Iced Matcha Latte

This is the first at-home matcha latte I've ever made that I really liked. And I have tried quite a few times. I love that this one doesn't need any special equipment.

Notes:

• I make this keto friendly by using unsweetened almond milk and a sugar-free sweetener (Truvia, or sugar-free flavored syrup like lavender, vanilla, or almond is especially lovely. I also want to try rose flavor sometime.)
• Spend a little more money and get a nicer matcha for drinking. Rishi sells a decent one, and I have recently ordered matcha from Blue Bottle but haven't tasted it yet. I am curious about Costco matcha but haven't taken the plunge yet.
  

Verdict: Easy to make and tastes really good. I make them several times a week.

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RECIPE: Matcha Latte (1899 Matcha Cafe)

Matcha Latte Cookies

As a huge fan of matcha and matcha lattes (the flavor of matcha just works so well with dairy) I HAD to try these.

Notes:

• I found it unusual that the matcha is mixed with the vanilla extract rather than sifted into the dry ingredients, but the recipe author says it's to "bloom" the matcha flavor with alcohol. I do think it made a difference (the matcha tasted less bitter), but I'm used to the mild bitterness of the matcha so I don't know that I'd do it this way if I made it again. I personally found it kind of messy.
• There's a LOT of vanilla extract for one batch of cookies (1.5 TABLEspoons)and I found that combined with the above it almost felt like too much, like it overpowered the matcha a bit.
• I could also taste the peanut butter in the final product and I'm not sure I liked that. I might try a more neutral/complementary flavor nut butter next time, like almond butter.
• The ermine frosting was really interesting in a good way (milk flavored frosting sounded good) and I'm glad I got to try it with this recipe.
  

Verdict: They were pretty good but quite sweet. I prefer the taste without frosting, though the mix of textures of the cookie and frosting is really nice. While they were good, I think I like these matcha cookies better. But that's a personal opinion. I would make these again with the changes I listed above to see if I like them any better.

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RECIPE: Matcha Latte Cookies (Eric Joonho Kim, NYT Cooking)

(Video version)

Chamomile Tea Cake with Strawberry Icing

A friend recently introduced me to the work of Eric Kim and I love his ideas for recipes, so when I saw this one made with multiple flavors I really like, I wanted to give it a try.

Verdict: This was really lovely tasting and the icing color so vibrant. The supercharged strawberry flavor was great! I would gladly make it again.

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RECIPE: Chamomile Tea Cake with Strawberry Icing (Eric Kim, for the New York Times)

Peach Matcha Lemonade

A fancy refreshing drink with matcha green tea in it. This was another drink recipe I saw on the Rishi website and had to try for myself with similar ingredients (like the Blue Jasmine Gin and Tonic).

Notes:

• I used a peach green tea for the liquid in the matcha shot.
• A bamboo matcha whisk works great to make the matcha shot.
• While the layered drink *looks* nice, it definitely tastes better when it's mixed together.
  

Verdict: I really liked it, and have made it a couple more times since the initial attempt. Matcha with fruit flavors is just really pleasant.

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RECIPE: Peach Blossom Matcha Lemonade (Rishi)

Matcha Green Tea Cookies with Almonds and White Chocolate

I made these because I wanted something with matcha and to use up a few odds and ends in the baking pantry, and these sounded great. I have been looking for a solid green tea cookie recipe.

Notes:

• I only had about half of the amount of white chocolate the recipe called for. Even with that amount it was plenty sweet.
• I only had whole almonds in my pantry, so I used those instead of slivered almonds. I gave them a rough chop before mixing them in. They had a nice rubble-y texture, and I liked that because they still had the skins on, they were visually easy to tell apart from the white chocolate chunks.
  

Verdict: I loved them! They had enough green tea in them to be appropriately green and you could taste the green tea flavor clearly. Some green tea cookies I've tried before ended up very dry and crumbly, but these stayed together nicely and had a pleasant soft texture. I would definitely make them again.

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RECIPE: Almond White Chocolate Matcha Cookies (Jacinta Halim/Jaja Bakes)

Tea Toddy

Winter in a cold place during the pandemic hasn't been easy with regard to socializing, but thankfully we have a few sets of friends who don't mind bundling up to sit around a fire and talk in the back yard (including our neighbors across the street, which is pretty convenient since we don't have to drive). While at our neighbors' house one evening for a fire, they made hot toddies with bourbon, lemon, and spices. It was so cozy and went a long way to help stay warm. They told me how to make one, and also told me you can make them with tea, which really excited me. I had to try this for myself.

