Recipe: coconut matcha cooler, the one for a hot afternoon
Coconut water and matcha both taste of somewhere warm, and they get on better than people expect. The coconut brings a light sweetness and a clean finish, the matcha brings the green tea note and about 48mg of caffeine, and lime keeps the whole thing from going flat. Four minutes, no blender, and it works as well beside a pool as it does at a desk in February.
Ingredients, one tall glass
One scoop of Mello Mushroom Matcha. 60ml of water at about 75 degrees, which is a boiled kettle left to sit two minutes. 200ml of chilled coconut water, the plain unsweetened kind. Juice of a quarter of a lime, about 10ml. A glass of ice. Optional: a teaspoon of maple syrup, a few mint leaves, a slice of lime to finish.
Method
Sift the matcha into a small bowl or wide mug. Add the 60ml of warm water and whisk in a W motion with a bamboo whisk, a small frother or a fork until the surface is smooth with no dry specks. Stir in the syrup now if you are using it, because it dissolves in the warm shot and not in cold coconut water. Fill a tall glass with ice. Pour in the lime juice, then the matcha shot, then the coconut water. Stir once, add mint, drink cold.
Why it works
Coconut water is mostly water with a little natural sugar and a mineral edge, so it dilutes the matcha without muting it the way milk does. The lime lifts the green note and stops the coconut reading as sweet. If you have had a coconut drink that tasted cloying, it was almost certainly a sweetened coconut water or coconut milk; the plain unsweetened kind is what this recipe is built on.
The two mistakes
Boiling water on the matcha, which scorches it and turns the glass bitter no matter what you add. And tipping the powder straight into cold coconut water, where it clumps and floats. The small warm shot solves both.
Adjusting it
Sharper: the juice of half a lime. Richer: swap 50ml of the coconut water for coconut milk from a carton, which makes it closer to a smoothie. Longer: top with 50ml of soda water for a fizzier glass. Stronger: two scoops, about 96mg of caffeine, still under a cafe double shot. Our matcha lemonade recipe is the sharper cousin of this drink if you want citrus to lead.
A jug for a hot afternoon
Four scoops whisked with 240ml of warm water, stirred with the juice of one lime and syrup to taste, then topped with 800ml of chilled coconut water. Keep in a sealed jug in the fridge for up to two days and stir before pouring, because matcha settles. Serve over ice. That is four generous glasses at about 48mg of caffeine each.
Nutrition note
A serve of the matcha blend with water is under 5 calories. 200ml of plain coconut water is about 38 calories with roughly 8g of naturally occurring sugar. Lime adds a couple. Without syrup the glass is around 45 calories; a teaspoon of maple syrup adds about 17. There is no added sugar in the blend itself.
What is in the matcha
A ceremonial style matcha with six mushrooms listed as one blend on the pack: Lion's Mane, Cordyceps, Reishi, Turkey Tail, Shiitake and King Trumpet. The caffeine comes from the tea leaf, and the mushrooms do not change it. What each mushroom has actually been studied for is on our research pages, which is the honest place to look rather than a recipe card.
When to drink it
Early afternoon. At about 48mg of caffeine, a 2pm glass leaves roughly 12mg by 9pm, so it sits well before an evening. It is also a good drink for a hot morning when a hot cup feels wrong but you still want the caffeine.
The caveat
Anyone with a mushroom allergy should avoid the matcha. Anyone with another food allergy should read the allergen declaration on the back of the pouch, and this recipe adds coconut. Anyone pregnant, breastfeeding, on medication or managing a medical condition should check with a GP or pharmacist before adding a mushroom extract. Mello Mushroom Matcha is $49.99 for 30 serves, ships free Australia wide and carries a 30 day money back guarantee.