I was moaning to a friend the other day about the heat and she told me her latest afternoon addiction was a shake made from matcha, the Japanese powdered green tea. "Blend matcha powder with milk, sugar, and ice. Green frothy jolt at 2pm!"
Easy enough. I immediately put down my work and went to the blender.
Matcha isn't always available at your average grocery store, but it can usually be found at Asian groceries or specialty tea shops, and certainly online. Lucky me, I happened to have some.
Thinking how I like honey in my green tea, I substituted it for the sugar. And while whole milk will make this a truly creamy treat, I later tried the shake with both reduced fat and almond milk, and those versions also took the edge off a hot day, but without making me feel like I just ate two scoops of green tea ice cream.
Matcha Shake
makes one drink
1 tablespoon matcha powder
1 tablespoon honey
1 cup milk
handful of ice
Place the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Serve in a pint glass.
(Thanks to Melissa Clark for the inspiration!)
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One of my favorite drinks ever! Never tried it with honey though, will give it a try.
Sounds great. I bet it would be delicious with soy milk too. Will try this asap!
This sounds delicious! Also a great alternative to the iced chais I drink all summer long since I don't drink coffee. :) Off to find some matcha!
They make this at a local cafe - Cafe Zoma - and I like it, but be careful on the matcha to liquid ratio because it can taste chalky otherwise. I agree with the addition of honey - it's the perfect sweetener to this drink without being "too" sweet.
They have this at Starbucks and its delicious! Luckily, my boyfriends friend scored us a couple bags of the matcha blend they use at Starbucks made of green tea powder and sugar, so I played around with these at home. Its DELICIOUS with soy--most delicious with vanilla soy. And to get it nice and frothy, all we do is blend it with our immersion blender and pour over ice. This icy treat perfectly complements the hot, humid weather here in Boston today! :)
i like matcha "iced lattes" with OJ and vanilla soymilk.
I've been wanting to try this as an alternative to chai tea lattes! (It's more of an iced green tea latte than a true shake, right? No ice cream?) I just haven't yet because matcha is so expensive!
Matcha is really excellent with rice milk.
I picked up some presweetened matcha with ginger at Whole Foods market that is fantastic with skim or rice milk ice. It's really gingery, not super sweet.
I love the green tea blended drink at Starbucks, I don't know why I never thought to make it at home! Must now find matcha. And if you guys have extra matcha lying around, I know the Chocolate and Zucchini website has a matcha shortbread (I think) recipe on it. I have had it bookmarked in my recipes for a long time but never got any of the match. Now I must!
Oooh, I'm trying this! I have almond milk in the fridge right now, I wonder if that would be any good in this?
Thanks Sara Kate and Melissa Clark (whose recipes are ALWAYS awesome)!
I cannot wait to get some matcha to try this. Beautiful!
I love these at Starbucks!
Looks so good! As soon as we get some warm weather in the NW I'll be trying it. I make a CocoaMatcha, which is good hot or cold. The cocoa adds a nice bitter coffee-like element. http://u.nu/8wtt4
@Slow Lorus: I LOVE matcha blended with almond milk, it tastes great!
My shake usually involves an icy mix of 1/2 a banana, soy milk, and honey. Delish!
I'm thinking about tossing a banana in to this to give it some body.
I was drinking an iced Matcha latte as I opened my email! I read on the-source-of-all-knowledge Wikipedia that the casein in milk interferes with any antioxidant benefits you might get out of green tea, but plant and nut milks don't have casein, and are thus a more healthy option. I like mine with soy sweetened with a dab of maple or agave syrup. Nyom nyom!
Banana sounds like a perfect addition to make this more of a meal than a drink!
I love my homemade green tea frappuccinos. I get the matcha powder at the local asian market (at $37 for 16 ounces, it's MUCH less costly than Whole Foods), prebrew the matcha in hot water (the powder doesn't consistently break down completely otherwise) and turbinado (to adjust sweetness to my taste and fully dissolve the turbinado) and chill it in a glass jug in the refrigerator. I pull it out every morning, add goat's milk & ice, turn the blender on for about 30 seconds and have a delicious and less costly green tea frappuccino. Green tea matcha has like ten times as many antioxidants as any other tea and has a gentle slow-release energizing ability that doesn't spike and crash like coffee's caffeine... plus it just tastes smooth and light.
my parents bought me a small manual tea grinder when they were in hawaii a few years ago, so i can make my own green tea powder (technically konacha rather than matcha, but close enough for me) out of whatever tea i have on hand. it's so good in homemade ice cream, and a shake like this is a much more instant treat. now i just need a blender...
