The drink that broke my 15 year long Starbucks order! Skip the coffee shop and make this iced Matcha Latte Recipe at home! No matcha whisk needed. Plus, a quick rundown of matcha benefits and how it helps blood sugar management!

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This green tea latte has been my Starbucks order for a year now. Long story short - I manned a booth at a health fair that had this latte, but warmed, and my classmates convinced me to try it. Months later while running errands I wanted a drink other than water, but didn't want my normal coffee drink. I asked if they made the matcha latte iced and they did. I haven't looked back since.

This is how I order:
"An iced matcha latte with oat milk and 2 stevia packets."

Matcha is very bitter on its own and I wasn't use to it when I first started ordering, so I asked for the stevia packets to balance the bitterness. I thought I was getting a low glycemic sweetener - wrong!

I recently found out Stevia in the Raw is made with dextrose which raises blood sugars similarly to potatoes.⁽¹⁾ In-the-Raw's site says the stevia product is mixed with sugar as well.

After finding that out my order changed to "An iced matcha latte with oat milk and 1 pump vanilla sugar free syrup." This doesn't rid the drink of sugar because the matcha mix contains added sugar, and whatever milk you choose may also have added sugar. But I don't get the syrup anymore because after drinking it so long I prefer a stronger matcha taste.

4-Ingredient Iced Matcha Oat Milk Latte

• Oat milk (or favorite milk)
• Ice cubes
• Sweetener of choice
  • The original drink uses 1 teaspoon of sugar so if you use a different sweetener use the equivalent of 1 teaspoon of sugar. You can always add more if you like.
  • The sugar free option I use is 1 teaspoon of Sugar Free Torani (a simple syrup sweetened with sucralose) because it's widely available at grocery stores.
• Matcha powder

How to Make an Iced Matcha Latte with Oat Milk

The traditional way to make matcha tea uses a bamboo matcha whisk and small bowl to make a matcha paste.

We make it the easy way just like Starbucks. All you need is a cup with a secure lid to shake it up: a mason jar, shaker bottle, sippy cup, anything!

Add the milk, ice, sweetener, then matcha. Cover with a lid and shake vigorously until all matcha bits are no longer visible.

Homemade Latte Tips

• Add the ingredients in any order, except don't add the matcha first.
• Shake until completely blended because visible bits of matcha will make it more bitter.
• Use cubed ice. Crushed ice will melt quickly when shaking and dilute the flavor.
• It's best fresh so I wouldn't batch make it. Saving some for the next day is okay but you'll have to re-shake it a little.

What is Matcha?

Matcha is green tea leaves that are ground into a fine powder, which is why it has such a vibrant green color. This is the main difference between matcha and other teas. Normally when you make tea you are flavoring the liquid with a tea bag, then removing the bag. With matcha, you're consuming the actual leaf.

Matcha comes in a ceremonial grade (a high-quality matcha powder) and culinary grade.

Which Matcha to Use

Starbucks baristas don't know the brand or grade of matcha they use (I've asked a few). It comes packaged as a matcha mixture with sugar blended in.

Matcha is sold in mixtures with sugar already added or as a pure powder.

This Matcha Sense is the ceremonial grade brand and size I buy. It's a high-quality, smooth matcha flavor with no sugar, and it's a good value.

Matcha is expensive and its price is based on various factors. If you search for your own matcha online you have to look out for three things mainly:

• that it's matcha powder only (not a mix with sugar).
• the size is decent for the price (pictures are deceiving).
• it's in packaging that's not see-through (matcha is sensitive to light).

Health Benefits of Matcha

Matcha has high antioxidant and high anti-inflammatory properties, and properties to aid in cancer prevention, blood sugar regulation, metabolic disorders, hypertension, cognitive function (mental clarity) and more. ^{(2, 3)}

Matcha has multiple anti-diabetic properties. It helps manage blood sugars by inhibiting glucose absorption, regulating insulin, and improving insulin sensitivity. ⁽²⁾

Compared to coffee, matcha's caffeine is longer lasting and more effective due to its theanine content ^{(2, 4)}, but how much caffeine matcha has is based on its growing process and length. In general, each gram of matcha will have anywhere from 19 to 44 mg of caffeine. This recipe calls for 2 grams of matcha (1 teaspoon), so that's 38 to 88mg of caffeine.

Matcha Caffeine Compared

Caffeine Drink	Caffeine Amount
Coffee (8oz)	95mg
Matcha (this recipe)	38-88mg
Sparkling Ice +Caffeine (16oz)	70mg
Shot of Espresso (1oz)	64mg
Soda (12oz)	40mg
Teas (steeping bags)	26mg

The recommended daily intake for caffeine is 400mg.

For pregnancy, no other recommendation is established; however, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists says, "Research suggests that moderate caffeine consumption (less than 200 milligrams per day) does not cause miscarriage or preterm birth." ⁽⁵⁾

Primary sources of caffeine are tea, chocolate, energy drinks, and sodas.

Milk of Choice

Starbucks uses 2% milk in this matcha latte. But when you order oat milk they use Oatly Barista Edition. Oatly can be found in your local health food store, or you can order packs of 6 online (worth it if you know you'll be making iced lattes over and over).

Oat milk is by far my favorite way to make this drink because of its creamy texture. But because oat milk has more carbs than other milks this recipe is 6 ounces, equivalent to the Tall size.

Note - Using plant milk instead of dairy milk removes most of the protein.

Tip
Don't get caught up in the different variations of Oatly milks (barista, full fat, chilled, etc.). The main difference between them all is the amount of fat. This drink is still delicious and creamy with the low fat milk.

Coconut milk is creamy too, but it changes the flavor to be more tropical and citrus-y if you ask me. It doesn't taste bad at all; it's just a different flavor entirely. So even though it tastes good with coconut milk, oat milk is still my milk of choice.

Almond milk is a great option for low carb, but almond milk is not nearly as creamy as 2% milk, oat milk, or coconut milk. No-sugar-added almond milk will have about 10 less carbs than oat milk.

Note - Oatly's added sugars are not table sugar, but a byproduct of processing the oats according to their website.

Of course, whole milk, soy milk, protein milks, and other plant milks are options. Choose the milk you like! I haven't tried it but I bet cashew milk would make a delicious matcha latte.

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