Matcha Iced Tea

photo credit by happyfoodstube

Ingredients

• 2 tsp Matcha Powder
• ¼ cup Hot Water
• 1 cup Crushed Ice
• 2 cups Cold Water (See Note 1)
• 3 Sprigs of Fresh Mint + Extra for Garnish
• 5 tbsp Maple Syrup (See Note 3)
• 1 Lime (See Note 4)

Instructions

When using immersion blender:

1. In a heat-proof jug/bottle, combine matcha powder with hot water. Mix well. Add crushed ice, cold water and fresh mint. Mix with an immersion blender for a minute or two.
2. Drain through a sieve. Add maple syrup and a juice from half of the lime. Taste and if happy, serve over ice and garnish with some mint leaves and a few slices of lime.

When using a food processor/blender:

1. In a mug combine matcha powder with hot water. Mix well. Put crushed ice, cold water and fresh mint in a food processor/blender. Pour in the matcha tea. Pulse for about a minute.
2. Drain through a sieve. Add maple syrup and a juice from half of the lime.
3. Garnish with some mint leaves and a few slices of lime + some extra ice (optional).

Recipe Notes

1. To achieve the best taste use filtered or bottled water. If you have good quality tap water, feel free to use it.
2. The longer you process/mix the tea in a blender/processor/… the larger amount of ice will melt. This simply means that the longer you let your processor/mixer/blender run the more liquid you will get out of it.
3. You can use honey instead of maple syrup. If you do, I recommend adding it to warm liquid at the very beginning as honey does not melt easily in cold water.
4. Lime can be substituted with lemon.
5. If you feel like you prefer this drink sweeter, add more maple syrup.
6. When you serve this drink right away, you might need to add some more ice. If not, chill in the fridge before serving.
7. Remember that the extra ice cubes you add when serving will dilute the drink so the taste will be milder. I recommend using the largest ice cubes you can get (these don’t melt as quickly as the smaller ones).
8. Make sure to check if your food processor/blender/mixer can handle ice!
9. This recipe yields about 15 fluid ounces/550ml of liquid. I used 7oz/200ml glasses for serving.