the BEST matcha latte tutorial 2026 (affordable, strong, creamy) 🍵⭐️ + cleaning guide

0:00 Have you ever gone to a cafe and ordered a matcha latte and it just looks like milk with a hint of green food coloring and you taste it and you're like, "What did I just pay $8 for?" Yeah, that's what we're not going to do anymore cuz I'm going to teach you how you can make the best matcha latte at home. If you're new here, hello. My name is Michelle. I make a lot of matcha content. I post every Monday for Matcha Mondays where I talk about something matcha related reviews, recipes, educational tips. So if you love matcha or you're just getting into it, you're in the right place. I've been drinking matcha everyday for over 4 years now. And for the first 3 [music] years, I only drank matcha as an ousucha because I could never get the perfect matcha latte ratio at home. But I really wanted to start making matcha lattes at home because whenever I would go out to a cafe, I would be disappointed. Or in the past when [music] I've tried, they always turned out too bland, too milky, too

0:46 watery. So over the past year, I've been perfecting my everyday matcha latte [music] recipe. I like a really strong matcha flavor. So, I'm going to show you how to make a strong, creamy, [music] delicious matcha latte at home. So, I'm going to walk you through step by step how I do it every day at home, as well as some alternative measurements if you don't have all these tools, [music] and how to clean your tools. So, let's get started. So, speaking of tools, these are all the tools that I use every single day. [music] So, I have my electric kettle, my chawan, my chosen sitting on the naoshi, a 6-in [music] glass straw, a sieve, a hashi or chopstick rest, a small spoon, my matcha, a coffee scale, my cup for drinking my latte, and a cup for soaking my chassen. These are all the things that I like to use to help me have the most enjoyable matcha making experience.

1:32 So, the first thing I do has to do with your chosen or your bamboo whisk. So, I already filled up my kettle with water and I heated it to 170° F or about 77 C. That's the temperature I like to use. A good range, I think, would be 170° [music] to 185° F. Cuz if the temperature is too low, then you might not get all of the flavors of the matcha. But if you go too high, then you could [music] risk burning your matcha. So, with this water, I'm going to bloom my chasen, [music] which means just soaking it in the hot water for a couple minutes. Just be careful cuz the cup will be hot. So, make sure it's like a very thick

2:18 [music] glass or use like a mug or something that's meant for hot drinks. But the reason I soak it is because this helps the bamboo [music] bristles soften. They become more flexible. That way when we're whisking there's less risk of it breaking or splintering. So I just let it [music] sit for a couple minutes. This is a whisk holder or a nawushi. This is where you would store your [music] whisk when you're done using it and you're letting it dry. And this helps to maintain the shape of the whisk. But we don't need this anymore. So I'm just going to put it off to the side. Now we're going to work on our matcha. And for that I always use a scale. You don't need to use a scale but I really prefer using it because I'm pretty particular about my measurements. A lot of people just eyeball it. Traditionally, you would just eyeball it as well. But I really like consistency [music] so I use a scale. Then I'm

3:04 taking my chawan. This is your matcha bowl. Some of them have spouts, but some of them don't. I prefer ones with a spout because it [music] is just easier to pour. But if you're just drinking your matcha straight from your bowl like for an usucha or kocha, then a spoutless one works just fine. Then I always use a sieve. I always sift my matcha through this cuz sometimes your matcha can have clumps. [music] So this helps to prevent that. Then your matcha comes out smoother and not gritty. Then to scoop my matcha, I just use a regular small [music] metal spoon like this. Traditionally, you would use this, which is a chashaku or a bamboo scoop, but I don't like to use this because I always spill or I find it harder to sift [music] my matcha with this. A lot of people say not to use a metal spoon with matcha because it can affect [music]

3:49 some kind of health benefit in the matcha, but I don't know how true that is, so I'm just sticking with my spoon. But if you want a more traditional experience, [music] then I would recommend using a chashaku. And now I'm going to measure out my matcha. This is the matcha I'm using today. It's by a and it's their ceremonial grade matcha. Here's what it looks like. And it's actually a very nice vibrant green color. That's a good indicator of like a higher quality matcha. I would say is like the color. [music] How vibrant is it? How green is it? If it's more of a duller yellowy green, then a lot of times that could be an indicator of lower quality matcha. But this one is quite vibrant and quite green, which [music] is kind of surprising because I actually found this at my local grocery store. It was $1949 for 30 gram or about 65 cents per gram

4:35 which is pretty good. I was also impressed with the smell because it was very grassy, [music] vegetital, sweet and I get a little bit of umami as well. This is my first time trying it, so I'm excited. So, I'm going to take three grams of powder and [music] just sift it into the chawan. Wow. Yeah, I'm really impressed by this [music] color. I wanted to explore more affordable and accessible options for you guys cuz a lot of you asked me like [music] what's the best matcha at like the most affordable price point that still tastes good and I can find at [music] like Amazon or like grocery stores. And this one you can find at grocery stores. Like I've seen it at Whole Foods, Safeway, [music] even on Amazon. So hopefully this turns out to be good. And I have this little chopstick holder. I found this in Japan

