Matcha is one of my favorite things to drink with boba, and you’ll save yourself $7 by making it at home. It’s easy to make at home with some practice, and once you get good at it, maybe you can have your own home cafe!

Make soft, sweet, and chewy pearls with a nice creamy matcha latte. The brown sugar flavor adds a nice sweetness and taste, making it a great pair.

Here’s everything you need to make a fantastic matcha latte with brown sugar boba.

What is Matcha?

Matcha is green tea, but unlike any green tea you’ve probably heard of or had. It’s a finely ground green tea powder that is as fine as dust and stored in tins or bags.

Matcha production and harvesting are concentrated in Asia, specifically China and Japan. A region in Japan called Uji is famous for its matcha powder, so many people assume it is from Japan, but it originated in China!

Good quality matcha powders are deep green, similar to tree leaves. Upon first smell, you’ll get chocolate, umami, floral notes, roasted notes, and more, depending on the variety.

Every matcha blend has a slightly different aroma and flavor!

What Does Matcha Taste Like?

In taste, people say that matcha has a “grassy” flavor, which I’ve found with low-quality matcha powders.

Good matcha has a lovely earthy and umami flavor, sometimes with sweetness and bitterness. Flavors vary widely depending on where the matcha grew and how the farmers harvested and processed it.

It pairs great with a light sweetener like agave or honey and is an excellent dessert flavor.

How Much Caffeine Does Matcha Have?

Contrary to popular belief, matcha has a relatively high caffeine content, sometimes even more than coffee!

Comparatively, matcha has 18-44 mg/g, while coffee beans have 10-12mg/g. So, per gram, matcha has more caffeine than coffee. However, per serving, coffee has more caffeine.

The serving size for matcha is 1-2 g, so you’ll consume maybe 50-80 g of caffeine. A serving of coffee contains 90-120 mg of caffeine.

So, matcha isn’t the product for you if you want to reduce caffeine. However, it does give you good caffeine because it contains L-theanine, an amino acid that slows caffeine absorption, has stress-reducing properties, and has other health-benefiting characteristics.

How to Prepare Matcha

To drink matcha, you need to whisk the matcha powder in water. You could try and eat the powder itself, but you’d probably have a hard time (imagine the cinnamon challenge but with matcha).

The traditional way to prepare matcha is to use specific ceramicware called a chawan (tea bowl) and a chasen (tea whisk). You add the matcha and water to the tea bowl and whisk it until froth forms on top using the tea whisk.

This foam is important for texture because the incorporated air makes the tea softer and more creamy to drink.

However, you don’t need a tea bowl or whisk to make matcha. You can get creative as long as the matcha and water mix well.

You can drink the matcha straight or pour it onto milk and ice and enjoy!

The Best Matcha Powders

The best matcha powder I’ve had is Ippodo’s Ummon blend. It’s fresh, green, and has lots of umami—if you drink it straight up, it tastes like seaweed without the salt.

But milk completely washes away the sea flavor, leaving you with a delicious umami flavor that works so perfectly with whole milk and a little honey. Liquid gold! It’s just a little pricey at $26 for a 20g tin…

However, good quality matcha doesn’t have to be expensive, and you can find a lot of affordable matcha powders on the market for less than $20. These brands have matcha at all different price points:

• Ippodo
• Kettl Matcha
• Yamamasa Koyamaen
• Horii Shichimeien
• Marukyu Koyamaen
• Matchaeologist

Tip: If you’re going to Japan, get matcha powder there. It’s half the cost, and you save on shipping.

What is Boba?

Boba, also known as bubble tea, commonly refers to a popular milk tea drink. However, boba is actually the chewy tapioca pearls in the drink.

The pearls are made from tapioca starch, mixed with water and brown sugar, boiled, then soaked in sugar syrup. They are a wildly popular drink topping for teas, milk teas, and even smoothies.

Boba originated in the 1980s in Taiwan, with two stores claiming to be the first to sell it: Chun Shui Tang and Hanlin Tea Room. Regardless, Taiwanese immigrants brought it over to the United States, and it gained popularity in the 2000s.

Now, boba has and is skyrocketing in popularity, with dozens of bubble tea shops opening up globally. Many well-known brands like Gong Cha, CoCo’s, Ten Ren Tea, Chi Cha San Chen, and more exist.

How to Cook Boba

Cooking boba is a process of labor and love. From start to finish, the process takes about 45 minutes.

First, boil the tapioca pearls in water, then let it simmer for about 20-30 minutes or until soft and chewy. Then, you let the pearls sit for about 10 minutes.

You strain the boba, then let it soak in warm brown sugar or sweet syrup for 10-15 minutes or longer.

Then it’s ready to serve!

However, once you make boba, you must finish it within a few hours. If you let it sit or put it in the fridge, the pearls will become hard and crunchy in the middle.

Tips

Here’s how to perfect your matcha latte with brown sugar boba:

• If you want sweet tapioca pearls, soak the boiled pearls in more brown sugar than the recipe says. The higher the sugar concentration, the faster the pearls will soak it up (osmosis)!
• You can make brown sugar syrup by boiling water and brown sugar until it reduces into a sticky syrup that is still pourable.
• If you’re short on time, you can buy instant boba at the grocery store, which takes about 2 minutes to cook in the microwave. The texture is pretty similar, too!
• If you’re making a big batch of boba, use an instant pot to store your pearls. It will keep them warm until served, and you can use a ladle to scoop the pearls out.