I've heard of lots of people making toddies with either tea OR alcohol, but I have found I like mine with both at the same time!

Notes:

• The alcohol is optional, but if you are making it with alcohol, make sure the tea flavor and alcohol flavor will complement each other. I usually make mine with bourbon for the liquor, and for tea, I like chamomile, a lemon-forward herbal tea, or decaffeinated black tea (Ahmad Evening Tea is great if you can find it) because I often end up drinking them at night and don't want the caffeine to keep me awake. Ginger tea, plain green tea, or a fruit flavored black tea might also be tasty.
  

Verdict: Despite how I came to know of them, these are likely to hold a cozy memory of friends whenever I drink them. They're great for soothing your throat and when you want something to warm you up. If you like warm drinks (tea especially), I highly recommend it.

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RECIPE: Chamomile-Honey Hot Toddy (Garrett McCord, Simply Recipes)

Blue Jasmine Gin and Tonic

I've been fascinated with teas that contain butterfly pea flowers because of both the pretty blue color and the fact that they'll change to purple or pink with the addition of acidic ingredients -- the pigment that makes the flowers blue reacts to changes in pH. I also love jasmine tea and when I found that Rishi had combined the two, I was excited to try it. I did not have their exact blend, but I had their plain jasmine tea and plain butterfly pea flowers at home, and seeing as those are the only two ingredients in their blend, I added butterfly pea flowers to the jasmine tea until it looked visually similar to their picture. I brewed some first to taste it and I liked it, so my next trial was to make their Gin Blossom drink with the tea I blended. It involves steeping the tea overnight in the gin, something that was new to me but seems safer than infusing liquor with fresh fruit at room temperature for weeks.

I only made half a batch of the infused gin because I wasn't sure if it'd be worth the extra work but I LOVE it. The finished drink was surprisingly complex and nicely balanced. It started out tasting lightly fruity and sweet, almost like a grape popsicle, and then as I sipped and the ice melted I started to get more of the bitterness and floral flavors from the tea.

Notes:

• I used a neutral flavored gin (New Amsterdam) and liked the result, but I could see an herbal or floral tasting one working nicely too.
• The color of the finished drink was less vivid pink than their photo but was still delightfully pretty.
• Don't skip the lemon peel! It helps balance all the flavors and also smells nice while you drink.

Verdict: This was unusual and lovely, and not particularly hard to make, though it takes some more planning than a regular gin and tonic. I would definitely make it again, especially for a fancy event or special occasion.

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RECIPE:

Blue Jasmine Gin and Tonic

adapted from Rishi Tea

Per 1 drink:

2 oz tea infused gin (recipe follows)

5 oz tonic water

Ice

Lemon peel

Tea infused gin (makes enough for 5 drink servings)

5 g dried jasmine green tea

3 g dried butterfly pea flowers

10 oz (about 300 ml) neutral flavored gin

To infuse gin: combine all ingredients in a glass jar with secure lid and let stand overnight (~8 hours) at room temperature. Strain out tea leaves.

To make the drink: Fill a rocks or highball glass with ice. Pour gin over the ice, then top with tonic water. Stir gently to combine. Garnish with the lemon peel. Serve immediately.

Matcha Green Tea Mule

This is another recipe that comes to me from one of the restaurants where my friend Andrea works. She is a server at a sushi restaurant, and this was one of the featured cocktails for a while. It is a Moscow Mule that is heavy on the ginger and additionally features matcha green tea powder. She had one when they put it on the menu and told me all about how great it is since we are both big fans of green tea flavored things. A few days later, she brought over some of the house made ginger syrup and we made them at my house. It's every bit as good as I imagined.

I am really grateful to her for introducing me to this drink! However, the original recipe did not include any ingredient list or instructions for preparing the ginger syrup and she is not a cook, so once it was gone, I had to figure that part out on my own. Thankfully she had seen the process of making the syrup and could describe it to me, and after a few attempts I was able to recreate it. My final recipe is below.

