Matcha Addict - DIY Matcha Latte in London!

In an endless quest to get my fix of the excellent Green, I purchased this affordable matcha powder in an Asian food store in London. 

Two things to note here: 

1) There are different grades of matcha powder, ranging from high-end (usually bright green) delicious, to low-end (often a sludgier brown) which might be more suited for cooking. Yes matcha biscuits, pastries, puddings, cakes and all sorts exist too! Generally you get what you pay for.

2) A lot of 'Japanese' and 'Korean' things sold in the UK are actually Chinese. This applies to almost everything, including restaurants. And most times UK people don't know the difference. This especially applies if the Asian product is affordable or on the high street. 

You can buy reasonably authentic matcha powder in London. But it will cost you! Usually you're looking at around £8-10 for 100g. Which I haven't been able to justify budget-wise yet, especially as I'm not very expert at making the tea myself. So when I saw this on sale for £1.98 it seemed stupid not to try it. 

It's Chinese. And I was not expecting great quality for the price! 

The powder is a sludgy olive green. Low grade! (And does resemble green paint pigment, which I hope it's not.) And the flavour is very bitter, without creaminess. It took me several tries to get the balance of milk, powder, sugar, water optimised for a latte. And I don't have a fancy frother or whisk. But then it was perfectly drinkable in small doses! I say small doses because more than 1 cup gave me headaches, as coffee would. (High quality matcha does not.) Or could it be the paint powder aspect kicking in...?

The verdict: really not bad. Probably meant for cooking, not drinking. But a reasonable 1 cup/day fix if you're desperate - for a very good price. And tbh I suspect this is what many London cafes use when they serve matcha. 

Not sure I'd buy it again because of the headache factor, but it gave me a good chance to experiment with DIY matcha lattes. I might lash out on a better quality, Japanese, powder now I know how. It would still be considerably cheaper than the whopping prices London cafes charge for matcha drinks!

 

Looks a little more minty here than irl!