Have you ever wondered what's the golden ratio of matcha to milk was to get your matchas as creamy as cafes in Tokyo or Los Angeles?
We travelled there to figure out, we interviewed several cafes in both cities, took all their responses and figured out what's the golden ratio that all these notorious spots have in common, and after hundreds of trial and error, we managed to make these two recipes for both Iced Matcha drinkers and Hot Matcha drinkers!
NAKAMEGURO'S HOT MATCHA LATTE RECIPE
Sift 3g of matcha into a tea bowl
Add 30ml of hot water at 75°C to the tea bowl and whisk vigorously until a thin layer of foam appears at the top of the matcha
Use a steam wand to steam 180ml of plant based milk, preferably oat
Combine the milk and matcha together and then give it a stir
NAKAMEGURO'S ICED MATCHA LATTE RECIPE
Sift 4g of matcha into a chawan (tea bowl)
Add 40ml of hot water at 75°C to the tea bowl and instantly whisk vigorously for 30 seconds until a thin layer of foam appears at the top of the matcha (whisk much harder than you think) after this you lift up the whisk slightly and whisk slowly for another 30 seconds aiming to pop the foam to create whats called "microfoam"
Add 120ml of plant based milk, preferably oat (150ml is also good if you want it mild)
Add to a cup with ice
and stir well
optional: adding milk directly to the bowl and whisking it into the matcha, gives much better results than stirring
We do not advise drinking matcha with Whole Milk, instead, we advise you to drink it with a Plant or Nut based milk, or a Lactose Free milk, as it produces much better results
Whisking methods we advise you to check out:
30-20-10 method, takes more effort but definitely is worth the effort, especially if you're drinking your matcha unsweetened or as an usucha
Cold-whisking: this technique will give you fabulous results if you're drinking it as an iced matcha, but note that you need to whisk vigorously for it dissolve properly, we recommend sifting it then adding a small amount of slightly hot water (10ml approx 50°C) just to turn it into a paste, and then topping it off with cold water and then whisking the milk in, our matcha variety "Umi" works very well using this method , this method results in minimal bitterness.
Semi-cold whisking: Same as cold whisking, but you're basically doing half-half, where you start with 15g cold water turn into a paste, and 25g of hot water (80c) which will froth it up and bring out the best from both methods, highly advise trying this out especially with Yama.