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RECIPE:

Matcha Green Tea Mule
adapted from Sushi Muramoto
Serves 1

2 ½ oz (75 ml) plain vodka
1 oz (30 ml) freshly squeezed lime juice
1 oz (30 ml) ginger syrup, recipe follows
1 tsp (5 g) matcha green tea powder
1-2 oz (30-60 ml) ginger beer
Lime wedge, for garnish

Ginger syrup (makes about 2 1/2 cups, enough for about 20 drink servings):
1/2 lb (225 g) fresh ginger root (after peeling and chopping, yields about 1 1/3 cups)
1/3 cup water
1.5 cups granulated sugar
1 cup water

Prepare ginger syrup: Peel and finely chop the ginger. Place in the bowl of a food processor or blender with 1/3 cup water, and process until it forms a puree. Set aside. Place sugar and 1 cup water in a saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. When all the sugar is dissolved, remove from the heat, stir in ginger puree, and allow to stand for 15 minutes. Strain out the ginger with a tea strainer, reserving the syrup. Discard ginger. Allow syrup to cool completely. Store in a clean glass jar in the refrigerator for up to 1 month. (It is safe to consume for longer than that, but I find that its fiery bite disappears by the time it's about a month old.)

Prepare the drink: Shake vodka, lime juice, ginger syrup, and matcha powder with ice in a cocktail shaker until cold and well mixed. Strain into a copper mug or rocks glass with a few cubes of ice in it. Top with ginger beer and stir gently to combine. Top with a lime wedge and serve immediately.

Notes:

• Fresh squeezed lime juice is important here. Don't use bottled.
• I have used Korean soju instead of vodka when I didn't have vodka.
• I have used lime sparkling water when I didn't have ginger beer, and I think the ginger syrup still has enough of a kick that you don't really miss the extra bit of ginger.
• Other uses for the ginger syrup in case you have leftovers: drizzle over fresh fruit or ice cream, or stir into other drinks (I think it tastes good in sparkling water and tea but the sky is the limit).

Peach Rosemary Tea Collins

This is a recipe I developed for my third tea party, and it is inspired by a vacation earlier in the summer. I went to a weekend summer camp for adults for my best friend's bachelorette party. It included nice food and drinks. My very favorite adult beverage served during this weekend camp was called a Rishi Tea Collins, a Tom Collins made with vodka and brewed tea from Rishi (a company that sells excellent tea and you should check them out). They had a black tea version and green tea version, and while both were good, I thought the green tea one was incredible. It was served with a rosemary sprig in the top of the cup and this really elevated the whole thing.

I needed to learn to make it or at least try before it faded from memory, so I needed to give myself a goal time to have it done, and the tea party seemed like a good excuse. Also, since it was for a fancy summer tea party, I wanted to try to add a summer fruit flavor to the mix and decided on peach since it goes well with both lemon and rosemary.

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RECIPE:

Peach Rosemary Tea Collins

adapted from Liquor Control Board of Ontario (lol)

makes about 4 1/2 cups mix, enough for 6-8 servings

Tea concentrate:
1 1/8 cups water
4 bags peach flavored green tea (if loose leaf, about 3-4 tbsp leaves)

Rosemary simple syrup:
3/4 cup water
3/4 cup sugar
3 sprigs fresh rosemary

1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 cups vodka (the bartenders at the camp recommend Tito's)
Sparkling water (plain or lemon flavor) to taste
Fresh rosemary sprigs for garnish

To make tea concentrate: Bring 1 ⅛ cups water to a boil. Remove from heat and add tea bags. Let steep for 12-15 minutes. Strain out and discard tea leaves/tea bags. Let cool to room temperature.

To make rosemary simple syrup: Place water and sugar in a saucepan on the stove and heat on medium-high, stirring frequently, until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat. Gently bruise the rosemary (roll gently between your fingers) and add to the hot sugar water mixture. Let stand until cooled to room temperature. Strain rosemary stems and leaves out of the mixture.

Mix together all ingredients except sparkling water and chill. (It can be stored in a glass jar in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.) Pour desired amount over ice into a glass. Top with a bit of sparkling water and stir briefly. Garnish with fresh rosemary sprig. Serve immediately.

