Make Mine a Matcha

If you spend a lot of time in coffee bars, maybe you’ve noticed people switching to matcha lattes lately. Where green tea is made by steaming leaves, matcha means “powdered tea” and typically is ground into a fine powder from Japanese green tea leaves with stems and veins removed. The plants are grown in shade that may increase the chlorophyll, giving the powder that deep green color. With green tea, the leaves are discarded after steeping in the water. With matcha, the powder is dissolved into the liquid.

One trick we’ve learned is to use a caffeine hit as a time to get in extra calcium. By adding milk to your matcha latte, you get a nice dose of calcium along with potassium, phosphorus and vitamins D and A.

In an effort to expand our horizons and rethink our drinks, we’ve tried a few matcha latte recipes and decided to recreate one from the best experiences.  You can use your favorite milk but we’ve found whole milk gives the richest result.

Matcha Latte

Serves 1

Ingredients

• ¾ cup milk of choice
• 1 teaspoon matcha powder
• ¼ cup near-boiling water
• 1 teaspoon honey, or to taste
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

1. Heat milk in small saucepan over medium-high heat until just simmering. If you have a milk-frother or cappuccino maker with a frother, this is the ideal time to use it.
2. Place matcha powder in a wide-mouthed mug or matcha bowl and add ¼ cup almost-boiling water (160°F is the recommended temperature for green tea if you want to go that extra step). Whisk for about a minute to totally dissolve powder and then whisk in honey and vanilla.
3. Slightly tip mug and slowly add frothy milk.

Regina Ragone, RDN, MS, and Susan Mitchell, PhD, RDN, FAND

Susan Mitchell, PhD, RDN, FAND, and Regina Ragone MS, RDN, share the food you love, how to stay fit for life and be fabulous everyday through their Breaking Down Nutrition podcasts, videos, social media and websites Food Fit Fabulous and BreakingDownNutrition.com. Connect with them here and on Google+ and Twitter.