MATCHA HOW-TO
New to matcha? “First, make sure that you’re purchasing good matcha,” said tea consultant Alexis Siemons of Teaspoons & Petals. “I think step number two is really taking the time to understand how to make it properly.”
“If you’re going after that latte or smoothie, the blender is the way to go,” she explained. For the traditional method: “You’ll have a bowl. You’ll have a whisk, and you’ll have a sifter.”
“It’s definitely an art,” added Siemons, who calls sifting and whisking part of the mindfulness ritual.
Also mind the water temperature, preferably between 160 and 175 degrees.
“If you use boiling water, it could potentially burn the matcha,” she said. “The analogy I use is most people like toast, but no one likes burnt toast.”
Her recommendation: 1 teaspoon of matcha for 3 or 4 ounces of water, but don’t add it all at once. “Start with 1 tablespoon of water to create a paste.”
And keep in mind, “it’s not something that you sit there and sip,” Siemons noted. “Matcha will begin to settle back into its powdered form, so you want to drink it rather fast.”
She loves cooking with matcha too. An unsweetened culinary-grade costs less and “is purposely designed for food preparation.”
“Matcha can be rather expensive, which is why time.” you’re only using a little bit at a