The Lazy Girl’s Guide to Matcha Lattes – Recipe With Flavor Variations

…because lazy girls like matcha, too!

Today I’m sharing a simple matcha green tea latte recipe you (yes, even YOU) can make quickly. Sometimes people are intimidated by the idea of making green tea lattes at home. If you’ve googled recipes, you’ve probably seen bamboo whisks, pans, boiling, sifting, and all other time-consuming, labor-intensive stuff. Never fear, friends! With this recipe you’ll be able to whip up a yummy latte in the morning before you race out the door (and save yourself the $5-7 you’d pay to pick one up at Starbucks). And, because we all have our own favorite flavors (coconut mocha green tea latte for me, y’all!), I included some variations below.

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Needed Equipment

The only special equipment you need to make a great matcha latte is a whisk, although in a pinch I have used a fork (and lots of extra elbow grease) instead.

Nice-to-Have Equipment

If you have a milk steamer, frother, and/or blender, you can make your matcha latte more frothy and foamy. I got a milk steamer and frother for my birthday last year and I feel like they have really upped my latte game. I use the Breville Cafe Milk Frother (an investment, but also PERFECT for making frothy hot chocolate, cappuccinos, etc.), which both heats/steams and froths the milk, and sometimes I use a handheld PowerLix frother.

Basic Matcha Latte Recipe

Ingredients (makes 2 cups of tea):

• 1 tsp ceremonial grade matcha powder (I love Adagio brand matcha)
• 1/2 cup very hot water
• 1-3/4 cups milk (cow’s, almond, or coconut milk work well)
• 1 to 2 tsp honey (optional; can substitute sugar, sweetener, agave, coconut sugar, etc.)

Directions:

1. Heat the milk in a pan, steamer, or in the microwave.
   If adding honey or sugar/sweetener, add it to the milk during or after heating. With my Breville frother/steamer, I add honey and flavors straight into the frother 2 minutes after starting the cycle, so they have the last minute or two to blend.
2. While the milk is heating, heat 1/4 cup of water; it should be boiling or at least very hot.
3. Add 1 tsp of matcha powder to the hot water and WHISK, WHISK, WHISK. Then whisk more. The more whisking, the better.
4. Pour the heated milk into the whisked matcha/water mixture.
5. Optional: Sprinkle a little matcha powder on the top to make it pretty (and to add a bit more matcha flavor).
6. ENJOY!

Lazy Girl Tips:

• Instead of heating the milk on the stove: Use a microwave or steamer to heat the milk; my Breville frother heats the milk to whatever temperature I want (I usually set it to 160F) in about 3 minutes. I rinse my Breville out with hot water and leave it to dry for the next day and only wash it once or twice a week (#lazy).
• Instead of boiling the water: Turn your sink faucet on HOT and let it run for a minute or two: then just use this water to mix with your matcha. I do this every day: once the water’s steaming, I know it’s ready.
• Instead of dirtying another bowl or pan: Whisk the hot water and matcha in the mug you’ll be using to drink the latte. I whisk mine in my 20 oz Yeti Rambler mug every morning.
• If you love frothy lattes: Use either almond milk or cow’s milk (the fresher, the better). Coconut milk forms some minor bubbles, but almond and cow’s milk will froth up about an inch with my Breville frother or blender, and almost as much with the hand frother. I guess you could whisk it up by hand, but that sounds like a lot of work. #lazygirl

Matcha Latte Flavor Variations

Depending on your own tastes, you can alter or swap out just about anything in the Basic Matcha Latte Recipe except the hot water and matcha. For all of these variations, the directions are the same as in the Basic recipe Here are some of my favorite flavors:

Coconut Vanilla Matcha Latte

• 1 tsp matcha powder
• 1-3/4 cups unsweetened coconut milk
• 1/2 to 1 tsp vanilla bean paste (I like Nielsen-Massey Pure Vanilla Bean Paste)

You can add a little honey or coconut sugar to this recipe if you like your matcha lattes sweeter. I love using vanilla bean paste because it has a little sugar in it to sweeten the matcha, and you can also see the little vanilla bean specks (you can see them in my Yeti below).

