Midori Spring Organic Ceremonial Grade Matcha - Gold 1st Harvest Blend, Japanese Stone Ground Green Tea Powder, Radiation, Gluten Free, Vegan (Organic Gold)

As soon as I opened it, I noticed that this matcha has a very vibrant green color, which is excellent as this indicates great quality. This matcha is also very smooth and silky, sifts and blends very well. It’s a good sized matcha. It’s a good matcha to drink on days you want to splurge a bit and take the time to savor it fully. This is my favorite matcha. It’s bold, nutty, and very creamy; my preference. I make it as a latte mainly and very much enjoy the flavor. Even as a regular matcha, it is enjoyable. It has low bitterness and low astringency. Lots of umami that lingers and the scent is very nutty and creamy. It smells and tastes like a peanut buttery or nutty chocolate drink as a latte. It’s a full bodied matcha. Highly, highly recommend for people who like a nutty and full bodied matcha.

Taste and color lived up to my expectations.

Earlier this year I was curious if there was really that much difference between the lower priced Matcha from China I was seeing on Amazon and the higher priced from Japan. From the lower cost Chinese brands to the high end Japanese brands there is an over 13x per gram cost difference. I decided to order 5 different brands ranging in cost and do a comparison between them. I made my purchase in March 2016 so for review purposes I will be using the prices from that order date, though the prices do fluctuate. I also did the comparison & photos at that time though its taken me awhile to post the review For my review I used American Weigh Scales GEMINI-20 Portable MilliGram Scale, 20 by 0.001 G and SEOH Plastic Hexagonal Weigh Boats Micro Dish 100pk to weigh all the samples within .01 grams of one another. I used the same 5 exact cups with water all the same warm temperature for tasting purposes cleansing my palette between each sample and then redoing them again. The following is the brand name, the price for the quantity I purchased, the quantity in grams in that container, the final price per gram (at time of purchase), and the country of origin. These are listed from cheapest to most expensive. The photos are listed in the same order from left to right - cheapest -> most expensive Matcha DNA 19.95 283.45 .0704 p/g China One Organic 19.95 250 .0798 China Use Matcha 25.25 113 .2235 Japan Midori Spring 26.47 30 .8823 Japan Kyoto Ippodo 38.99 40 .9748 Japan First you will notice that the cheapest "Matcha" comes from China with a substantial increase in price for Japanese Matcha. Also in the photos of both the powder and the liquid there is a very clear transition from left to right from a browner darker green to a brighter more vibrant green - One Organic being the outlier which looks the brownest and as if it would belong farthest to the left. What I found a little surprising was that the level of bitterness seemed to almost directly correspond to the color of the matcha which also almost completely corresponded to the price. Again from left to right the cheapest on the left was the most bitter with the least bitter the very expensive Kyoto Ippodo on the right - One Organic being the outlier here again and being the most bitter, and most brown, more so then the Matcha DNA. I also found the ease with which the Matcha mixes follows the same trend - from left to right the powder becomes finer and easier to mix with One Organic the outlier. So which is the best? Well I'm going to give all of them 5 stars. Why? Because a single rating system as we have here on Amazon creates conflicting ratings depended on the reviewers criteria. If you are rating on an absolute scale of Taste Kyoto Ippodo would be the 5 and One Organic a 1. But the Ippodo costed over 12x as much as the One Organic when i purchased it! Personally I'm going to attempt to rate these based on what I paid for them. The One Organic at my time of purchase costed more then the Matcha DNA and was both aesthetically less pleasing, mixed worse, and was more bitter so it deserved a lower rating but if it were to price itself less it would be a better buy. Checking now as of 8/8/2016 the Matcha DNA is now $19.94 (one cent lower then at purchase) but One Organic is now 14.95 making it a substantially better buy depending on your criteria. If you want Matcha for traditional ceremonial Tea you will probably not want to go lower then the Use Matcha and quite likely the Midori Spring or Higher. For making lattes & shakes Use Matcha may be your sweet spot - needs far less sweetener then One Organic but more than 1/3 less the cost of Midori Spring. For baking purposes it depends again on how much your baking, how bright green you want it without food coloring, and how much sweetener you are willing to add. Personally in the future I do not think I will consider anything below the Use Matcha quality. Perhaps China has some good Matcha but the difference in bitterness between these two and the Japanese Matcha in this review was substantial. As for the other health properties of Matcha - anti-oxidants / improving alertness. While anti-oxidants can probably be measured fairly straightforward with the right equipment science seems to be increasingly mixed on whether more is really better since it determines when & where these anti-oxidants are delivered in the body. Increasing alertness & clarity can be difficult to objectively measure since many other factors would skew results. But it does make me wonder if these properties would follow the same trend. I also wanted to note that I purchased all of these myself. I've seen quite a number of reviews where people were being provided these products free - and who knows how many more where they did not disclose it.

