Life Hack: How to make an iced matcha latte at home, including strawberry puree

Save some money with this homemade alternative to summer's hottest cold drink

Galway-based Solaris Tea reached out with their recipe for an iced matcha last week and their strawberry puree is a simple to make and the perfect dose of sweetness for the drink. Enjoy!

If you’ve popped into a coffee shop lately, you may notice a new section on many of their menus. Once a nation of tea and coffee drinkers, now we’re all going mad for matcha.

Many years ago, very much in a pre-pandemic Cork, I ordered my first ever matcha latte at the Insomnia café in Debenhams in Mahon Point – I knew it wasn’t a common order from the confused look on the barista’s face but it was listed on their menu and I’d been hearing things about a green tea that gives more of an energy boost than caffeine, along with other health benefits. 

Soon, I was presented with a bright green latte that didn't look like it would be great. However, whether placebo effect or not, I did get an energy boost from it. 

It wasn’t particularly expensive at the time (probably somewhere around the €3 mark, not far off a regular coffee price then) so from time to time I’d order one when popping in. 

However, between lockdowns and shop closures, my matcha habit fell away and I pretty much forgot about it until about 18 months ago.

Matcha since has had a glow-up and is now one of the hottest items on a menu. Personally, I credit a few things for this new awareness: the increased popularity of iced drinks, many of us looking for healthier food and drink options, people sharing aesthetic snaps of their drinks on social media, and – most crucially – the addition of flavoured syrups to enhance the taste.

I returned to matcha-buying over a year ago, picking up an iced matcha with strawberry syrup en route to an event. 

This extra burst of flavour was an instant improvement and I was almost convinced to get back into ordering matcha drinks – but the price made me pause. 

I had paid well over double what I had been used to for the drink. While delicious, it’s not something I can justify purchasing regularly in a cost-of-living crisis. 

The natural solution for me was to instead learn how to make it at home and save a bomb.

I experimented at home, buying matcha powder online. Many matcha drinkers insist a matcha whisk is a must for an authentic result, but for me, looking for a quick and easy option, a fork whisking in a cup did the trick in the short term. 

The matcha part was easy, in my experience: it was the syrup that stumped me. I tried a few different bottles of raspberry and strawberry syrups to get the taste I liked best without that artificial fruit taste. 

A dollop at the end of a glass, a handful of ice, your matcha mix, topped with your drink of choice (almond for me, I like the mix of flavours) and I was sorted. 

However, I’ve remained on the lookout for a nice homemade syrup recipe and last week one landed in my inbox.

Galway-based Solaris Tea reached out with their recipe for an iced matcha last week and their strawberry puree is a simple to make and the perfect dose of sweetness for the drink. Enjoy!

Solaris' Iced Matcha Latte

Galway-based Solaris Tea's recipe for an iced matcha - their strawberry puree is a simple to make and the perfect dose of sweetness for the drink. Enjoy!

Course

 Dessert

Ingredients

• 5 fresh Irish strawberries, hulled and finely chopped (about ⅓ cup)

• 1 teaspoon agave syrup, honey, maple syrup (optional)

• 1 teaspoon Solaris Org culinary matcha powder

• 100ml cold water

• Ice

• Half to 1 cup plant milk alternative (ie coconut, almond, oat)

• Maple syrup or honey, to taste, optional

Method

1. Place the strawberries and optional sweetener in a small bowl. Use a fork to lightly mash the strawberries and mix together. Set aside.

2. Place the matcha powder into a small bowl, add the water and use a matcha whisk to whisk briskly from side to side until the matcha is fully dispersed and a foamy layer forms on top.

3. Place the strawberry puree at the bottom of a tall glass.

4. Fill halfway with ice.

5. Pour in chosen plant milk to fill the glass two-thirds of the way full.

6. Top with the whisked matcha mixture.

7. Sweeten to your liking and serve with a reusable or biodegradable straw.