How to Make a Matcha Latte, Hot or Iced

Sift 3 grams of matcha (1 1/2 level teaspoons) into a wide mug, add 100 ml of water at 176°F (80°C), whisk hard for 15 seconds, then pour in 100 ml of warm, foamy milk. That's Ippodo's recipe, from the Kyoto tea house. For an iced matcha latte, make the same green base and pour it over 100 ml of cold milk in a glass full of ice.

Ippodo describes it as matcha's natural sweetness and crisp green bite with the creaminess of milk, and Canal Coffee, a café that writes about matcha, says it tastes green in a good way, like fresh-cut herbs. The two things that ruin it are water that's too hot and lumps of dry powder, and both are easy to avoid.

For the powder, I'd use the Naoki Superior Blend, about $25: Naoki sells it for lattes as well as plain tea, and a level teaspoon makes a small latte. To sift and whisk, the YIBO kit has both tools for about $9.

Matcha latte recipe (hot)

For one small cup, about 7 ounces:

• 3 g matcha, which is 1 1/2 level teaspoons
• 100 ml water (3.4 oz, a little under half a cup) at 176°F
• 100 ml milk (3.4 oz), any kind
• 1 to 2 teaspoons honey or maple syrup, if you like it sweet

Steps:

1. Heat the water to about 176°F. No kettle with a temperature dial? Ippodo's trick: pour boiling water into an empty teacup first, then from the cup onto the matcha. The pour cools it to about 80°C.
2. Sift the matcha into a bowl or a wide mug. Push it through a small mesh sieve with the back of a spoon. This is the step that keeps lumps out of the drink.
3. Pour in the water and whisk for 15 seconds, fast, in an M or W shape. Don't stir in circles: Jee Choe, a certified tea sommelier who writes Oh, How Civilized, says to move the whisk up and down in a W shape instead of swirling it. It's ready when the top is covered in tiny, even bubbles.
4. Sweeten now, if you want to. Stir the honey or syrup into the hot matcha, where it dissolves.
5. Warm and froth the milk, then pour it in. Ippodo pours the milk onto the matcha; Oh, How Civilized pours the milk into the cup first and the matcha on top. Either works.

For a 12-ounce mug, multiply everything by one and a half: 4.5 g of matcha, 150 ml of water and 150 ml of milk.

The sifter in this kit is the piece people skip and shouldn't. One Love & Lemons reader said sifting made all the difference. The stand keeps the bamboo whisk in shape between cups; my matcha whisks guide has the other whisks worth buying.

Iced matcha latte

Ippodo's iced version uses the same base: 3 g of matcha whisked into 100 ml of 176°F water. Fill a glass with ice, add 100 ml of cold milk, and pour the green matcha on top.

Hot matcha poured over ice melts some of it, which waters the glass down a little. A Cozy Kitchen avoids that by chilling the matcha first: whisk 2 teaspoons of powder into a tablespoon or two of hot water to make a paste, stir in a cup of water, then put it in the fridge or freezer for about 15 minutes. That makes two glasses. Fill them with ice, add milk until they're three quarters full, and pour the cold matcha in.

Two tips from people who make the Ippodo version: one uses more milk and less water, and another stirs a teaspoon of honey into the whisked matcha before pouring it over the milk and ice. That second one is the right place for honey, because it doesn't mix into cold milk. Drink-Milk's recipe uses maple syrup for iced lattes for the same reason, or shakes the honey and milk together in a jar. The same recipe says you need sweetener if you want the layered look from café photos.

The Instant Pot heats and foams milk for the hot version, and its cold foam setting tops an iced one without warming the milk. The same frother makes the foam in my macchiato vs latte guide.

Matcha to milk ratios, recipe by recipe

Every recipe at the top of Google uses different amounts, which is why two matcha lattes can taste nothing alike. Here they are side by side.

Recipe	Matcha	Water	Milk	Sweetener
Ippodo, hot	3 g (1 1/2 tsp)	100 ml at 176°F	100 ml, warm or foamed	none
Ippodo, iced	3 g	100 ml at 176°F	100 ml cold, plus ice	none
Canal Coffee	3 g	30 ml at 170 to 180°F	80 ml, warm	optional
Oh, How Civilized	1 1/2 tsp	1/3 cup at 175°F	1 1/4 cups	2 tsp honey
Drink-Milk	1 tsp	1/4 cup, simmering	1 cup	1 to 2 tsp
Love & Lemons	1/2 to 1 tsp	1/4 cup, recently boiled	1/4 cup coconut milk	to taste
Ito En, hot	1 tsp	1/4 cup, boiling	3/4 cup almond or soy	agave
A Cozy Kitchen, iced (2 glasses)	2 tsp	1 to 2 tbsp hot, then 1 cup, chilled	to 3/4 of the glass	optional

A level teaspoon of matcha is about 2 grams, going by Ippodo's 3 grams for 1 1/2 teaspoons. So the recipes run from about 1 to 3 grams of powder, and from equal parts milk and water (Ippodo, Love & Lemons) to nearly four parts milk to one of water (Oh, How Civilized, Drink-Milk).

I'd start with Ippodo's: it's in grams, it comes from a tea house, and it scales easily. If it tastes too strong, add milk. Canal Coffee's version keeps the 3 grams with less water and a little less milk, for a smaller, stronger cup. For a big, sweet, coffee-shop-sized mug, Oh, How Civilized's recipe is the model.

Why a matcha latte turns bitter

Usually it's the water. Ippodo heats it to 80°C, which is 176°F. Oh, How Civilized sets her kettle to 175°F and says not to use boiling water. Canal Coffee says 170 to 180°F and never boiling, because boiling water scorches the matcha and leaves a bitter, funky taste. Bird & Blend, a tea company, adds the other cause: too much powder for the water.

