Recipe: strawberry matcha latte, the layered one from the cafes

The strawberry matcha latte is on every cafe menu because it photographs well and tastes like summer. It is also one of the easier drinks to make at home, because the strawberry layer is just crushed fruit and the matcha layer is a normal whisked shot. Five minutes, no blender, about 48mg of caffeine.

Ingredients, one tall glass

One scoop of Mello Mushroom Matcha. 60ml of water at about 75 degrees. Five or six ripe strawberries. A teaspoon of maple syrup or honey. 150ml of cold milk, dairy or oat. A glass of ice.

Method

Hull the strawberries and crush them in a bowl with a fork and the syrup until you have a rough puree with some texture left. Spoon it into the bottom of a tall glass. Fill the glass with ice. Pour the cold milk over the ice, leaving a couple of centimetres at the top. Sift and whisk the matcha with the warm water until smooth, then pour it slowly over the back of a spoon onto the milk so it sits on top as a green layer. Serve with a straw and let whoever is drinking it stir the layers together.

The layering order

Strawberry first because it is heaviest, milk second, matcha last and poured gently. Pour the matcha fast and it will punch straight through the milk and you will have a khaki drink that tastes exactly the same but looks like nothing. The back of a spoon slows the pour enough to keep the band.

Getting the strawberry right

Ripe fruit needs almost no sweetener; out of season fruit needs the full teaspoon and a few minutes sitting with the syrup to draw out the juice. Frozen strawberries work if you thaw them first and drain some liquid, otherwise the layer is too thin to hold. A drop of lemon juice keeps the colour bright if you are making several.

Adjusting it

Creamier: use half milk and half single cream, or oat milk barista blend. Sweeter: a little more syrup in the fruit rather than in the matcha, which keeps the green layer clean. Stronger: two scoops, about 96mg of caffeine. Our matcha lemonade is the sharper drink if you want citrus rather than berry.

Nutrition note

A serve of the matcha blend with water is under 5 calories. Five strawberries are about 20 calories. A teaspoon of maple adds 17. With 150ml of full cream milk the glass is about 135 calories; oat milk about 105; almond about 55. No added sugar in the blend itself.

Caffeine and timing

About 48mg, so roughly a third of a cafe double shot. A 3pm glass leaves about 12mg by 10pm on the usual five to six hour half life, which is why this works as an afternoon drink where an iced coffee might not. Our sleep article has the numbers.

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 mushrooms do not change the caffeine or the flavour of the fruit. What each has been studied for is on our research pages.

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. 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.