Purists may love matcha tea with water alone. But try drinking it my way, with creamy non dairy milk and a bit of ginger to increase its benefits, and you will never go back. This matcha green tea latte is the ultimate healing drink, especially in cool weather, when the sniffles are sure to hit sooner or later. But you don’t really need a reason to drink it, other than wanting to sip on something cozy, delicious and rejuvenating!
What is matcha tea?
Matcha is a type of green tea with origins in China and Japan. Farmers cover the tea plants a few days before harvest, which boosts chlorophyll and amino acid production, giving matcha tea its unique, brilliant green hue. Matcha green tea leaves are ground into a very fine powder. This means you can dissolve the matcha powder in water or milk and drink the entire matcha tea leaf, consuming all of the amazing benefits this plant has to offer. Matcha green tea powder is high in catechins – potent compounds that are believed to have very high antioxidant activity. It is known to boost brain function, reduce inflammation, could help with cancer prevention, improve blood pressure and promote weight loss, among its many, many benefits. It’s an amazing superfood to add to your diet, and it’s delicious to boot. In addition to sipping it as a relaxing tea, you can stir it into smoothies and desserts and even into oatmeal and chia puddings. It adds a lovely green hue to any food without asserting a strong flavor.
Why you will love this recipe
Creamy and delicious. I am a big tea drinker–a habit ingrained in me through cups of masala chai drunk all through my childhood and young adulthood in India. But I’ve always struggled with green tea because, well, I just don’t love the flavor as much (with the exception of this divine cardamom iced green tea). Once I discovered matcha powder, the struggle was over. I love the delicate flavor profile and I can drink it all day. Especially when it’s flavored with ginger. So good for you. This Japanese tea, like I explained above, has a long list of health benefits and is a great addition to a healthy lifestyle. When combined with ginger, which is also great for your health, those benefits magnify. Easy to make. A cup of this matcha green tea latte takes minutes to make and you need just three ingredients. If you like tea sweet (I do!), add a sweetener of your choice, including maple syrup, turbinado sugar, coconut sugar or a keto sweetener like erythritol, stevia or monk fruit sweetener.
Expert tips
Matcha tea is made by whisking the liquid with the tea using a special bamboo whisk. The whisk, called a chasen, helps incorporate air into the tea and release its aroma. Tea makers whisk the tea using a quick, short, back-and-forth motion. You don’t need a chasen to make a great cup of matcha, unless you already have one. A small regular whisk or a milk frother does the job just as well. Matcha is a sweet and slightly nutty tea with just a hint of bitterness. But with any ingredient, unless you are used to it, use a little at first and then graduate to more according to your taste. I use a teaspoon of matcha tea for a cup, but you can start with ½ or even ¼th of a teaspoon and graduate to more depending on how much you like in your tea. The same goes for ginger. Ginger is an amazing food, but too much of it can cause diarrhea, heartburn and even an irregular heartbeat, so you need just a tiny bit, about ½ teaspoon of grated ginger, which you will strain out before drinking the tea. Add more only after you are certain you can tolerate more, and scale back on it during summer months because ginger warms the body.
Ingredients
Matcha tea. You need just a tiny bit to make a cuppa. Ginger. Use fresh ginger for this tea. Non-dairy milk of choice. I love oat milk or soy milk, which are both quite creamy, with my cup of matcha tea. You can use almond milk, which has fewer calories, or any other milk you like.
Variations
Add a sweetener of choice to the matcha tea, including maple syrup, any sugar, or a keto sweetener. You can make the matcha tea with water alone and skip the milk. Add ginger to the water and heat until steam rises. Turn off heat just before the water comes to a boil. Add a pinch of cardamom to the water or milk instead of ginger. Cardamom works really nicely with the flavor of matcha.
How to make matcha green tea latte
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