It’s January, and we’re spending the month doing a proper detox. Normally, we might indulge in a cocktail or two, but this month we’re opting for beverages of the non-alcoholic kind, starting with these incredible vanilla mint matcha lattes.
If you’re not familiar with matcha, it’s a type of green tea made by taking young tea leaves and grinding them into a bright green powder. Matcha has way more nutrients than brewed green tea because you’re drinking the whole tea leaves. So, perfect for our detox month.
Except, we’re not going to lie, we haven’t been crazy about matcha in the past. But we thought there was no better time than now to give it another go. Matcha has a very distinct, strong flavour, kind of like seaweed. So, we decided to add a bit of a twist to our latte to tone down it down just a tad: mint and vanilla.
And it was a total success. Mint was an awesome pairing for the matcha, and the vanilla brought out the natural sweetness. Trust us, this is a combo you’ll want to try. We sipped these while making some bath salts – which were also a total success, thanks for asking!
The below makes one latte:
- 1 1/2 tsp of matcha green tea powder
- Matcha whisk. NOTE: I totally thought the whisk was unnecessary at first and David’s Tea was just trying to up-sell me. However, whisking the matcha is a fine art and totally needs this delicate whisk.
- Small bowl
- 1 mint tea bag
- 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
- 4 oz of coconut milk (or you can sub in the milk of your choice)
- 4 oz of boiling water
- Milk frother
- 4 oz of warm water (not boiling)
- 16 oz cup
- 1 tsp honey (optional)
Add the coconut milk to your milk frother and get it all frothy. If you don’t have a milk frother, no big D, you can heat the milk over the stove top or shake the milk in a sealed mason jar for 15 seconds, remove the lid and place it in the microwave for 30 seconds (we got that tip from David’s Tea).
Add the boiling water and peppermint tea bag to the 16 oz cup, along with the honey and vanilla extract. Let steep for a couple of minutes and then remove the tea bag.
While you’re waiting for the tea to steep, add the matcha green tea powder and warm water to a bowl. Grab your matcha whisk and get whisking in an “M” formation until there’s no clumps left and it’s a bit frothy on the top. You’ll want to take your time with this step because there’s nothing worse than clumpy matcha.
Next, pour the matcha mixture directly into the cup overtop of the tea, followed by the frothed coconut milk.