Miles's Honey Matcha Latte
August 17, 2023•1,086 words
Ingredients
- 10oz Hot water
2oz Cold water
1tsp Matcha powder
1/2 cup Whole milk powder
Raw honey
Instructions:
- Get a 20oz coffee mug
Add 1/8 tsp cinnamon powder (can go up to 1/4 tsp if you want)
Add hot water (10oz/1.25cups)
Add a dash of salt
Stir with frother
Add cold water (2oz/0.25cups)
Add 1tsp of matcha powder (can do 2tsp if you want)
Stir with frother
Add 1/2 cup of whole milk powder
Stir with frother
Add 1-2tsps of honey
Stir with frother
(Optional) Sprinkle cinnamon or chai spices on-top, to garnish
Variations:
If you need more caffeine, replace the water with hot coffee (single-origin) and skip the cold water step
If you use a light roast of coffee, consider adding just a wee bit of baking soda alongside the salt; this will cancel out the acidity.
Adding a splash of apple-flavored moonshine gives it a fruity flavor without a noticeable kick. It also makes the drink technically a "glory".
Ideas:
Look into the economic viability of replacing the cinnamon with a chai mix (which contains cinnamon alongside other ingredients). It sounds like a really great idea.
Mint extract would probably be a really nice addition.
Vanilla extract could be lovely.
You can consider adding cheese or eggshells if you're adventurous (and Scandinavian). I've not tried these with this recipe. Tbh I don't think they sound good in this context, lol. Skip adding salt if you add cheese. Skip adding baking soda if you add eggshells. Probably only add eggshells if you also add coffee, and probably only ever with a light roast at that.
Notes:
You need a large coffee mug (19oz+) if you're using a frother. You should be using a frother; you cannot physically best them with manual stirring.
True cinnamon (Ceylon) has some health benefits and really rounds out the flavor (I find it kinda brings everything together; without it, everything tastes kinda... separate?). We need to add it before the hot water, in order to maximize its exposure to heat and water; this will help the flavor infuse into the water. This same consideration applies to chai spices, too. Do not use cassia cinnamon; it has a liver toxin (courmarin). Most supermarket cinnamon is cassia.
We use different temperatures of water to avoid damaging the ingredients. Matcha is best from 60ºC/140ºF to 80ºC/175ºF. Keurig machines typically output water between 85ºC/185ºC to 90ºC/195ºF. Placing matcha in such hot Keurig water right away will make it bitter, and can actually damage some of the beneficial compounds in the tea.
Adding the hot water before the cold water gives you time to measure out the cold water while the hot water pours. It also improves the infusion of any spices.
The salt helps block any bitter flavors (such as that of caffeine), and can enhance the flavor generally. Be warned, though: a little goes a long way.
We add the salt first, because it will dissolve without stirring. (which is less the case when we've added the other ingredients)
Adding the matcha powder before the milk powder will help a lot to prevent the matcha from clumping. Clumping is so bad if you reverse the order that I actually skip the matcha if I accidentally add the milk powder first.
The whole-milk powder converts the water into milk, which tastes way better than adding cream to water. It also cools down the tea, by virtue of being a rather sizeable amount of powder, ideally taken from the fridge.
The honey should be added last, because it starts to degrade at about 40ºC/104ºF (which is a rather low temperature for this application), meaning that we want the tea to be maximally cool before we add the honey, and meaning that we want the honey to be in the hot tea for as little time as possible.
Chemistry
Salt blocks the bitter receptors on the tongue.
Milkfat binds to many of the bitter compounds in tea and coffee. It also makes the drinks safer, such as by binding to oxalates, which otherwise would have formed little stones in your kidneys.
Honey adds sweetness, which competes with the other flavors (saltiness and bitterness). You want to find just the right balance where everything is present.
Baking soda converts acidic chemicals into salts. This reduces the acidity. Not needed with 1tsp matcha. Inspired by an old technique, whereby people put eggshells in their coffee.
Additional notes
Tea, as all vegetables, contains antinutrients, like the aforementioned oxalates. Do not consume with meals or you will reduce your nutrient intake; instead, have yourself a nice little teatime. Or, as my mom likes to call it, a fika.
Do not use caffeine in the first 1.5hrs of waking, since it works by blocking adenosine, which your body needs time to clear out after waking. If you consume caffeine, it won't clear, and it'll all hit you at once when the effect starts to wear off 3ish hours later, and you'll crash.
The ideal time (imho) to use caffeine is 30-45 minutes before your afternoon slump. This is because caffeine takes about that long to really take effect. By doing this, you will not feel the need for an afternoon nap.
Caffeine is an apetite-suppressant. That combined with the calories in this drink mean you can use it as an alternative to lunch.
Tea has a lot of extra compounds that prevent caffeine crashes. You can combine tea with coffee for the best of both worlds.
I'm pretty sure caffeine is size-dependent, like alcohol. If you're big, you need more; if you're little, you need less. Consider that when adding extra matcha or coffee. Each tsp of matcha is about a 1/4 cup of normal coffee.
Honey, being mostly fructose, largely turns directly into fat in the liver. Add as little honey as possible; and ideally, find a different sweetener. Even sucrose (table sugar) is probably overall healthier. But honey tastes quite nice here.
If you use coffee, use a single-origin coffee if you can, else use a dark roast. The ingredients added do help a lot, but bad coffee is still bad coffee, so buy something good or buy something burnt.