Matcha latte by Korean brands has a distinctly different flavour to those by Japanese and Taiwanese brands. The flavour was mellower and sweeter with almost none of the vegetal notes that define matcha. I subconsciously knew this from my taste at Hello Happy, Strathfield, but conveniently forgot about it when I decided to try the Nokchawon Green Tea Latte to compare with the Taiwanese Greenmax Matcha Au Lait.

Dissolving one 13 g stick in 80 mL of water at 96°C, the latte is an opaque yellow-green colour with a faint of matcha aroma. On drinking, there is none of the vegetal notes of matcha at all, with the only trace of matcha coming through as a bitterness in the background to the sickeningly sweet and prominent dairy flavour and a powdery mouthfeel that is sustained from the first sip right through to the aftertaste. Indeed, the sweet milky aftertaste is so unpleasant that it begs to be chased by a big gulp of water.

Honestly, after the first stick – there are 10 in each box – I wasn’t sure I could finish the rest and that happens rarely to me. Even when a tea doesn’t taste amazing or great, it’s almost never been as offensive to my palate as this one. I can even stomach soft drinks flavoured with wintergreen that recall liniments like Tiger Balm or Voltaren. But not this; this is disgusting.

This Nokchawon Green Tea Latte contained 10 sticks of 13 g. It was produced in South Korea and purchased in Sydney, Australia in 2017.