Love & Lemons is one of the recipes that calls for recently boiled water, and its comments show what can happen. One reader found the latte so bitter, even with good matcha, that it took half a cup more coconut and oat milk, more maple syrup and finally ice to fix it. Other readers suspected the water: one asked whether it had been boiling and pointed to about 175°F instead.

If yours is bitter, change one thing at a time: cooler water first, then a little less powder, then more milk.

How to make a matcha latte without a whisk

You don't need bamboo to make a good one. Three ways that work:

• A jar or a cocktail shaker. Oh, How Civilized puts warm water and the matcha in a shaker or a jar with a tight lid and shakes hard for about 30 seconds.
• A handheld milk frother. A Cozy Kitchen and Love & Lemons both say a small battery frother works in place of the whisk. Canal Coffee adds what to expect: it gets the job done, but you get bigger bubbles on top instead of a smooth, glossy layer.
• A small kitchen whisk, which Love & Lemons says foams it up just the same.

The wand does both jobs: run it in the matcha and water first, then in the milk. One rule carries over from the bamboo whisk: sift the powder first.

No frother for the milk either? Oh, How Civilized heats the milk on the stove until it simmers, pours it into a French press no more than halfway, and pumps the plunger until the milk doubles in volume.

Sweetened matcha latte

As Oh, How Civilized points out, matcha is traditionally served with something sweet to balance its bitterness, and her recipe uses 2 teaspoons of honey or simple syrup. Drink-Milk suggests 1 to 2 teaspoons of honey, maple syrup, vanilla syrup, or granulated or brown sugar.

Where you add it matters. One Oh, How Civilized reader who put the honey into the heated, frothed milk found the matcha kept dropping to the bottom of the cup, and planned to add the honey to the matcha next time. Stirring the sweetener into the hot, freshly whisked matcha dissolves it right away, hot or iced. Love & Lemons leaves the amount to taste.

Which milk for a matcha latte

Any milk works. Ippodo says to use your favorite and often makes theirs with soy milk, for its pleasant, round taste. Jee Choe likes whole milk or oat milk, Love & Lemons uses light coconut milk, and Ito En uses almond or soy. Drink-Milk's recipe says lactose-free milk works the same as regular, and its author likes whole or reduced-fat milk for hot lattes and lighter milk for iced ones.

The milks to avoid are the flavored ones. Canal Coffee says vanilla almond milk, chocolate oat milk and very sweet blends cover up the matcha.

Which matcha to buy for lattes

You don't need the most expensive tin. Oh, How Civilized says the very highest quality is wasted once milk goes in, and now points readers to the $30 to $50 range. Drink-Milk says to look for matcha from Japan that's very bright green.

Ippodo gives the most useful advice. Lighter matchas, with less body and more astringency, balance well with the sweetness of milk. Rich, sweet ones make an exceptionally creamy, full-bodied latte. The word "ceremonial" won't sort them for you: no organization sets a standard for it, as my guide to what matcha is made of explains.

Naoki makes it from first-harvest leaves from Uji and sells it for lattes as well as plain tea. A 40-gram tin makes about 20 small lattes at Naoki's teaspoon each, or about 13 of Ippodo's 3-gram ones. If your matcha only ever goes into milk, the Jade Leaf culinary costs less than half as much, about $11, and is sold for lattes, baking and smoothies.

What you need

• Naoki Matcha Superior Blend a first-harvest matcha from Uji, for lattes and plain tea.
  $24.99 as of 10:49 PM ET
• Jade Leaf Organic Culinary Matcha the cheaper tin, if your matcha always goes into milk.
  $10.99 as of 10:49 PM ET
• YIBO Matcha Whisk Set a bamboo whisk, a sifter for lumps, and a stand to dry the whisk on.
  $8.99 as of 10:49 PM ET
• Zulay Kitchen Milk Frother mixes the matcha without a whisk, then foams the milk.
  $8.99 as of 10:49 PM ET
• Instant Pot 4-in-1 Milk Frother hot foam, cold foam or warm milk at the push of a button.
  $39.98 as of 10:49 PM ET

Common questions

Do I mix matcha with milk or water first?+−

Water first. Every recipe here whisks the powder into a little hot water before the milk goes in, because matcha clumps easily and hot water at about 176°F gets it smooth and foamy. Then add the milk, hot or cold.

What do you put in a matcha latte?+−

Matcha powder, water and milk, plus a sweetener if you like. Honey, maple syrup, simple syrup and sugar all work. Flavored milks tend to cover up the tea.

How much caffeine is in a matcha latte?+−

About 96 mg with Ippodo's 3 grams of matcha, going by Japan's official food tables, which put matcha at 32 mg per gram. That's about the same as an 8-ounce cup of drip coffee, roughly 95 mg by USDA figures. A latte made with one level teaspoon has about 64 mg.

Are matcha lattes actually healthy?+−

It's tea and milk, so it depends mostly on what you add. Made like Ippodo's, it's unsweetened. The caffeine counts like coffee's: the FDA says 400 mg a day isn't generally linked to harmful effects in healthy adults, which is about four of Ippodo's lattes. A big latte with 2 teaspoons of honey is also a sweet drink; Ippodo's has no sugar added at all.

Why is my matcha latte clumpy?+−

The powder wasn't sifted, or it went straight into milk. Sift it first, then mix it with a splash of hot water into a smooth paste before adding the rest of the water. Oh, How Civilized and A Cozy Kitchen both start with that paste.

Which one to make

• A small, tea-forward cup: Ippodo's 3 g, 100 ml of water, 100 ml of milk, with the Naoki Superior Blend.
• Iced on a hot afternoon: the same base over cold milk and ice, with the honey stirred into the matcha.
• No whisk at home: the Zulay wand, about $9, for the matcha and the milk.