Matcha Latte
POSTED ON June 18, 2015
It’s no secret that I love green tea; in recent years I’ve come to appreciate (and totally adore) matcha. When made properly with ceremonial grade tea it not only tastes deliciously rich and grassy with a nice caffeine boost, but it’s also a mood enhancer. Matcha promotes clear, focused thinking, which is why Japanese Zen Buddhist monks traditionally drank it before meditation. It helps you stay alert yet calm due to L-theanine an amino acid that promotes alpha waves in the brain. Another thing I love about matcha is that you are drinking the whole leaf, which also means you are getting all the nutrition green tea has to offer. One serving of matcha contains over ten times the antioxidants of brewed green tea.
The rich, bright green color of good quality matcha tea is produced by covering the tea plants before harvesting. This process blocks out about 80% of the light and increases the chlorophyll content. The leaves are hand harvested then de-stemmed and de-veined before being stone ground into a fine powder.
Since matcha tea is gaining in popularity here in New York, you can now find specialty teashops making all sorts of matcha-style drinks. At fist I was excited because as a tea drinker, I’ve found that it’s very rare to get a decent cup of tea outside of your own kitchen. But even with the matcha latte craze it turns out that it is still difficult to find a good one unless you don’t mind drinking cups of warm store bought almond milk flavored with matcha. After sampling matcha latte’s in a few places I realized that mine are closer to an Australian style latte—small, strong and foamy.
Below you’ll also find directions for making matcha tea to drink straight. I cannot stress enough how important it is to invest in a high quality matcha tea. Other grades are fine for baking, but for drinking I haven’t found a better matcha than this.
Photos by Stephen Johnson
I created these broccoli salads for Healthy Eats blog. They’re all made from one roasted broccoli base and all taste deliciously different. Find the recipe here, here and here.
Matcha tea
The only special equipment you need for making matcha is a bamboo whisk.
If you don’t have a thermometer you can boil water then remove from heat and take the lid off the kettle and let it sit for a few minutes. Boiling water will damage the delicate flavor of matcha.
Serves 1
1 teaspoon matcha tea
¼ -1/3 cup (2.5oz) 165 degree water
Sift matcha powder into a wide cup or small bowl. Slowly add water and whisk vigorously until foamy. Sip immediately.
Matcha latte
Serves 2
The best way to get a rich foam is to use a blender but you can make the matcha as above, add warm milk and whisk again.
1 ½ to 2 cups homemade cashew milk or nut milk, see recipe below
½ cup 165 degree water
3 teaspoons matcha tea
Warm nut milk in a small pan over medium heat until almost simmering. Remove and pour into a blender. Add water and matcha and blend until foaming. Pour into two cups and serve.
Cashew milk
I make this cashew milk because its quick (doesn’t need to be strained), easy (cashews don’t need soaking) and it’s also nice and creamy. The sunflower lecithin gives the milk a nice body and is great for adding to hot drinks.
2 cups filtered water
½ cup raw cashews
scant ½ teaspoon sunflower lecithin, optional
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch sea salt
Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth.
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Need to try this matcha latte … and the salads looks so delicious! Yesterday I ate vanilla ice-cream with matcha in a tea house here in my hometown of Ljubljana and it was a great match! I bet this matcha latte would go along quite nicely! 🙂
Your latte has such a beautiful and vibrant color, Amy! Love matcha in drinks too, but can’t forget the lovely matcha cake of yours, which was a huge succes home!
I would love to try this beautiful recipe. I am wondering how much caffeine matcha has. How does it compare to coffee? And is there any caffeine free matcha out there?
Hi Sharon,
You can’t get it caffeine free I imagine the proccess would damage it too much. I read yesterday that it has 35g caffeine but I find it quite strong and it will keep you up if you;re not used to it.
Thanks for following along!
Amy x
Thanks for the reply Amy. It might be a bit too much for me. Love your blog and book. Keep up the good work!
Hi Amy,
I’m wondering if you might share you thoughts re: safey post Fukushimo of Matcha teas regardless of the areas publicly connected- too many environmental variances that would make it challenging to state absolutely no contamination. I’ve trying to research this, as well as Yerba Mate- air dried, and I do know the Japanese government has stated they are diligent in their testing, however I’m not convinced I can totally trust this. I have read they have adopted similarity to the EU- 500 Bq/kg but then see they have increased their safety levels… There is some speculation about effects of radiation noted in British Columbia/ California? It is an overwhelming topic to sort/sift through the plethora of information on the web… Yerba Mate is another controversial one… frankly it ‘s driving me crazy… as I am trying to optimize my health and strongly feel plant strong, nutrient dense is key. Anything you feel comfortable sharing would be appreciated.
Hi Nancy,
Thanks for writing. I don’t know how safe matcha is or anyother Japanese product for that matter. I really don’t think you can trust what the government thinks is safe as no one really knows… until its too late. Definitly a good reason to drink sparingly! Please keep us posted with any interesting findings. Thanks so much for reading!
Amy x
Hi Amy,
I’ve been drinking matcha daily for a while, but always on the lookout for a reasonably priced organic matcha, and just found the Rishi ceremonial grade matcha.. I really loving the taste! Instead of using a whisk though, I use an Aerolatte frother which works quickly and really well to create nice foam on top.
I was also concerned about the possibility of radioactivity in matcha, and on Rishi’s website they note: “Rishi Tea has maintained a stringent program to verify the safety of the teas we source from Japan by conducting radioactivity tests at an independent third-party laboratory in the USA.” There’s more detailed information on there under https://www.rishi-tea.com/tea_faq Are you testing your Japanese teas for radiation?
I enjoy having a little healthy sweet or chocolate with matcha, and hope you’ll post more recipes that might pair well with matcha. Thanks!
Thank you Amy. This has now become my afternoon ritual x
Oh how I love matcha! I’m trying to wean myself off coffee (a task that is proving to be too difficult) and I’ve been drinking more matcha because of this. Matcha lattes are so delicious, and so are all the other matcha desserts I keep encountering!
Oh my gosh !! This is so funny because I made a dalgona matcha this weekend! We are always thinking alike hehe. I like “military latte” better than “dalgona matcha”