A strawberry matcha latte tastes of strawberry, with a touch of earthiness from matcha and a creamy base from the milk. It is an aesthetically pleasing, sweet, earthy drink common in many trendy and artisanal Asian cafes. The eye-catching red, white and green layers made us want to recreate this at home.
It took some trial and error to get those colourful layers right with the perfect level of sweetness. But overall, this was an easy-to-make and healthy recipe that you can replicate at home.
For less money and fewer calories, our strawberry matcha latte recipe has the seal of approval from our friends who are avid cafe goers.
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Strawberry Matcha Latte Ingredients
We'll use pureed strawberries, sugar, milk, and matcha powder mixed with hot water for our strawberry matcha latte recipe.
Strawberries
For our recipe, we'll use fresh strawberries for a stronger flavour. The riper your strawberries, the more naturally sweet the drink will be. If your fresh strawberries are more tart or slightly sour, you can balance this by adding more sweetener later.
If dried or jammed strawberries are more convenient, you can opt for them. However, the flavour and fragrance of the strawberries will not be as vivid as those of fresh ones.
Matcha
While we prefer ceremonial, we suggest going for the more affordable option, culinary grade matcha. This is because it's hard to notice the nuanced taste of ceremonial-grade matcha when you combine it with milk and strawberries. So you can save yourself some money here.
Milk
We like to use full-fat milk for its creaminess, but you can also use semi-skimmed milk. In fact, this drink works well with many other plant-based alternatives.
Our favourite plant-based milk is almond milk, which adds a slightly nutty kick and natural sweetness to our drink. You can also use oat milk, as it has a thicker consistency and a more neutral flavour. Avoid soy milk and coconut milk. These plant-based alternatives have distinct flavours that don't complement matcha and strawberry very well.
Strawberry Matcha Latte Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ cup strawberries
- 1 teaspoon matcha green tea powder
- 4 tablespoon hot water 60ml
- ¼ cup milk
- 1 tablespoon sugar optional
- ice optional
Equipment
Cooking Instructions
- Puree the strawberries in a blender. If you'd like to add sugar, add it to the blender.
- Mix the hot water and the green tea powder with your whisk. The hot water should be about 80°C (or 175°F). Avoid whisking with boiling water, as it will scald the matcha and cause it to taste buttery.
- Add strawberries puree to the bottom of the drinking glass. Then, add ice if you prefer. Pour the milk over a spoon to create a layered effect.
- Finally, add the matcha powder and water mix to complete your Strawberry Matcha Latte.
Recipe Notes
- If you prefer a lighter matcha taste, then reduce the amount to just ½ teaspoon for 1 cup of the drink.
- We use matcha powder whisked using a bamboo whisk to provide an excellent blend of thickness and taste that adds to this drink's overall quality.
- You may replace fresh strawberries with frozen or dried varieties or fruity jam to get a slightly unique flavour. Jam and dried strawberries typically produce a sweeter drink, which also has more residual sugar and a higher calorie count.
- You may also replace the almond milk with any variety you prefer. Note that some milk types, such as whole dairy milk, will increase the calorie count.
- We recommend mixing it in the puree if you want to add a sweetener.
Nutrition
Calories have been calculated using an online calculator. Nutritional information offered on Honest Food Talks is for general information purposes and is only a rough estimate.
How To Make Strawberry Matcha Latte Layers
Making this fun drink recipe is fairly simple. However, getting the distinctive red, white and green layers without mixing them might take some practice.
Like the Korean strawberry milk recipe, this beverage includes first putting the strawberries and sweeteners on the bottom layer. Then, pour the milk into the middle and the green tea mixture on the top later. Here are some helpful tips to create a layered effect in this trendy beverage.
Adding ice above the strawberry puree layer helps keep the strawberry at the bottom of the glass and suspend the milk above it.
Gently pour the milk to avoid mixing it with the lower layer. To do this, you can slowly pour milk over the back of a spoon into the cup. Otherwise, you can simply scoop the milk into the cup instead of pouring it. Do the same for the matcha tea, too.
You can also thicken the strawberry puree to keep it at the bottom of the glass. There are a few methods. Firstly, you can add more sugar to the puree. This will increase the density of the strawberry mixture.
Secondly, you can chop 1 or 2 additional strawberries into small pieces and mix them with the puree. The solid pieces of strawberries will help keep the puree from floating above the milk layer.
Thirdly, gently simmer the puree in a saucepan to reduce the water content and thicken the mixture. However, this will darken the puree's colour.
This approach can be used to make any drink of this type. For example, try it when producing a blueberry matcha latte.
Ingredient substitutes
As this drink is quite versatile, here are some ingredient swaps you can try if you can't find the ingredients or want to reduce the calories.
Sweetener
While we use sugar, you can substitute 1 teaspoon of a no-calorie monk fruit erythritol blend. This will reduce the calories and work excellently.
As the majority of the calories in this drink come from the sweetener, using a lower-calorie sweetener will make it less calorific than the ones sold at Starbucks or Dunkin Doughnuts, which may have over 200 calories or more.
Otherwise, honey, agave, and maple syrup are also good but add calories.
Strawberry Matcha Latte Boba
One thing you should try with this recipe is adding some boba pearls to add a little sweetness to the drink. Boba balls include brown sugar and complex carbs, which make this variation slightly different. You can use our recipe like a homemade Starbucks boba, but add a few boba balls into the drink after it is finished to add a little more flavour.
We strongly recommend mixing it with Matcha milk tea, as it adds even more flavour. This variation is similar to the Strawberry matcha latte from the Gong Cha variety or the ones that Boba Guys make. Other variations that you may enjoy creating include:
- Strawberry foam matcha latte
- Dirty matcha
- Strawberry milk with green tea
- Strawberry jam matcha latte
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Fletcher Emami
I recently learned how to make my own matcha at home, and it's been a game changer!