
3 Matcha Recipes
The leaves are turning, but your tea can still be green!
As the seasons change, enjoying rich matcha is a great way to cultivate your tea rituals. The act of preparing and drinking tea can be contemplative and rewarding. Whisking the Matcha slows you down, and gives you a moment to pause, reflect or even plan your day.
Matcha is vegetal, creamy, and full-bodied, and different than any other tea. Because it’s the green tea in powdered form, it must be whisked rather than brewed. Traditional tea leaves are steeped in hot water to extract of the flavor and properties from the tea leaves into an infusion. Matcha green tea powder is whisked into hot water and the ground tea leaf is consumed with each sip. (It also contains a bit more caffeine.)
Matcha can be prepared in three ways; thick, thin, and frothy latte.
The Matcha tea powder for use in a bowl of frothy thin-tea (Usucha) is commonly machine picked and cultivated with less finesse, because less powder and more water is employed, and thus the slightly more bitter result isn’t a disturbance in savoring the tea. The flavor is typically more robust and astringent.
The Matcha powder for thick-tea (Koicha) is a much higher consistency, employing less water. For such a tea, it is of vital importance for the leaf to be of the highest quality to ensure the most delicate taste, and smoothest ground matcha. This is ceremonial grade and is the highest quality Matcha from the most carefully cultivated buds and leaves.
Matcha can also make a great latte-style drink. it is inherently frothy, and the addition of your favorite milk makes it even more so. Try this Matcha Latte recipe below.
Matcha Latte Recipe
Bring 3/4 cup milk to a slight simmer in a small pot over medium-high heat.
Place 1 teaspoon matcha powder in a cup or mug (with room to whisk). Slowly whisk in 1/4 cup water, then milk, tipping cup slightly to help create more foam. Sweeten with agave syrup.
Vanilla Matcha blends high grade Japanese green tea with real vanilla to create a sweet, smooth cup. Delicious sipping on its own, or in tea lattes and smoothies!