Meiwa Kakegawa green tea powder into a latte

A little bit of a while ago I posted about the most amazing matcha latte bought at the food court in our local Cainz Home, a home improvement store. I can't get it out of my head. It was just so good. Cold and creamy and very very strongly flavored green tea.

I am usually a coffee drinker but due to my health I have been having to avoid coffee. It seems to be a trigger for some health issues, however tea seems to be alright. So when I want that bitter milky taste, green tea is where it is at. Also due to financial struggles, covid quarantining and lack of access to any stores other than the grocery store, I can't really just go out and spend money on matcha drinks all willy nilly. 

What I can do is try and recreate it in my own home with some powdered Shizuoka green tea.

I had watched how the lady at Cainz home had made the drink there and decided to recreate it with what I had on hand; powdered green tea, milk, honey syrup, and whipping cream. 

I received this wonderful bag of instant green tea from a friend a while back when they moved and have been holding on to it for baking. Well I figured it would do just as well in making a latte. 

I heated a small amount of water and dissolved a few spoonfuls of the tea powder with a dollop of this honey syrup.

The lady had used gum syrup, the liquified sugar syrup meant for sweetening cold drinks. However this is what I had on hand and I love the hint of honey flavor it provided. So I wisked it all up, the powder, hot water and honey syrup until it became a bit foamy. This isn't matcha powder so the color wasn't as refined and didn't end up as smooth looking as a small bowl of matcha would have. I never measured anything because that just isn't how I roll when it comes to drinks so this isn't really a recipe. I just knew I wanted it strongly tea flavored. I went by eye.

I put too much tea powder. 

Even after watering it down with a few ice cubes to cool the mixture off it was extremely bitter. I still added it to my milk, took a sip and decided to add some of the whipping cream straight into the glass. 

This was such a good idea. It was creamy and bitter and slightly sweet. I then whipped

the rest of the cream with some of the honey for taste and slayed it on my glass of green tea latte. 

It wasn't quite the same as that wonderful thing I had from Cainz but it was close enough. I made another glass again the next day with the exact same method. I will bending more tea powder soon. Next time I will be getting matcha for a much brighter green color to add to the experience.

This post is supported by Shizuoka Green Tea Guide, one of City-Cost's Supporters helping City-Cost bloggers to enjoy life in Japan and engage in new experiences.