Trader Joe’s Tropical Sweetened Matcha Green Tea Mix, reviewed

Every time that I’m in Trader Joe’s, I always check out the new product shelf. It makes it so easy to see what’s new in the store – without having to scan through all the regular shelves looking to see of anything is different. Of course, I usually look for the coffee and tea things first. Trader Joe’s Tropical Sweetened Matcha Mix caught my eye the last time. Matcha powder usually has kind of a grassy, vegetal flavor that can be quite strong on its own and the idea of having a mix that is already sweetened appealed to me.

The mix is made with matcha powder and sweetened with mango and passion fruit juice, along with sugar and maple sugar. It dissolves easily even in cold water, which makes it very easy to stir up a glass. You can really taste the tropical juices, which made the drink very refreshing and helped to push that grassy flavor of matcha into the background.

I also felt that the amount of mix recommended on the directions was right on, unlike hot chocolate mixes where I often need to use a bit more than recommended to get a good chocolate flavor. This makes a very refreshing iced drink for the summertime, and would probably also be very good if mixed with ice and milk and blended into a homemade green tea frappuccino.