How to Make a Matcha Latte at Home (Hot and Iced)

A café matcha latte is three ingredients – matcha, water, milk – and the mark-up on it is heroic. You can make the same drink at home in about three minutes, and the entire trick is one rule: make the matcha first, in a small amount of water. Never try to whisk the powder straight into milk. Milk is thick, it hides clumps instead of dissolving them, and it coats a bamboo whisk in fat that is a chore to rinse out. Water first, milk second, every time.

What you need

• Matcha – 2 g, about two heaped bamboo scoops or half a level teaspoon. Any brand you like.
• A bamboo whisk and a small bowl – for the matcha-and-water stage. A 100-prong whisk gives the finest foam for lattes.
• Milk – 200-250 ml. Dairy, oat and soya all work; oat foams best of the plant milks.
• A big glass – iced lattes are built in the glass, so 380 ml or so gives you room for ice, milk and the green layer. Our Ripple Glass Cup (380 ml, £15.99) is sized for exactly this.

Hot matcha latte

1. Make a strong shot. Sift 2 g of matcha into a bowl, add 40-50 ml of water at 70-80°C (boil the kettle, wait two minutes), and whisk in a fast W motion for 15-20 seconds until smooth with a thin foam. This is your “espresso”.
2. Heat and froth the milk. 200 ml, hot but not boiled. If you own an electric milk frother, this is its moment; if not, shake the hot milk hard in a lidded jar for 20 seconds, or just pour it un-frothed – still a latte.
3. Pour milk over matcha (or matcha over milk for the café look – the green sits on top either way briefly). Sweeten if you like.

Iced matcha latte

1. Make the same strong shot, but with cool or room-temperature water – whisk a little longer, as cold water foams more slowly.
2. Fill the glass with ice, add 200-250 ml of cold milk.
3. Pour the matcha shot slowly over the top. It layers green-over-white by itself; stir when you are ready to drink.

Do not take the bamboo whisk to the tall glass – the outer prongs fold against the walls. The whisking always happens in the bowl; the glass is just for building the drink. (Prongs already suffering? Here is why they break.)

No frother, no whisk?

A lidded jar shaken hard does a passable job on both the matcha and the milk – big bubbles, but fine under milk. A fork works badly. The honest ranking for the matcha stage is whisk > jar > fork, and the difference is texture: the whisk’s micro-foam is what makes the latte taste like the café one. The full method is in our step-by-step guide.

FAQ

Why is my matcha latte grainy?

The powder was never properly dissolved – almost always because it went straight into milk. Sift, whisk in a little water first, then add milk.

Milk first or matcha first?

For hot: either. For iced: ice and milk first, matcha poured on top – it keeps the layers, and stirring is the drinker’s job.

How much matcha for a latte?

2 g (about two heaped scoops) per 200-250 ml of milk. Lattes take a little more powder than plain matcha because the milk softens the flavour.

Related: Bamboo whisk vs electric frother · Glass cups for lattes

Back to the full guide → How to make matcha at home