Matcha is taking over the world, and while matcha cold foam is not a new invention, it’s picking up popularity for its sweet, creamy, and umami taste. It’s the perfect drink topper for coffee, matcha lattes, tea, and more.

This cold foam is so easy to make and only takes 4 ingredients and less than 5 minutes. It will seriously transform your home cafe and drinks!

Here’s how to make a delicious matcha cold foam at home!

What is Cold Foam?

People always have different definitions of cold foam, but the most basic definition of cold foam is that it is a frothed cold milk that creates a soft and fluffy foam layer.

However, when people say cold foam, they usually refer to sweet cream cold foam or even just soft whipped cream. Rarely do people refer to just frothed milk.

In this recipe, cold foam means a softly whipped cream, which is different from sweet cream cold foam, which is part heavy cream, milk, and sugar (which would be a matcha cream cold foam).

Cold foams are usually vanilla-flavored or plain, but it’s the perfect canvas to add different flavors. You’ll see all sorts of creative flavors like cherry, blueberry, peppermint, chocolate, lavender, maple, etc.

What is Matcha?

Matcha is a finely ground green tea powder made from shade-grown tea leaves called tencha. It’s traditionally prepared by whisking it in water, then drunk plain or added to milk.

Depending on the origin and blend, matcha green tea can have a variety of flavors, including sweet, creamy, nutty, umami, savory, roasted, chocolate, and more. However, most matchas will have an earthy taste with slight umaminess.

It’s perfect on its own, in a latte, or cold foam!

What is Matcha Cold Foam?

Matcha cold foam is just matcha powder mixed into heavy cream and sugar. It’s basically a softly whipped matcha whipped cream, but used to top drinks, desserts, breakfast foods, and more.

Like many drink trends, Starbucks popularized this drink topping, perhaps from loyal customers who wanted to add a little matcha flavor to their favorite drinks.

Matcha cold foam can either be just heavy cream or a mix of cream and milk for a fluffier, milkier cream.

What Does Matcha Cold Foam Taste Like?

It’s sweet, creamy, slightly bitter, and earthy, which makes a perfectly balanced cream top for matcha lattes and more!

I love this foam on milky teas like chai lattes, matcha lattes, earl grey milk tea, Thai tea, etc. It just adds a nice creaminess and flavor to aromatic teas, which makes them a great combo.

It’s popular on well-known drinks like the pink drink, lemonades, even coconut water. It’s seriously good!

How to Add Matcha to Cold Foam

If you add matcha powder straight into your cream and whip it, you’ll notice that your foam will be grainy.

Food Science Break: Since powders, like flour, are hydrophobic, they’ll want to stick to each other and clump. This is why when you bake, you always sift your flour or cocoa powder, to prevent clumps!

This is the exact same principle; if you sift the matcha powder, you’ll end up with much smoother cold foam, no pockets of bitterness anywhere! You want to use a small, fine mesh sieve, but you can also use a normal size sieve as well.

To get the least amount of clumps, you can also make a matcha koicha, which is a matcha paste with matcha powder and water. Then, add it to your cream for the ultimate smooth cold foam.

What Matcha to Use

You can use any matcha powder you have on hand! But the best matcha to use is a nice, high quality matcha powder. While many Western brands use the term ceremonial to market good quality matcha, it’s not a term used in Japan, which is where much of the high quality matcha comes from.

What you want to pay attention to is what harvest the matcha is, where the matcha is sourced, what the tasting notes are, and how it’s ground. These factors are what make a good quality matcha. You can determine what kind of matcha powder is the best one for you in my matcha tea guide.

But for simplicity, you can use your favorite matcha powder brand, but I encourage you to try multiple brands to find what you like.

How to Make Matcha Cold Foam

Here’s what you’ll need to make a fluffy matcha cold foam at home:

• 1 tsp matcha tea powder
• ¼ cup heavy cream
• 1-2 tsp powdered sugar or agave (regular sugar is okay)
• 2 tbsp milk (optional)

Matcha Cold Foam Recipe

1. Add Cream, Sugar, and Milk. Add heavy cream, sugar, and milk (if desired) to a tall cup or bowl.
2. Sift Matcha Powder. Sift your matcha powder on top of the cream mixture, making sure to get all the clumps out.
3. Whip Cream. Using an electric frother or mixer, whip your cream for 10 seconds or until you get a soft and fluffy texture. Stop whipping before you get to the stiff peak stage, which is whipped cream. You want the cream to be fluffy but still pourable, similar to the texture of a thick smoothie.
4. Serve and Enjoy!

How to Use Matcha Foam

Matcha cold foam is an amazing addition to cafe-style drinks, desserts, and sweets! Add it to pancakes, yogurt bowls, ice cream, and more. Here are some matcha cold foam drinks that you should try next:

• Double matcha (Stagger Coffee recreation)
• Matcha cold foam cold brew
• Matcha foam matcha cold brew
• Pink drink with matcha foam
• Coconut matcha cloud (Must Try!)
• Jasmine matcha cloud
• Matcha foam Thai tea

Tips:

Here are some great tips for making the perfect matcha cold foam at home:

• Experiment with Different Sweeteners: Cold foam doesn’t just taste good with sugar, but all sorts of sweeteners! You can swap out powdered sugar for brown sugar, honey, maple syrup, agave, monkfruit, and so on. Flavored syrups are also a great idea for a flavored matcha cold foam, like vanilla, strawberry, lavender, chocolate, etc.
• Accidental Whipped Cream?: If you accidentally overwhip your cream and make whipped cream, no worries! Just add a 1/2-1 tbsp of heavy cream and rewhip until you get the perfect consistency.