While I appreciate the traditional Japanese tea ceremony way of preparing matcha, it’s not always easy and accessible for me to do everyday. My bamboo whisking skills aren’t at expert level, either, so I’ve come to fully embrace mechanical whisks and electric frothers (perhaps more commonly known as those things that help you make coffee shop lattés at home) as my go-to for rich, thick matcha drinking goodness.
Here’s a quick video that goes over my preferred way of getting some matcha into my day:
And here’s a rundown of what I mentioned in the video, with a few more details:
Prep
Have your matcha bowl (chawan), whisk (chasen), sifter (furui), scoop (chashaku) and organic matcha ready.
Steps
- Add 1-2 scoops (1/2 – 1 tsp) of matcha to your bowl (use a sifter/tea strainer to help the matcha dissolve more easily)
- Pour in 2 oz of hot (not boiling) water (make sure the water is not too hot as it can burn the matcha).
- Use a whisk to froth matcha (make sure your whisk is raised slightly from the bottom of the bowl and mix for 8 seconds or until there is a froth/cream (similar to an espresso). I’ve really come to like using an electric whisk over the traditional bamboo chasen to get a good froth more consistently (I used the Kukpo electric frother in this video).
- You can add in more hot water after the initial whisking with 2 oz. and re-froth–I’ll usually add an extra 1-2 oz. (any more than that is too watery).
- And of course when I can take my time I like to sip on my matcha and nibble on a simple treat such as a square of Valrhona dark chocolate.