First, I've been drinking Matcha for about three years. I've learned some and one thing I've learned is that a little bitterness is not a sign of 1st harvest. But, I wouldn't say this is bitter in this batch I purchased. It's strong, bold. It mixes really well, foams great (nice and creamy), and tastes really good. I love how this tea works for me and I hope you find it useful to you. When I mix a little coconut cream and coconut sugar in my whipped Matcha, it's delightful.

Very good

I was a long time coffee lover (and some might even say a coffee snob) but this past July I made the decision to quit drinking coffee and began drinking Matcha green tea daily as a healthier option as well as for the added health benefits. Unfortunately, I had to experiment with a few different Matcha green teas in order to find one that was right for me. Perhaps, many of you had similar experiences. The three I have tired so far have been (1) Moonlit Matcha Organic Ceremonial Grade Green Tea 1.41oz (40g Powder) ; (2) Aiya Organic Ceremonial Matcha 30 Grams, 2 Pack ; and (3) Midori Spring Organic Ceremonial Matcha - Gold Class - Premium Japanese Green Tea Matcha Powder [Certified USDA, JAS, Kosher] (30g) . So, I am by no means an expert. This is purely subjective. The Moonlit Matcha was too earthy - it kind of tasted like dirt to be quite honest. I was hoping not all green tea had such a taste. The Aiya brand was WAY better than the Moonlit brand - smoother and was my preference until I tried this Midori brand. Wow, I could taste a HUGE difference. It was even smoother than the Aiya brand and very little to no earthy aftertaste whatsoever. I was literally blown away. Up until I tried this product, I had no idea of just how earthy an aftertaste the Aiya brand had. This will be my new go to. This is a little pricier than other brands but trust me when I say, you are paying for quality. I will always throw in a few extra bucks for a solid product and this is no exception. I highly recommend this product. For those who are curious how I am doing without coffee: I am actually doing great. I had no headache or any other type of withdrawal symptoms when switching over. It was a sharp switch too by the way - no "easing into it". Like most other people who like Matcha, I noticed a huge difference in the way my body absorbs the caffeine. I have a sharper mental clarity and focus that lasts much longer. No jitters. No crash. I do still love the smell of freshly brewed coffee but I don't think I will be going back any time soon. I really hope this helps you make a better decision in choosing a brand of Matcha to suit your needs.

It’s ok no depth of flavor

I didn't start drinking green tea because "oh, yummy, it tastes so good." Now that I've been drinking it for several years, my attitude about green tea has evolved into "oh, yummy, it tastes so good!" There is really just one reason I started drinking green tea -- to prevent the aches and pains associated with aging, also called arthritis. I researched this, and it's true. After around six years of green tea drinking, I've personally experienced it. In a few months I'll be 60, and I do not suffer from aches and pains in my joints which I experienced prior to becoming a green tea drinker. There is really just one reason I began incorporating matcha into my green tea regimen. I needed something stronger than 3 or 4 cups of green tea a day. Why? To help prevent allergies, especially sinus infections. Matcha keeps allergies at bay. I researched this, and it's true. After a pretty bad sinus infection a couple of years ago, and after a lot of research for a natural cure, I decided to try a HIGH QUALITY MATCHA -- MIDORI SPRING ORGANIC CEREMONIAL MATCHA, to keep sinus infections away. Guess what. It works! When the swelling of my gums and a slight head & face ache signal the beginning of trouble in my sinuses, I stir about 1/2 teaspoon of this high quality matcha into a cup of green tea. In short order the creeping symptoms of sinus trouble vanish. This has been life-changing for me. I realize that some people enjoy the matcha ceremony, but presently I only use this high quality matcha, Midori Spring Ceremonial, like a medicine. But I don't use it every day. It's kind of expensive. Instead, I dose myself with matcha (1/2 tsp stirred into tea) when I feel a sinus infection coming on. I am aware of many of the other health benefits of drinking green tea and matcha, but the two biggest benefits I've personally witnessed in myself are prevention of arthritis and allergies.