How to Make a Matcha Latte at Home, Hot and Iced

A matcha latte at home takes 2 g of matcha, about 50 ml of water at 70–80 °C whisked into a smooth, foamy base, and 150–200 ml of milk: frothed and hot in winter, poured over ice in summer. The whole thing takes two minutes once the kettle is on. At our regular prices the matcha in one latte costs €1.50–1.99, depending on the pack size you buy.

Three numbers to keep: 2 g of matcha per latte, water at 70–80 °C (never boiling), and whisk before the milk goes in, never after.

This article is only about the latte. If you want to know how to choose and store the powder, read our matcha powder guide; if you have never tasted it plain, start with what matcha is and what it tastes like.

The short answer

If you want a hot matcha latte, whisk 2 g of matcha in 50 ml of 75 °C water, froth 150–200 ml of milk and pour the milk over the matcha.
If you want an iced matcha latte, whisk 2 g of matcha in 50 ml of cold water, fill a glass with ice and cold milk, and pour the matcha on top last so it layers.
If you have no whisk, shake matcha and cold water in a jar with a lid for 20 seconds, or use a small electric frother. Both work. A spoon does not.

1. What you need for a matcha latte

Matcha. 2 g per latte, about one level teaspoon. The milk hides a lot, so you do not need the most expensive tin, but you do need shade-grown Japanese matcha rather than a green-coloured powder with no origin on the label. A sharp, hay-like powder tastes sharp and hay-like in milk too; it just hides behind the sugar. Our first-harvest Uji matcha is the same powder we use for lattes at Morii Teahouse: 30 g makes 15 lattes, 100 g makes 50.

Water. 50 ml at 70–80 °C for a hot latte: boil the kettle and wait three to four minutes. For an iced latte the water is cold from the tap.

Milk. 150–200 ml. Oat drink is the safest choice for taste and foam; the comparison is in section 4.

A whisk, a jar or a frother. A bamboo whisk (chasen) gives the finest foam, but a sealed jar or a small handheld frother gets you most of the way there. A small fine sieve is more important than any of them: sifting the 2 g first removes the clumps that otherwise sink to the bottom of the glass.

Sweetener, optional. Half a teaspoon of maple syrup or honey, added to the matcha base before the milk. Taste the latte without it first; good oat drink is already sweet.

2. How to make a hot matcha latte, step by step

1. Sift 2 g of matcha into a bowl or a wide cup.
2. Add 50 ml of water at 70–80 °C.
3. Whisk in a quick W motion for 15–20 seconds until the surface is smooth and lightly foamed. If you use a jar, close the lid and shake for 20 seconds.
4. Warm 150–200 ml of milk to about 60–65 °C, hot to the touch but not steaming hard, and froth it. On the stove, a small handheld frother in the pan works; a milk frother machine does it on its own.
5. Pour the milk over the matcha base. Pour slowly if you want the foam on top; pour fast if you want it mixed.

Boiling water and unwhisked powder cause almost every bitter latte. Fix those two and a mid-priced matcha tastes better than an expensive one made carelessly.

3. How to make an iced matcha latte

1. Sift 2 g of matcha into a jar or bowl and add 50 ml of cold water.
2. Whisk or shake until smooth. Cold water dissolves matcha more slowly, so give it 20–30 seconds.
3. Fill a tall glass with ice to the top.
4. Pour in 150–200 ml of cold milk, leaving room at the top.
5. Pour the matcha over the milk last. It sits on top in a green layer for a minute and then mixes as you drink.

Iced is where the quality of the powder shows most, because cold milk hides less than hot milk. It is also where a touch of sweetener makes the biggest difference: cold dulls sweetness, so an iced latte that tastes right at 20 °C will taste flat at 4 °C. If you add syrup, add it to the matcha base, not the glass; it will not dissolve in cold milk.

4. Which milk makes the best matcha latte?

We make matcha lattes every day at Morii Teahouse and have tried the same 2 g with every common milk. This is what we taste, not a laboratory result.

Milk	Taste with matcha	Foam	Notes
Oat drink (barista)	Sweet, round, lets the matcha through	Dense, stable	Our first choice. Needs no added sugar for most people.
Cow's milk, whole	Creamy, mutes the umami most	Good, airy	Classic café taste. Semi-skimmed foams better, tastes thinner.
Soy drink	Neutral to slightly beany	Dense	Can curdle if the matcha base is too hot; keep water under 80 °C.
Almond drink	Light, nutty, matcha dominates	Thin	Best iced. Hot foam collapses fast.

The pattern: the more fat and protein in the milk, the creamier the latte and the less you taste the tea. If you bought good matcha and want to taste it, oat drink or an iced latte with almond lets it speak; if you want dessert, whole milk.

At Kopli 16 I have noticed that when a guest asks for a latte "less sweet", the answer is more often a different milk than less syrup. With oat drink the same 2 g tastes greener and cleaner, and the request usually disappears.

5. What a matcha latte costs and contains

Prices are our regular prices in October 2026, matcha only, at 2 g per latte; the milk is extra.

Pack	Price	Lattes per pack	Matcha cost per latte
Uji matcha 30 g	€29.90	15	€1.99
Uji matcha 100 g	€74.90	50	€1.50
Latte Lovers set: matcha 100 g + hojicha powder 100 g	€94.90	100 (50 matcha, 50 hojicha)	€0.95 average

Caffeine: Japan's MEXT food composition tables (2020 edition) give 32 mg of caffeine per gram of matcha, so a 2 g latte carries about 64 mg, a little less than a single espresso at 80 mg. Milk does not change that number. Within EFSA's 400 mg daily guideline for adults, that is room for several lattes; the numbers for pregnancy and for sleep are in our article on how much caffeine is in matcha. If you drink lattes daily, the 100 g pack or the Latte Lovers set is the sensible buy; the 30 g tin is for trying it. For an evening latte without most of the caffeine, make the same recipe with hojicha powder: our hojicha latte recipe uses the same steps.