This easy, lump-free matcha simple syrup, or green tea simple syrup, is perfect for your home tea and coffee station: it goes perfectly with Starbucks iced lattes, cocktails, boba, desserts, and more!
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Ingredients
You only need 3 simple ingredients for this homemade green tea syrup:
- match powder: culinary matcha is less expensive but ceremonial matcha is finer
- sugar
- water
If you want to find out more about Matcha & Simple Syrups, scroll down to AFTER the recipe card.
How to Use
Matcha is traditionally used to make tea, and simple syrups in cocktails (Matcha Margarita?), but you can also use this matcha green tea syrup in:
- in baking (click here for matcha dessert recipes)
- to make drinks such as iced chai matcha latte
- Matcha goes particularly well with soy and almond milk. Some people also like to add vanilla to their matcha lattes.
- add to sparkling water or club soda, pop in some ice cubes, and you get a refreshing fizzy summer matcha soda
- spooned over ice cream, waffles or pancakes. It is particularly delicious on shaved ice (Korean bingsu.)
- For more matcha recipes, click here.
How to Store
Store the matcha tea syrup in an airtight container in the fridge and use within 3 days.
Some blogs suggest a shelf life of weeks, but do note that the taste will change with time, and the matcha will become quite sharp.
Variations
- Matcha honey syrup: simply substitute the sugar in the recipe with honey
- Matcha maple syrup: replace the sugar with maple syrup
- Rich Matcha syrup: use twice the amount of sweetener vs water
Tips
- Matcha green tea powder is notorious for clumping, which is why traditional bamboo whisks are used in the tea ceremony to get rid of lumps! To reduce this, mix the matcha powder and sugar then add the water.
- Some Japanese people, when making very small amounts of matcha tea syrup, just add hot water to the sugar and matcha. I recommend heating the solution on the stove to aid the dissolving process, especially if you're making a bigger batch.
- If you are planning to use this matcha simple syrup for baking and savoury recipes, add the smallest pinch of salt to it, as salt helps to enhance flavours.
- To vary the flavour, add a vanilla bean or rose syrup when making this matcha syrup
- Is matcha good for you? Matcha green tea has many health benefits, from a healthier heart to less risk of chronic diseases. For more information on matcha's benefits, click this link. (However, green tea can contain a lot of lead, so do make sure that your brand of matcha has been tested for lead toxicity levels!)
Other Tea recipes
Easy Matcha Simple Syrup (Green Tea Syrup)
Equipment
- Pot
- Heat proof whisk
Ingredients
- ¼ Cup White granulated sugar Substitute: other sweeteners such as brown sugar, honey, maple syrup etc
- 1 tablespoon matcha powder
- ¼ Cup Water
Instructions
- Add the sugar and matcha powder to the pot. Whisk to make sure the 2 powders are well-mixed.
- Add the water, and switch on the heat. Simmer for 5-10 minutes or till at the desired consistency, whisking every now and then to make sure the sugar doesn't burn at the bottom of the pot.
- Once all the sugar and matcha are dissolved, and you're happy with the texture, switch off the fire and allow to coo. (Note: simple syrup has a watery consistency. For something thicker, double the sugar to make matcha rich syrup.)
- Once cooled, store in an air-tight container in the fridge. Ideally, use within 3 days or the taste will start to change.
Notes
Note: the nutritional information is an estimate automatically calculated using the WPRM recipe maker and I am not responsible for its veracity.
Nutrition
What is Matcha?
Matcha (抹茶 (Chinese/ Japanese) or 말차 (Korean)) is a type of minimally processed green tea, that is made by growing the Camellia Sinesis tea plant under the shade for 3-4 weeks. The shade stimulates the plant to produce more caffeine and theanine.
Matcha powder is precious, because the green tea leaves must be ground slowly to avoid heat being produced during the grinding process, to prevent the aroma and flavor of the tea from changing.
Hence, making matcha is a very slow process: it can take an hour to grind just 30g of it!
What is Simple Syrup?
It is a syrup made from a sweetener (usually sugar but sometimes honey or maple syrup) and water in the ratio 1:1. If you use more sweetener than water, it becomes a rich simple syrup, and has a thicker consistency with more body.
You can add spices and herbs to this simple syrup to form flavoured simple syrups, such as this lemongrass simple syrup. Today, I'm sharing a green tea syrup recipe, or matcha simple syrup- in Japanese, it's called "matcha mitsu" (抹茶蜜.)
Note: There are also commercial brands of matcha green tea simple syrup, such as Monin, but it's so easy to make, there's no reason not to make your own!
If you're a fan of the slightly bitter flavor of matcha, check out these sweet and savoury matcha recipes, as well as these steamed matcha buns.
Sara says
Hello! is there a way to make the shelf life a bit longer without damaging the taste?
Zen says
Hi Sara, thanks for stopping by. The usual way to preserve food is to add sugar and salt. However, that will obviously change the taste! (You can add more water to address this when using the matcha syrup to make drinks.) Make a rich syrup instead of a simple syrup, if you want to extend the storage time as long as possible- i.e. increase the amount of sugar, keep the water the same.) Hope this helps!
Lela says
Made this and used it for my milk green tea, made it so much easier since I drink it cold. No longer have to stir for ages to get the sugar to dissolve
Zen says
Thanks Lela, I do the same with my oat milk matcha latte!