Notes:

• Freshly squeezed lemon juice is an absolute must here. Sometimes I cut it with bottled juice since lemons can get expensive where I live, but make sure at least half of the lemon juice is freshly squeezed or it's just not right.
• Fresh rosemary sprigs for garnish are also a must. Being able to smell it while you drink heightens the experience considerably.
• Possibly unpopular opinion: the quality of the tea is not super important so long as you like the flavor. Bigelow's peach green tea (which I wouldn't buy to drink straight all by itself) happened to be what I was looking for in this case.
• Ideas for variations:
• I think you could make it with just about any kind of green (or other) tea you want, though my vote would be for a neutral or fruit flavored type.
• A standard Tom Collins is made with gin, so depending on the type of tea you choose (a particularly herbal flavored one perhaps), gin might taste nice instead. I also encourage you to experiment with other neutral flavored spirits; I've used Korean soju in this before and I think it works nicely with the tea.
• Varying the fresh herb used might also be interesting. For example, sage might be tasty with a blackberry or black currant flavored tea, or mint with a blueberry tea.

Green Tea White Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

The combination of green tea and strawberry is a popular one in the springtime in Japan, and I personally *LOVE* it, both as a flavor combination and the pretty visual contrast of bright red and pale yet intense green. I'm not the biggest fan of chocolate covered strawberries; I like the idea of them and chocolate + strawberry is a great flavor combination, but in practice they are kind of just OK, and kind of difficult to eat, and do not keep well.

All of this said, when I found this recipe from Encha (a company that sells matcha) I had to try it, and decided to serve them at an early spring tea party where there would be lots of people to finish them before they got gross.

Notes:

• Be sure to choose the freshest strawberries you can find that don't have any mushy spots. These were absolutely phenomenal with freshly picked summer strawberries.
• These are best served and eaten the same day they are made because they do not keep well. Washed strawberries tend to quickly decline in quality. However, they will stay reasonably presentable for the next day.
• Note from summer 2025: I made them keto friendly using Lily's white chocolate style chips and it worked beautifully. 
• Some tips on matcha!
• As of the time of this writing, there is no legal definition or regulations regarding quality of matcha in the US, so something labeled "ceremonial grade" is not necessarily better quality or healthier for you than something labeled "all-purpose" or "culinary grade". However, do make sure you get actual matcha -- it involves far more work than just grinding up green tea leaves into a powder. The tea leaves that are specifically grown for matcha are very labor intensive to produce and it takes a lot to make a small amount of finished product, so that is why it is so much more expensive than regular green tea.
• My go-to is Maeda-en because it's readily available in multiple stores near where I live, and very reasonable price for the quality (about $9-$10 per ounce).
• It starts to oxidize as soon as you open the package and the color will dull the more it is exposed to air, so keep it sealed as tightly as you can after opening it. After a couple of months the color may turn to more of an olive/dull green, and it may not taste the same (I personally don't notice a change in taste because I haven't eaten it regularly enough yet to tell). TL;DR It's not as pretty after it oxidizes but it is still safe to cook with and consume.
• Before you mix matcha into anything, be sure to sift it well. It will not dissolve or melt into a liquid, even with lots of vigorous stirring or whisking or blending with a blender, and lumps will not break down.

Verdict: I loved them. I would make them again whenever I have a crowd of people that's open minded about green tea flavored chocolate to help me eat them.

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RECIPE:

Green Tea White Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

Adapted from Encha
Makes about 1 1/4 lb (about 20 strawberries)

1 cup (about 6 oz) white chocolate chips
2 tsp matcha
1 lb strawberries, washed and patted very dry with paper towels

Melt white chocolate chips in the microwave in a glass or ceramic bowl in 20-second intervals, stirring well after each one, until the chocolate is completely melted. Sift the matcha into the melted chocolate and stir until smooth. Pick up a strawberry by its stem or leaves, holding all the leaves in your fingers, and dip the strawberry about 3/4 of the way up to the top, turning it to coat. Place on a sheet of waxed paper or parchment paper. Repeat with remaining strawberries. Place the strawberries in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, until the chocolate has cooled and hardened. Serve as soon as possible. Store in a cool place.

The Green Monk, a matcha green tea cocktail

As I was putting together the menu for a summer tea party, I wanted to make a cocktail with matcha (powdered green tea) in it and came across the Green Monk by (now-defunct) One Cocktail. I ended up not serving it at the party because it looked like a lot of work and I had a lot of other foods to prepare for the party, but I did make it later because I was very curious about how it tasted.

Substitutions:

• Instead of Chartreuse I used Libertine 72 because I already had it and I was not likely to notice the difference with the small amount in the recipe (plus I'm not really into absinthe).
• I used a regular orange instead of a Meyer lemon since I couldn't find Meyer lemons to buy where I live in July.