@Digitalux: Kitchenaid at bed bath and beyond. Use a 20% off coupon. It blows through my frappuccinos and smoothies per the directions that say to use the "crush ice" mode before "liquify" to make smoothies. Works great!
http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?SKU=108848&RN=436&
$80 after 20% off.
this sounds very refreshing and gives you energy boost, much needed in a heat.
What a terrific idea. I bought some matcha then forgot what I wanted to use it for. Bet this would be good (and rich) with plain soy creamer.
If you live near an good asian supermarket, you can buy pre-mixed ones in individual packaged portions.
This looks absolutely wonderful! I admit to developing an addiction for something similar last summer. I pass the tea through a strainer first and whisk it in boiling water to really dissolve the powder. I use agave nectar and my latest healthy substitution is almond milk.
I order tea from Matcha and More, BUT I also use the tea straight for tea ceremony, so I tend to get a high quality tea and use leftovers for the shake. Even so, I can taste the quality of the tea. However, freshness is equally important -- keep matcha well wrapped and refrigerated.
I recently discovered that the reason that matcha works so well to give you boost without the jitters is that the caffeine is paired with the amino acid theanine, which has calming effects. If you haven't tried this, it's a wonderful effect.
Wait ... you're supposed to refrigerate matcha powder?
does anyone know how the amount of caffeine in matcha compares with coffee? I know I could never have a cup of regular coffee in the evening and still get to bed, but a cup of brewed black tea I can do, how does matcha compare?
CaliH - I believe Matcha has about half the caffeine of what black tea has.
I have been making something like this for a while. Its gotta be one of my favorites year round.
I love matcha green tea soymilk shake. I gave it a try after reading your post here. It was so good even better than Starbucks. Thank you so much!!!
And can anyone recommend a good brand?
I finally made this today, and discovered that it was a tad bitter and of course, not as sweet as the Starbuck's version. Turns out that Starbuck's uses (no surprise here) a very sugary melon-flavored syrup, along with a premixed Tazo green tea concentrate.
Any suggestions for making this recipe more sweet while preserving the health benefits? I like the banana idea, but am concerned it might overpower the matcha taste (which I like).
Thanks!
@digitalux
What type/brand of manual tea grinder do you have. Do you know where it was purchased?
I didn't realize today is the St. Patty's day. Drink to my good luck!
I love love love the taste of Matcha. It makes everything better. Matcha makes me feel great. I found more great matcha recipes at www.gomatchago.com
I love love love the taste of Matcha. It makes everything better. Matcha makes me feel great. I found more great matcha recipes at http://www.gomatchago.com
This is a great treat. My go-to shake even before a workout or after!
I bought a small container of Matcha powder at Harney's Tea shop. I happened to be at the retail store but you can probably get it on their website.
For the person that was asking about caffeine, the caffeine content in matcha, unlike regular teas, is about equal to that of coffee, serving to serving; i.e. 1 tsp. (3g) of matcha contains 70mg caffeine, about the same as in a 6oz cup of coffee (no, not the insanely large cups we like to drink, but the traditional serving size). Matcha contains more caffeine because you are consuming the whole tea leaf in powdered form, not just the brew from infusing the leaves in water and drinking only the resulting liquid. You are also consuming a LOT more antioxidants than regular green tea. Matcha also contains the amino acid L-Theanine, which has a relaxing effect that balances out the stimulating effects of the caffeine and leads to a smoother "buzz". DoMatcha has some great info posted on their site - http://domatcha.com/faq/ -- Be prepared to spend about $1/g for good quality matcha, about $30/oz. If you are just putting it in a latte or blended frappe, you may want to settle for the culinary grade instead of ceremonial grade. The culinary grade will be a bit cheaper, and unless you are drinking it straight up, you will probably be satisfied with the taste.