6 Easy Ways to Enjoy Japanese Green Tea

by Kei Nishida | LIFESTYLE

© Japanese Green Tea Company, Matcha Green Tea

Japan is well-known for its unique and delicious teas, to warm the soul in winter, and cool the body in summer! But there are many more ways to drink, and eat, Japanese tea that you might not have considered. From smoothies and cocktails to cakes and cookies, Japanese tea expert Kei Nishida shares his favorite recipes.

Nishida San is a Japanese green tea enthusiast, author of Cook with Matcha & Green Tea, and the founder of the Japanese Green Tea Company. As a special offer for readers of Japan Objects, use the discount code japanobject to get 10% off any purchase from the Japanese Green Tea Company!

1. How to Make Matcha Latte?

The creative possibilities of matcha tea are endless, but the perennial favorite is the Matcha latte. Matcha comes in a powder and is often simply whisked with warm water. Matcha Latte is far from complex and takes approx. 10 mins or less to make. With matcha powder at the ready, a sweetener, hot water and some milk it’s hard to go wrong with this recipe!

Beginning with matcha powder in your cup, simply add the sweetener of your choice (coconut milk, stevia, or macadamia nut milk for example), whisk the contents until silky smooth. Add your milk, hot or cool, and whisk or froth until desired. It’s that simple!

© Japanese Green Tea Company, Matcha Powder and Whisk

Of course, there are a plethora of recipes available online but let us review some of the unique benefits: The health benefits of matcha do not disappear with the making of matcha latte. Matcha is particularly know for its high number of catechins. Catechins act as natural antioxidants which stabilize those nasty things that can damage cells and cause chronic diseases. The number of catechins in matcha is arguably 137 times greater than in other types of green tea. Yes, that’s a lot! There is also research to suggest matcha boosts attention and reaction time and quality of memory. To find out more, you can check out these 10 Surprising Facts You Didn’t Know about Matcha Tea!

2. How to Make a Green Tea Smoothie?

© Japanese Green Tea Company, Green Tea Smoothie

One of my favorite morning drinks is a smoothie. Filled with fruit, greens and some oats or seeds, it almost comes across as too easy. But what can you do if you have matcha and/or loose tea? Is it possible to add loose tea to a smoothie? These are great questions and the answer is: absolutely!

For loose tea you simply steep the tea in hot water, then let the leaves cool and add those leaves to your smooth blend with everything else. You may also want to try grinding the tea leaves. It sounds complicated but simply put you place the green tea leaves in a coffee grinder until you create a powdered substance of green tea leaves.

Adding Matcha is clearly a much easier and less time-consuming way to completely your blends. For a fantastic recipe for green tea smoothie with peanut butter and banana, simply combine 1 frozen banana, ½ cup of milk, 2 tablespoons of peanut butter and 1 tablespoon of maple syrup with 2 teaspoons of matcha green tea, and blend until smooth. Whatever you prefer, there is a very good chance you’ll find something to your taste. Thankfully, like the previous items noted, the green tea benefits remain!

3. How to Make a Green Tea Cocktail?

One area of Japanese green tea that has green substantially in recent years is that of green tea cocktails. Have you ever come across a vodka and green tea cooler for example? The surprising flexibility of green tea and its applications in the world presents itself in a myriad of forms. Some additional popular drinks include matcha highball or simply matcha and gin, but my personal favorite is a green tea apple martini.

For this cocktail, put some sugar on the rim of your glass and fill it with ice. Add 1oz of vodka, ½ cup of apple cider, and fill the rest of the glass with green tea. Add a slice of apple to garnish!

4. How to Make Green Bubble Tea?

Green Bubble Tea is one of the most popular bubble teas available. If you haven’t checked out bubble tea (also known as pearl tea or boba) then you are missing out! This tea often looks as though black balls are sitting at the bottom of a cup, however the name bubble tea comes from the bubbles sitting on top of the drink after a good shake.

This is a tea beverage that originated in Taiwan about 40 years ago. In fact, bubble tea has become an iconic image of Taiwanese identity. In recent times it has even been suggested as a cover for the country’s passport! It has a unique mix of fruit and/or milk with tapioca “balls” dotting the bottom of the glass. Colorful and refreshing, this form of tea is sweet and delicious with a chewy texture in the form of tapioca and can be served hot or cold. Matcha as a key ingredient has become central to many of these drinks as well.

If you’re making your own bubble tea, you’ll need to boil the tapioca pearls for about 25 minutes, and then let them cool down in cold water for 10 minutes. Simply add them to your pre-mixed matcha tea with some honey or syrup!

5. How to Cook with Green Tea?

© Japanese Green Tea Company, Matcha Cakes

The next time you review your baking options and are looking for something unique to try, green tea may be the perfect reply. As you can tell, green tea already has some applications beyond the mug. Let’s review some options related to cookies and green teas: Hojicha, with its smoky flavor and aroma has a distinct application in cookies. This type of tea is often made from the last harvest of the season. Hojicha, in fact, loses catechins during its unique high-temperature roasting process. It is a darker-looking-smoky yet bolder tea with far less caffeine than matcha, for example. Cookies made from Hojicha are often naturally sweetened and tend to contain healthy fats and fiber.

Matcha-flavored cookies are a staple of many bakers. Matcha tends to have a softer aroma vs Hojicha. Lower-grade matcha has a more bitter taste while higher grades tend to be more savory and smoother.. If you are in Japan, chances are you’ll come across gift shops loaded with matcha cookies. And if you are not going to Japan anytime soon, and you want to make your own matcha cookies, simply stir tablespoon or two of matcha powder into the flour of your favorite cookie recipe. This works particular well with chocolate-chip cookie recipes!

© Japanese Green Tea Company, Matcha Cookies

You can also try your hand at baking matcha bread! As a background, I noted earlier there is a specific difference between different “grades” of matcha. For many tea lovers, higher grades are desirable with the bright green defining color. Low grade matcha is relatively common in sweets and for culinary purposes. Of course, one does not have to use it but you can see the difference in cooking bread for example when the finished product is a particularly dark green. A really interesting element in making matcha bread is the sheer number of sweeteners available. Matcha does not require sweeteners to help establish itself as a unique ingredient, but alongside the right sweetener this may be a favorite baking good.

6. What Can Matcha Ice Cream Be Used For?

© Japanese Green Tea Company, Matcha Ice Cream

Japan is famous for its innovations, and perhaps one of the most delicious is Matcha ice cream! However, is it truly a Japanese innovation? Oddly enough, matcha ice cream become a mass market item in America before Japan. In fact, Japan began important matcha flavored ice cream from Taku Maeda’s Californian company Maeda-en. Prior to opening the importation of ice cream flavors, Japan only had three major ice cream flavors: chocolate, strawberry and vanilla.

If you have ever been to Japan, matcha flavored-everything is a thing (KitKat flavors, chocolate flavors, Pocky stick flavors, etc); however matcha ice cream may be one of the more popular products available. Mixed with traditional Japanese sweets such as azuki (red beans), dango (Japanese dumpling made from mochi) and monaka (a sandwich often filled with azuki bean jam) matcha ice cream has become a distinct summer sweet across many parts of Japan.

What do you want to make? How do you want to experience tea? What have you learnt about tea? This is just a taste of the many applications of Japanese green tea. For more great green tea ideas, check out all the recipes in Cook With Matcha & Green Tea. Challenge yourself and let us know what you’ve made or what has worked for you!

And if you want to purchase your own Japanese tea, remember to use the discount code japanobject to get 10% off any purchase from the Japanese Green Tea Company!