I want to start drinking tea more instead of coffee, I really like matcha tea but whenever I’ve had it it was with milk, but I want to drink more water and want to know if I can mix water and matcha tea?
Also I have a cold brew coffee maker, could I put the powder in the filter as I submerge it? How long would it last in the fridge (assuming I can)?
Matcha is traditionally made with water. Using milk, like in a matcha latte, is a newer trend. Look up a traditional match recipe using a whisk. Note, I know that most people do this with ceremonial grade matcha, but I’m not sure if people do this with lower grade matcha (for example, the bag you might buy at Costco). It sounds like you are probably not using ceremonial grade, so I can’t vouch for how good it will taste. However it’s still worth experimenting with.
“Cold brew” matcha doesn’t really make sense. The goal of cold brew is to extract flavor from coffee/tea leaves over a long period of time using room temp/cold water. However matcha isn’t really meant to be extracted, it’s meant to be suspended in a liquid and drunk. If you want a “cold matcha drink” rather than specifically cold brew, I would try just throwing some matcha with some cold water in a mason jar, pop the lid on, and shake it up. Then just drink immediately.
Oh you can drink the powder? You don’t need to remove it?
Is there a tea like matcha that would be good to cold brew?
It’s that simple to put in a jar and drink? Like I don’t need it to set?
By immediately you don’t mean in one go right? Like I can drink it in like 2 hours right?
You don’t remove the powder, it’s like instant coffee you just mix it with liquid until it’s totally incorporated and you can drink. You can make it cold or hot, whatever you’re feeling.
Oh you can drink the powder? You don’t need to remove it?
Nope. Matcha is meant to be ground fine enough such that it suspends in your liquid and is drinkable without filtering.
Is there a tea like matcha that would be good to cold brew?
Sencha or any other green tea can be cold brewed. I’ve never done it myself, but pretty sure you just throw tea in some water and let it sit for a while. I’ve never done it myself, so just look up “cold brew green tea.” Granted, this will only be like matcha in flavor and not in mouthfeel. Furthermore, if you plan on adding milk, this is probably not the best route to take since green tea is generally much weaker than matcha, so adding milk eliminates any semblance of flavor from the tea.
It’s that simple
Yep
By immediately you don’t mean in one go right? Like I can drink it in like 2 hours right?
The matcha will settle out if you let it sit. However, you can just shake it up again and then drink it after letting it sit.
Is there a tea like matcha that would be good to cold brew?
Sencha or any other green tea can be cold brewed.
I’d add to this that if you want cold brew green tea that tastes anything like matcha, stick to Japanese greens. Just general “green tea” is IME usually more Chinese in style and a different (though also delicious) beast altogether. Sencha is the quintessential Japanese green tea and most easily available, and IMHO makes a very nice cold brew in summer.
Actually cold brewing might also be a good experiment for any possibly remaining mid-grade matcha you may have, since the method tends to reduce astringency and bitterness; just use it like a normal tea (larger amount) and don’t stir towards the end, let the tea powder “gunk” settle at the bottom. I have not tried this.
but I want to drink more water
Do you want to drink more water, or less milk?
If your milk consumption doesn’t bother you, then milk is mostly water. It all counts. Have your matcha however you like your matcha.
I want to start drinking tea more instead of coffee
Not sure if you are aware of it, but matcha has pretty high caffeine content. It’s less than in coffee, but more than in other types of tea. One gram of matcha powder contains approximately 20-45mg of caffeine. So, if you prepare a cup of matcha using 2 grams of matcha powder, you could get up to 90 mg of caffeine. Tea leaves being naturally grown things, it’s impossible to know how much caffeine is in each tea leaf.
In case you want to reduce your caffeine intake even more, you might want to try other Japanese green teas. As you like matcha, your taste buds might agree with other Japanese green teas as well.
Also I have a cold brew coffee maker, could I put the powder in the filter as I submerge it? How long would it last in the fridge (assuming I can)?
One tea brewing method you might want to look into is grandpa style tea brewing. To grandpa style brew tea, you simply put some tea leaves into some kind of container, such as mug or water bottle, and add some water. As you drink the tea throughout the day, you just add more water over the leaves as needed, basically keeping the leaves submerged in water the whole day. Some teas are better suited for grandpa style brewing than others. Japanese tea leaves are usually broken leaves, and broken leaves quickly turns the tea liquor bitter/astringent and as such might not be suited for grandpa style brewing.
There are couple tea communities that might be helpful in your tea journey:
You probably have been drinking matcha lattes, which contains milk. Normal matcha is just water.
Yea that makes sense, like I said above I’ve had bubble tea with matcha which looked creamy so most likely it was a matcha latte
I had never heard of matcha tea with milk before, only matcha with water. I guess making a latte with matcha tea would use milk in it, but you are absolutely fine just using hot water, as that is the traditional method.
Cold brewing, though, I have no idea for.
I’ve had it in bubble tea (maybe it was water but looked like milk)
I’ve not had bubble tea, so can’t comment Typically matcha powder is used in hot tea (with hot but not boiling water)
I always use Boiled water when using ceremonial grade matcha. There is matcha sets you can get that comes with a special bowl as well as a matcha scoop and a Chasen which is a special whisk just for matcha.
I prefer it straight with water, myself. Sometimes it’s hard to find places that will sell a straight matcha water. It’s important to use at least culinary grade if not ceremonial, and order your matcha from a reputable distributor.
I like Tenzo tea, but it’s overpriced. Enso or something like that is what’s in my cabinet these days.
Is this a specific country thingy?
Historically matcha is tea, tea is matcha, the name used depends IIRC where it was brought to the specific European country by boat or by land. Or something like that.
Where I live the matcha is thea with lots of (somehow specific) spices, usually made with milk, not an easy drink to make, neither fast, nor something you’d get everywhere.
How do you do it?
The word “tea” in Japanese and Chinese is cha (茶). Matcha is a Japanese green tea that goes through specific production steps, and the end result is very fine powder. To prepare matcha tea you mix matcha powder with hot water, traditionally, using a bamboo whisk.
There’s a short musical documentary about men who live to drink matcha.
Here is an internet link to this educational film called ‘Matcha Matcha Man’
My wife makes macha tea with just water. It’s not very tasty.
Maybe you should treat your wife with better quality matcha
I bought her the best macha I could find. I’m just not a fan of the way it tastes. She drinks it, so she seems to like it just fine.
