If you haven't heard about Matcha Green Tea yet, it's a superfood that exploded onto the beverages scene just a few years ago. Touted as an even healthier alternative to its cousin green tea, Matcha boasts even more health benefits due to the fact that it utilizes the whole leaf. While it comes from the same plant as that of green tea, it contains even more natural caffeine to keep you energized without any of the jitters or side effects.
Plus, Matcha offers more antioxidants than any other superfood (to put things into perspective, one cup of matcha green tea packs the same amount of antioxidants as ten cups of regular green tea), and it also boosts your metabolism while serving up plenty of fibre, chlorophyll, and vitamins. So, it's not surprising that retailers like Starbucks are trying to bottle the superfood's healthy qualities into some tasty beverages. While you won't get the same amount of caffeine in a Grande tea as you would with a coffee, these Matcha Lattes from Starbucks still boast enough caffeine to keep you fueled through your day.
So what goes into the Starbucks Iced Matcha?
Take a look at the grande green tea latte. According to the Starbucks nutritional information, with nonfat milk, a single one of these bad boys clocks in at 190 calories, containing 140 mg of sodium and a whopping 33 grams of sugar. For the iced option, it’s nearly the same situation — totalling at 31 grams of sugar.
If you take a look at the ingredients, there are only three: milk, ice, and matcha blend. After the matcha tea blend ingredient, the list reads, “Sugar, ground Japanese Green tea.” Think about it this way: When referencing the matcha powder, Starbucks acknowledges that it’s made of nothing but powder and sugar. That’s two ingredients, making it about 50 percent sugar.
If you aren’t counting calories, watching your weight, or you don’t care about gaining optimal nutrients, the Starbucks matcha latte is worth a try. But, if you’re drinking matcha for the health perks, we’d suggest brewing it at home.
This copycat recipe shows you how to make your own Starbucks Iced Matcha Latte at home with just three ingredients.
Ingredients
1 Cup Milk (Cow, Almond, Coconut..your choice)
1–2 Tsp The Tea Shelf Matcha
1 Tablespoon Vanilla Syrup (Starbucks uses this one)
1 Cup Ice
INSTRUCTIONS
Place milk, matcha powder, and vanilla syrup together in a cup.
Mix well with a regular spoon or a milk frother.
Once well combined, add ice.
Enjoy!
