matcha products are imported all the way from Harima Garden in Kyoto. While the menu features their matcha soft serve, they have a surprising variety of lattes, floats, and other beverage pairings as well. At $5.50, their soft serve is a bit steep for a single serving, but it has a concentrated herbal f... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended japantown sf dessert softserve icecream matchacafemaiko matcha soft serve powder mochi 3.5
Megmilk Snow Matcha Pudding: This is a delicious green tea pudding with a panna cotta-like texture (that is, much softer and looser than most store-bought pudding). It comes with a brown sugar packet so you can add as much sweetness as you'd like, but I preferred it without any additional flavoring. The matcha flavor is very distinctive, with its characteristic bitterness rounded out by the dessert's creaminess. Will definitely be purchasing again! 4.0/5.0
recommended japanese Daiei matcha megmilksnow pudding 4.0
Meiji Kyo-matcha chocolates: These thin square chocolates have a light green color and ornate embossed floral design. While it has a concentrated matcha flavor, the chocolate itself has a waxy and dense mouthfeel similar to white chocolate. The ingredient list has sugar followed by cocoa butter, which seems about right. 2.5/5.0
meiji japanese matcha chocolate 2.5 greentea sweets kyo-matcha
Meiji Tsujiri Matcha Cone: It's been a long while since I had packaged ice cream like this in the states, with its familiar waffle cone base lined with chocolate that's a favorite at summer camps. The Japanese version if different in a few ways: first, the ice cream is level with the top of the cone, rather than overflowing in a round scoop topping the cone; second, the entire ice cream treat itself features a narrower cone, giving the snack an overall smaller footprint. I actually liked this ice cream a lot - the i... (read more) 3.5/5.0
recommended japanese Daiei icecream meiji tsujiri matcha cone 3.5