Asha Tea Matcha: While I enjoy matcha-flavored snacks, it's rare for me to get matcha full on. I decided to give the matcha tea at Asha Tea in Berkeley a try and found myself reacting to the caffeine levels after only drinking half of the regular-sized portion. Symptoms including jitteriness and high distractibility. The matcha flavor itself was prominent and clean, but this drink is surely for those with higher caffeine tolerance than me. 3.0/5.0
drinks berkeley tea ashatea matcha 3.0
Belly Good Cafe & Crepes Adzuki, Srawberry, and Green Tea Crepe: On my most recent trip to San Francisco, I found myself in Japantown hungry for a mid-day snack. A quick search revealed that the highest reviewed spot was a crepe stand by the name of Belly Good, located in the food court on the upper level of the shopping complex. While I have a healthy skepticism when it comes to Yelp reviews, it is impossible not to notice a place that has 4.5 stars and over 1,000 reviews, especially given its unassuming storefront and questionable photo menu. I also r... (read more) 0.5/5.0
sanfrancisco dessert matcha bellygoodcafecrepes adzuki srawberry green tea crepe 0.5 avoid
Japonaise Bakery Green Tea Cake: Located on Beacon Street in Brookline, this small bakery has an assortment of pastries as well as packaged Japanese snacks. Their green tea cake is multi-layered, with green tea creme and a layer of gelatin on top. While the matcha flavor was not bad, the cake was a bit dry, and the gelatin was largely for texture (it didn't have much flavor). It looked better than it tasted. 3.0/5.0
matcha desserts japonaisebakery green tea cake 3.0
Breadtop matcha red bean bun: Breadtop is an Asian bakery chain in Australia. There is one close to the hotel I'm staying at in Brisbane, and it offers staples like sausage buns and sesame balls but also modern takes, like this matcha red bean bun. Unfortunately, the bun was unsuccessfully; the dough had very little matcha flavor, and the red bean filling was overly sweet and uninspired. The dusting of icing sugar made it messy to eat, without much added flavor. 2.0/5.0
breadtop bakery bread matcha redbean asian australian 2.0 red bean bun
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