Matcha For Beginners: My Matcha Recipe w/ Tips and Tricks
Illustrations by Melanie Marie Guevara
By Melanie Marie Guevara
Once you have gathered the Matcha personnel explored in my previous article, you can start experimenting with how you would prefer to make your matcha. I’ll give you the basic guide on what I follow when making my matcha, but feel free to adjust anything within this guide to your liking!
Just the Matcha
Heat your water to about 150 Celsius (this can be measured through a food thermometer or set through a thermal-controlled kettle.) Make sure there's at least enough water for 2 cups.
You will need your matcha set (matcha chawan/bowl, bamboo whisk, a whisk holder, and a matcha sifter) and your scale.
Unpackage your whisk out of the original container. Throw that container away you won’t need it as it’ll be placed into a matcha whisk holder to properly dry it after use. Place your bamboo whisk in a cup and pour your heated water into it. You can lift your whisk up from the cup to pour directly onto the bristles for more coverage, but you want to submerge the whisk up to the base. Soak for 5 minutes to let the whisk open.
While that is soaking, grab your scale, Chawan bowl, and sifter. You’ll need to measure out 4 grams of matcha powder into your sifter, which should be placed on top of the bowl. Sift the powder into the bowl with a spoon to get rid of all the clumps.
Switch your scale from grams (g) to Milliliters (ML) Then pour 50 ml of your heated water into the bowl.
Take your whisk and start mixing. Some tips:
Always whisk with a light hand if you whisk with too much pressure you can damage your bamboo whisk and for me, I ended up having bristles in my matcha the first I made it. Not very yummy.
First, do a circular motion with your matcha whisk. Do this once or twice. You’re doing this as a starting base to combine the matcha powder and water. Then in a semi-fast zig-zag formation (maintaining a light pressure while whisking) go back and forth till everything is combined and bubbles start to form
You should whisk for a maximum of 40 seconds. This should be a fast yet light motion to ensure that the powder is properly combined with the heated water and that the mixture has a frothy consistency at the top.
Afterward, set the bowl aside to start the drink aspect of the mixture. Of course, you can stop here and drink the matcha from where it is right now.
Making the drink
Grab a cup and straw. Usually, I prefer a nice clear cup because this drink is visually stunning, it should be in a visually stunning cup and straw is to help replicate the feeling of getting an ice drink from a cafe.
Add sweetener. If sweetener isn’t a syrup base used to decorate the inner walls of the cup, it's better to add it directly into the matcha to help it combine better. For me, I use jam placed at the bottom of the cup and then use a spoon to push the jam along the walls of the cup to make it look prettier. Sweetness is dependent on you, I start with 2 tbsp of sweetener (Sugar, syrup, jam, etc) then build your way up depending on your taste.
Add ice or steam base. I like my matcha drinks cold, using the ice to fill most of my glass, then adding 130ml of your base so either soda, sparkling water, or preferred milk. If you enjoy the steamed route, you’ll need to heat 130 ml of your base and froth if applicable.
Then assemble. It should be ice, liquid base, then matcha at the top. Or if it’s a hot drink, it’s a heated liquid base, then matcha and enjoy!
Feel free to tweak this drink recipe if you want! Everything is based on your preference. This is just my process, tools, and instructions if anyone is interested in the matcha craft. Once you get the hang of it, you can start making it a routine to have your daily matcha or even have a little matcha cafe event with friends! Hope this helps and happy matcha-making!
