We often make green tea ice cream in our house. Actually, we make a lot of
unusual ice creams, but my wife is always trying to get me to stop making
basil seed and fresh mint ice creams and make green tea ice cream.

And normally, I use matcha powder from Upton's. In the past, I have also
used Matcha Matutoyu which we got at a Japanese market in Montreal, which
was fine. And I have used the Kabuse Powder from Upton's, which wasn't
as good.

Well, my wife was working in Las Vegas a couple weeks ago, and she found a
Japanese market there, and brought me back a big bag of Tradition brand
green tea powder. $7.68 for 250g of tea powder, which needless to say is
a lot less money than matcha costs.

What is interesting is that, although the packaging and flavour are Japanese,
this stuff is made in Taiwan for the Japanese market, and they have a web
site at www.goodyoung.com.tw.

So how it it? Comparing the smell, they are totally different. The real
matcha has a wonderfully floral aroma that is missing with this stuff, and
this stuff has that "seaweed" flavour which I always find characteristic
of most Japanese greens. The ice cream definitely is missing the lighter
floral notes that it takes on when it's made with matcha, although I bet most
of the people I serve it to won't notice a thing.

In any case, this stuff might be a fine substitute for some Japanese teas,
even if it's not matcha, and the seaweedy taste is reminiscent of genmaicha.
It's not bad even if it's not in the same league as real matcha.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."