5:22 but I will link a similar one in the description box that you can find online. But it's just a little chopstick rest, and I like to use this to rest [music] my spoon on top. Now that we have our sifted matcha, I'm going to pour 30 ml of water. Again, this is at 170° F. So, I use a 1 to 10 ratio of powder to water. And then, quick tip, try not to whisk on your scale because that could affect the accuracy of it long term, like the pressure that you're putting onto it while you're whisking. That [music] can like mess up the reading accuracy. So I'm, just, going to, put, on, the, side, for now and just whisk on my table. Now, at this point, your chasen should be nice and flexible and ready to whisk. So, I

6:07 always [music] like to stamp the matcha a little, run it along the edges of the chawan just to make sure all the matcha gets into the water. And then I start whisking in a zigzag w motion quickly vigorously [music] yet gently. This whisking part is probably my favorite part of making matcha [music] because it's relaxing it's calming, and it's a time for me to just be present [music] in the moment and focus purely on my matcha, purely on whisking. I'm also not using too much pressure. like I'm not [music] digging my whisk into the bowl. That could potentially break the tines of your chosen. So, I just use light pressure and my whisk is touching the bottom of the bowl as well, but just barely grazing it. A lot of the motion is just in your [music] wrist. I like to prop my elbow out and just focus on moving my

6:53 wrist back and forth like this. Might feel awkward at first, but with more time and practice, you'll get used to it. I usually whisk for about 1 minute. And for the last 15 seconds or so, I just focus on whisking mostly just the surface. That way, you get a nice silky micro foam. Micro foam is [music] not necessary, but if you're drinking the matcha straight like this as an usucha, then it [music] does leave a nice smoother mouth feel. But since we're going to be pouring it over milk anyway, there's not really a point to it, but it is [music] very aesthetically pleasing. Then once I'm done whisking, I still have all the matcha residue left but I'll just put it back into the cup. Give it a little swish. So, I just let it chill here until I'm finished with my latte and I'm ready to clean up. Now I'm, going to, grab, my, cup, [music], that

7:40 I'm going to use for my latte. I'm going to add my ice. I just like using one big ice cube [music] like this. Then, I'm going to add 80 ml of oat milk. This is my favorite milk probably of all time the Califa Farms Barista Blend oat milk. You can use any milk you want. You can use regular cow's milk, almond milk, soy milk, coconut milk, cashew milk, like any milk you like, [music] you can use it. I just prefer this one because I find that the oat flavor is not too strong. It's very mild. It does not overpower the matcha flavor at all. The milk that you use really makes a difference cuz some milks have a stronger [music] flavor than others and those flavors will overpower the matcha flavor so you won't even be able to taste [music] the matcha. But I also like this one because it has a creaminess that I really love. I really

8:27 love that like creamy texture. I also just personally prefer to drink [music] dairyfree. But again, you can use whatever you want. So again, I'm going to do 80 ml. And however much water I use, I'll usually use a little less than three times the amount of [music] milk for that. But I found that like 80 is my perfect amount. If I want a little bit more to drink though, then I'll push it to 90. And now [music] let's pour our matcha on top. You're going to have some leftover matcha in your chawan. So, I'll just grab my kettle, add a splash of water inside, swirl it around to pick up all the leftover matcha, and [music] just pour it in. Got to get every last drop. And then I

9:13 love using these shorter glass straws. This is a 6 in straw. Usual straw sizes are like 10 in, but since I use a smaller cup, a shorter straw just works so much better [music] for this size. This is about a 12 oz cup. Now, let's mix. Beautiful color. And there we have my everyday matcha latte. But [music] let's give it a taste test, shall we? You, know what?, [music], This, matcha, is not bad. It is umami. It is sweet. It is

9:59 grassy, vegetital. It has like a medium body. It's smooth, too. It's not gritty. There's a little bit of bitterness, but it's a very gentle bitterness and a little aringency, which I usually don't like, but again, it's super subtle here. But like the [music] flavor is stronger and more complex than I was expecting. So, I'm like really surprised for a latte. I think [music] this is actually really good and it was quite affordable very accessible as well. [music] So, if you're looking for a matcha for lattes definitely give this one a try. I will link it in the description box. This is not sponsored, by the way. I'm just pleasantly surprised. So, here's kind of like my equation for figuring out my [music] ratios for matcha lattes. I can make a separate video for lattes versus usucha versus kocha if you want to know

10:46 how I make those as well. So, I just finished my matcha and I want to talk about some other thoughts that I have about [music] making a matcha latte as well as alternatives if you don't have all of these tools. [music] So, the amount of matcha that my recipe gives you is not much to be honest. [music] You get around 4 oz I think cuz some people have told me your matcha latte recipe is great but there's hardly any matcha for me to drink. like I'm done with it in like 2 minutes. But if you do want more matcha to drink, but you still want to maintain that like strength [music] of the matcha flavor, you can just like scale the recipe depending on how much matcha powder I'm using. And then sweetener. I don't [music] use any sweetener because I just like to drink the matcha how it is. But if I were to use a sweetener, then I would just use

