Sweet honey cream paired with a smooth, earthy, and creamy matcha latte makes for a delicious drink. It’s ultra creamy and the perfect treat for a long week or the start of your day.

Sweet cream is a great topper for any cafe-style drink, and this honey sweet cream is super easy to make. This drink only needs 5 ingredients, and in less than 10 minutes, you’ll have a high-quality beverage that will save you money by making it at home.

So, here’s how to make a honey cream matcha latte at home!

What is in a Honey Cream Matcha Latte?

This delicious honey cream matcha latte has a honey sweet cream, matcha, milk, and ice. It’s sweet and creamy with a great umami flavor. It’s a fancy take on a regular honey matcha latte.

What is Sweet Cream?

Sweet cream is such a classic drink topping. As the name suggests, sweet cream is just sweetened heavy cream. But it’s different than whipped cream because it’s pourable and not whipped to stiff peaks.

Starbucks popularized it when they started adding it to their cold brews, which took on a life of its own. Now, you can customize sweet cream with different flavors like lavender, cinnamon, pumpkin, etc.

You only need heavy cream, sugar, and 2% (or any) milk to make sweet cream.

Food Science Break: Whipped cream is a foam, which is when a substance suspends gas bubbles in itself. When you whip heavy cream, you incorporate air, and the milk proteins surround and stabilize the air bubbles. Then, the fat joins in and stabilizes the air in the cream. The higher the fat content, the more stable the whipped cream!

So, to ensure that our sweet cream is still pourable, we add a little 2% milk to the mixture to thin out the cream. This ensures that the cream never becomes whipped cream and has a fluffy, pourable consistency.

What is Matcha?

Matcha is a finely ground green tea powder made from grinding young green tea leaves into a very fine powder and stored in tins or bags.

Good-quality matcha powders will be vibrant green, and older or lower-quality matcha will be a greenish brown. Upon first smell, it will be vegetal. You’ll get chocolate, umami, floral notes, and more, depending on the variety.

While matcha is grown worldwide, it’s most concentrated in China and Japan, with the latter becoming renowned for its matcha production. Most matcha powders sold point out that they are made in Uji, Japan, where matcha is mainly harvested.

People say that matcha has a “grassy” flavor. But it has a charming earthy and umami flavor and is sometimes paired with a nice sweetness and bitterness. It pairs great with a light sweetener like agave or honey and is a great dessert flavor.

Are Matcha Lattes Good For You?

Matcha is known for being healthy because it has a lot of antioxidants and anti-inflammatory substances. This study says matcha also has many catechins, which are phenolic compounds that benefit human health.

So, while matcha itself has a lot of health benefits, matcha lattes are a different story. If you have matcha with milk and minimal sugar, it’s better for you than a heavily sweetened matcha beverage.

Any food with heavy sugars will have less positive health outcomes, so matcha lattes can be good for you as long as it’s clean and lightly sweetened.

Best Matcha Powders

The best matcha powder I’ve had is Ippodo’s Ummon blend.

It’s deep green and has lots of umami—if you drink it straight up, it tastes like seaweed without the salt. But milk thoroughly washes away the sea flavor, leaving you with a delicious umami flavor that works perfectly with whole milk and a little honey. Liquid gold!

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
• Rocky’s Matcha
• Yamamasa Koyamaen
• Horii Shichimeien
• Marukyu Koyamaen
• Matchaeologist

How to Prepare Matcha

The traditional way to prepare matcha uses specific ceramicware, including a chawan (tea bowl) and a chasen (tea whisk), which you use to whisk matcha and water until froth forms. However, you don’t need a tea bowl or whisk to make matcha. 

The general purpose of preparing matcha is to combine the matcha powder in water for easy drinking. While you could try and eat the powder itself, you’d probably have a hard time. (Imagine the cinnamon challenge but with matcha).

You can get creative as long as the matcha and water mix well. As long as you get some froth, you’re golden! This foam is important for texture. It makes the tea softer and more creamy to drink.

Different ways to mix matcha include:

• Whisking with bowl and tea whisk
• Shaking in a lidded jar
• Using a handheld frother
• Using a small blender
• Whisking with a whisk

Once combined, pour the matcha mixture onto milk or ice and enjoy!

Is Honey Good With Matcha?

Honey is delicious with matcha. It’s one of my favorite sweeteners for matcha or coffee. It adds a nice sweetness without being overly sweet.

I find that it helps balance out the earthiness of matcha and complements its flavors well, which is why an iced honey matcha latte is my default drink to make.

Also, honey is easily dissolvable since it’s already semi-liquid.

How to Make a Honey Cream Matcha Latte

To make a honey cream matcha latte, you’ll need:

• Heavy cream
• Honey
• Matcha powder
• Water
• Milk
• Ice

Honey Cream Matcha Latte Recipe

Add heavy cream, a splash of milk, and honey into a cup or bowl. Whip the cream until it thickens and becomes a drinking yogurt consistency. The cream should be thicker but still pourable.

For the matcha, add matcha powder and water to a bowl. Using a whisk or tea whisk, whisk the matcha for 15-20 seconds or until a froth forms on the surface. Use any method of matcha preparation you have access to.

Add ice and milk into a separate cup and top with your matcha mixture. Then, top your drink with your honey cream.

Mix and enjoy!

What to Use Instead of Honey

If you don’t like honey or can’t consume it, you can always substitute it with another sweetener. Some popular sweeteners are:

• Maple syrup
• Agave
• Sugar
• Brown sugar
• Flavored syrups
• Monkfruit
• Molasses
• Liquid stevia

Personally, I would replace honey with either maple syrup or agave because they’re mild flavored and liquid, meaning they will dissolve much easier. Simple syrup (equal parts water and sugar) is also a good alternative.

Tips

Here are some tips on how to make a honey cream matcha latte at home!

• Add a pinch of salt to the cream for a slightly sweet and salty drink, bringing out the matcha’s sweetness.
• Made whipped cream on accident? Add a little cream or milk to your honey cream and whip again until you get the right consistency.
• If you have clumpy matcha, sift your matcha powder before whisking it into water. That way, your matcha is evenly distributed.