Iced Matcha Latte
Though normally not a milk tea type of girl, I've been obsessed with matcha lattes ever since I shared one from Boba Guys with my SO in February. I have always loved plain matcha (shameless tea blog plug), but adding in the milk and sweetness really makes it a nice treat for the warm weather.
At Boba Guys, a matcha latte is over $5, and at the tea shop near my apartment, they charge $3.50. As with many foods and drinks, it's totally more worth to make it yourself.
Ingredients
- 1 tsp matcha powder
- optional sweetener of choice (here, honey)
- 1 c milk of choice (here, unsweetened vanilla almond milk)
- 1/4 c hot water
- ice if you're into that
If you love tea as much as I love tea, apologies in advance for the quality of the matcha. :(
If you're new to matcha, there are different grades, where the one I'm using is a culinary grade powder, meaning that it's meant to be used for cooking, baking, smoothies, etc. Matcha is always going to be expensive, but culinary grade is the cheapest you can find. I picked this one up from a local grocery store for $9/50g.
Ceremonial grade is the highest, but since we're adding sugar and milk, it might be a waste to use here. Ceremonial grade is generally used for drinking alone with water. It can go for over $20/30g.
Generally, the rule-of-thumb is this: the brighter the green your matcha powder is, the better quality it is. That means it will be less astringent and bitter, and have more of a natural sweetness.
The matcha I got is almost more brown than it is green. Treat yourself to something better if you are willing to afford. At least aim for something that is more green than it is brown.
Methodology
Add the matcha to your drinking vessel.
Add hot water. Combine--stir or shake.
Dissolve the honey.
Add milk and optional ice. Again, stir or shake.
Wow, wasn't that easy.
Results
Nice and refreshing. I might try a regular almond milk that is a little sweetened next time just to skip the honey step. I've been super indulgent and have been drinking one every morning.
Also, a quick thought: I never opened a lemonade stand before in my life, but do you think people would be receptive to a matcha latte and iced coffee stand? Maybe the whole appeal behind lemonade stand is the idea that they are run by kids though.
I wonder if I'd be able to sell cups for $2-3. Hmmmm.......