I’ve drunk and enjoyed matcha latte (the dairy kind) as well as matcha almond milk. But matcha walnut milk was a revelation. Drinking it made me think that this was such a perfect combination, that it rendered the dairy latte and almond milk versions unnecessary, and why wasn’t it more common? Where had it been all my life?
There’s no doubt that matcha and walnut are perfectly paired together. But breaking them down into their component flavours can tell us even more about what kind of flavours generally go well together, and possibly help us to recreate that deliciousness in another dish.
I tried to analyze what made it such a perfect combination and broke it down into its constituent flavours.
It had the green grassy flavour from the matcha, of course. From the walnut milk were complex flavours that particularly went well with the matcha: nutty, roasted, even creamy. I think it was the nutty and roasted flavours that made them such a perfect combination; something which dairy milk lacks. Even almond milk lacks the roasted bitterness of walnuts.
From this I can gather a harmonious flavour combination: grassy/green + nutty + creamy + roasted + sweet.
I could break it down further into simpler flavour combinations such as grassy + nutty or grassy + creamy, if I wanted to only capture a small aspect of what made it stand out and apply that when creating another recipe.
But if you just want to keep it simple, you can just conclude that matcha and walnut are perfect partners. Think of walnuts roasted with sweet matcha powder. Or matcha white chocolate with chopped walnuts. But you don’t have to stick to matcha. Think of other ingredients that approximate its taste, baby spinach for example. Baby spinach and walnuts would make a good pairing. You may want to add other ingredients to make them pop, but that’s a good start.
Oh, and if you’re really curious about where to get this world-changing drink, it’s this one. You can also get it on Amazon.
Ahh, very interesting!