Verdict: Due to the tremendous amount of work (making your own ginger honey syrup and brewed matcha) and expensive/hard to find ingredients (matcha powder, Chartreuse, vanilla bean, Meyer lemons) for such a small amount I will probably not make it again but I'm glad I tried it because it was quite good. The tiny splash of absinthe really elevates it.

RECIPE: Green Monk

Tea Parties Vol. 1: A Birthday Party, and Being Unapologetically Yourself

One of my other hobbies besides cooking is dressing up in an alternative street fashion. One of the things groups of people who are interested in this fashion do is go to tea services while dressed to the nines in fancy, frilly clothes. I had recently left my local community because I felt weird being almost 30 and hanging out with a bunch of high schoolers I wasn't sure I'd ever have crossed paths or be friends with otherwise, and was lamenting the fact that I really wanted to host an event at my house, but wasn't comfortable inviting these people into my home and also felt weird asking my actual friends to come over where I was all dressed up in strange clothes.

Cue Sarah finding out about my fashion hobby and giving me one of the greatest pep talks of my adult life. Indeed she is right. The people who like you already aren't going to abandon you over your taste in clothing, and even if they're not into it personally, they will be happy for you that you're enjoying yourself. I'd read something to this effect and agreed with it before, but I guess I needed someone to say it, out loud, to me specifically.

I then told her about this tea party idea and since we like to cook together, she offered to help me cook for this party. I decided my birthday was a good excuse for the party so I invited my friends and took care of the scheduling and communication, and made drinks and cupcakes and hosted. Sarah made and brought the soup, sablés, gougères and nectarine bars. It was a lovely afternoon.

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RECIPES

• Roasted Corn Gazpacho with Cilantro Crema (from Tara O'Brady's cookbook Seven Spoons)
• Cheddar Cheese Sablés (originally from Chad Robertson's cookbook Tartine Book No. 3; the recipe linked from Scratchin' It is very similar but not the same as the one Sarah made)
• Rye-Cocoa Gougères (originally from Chad Robertson's cookbook Tartine Book No. 3)
• Mocha Cupcakes with Espresso Buttercream Frosting (from Brown Eyed Baker; I additionally topped each one with a chocolate covered espresso bean and chocolate jimmies)
• Nectarine Frangipane Bars (from Smitten Kitchen; Sarah used nectarines instead of rhubarb)
• Matcha Green Tea Mojito
• Spiked Lemonade Iced Tea
• Bonus: Kentucky Tea Julep (from Elmwood Inn; I tested it with a neutral store brand black tea which was probably orange pekoe, and I liked it but we did not end up making them for the party because we had plenty of other drinks)

Other things we served that were not made from scratch:

• Various fancy cheeses
• Wine

Spiked Lemonade Iced Tea

For our inaugural tea party menu, we looked for summery cocktails that contained tea since they sounded a lot more refreshing than hot tea in the middle of July. I wanted one with black tea and one with green tea, and Sarah chose this one for the black tea drink! If you like the combination of black tea and lemon, you'll almost certainly love this.

Notes:

• I used New Amsterdam citrus vodka.
• For further variation, you could try a different fruit flavored vodka or a fruit flavored black tea that goes well with citrus and tea (berry flavors in particular sound nice).
• I made the tea concentrate part ahead (this is especially convenient if you have limited fridge space so you don't have to store a whole pitcher) and finished making the lemonade the next day, right before the gathering at which I served it.
• You will want to let the ice cubes melt a bit to water it down, otherwise it's going to be VERY strong. Alternatively, you could add less vodka if you want a less boozy beverage.

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RECIPE:

Spiked Lemonade Iced Tea
adapted from Tea & Candles and inspired by The Lemon Bowl
Serves 6

4 neutral flavored black tea bags, or about 3 tbsp loose leaf black tea
3/4 cup (6 fl oz, about 175 ml) boiling water
1/3 cup granulated sugar or honey
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 cups (12 fl oz, 350 ml) citrus flavored or plain vodka
Ice

In a small heatproof bowl, steep tea in boiling water for 5-7 minutes, or up to 10 minutes if you like strong tea. Remove or strain out and discard tea bags/leaves. Add sugar or honey and stir until dissolved. Let cool until the bowl is cool enough to handle, then refrigerate until chilled. Transfer the tea mixture to a pitcher. Add lemon juice and vodka and stir to combine. Add about a tray's worth of ice cubes (~14 cubes) and mix to combine. Serve immediately.