11:32 pure maple syrup. It has [music] to be pure 100% maple syrup, not like anchamimas or something like that with like all the other extra ingredients because one, I just don't like super sweet things in general. Two, like I mentioned, I just want to enjoy the matcha as it is. And three, I feel like maple syrup has a pretty neutral flavor. Out of all the like plain [music] sweeteners that I've tried, maple syrup is my personal favorite. And if I did use it, I would only use like 2 milll. So maybe like half a teaspoon, very little amount. But again, it's up to you. If you like [music] it sweeter, you can use more. It's all about trying different things and different ratios to see what [music] suits your tastes. Okay, let's talk about alternatives now. So, let's say you don't have a chasen. What can you use instead? Well, when I first started out, I actually just used an electric whisk like this one. I used

12:17 to just add the matcha powder straight into the cup, add my water, and just whisk it up with [music] this electric whisk. The only thing is it can leave clumps in your matcha. But let's say you don't even have this. You could use like a little container, add in your matcha powder and your water, close it, and just give it a good shake like this. There are even products like this, which is a mini matcha shaker, and it's literally meant to be used like that. Like, this is especially great if you're traveling. You add your matcha powder and water in here, close [music] it, and give it a good shake. But if you don't want to go out and buy a product like this, you can just use whatever container you have at home. Then what if you don't have a temperature controlled water kettle? A lot of people might have just like regular kettles, but you can't control the temperature. So, [music] it'll just like boil the water. But, you

13:04 don't want to use boiling water for your matcha because like I said, it could burn your matcha and leave a really bitter taste. So, you could bring it to a boil and then kind of just let it cool for maybe like 10 minutes. Another thing that you can do is fill a microwave safe [music] cup or bowl. So, you can just fill it to like the 100ml line. Microwave it for a minute in total. I would do 30 second intervals [music] and just check it to make sure that it doesn't explode or anything. And if you want to be extra sure that your water is in the correct temperature range, I would [music] suggest getting a food thermometer. But that's just if you want to be really precise without having to invest in a temperature controlled kettle. And then what if you don't have a scale? Then you can use good old measuring cups and spoons. These are the measurements that I would use if I were

13:50 using measuring cups and [music] spoons. 3 g of powder is about 1 and 1/2 teaspoon. 30 milll of water is a little bit less than a/4 cup. And 80 milliliters of milk is about 1/3 cup. And for sweetener, [music] if you do use any, I would use about half of a teaspoon. And what about sifting your matcha? What if you don't have a sie? [music] That's okay. This is not super necessary. But one thing that you can do is to create kind of like a paste first. So I would add my matcha powder and then like 10 ml of water or like just enough [music] so that when I mix it, it becomes like a really thick paste. and really mix that well. And that's going to kind of help break up [music] any clumps of matcha. Then when it's looking smooth and not clumpy anymore, add [music] the rest of your water. I don't usually do that cuz it just feels like more steps. But if you don't have one of

14:37 these, then try out the paste method. Lastly, I want to show you how to clean [music] your tools. So for your chosen do not use dish soap. Dish soap can be too abrasive for the bristles, and as long as you're only using it to whisk [music] water and matcha, all you really need to do is wash it with clean water. So, I just clean out the residue in my chawan, fill it with water, and whisk just like I'm whisking matcha. I do this a couple times until my chosen is free of residue and then I set it on the nashi to dry. The bottom of the nawashi is open to allow [music] air flow so mold doesn't grow. So, I just leave it on a ribbed drying mat like this. But for even better air flow, set it next to an open window. I would not recommend using your chosen to whisk things like milk or sweeteners [music] cuz it's going to be harder to clean and since it's harder to

15:24 clean, it can lead to unwanted [music] bacterial growth. But if you do want to whisk things other than just water and matcha, I would use a resin or silicone whisk like [music] this instead. You can completely take it apart so it's much easier to clean. For your chawan, it really depends on your bowl. [music] I would follow the manufacturer's instructions, but in general, I'd say as long as you're only whisking water and matcha in it, you can just give it a good rinse with water. But if [music] there's any stubborn residue, I'd hand wash it with dish soap and water. For your sieve, if there's just matcha powder on it, I just give it a good rinse under the faucet as well. But of course, if there's any buildup, then I'll use soap. And if you use a chashaku, you can just wipe it with a clean, dry towel or napkin. Getting it wet or using soap can actually push the [music] matcha further into the bamboo and actually make it harder to clean. So just keep it dry and wipe it down after

16:10 every use. [music] And I'll just leave my chosen chawan and siv to dry on my drying mat. Everything else like my straw, spoon, and cups [music] go in my dishwasher. So I think that's everything. If you guys have any questions, leave them in the comments. Let me know what other videos you want to see from me. Subscribe and I will see you in my next video. Bye.