Matcha Konomi
Akira Organic Ceremonial Grade
Tasted September 2020
About Konomi: Matcha Konomi is a woman owned and led business! It has grown to be a widely successful company with multiple wholesale locations and products. Corpus Cristi in Texas is Konomi’s home base. Founder, Michelle, started the company in 2016 with a love for matcha and healthy living. Matcha Konomi translates to mean Master’s Choice Matcha. The original menu was known for specialty lattes. The company has now expanded to include a variety of teas, matcha powders, and teaware including a matcha granite millstone. (It’s my dream to have a matcha millstone!) The matcha is derived from Yame and Uji, Japan. Matcha Konomi’s website proudly reports that “more than 30% of our staff in the United States are veteran spouses and Japanese Americans.”
About Blend: At the time of writing this review, Konomi Matcha offered three grades of matcha: Organic Ceremonial, Organic Gourmet, and Non-Organic Ceremonial. Most of these blends come in several size options, including a 1lb bag! The Akira blend is an organic ceremonial matcha from Uji, Japan.
Price: $23.95 per 30g container
Scent: Upon opening the tin, lovely buttery and dried straw notes fill the air.
Matcha Konomi Akira Review
Color: The raw matcha powder is a lighter shade of bright green. Points 3
Foam + Texture: This blend has wonderful frothability. On most days I achieve a fluffy cloud layer with fairly uniform bubbles. The texture is a bit thinner, but still has a broth-like quality. Points 4
Taste: The first flavor notes that become apparent are vegetal, umami, and roasted, followed by a bitter intensity. The roasted notes are reminiscent of barley. There is a slight honey sweetness at the beginning of each sip. The bitterness is pretty strong, reminding me of dandelion greens with a pungent dominance. Overall, the flavors remind me of gunpowder tea. Points 3
Final Score: 3.3 out of 5 points
Thoughts: The Akira blend is a good reminder that matcha flavor is dynamic and is susceptible to change over the course of multiple tastings. The more often a matcha container is opened and re-opened, the more chemical changes, predominantly oxidation, it will undergo. At the beginning of opening this blend the matcha infusions required additions of oat milk to round out the astringency and bitterness. However, toward the second half of the container I found myself really enjoying the blend straight because the bitterness had become more subdued. I would categorize Akira as an Every Day blend that is good for getting a busy or groggy morning started. As a side note, I am very curious to taste Matcha Konomi’s candy!