Iced Strawberry Matcha Latte

Best Recipe Tips

Making The Strawberry Puree

• Note that I do *NOT* provide weight measures for the strawberries in the strawberry puree. Why? The weight of the strawberries will vary significantly depending on what variety you use, whether they’re in season, and other factors. As a result, this is one of the few recipes on my blog where I encourage you to use a measuring cup (but only to portion out the strawberries for the recipe—I’m still an ardent believer in weight measures for everything else)!
  
  
• The strawberry puree recipe will make enough for 3 drinks total. You can easily double or triple the recipe to make more—it will keep in the refrigerator, in an airtight jar, for up to 5 days.

Tips To Make The Matcha Tea

• When making the matcha, the recipe instructs you to pour 1 Tablespoon of the water over the powder, whisk it to make a paste, then pour the remaining water (about 2 ½ Tablespoons worth) over the paste to dilute it more. Why? Matcha is really, really clumpy on its own. This method will help break up any stubborn lumps.
  
  Don’t worry too much about getting the 1 Tablespoon and 2 ½ Tablespoons measures accurate. There’s some flexibility here—I usually eyeball it, pouring around ⅓ of the water needed for the matcha in first, then adding the rest later.
  
  
• I mentioned that matcha is really clumpy. For best results, I recommend whisking the matcha with a matcha whisk (which is especially designed to break up clumps in the powder) or even a handheld milk frother!
  
  Of course, if you don’t have either tool, you can use a regular balloon whisk. Just don’t be surprised if it takes you twice as long to get the clumps out of the matcha!

Making The Layers

• According to the recipe head notes in The Boba Book, the key to getting the distinct layers is to use the weight measures in the recipe (as opposed to the volume measures). Doing so will lead to the correct “viscosity” of each layer that will allow them to contrast with each other and not mix in.
  
  
• Another tip for getting distinct layers? Pour each ingredient—the strawberry puree, the milk, and ESPECIALLY the matcha—in the order listed in the recipe, and slowly into the glass. When pouring the milk and matcha, pour both slowly and try and hit the ice in the glass. Hitting the ice, instead of dropping the ingredients in, gives them something to deflect against. It slows the pour down even more and helps spread the ingredient more carefully into a distinct layer.