Matcha is Long Island's tea of the moment

What’s green and white and all over the internet?

If you thought, "matcha lattes," there’s a good chance you’ve been spending time on TikTok — or a Long Island coffee shop. American cafes are awash with Japanese drinks made of the earthy tea powder called matcha and Long Island is no exception.

From Great Neck to Montauk, cafe staff and enthusiastic customers have taken to Instagram to post photos of their drinks, and for good reason: whether topped with foamed milk or layered with fruit compote, matcha’s bright green hue begs the onlooker to stop scrolling.

What is matcha?

Although matcha’s ubiquity in the U.S. is relatively new, the drink has been popular in Japan for hundreds of years, with Zen Buddhist monks first sipping it to aid their meditations in the 13th century. Today, it’s a centerpiece of the tightly choreographed Japanese tea ceremony.

"Matcha" means "powdered tea" in Japanese. It’s similar to other green teas, but it’s grown in shade before harvest, then steamed, and finally ground into a powder. Traditionally, it’s whisked in a small bowl with warm water into a foamy, deep green beverage with an earthy, umami flavor.

To make a matcha latte, cafes add foamed milk, and often sweetener, to create a drink similar in texture, appearance and caffeine content to a classic latte. No one knows who invented the Americanized matcha drink, but in 2006, when Starbucks launched a Green Tea Latte, matcha took a big step into the mainstream. Now, cafes serve matcha drinks in every permutation imaginable.

Where to find Long Island matcha 

"It’s a different canvas for us," said Jordan Mohammed, who trains baristas and makes drinks at Southdown Coffee’s seven locations across Long Island. Compared to coffee, matcha tastes less bitter and more "floral," so it pairs better with fruity flavors.

Southdown’s matcha drinks change seasonally, and the current offering is an iced strawberry matcha latte made with strawberry compote ($6 for a 12 ounces). The bright red preserve offers a pop of color and a fruity foil to the herbal, pale green mixture of milk and tea that sits above it.

Other cafes have spent the summer making matcha soft drinks. Port Jefferson’s Local's Cafe uses lemonade and pea flower tea to add a violet hue to its sparkling matcha lemonade ($5.50 for a 15 ounces).

Why do people drink matcha?

The tea powder has been embraced by the health-obsessed, with Gwenyth Paltrow singing its praises in her cookbook and on social media. Matcha lattes contain a similar amount of caffeine to espresso-based lattes, but also L-theanine, which  small studies have shown may help to reduce stress.

"Most people drink matcha for two reasons," said Melissa Wawrzonek, the owner of Clipper Ship Tea Company, a tea wholesaler and retailer in Smithtown. "They’ve heard about the health benefits in the media online somewhere, and-or they just drink it because they see it often in coffee shops."

At the New York Beanery in Amityville, the manager said more sugary versions of the drink are an easier sell for neophytes — like the rose matcha, a pink-and-green base topped with pink rose petals ($5.25-$6.25). The more health-conscious go for unsweetened versions of the matcha latte, or a traditional handwhisked matcha tea (from $4.25).

What to look for in a matcha drink

The best matcha is grown in Japan, and Japanese matcha comes in many grades, with leaves from the beginning of the harvest typically brighter, milder, and higher grade, and leaves from late in the harvest darker, harsher and lower grade.

The cheapest matcha can be so bitter that it’s "offensive," Wawrzonek said. When she meets customers who say that matcha is "disgusting," she assumes they’ve only tried the cheap stuff.

Southdown uses Clipper Ship’s matcha, and Mel Bahk, a customer at the Glen Cove location, said it's one of her favorite matcha lattes.

"The flavor is really good," she said. When Bahk first tried matcha, she was taken aback by the grassiness of it, but now she likes the taste of matcha more than that of coffee, and indulges in a matcha latte almost once a week.

If you’re searching for good matcha at a cafe, Wawrzonek recommends looking at the matcha that staff are using before ordering. "You're looking for a vibrant green color, like grassy green," she said. " If it's a dusty kind of greenish brown, it is a lower grade, and-or it’s been oxidized," which would also damage its flavor.

What does matcha cost?

Good matcha does not come cheap. Michael Bucholz, co-owner of Druthers Coffee in Stony Brook, sources high-grade matcha from Clipper Ship and charges $6 for a matcha latte, whereas a regular latte at Druthers costs $4.65. "We wanted to be proud of the actual ingredient that was going into it," he said.

To make the most of the pricey powder, Druthers boils the matcha with sugar and water to create a syrup. Bucholz said that his method protects the tea from oxidation while preventing it from dispersing into the air.

Baristas use the syrup in Druthers’ matcha lattes, matcha lemonade and sparkling matcha. More recently, Bucholz said his team has added matcha to baked goods, like a sugar cookie and white chocolate scone.

When classes from the nearby Stony Brook boarding school are in session, students line up for a matcha latte paired with a matcha-infused pastry, usually clearing out whatever baked goods Druthers has in stock. "They’re matcha — literally — obsessed," he said.