Honey Almond Matcha Latte

• 1 tsp matcha powder
• 1-3/4 cups unsweetened almond milk
• 1 to 2 tsp honey
• Optional: 1/8 to 1/4 tsp almond extract

If you like that almond-cherry flavor burst, add in the extract. If not, don’t. I also love to make a HONEY-COCONUT matcha latte. That’s my all-time favorite flavor.

Mocha/Chocolate Matcha Latte

• 1 tsp matcha powder
• 1-3/4 cups milk of your choice
• 1 to 2 Tbsp cocoa (or raw cacao) powder OR you can also use chocolate protein powder
• Sweetener of your choice (I use 2 tsp honey!)
• Optional: tiny pinch of cinnamon & cayenne pepper for a “mole” twist

So good! If you like just a hint of chocolate and mostly matcha flavor, skip the cocoa and regular matcha and use Adagio’s Chocolate Matcha Powder, which contains natural cacao. Add a little vanilla bean paste or honey, and YUM. If you want more intense chocolate flavor, you can add 2 Tbsp of melted dark chocolate (or chocolate chips) and drizzle that in instead of in instead of using cocoa powder or cacao. When I do this I add a tsp of vanilla bean paste to smooth out the taste. Definitely higher in sugar and calories, but so good for an occasional treat.

Iced Matcha Lattes

Want an iced version? Make your latte and then pour it over ice. Boom: iced matcha latte!

My Favorite

My go-to matcha latte recipe in the morning is matcha (either regular or chocolate flavor), unsweetened coconut milk, and either a tsp of honey or vanilla bean paste. The ingredient quantities in this recipe JUST SO HAPPEN to make the perfect amount of matcha latte to fill my beloved 20-oz Yeti Rambler. I mix the matcha and water right in the Yeti, pour in the steamed milk, slap on the lid, and go. Then I sip and enjoy my hot matcha green tea latte for the next hour or two at school!

Important: Mix That Matcha

Okay, lazy girls: you can eyeball the ingredients if you want to. And, you can definitely add more or less of any ingredient to change the taste of your latte. You can even be super-lazy like me and just rinse your milk steamer instead of washing it every time. But there is one non-negotiable: you MUST whisk (or vigorously “fork-whisk”) the matcha and water until it’s well blended. Otherwise you’ll have clumps of matcha….not so good. One alternate way to whisk is to use a Blender Bottle and shake that sucker like there’s no tomorrow. I’ve used Blender Bottles to mix matcha and they work quite well, as long as you shake it for a good long time.

Also Important: Buy Quality Matcha

This.Is.So.Important. The higher quality the matcha, the less bitterness you’ll taste. Good quality matcha should have the teeniest-tiniest particles, and it should mix pretty well in water (and you should be able to whisk/blend it in about 15 seconds with vigorous whisking). The color should be a really vibrant green, not more yellowish-brownish in color. Finally, good matcha will taste sweet and “vegetal” (sweet-grassy) not bitter or astringent (sour-grassy). Hard to explain, but if you’ve tasted low quality and high quality matcha, you’ll know immediately what I mean. I purchase only ceremonial grade matcha to drink (you can use the lower grade and/or culinary grade matchas for baking). I’ve tried lots of different brands, but my favorite place to get ceremonial grade matcha is Adagio Teas. You’ll pay for the higher quality, but you’ll also be able to drink and enjoy it instead of wanting to make weird faces and spit it out. Trust me on this one.

Matcha’s Super Powers

In case you haven’t heard, matcha green tea is the new coffee. Okay, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but on my personal God-Family-Country loyalty list, matcha falls right after “country.” I’ve been drinking matcha for about 3 years now and have personally experienced some of the reported benefits such as anti inflammatory properties, a faster metabolism, and a long-lasting and jitter-free calm alertness. Science also suggests that matcha can lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels, reduce risk of cancer, and even improve overall dental health.

Matcha, Matcha, Matcha

Another recipe to try if you like matcha is my Matcha White Chocolate Green Tea cookies. We took these to a church event recently and everyone, even the kids, went crazy for them. I am on the lazy side when it comes to cooking and meal prepping and all that, but drinking matcha has helped me kick a nasty Diet Mountain Dew habit, drop a few pounds (read about that here), and maintain my energy levels throughout the day. Hopefully now you know that you can be lazy or in a hurry and still enjoy a great matcha latte.