Green Tea Ice Cream has become regular menu items for any Japanese restaurant here in Australia. Matcha ice cream is another name for it. Did you know it is very simple and easy to make? I will show you how to make this delicious icecream at home.
What is Matcha?
Matcha (抹茶) literally means powdered green tea. Matcha is made from camellia sinensis, the same as black tea and oolong tea. Generally, matcha is used for tea ceremonies and drinking, but because it comes in powdered form, it is used often for flavouring baking and cooking.
Difference between Matcha & powdered green tea
Matcha is different from green tea powder. The tea leaves used for Matcha are blocked from sunlight for a period of time before picking. They are then steamed, dried, and finally milled very finely into powder form. Matcha is regarded as a high-class and expensive tea because of the time and effort needed to make it.
On the other hand powdered green tea are not blocked from sunlight, and also the process of making green tea powder is different from Matcha. Blocking from sunlight increases Umami elements, amino acid and theanine. Also, suppress producing catechins which are bitter taste element.
Matcha green tea powder grade
There is a broad spectrum of prices, but usually the better quality of the matcha powder, the more expensive. Mass-produced matcha ground by machine will be cheaper than matcha ground by hand because the strong fragrance and flavour will be lost in the process of machine ground.
What grade Matcha powder should be used for the ice cream
So for drinking at a tea ceremony, high-quality Matcha powder should be used, but for a daily drink in latte or baking, the matcha grade is not really a huge matter in my opinion. So therefore for making ice cream too, any grade of tea will be great to flavouring and colouring the ice cream. Of course, for a bright green colour, the higher grade will be better.
How to make Green tea ice cream at home
Except for matcha green powder, everything else you can get from your local supermarkets. You need, heavy cream, milk, egg yolks and sugar. Basically, just add tablespoons of matcha to egg and sugar mixture. Then pour milk and cream mixture to it. Then heat it and churn. If you have an ice cream maker will be easier but not necessary.
Serving suggestions for Green Tea icecream
Eat this ice cream as Japanese do! I usually add something extra like red bean paste, dango and strawberry or any fruit. Dango and matcha ice cream flavour go really well. Be creative and find your favourite way to eat it and tell me!
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Matcha Green Tea Ice-cream 抹茶アイス
Video
Ingredients
- 250 ml Milk
- 125 ml heavy cream
- 2 egg yolks
- 75 g caster sugar
- 1 tbs matcha green tea powder
Instructions
- Bring the milk and cream to a simmer over low heat in a sauce pan.
- Turn the heat off and set aside.
- Whisk 2 egg yolks and sugar in a bowl until the colour of the mixture becomes pale and fluffy.
- Add the matcha green tea powder to the sugar and yolk mixture and mix well.
- Gradually pour the warm milk mixture into the egg mixture and keep whisking until smooth.
- Strain the mixture into a clean sauce pan and place over low heat for 5 minutes, continuously stirring.
- Leave it in the fridge to chill.
- Pour the matcha green tea mixture into an ice cream maker. *1
- Run the ice cream maker for about 20 minutes, and once the mixture has become thicker, pour it into a container and freeze it until set.
- Serve with red bean paste, dango and strawberry(optional)
I made this recipe and ran it through my ice cream machine, and it turned out delightfully! The slightly bitter earthy taste of the matcha paired perfectly with the subtle milky sweetness of the ice cream, and the texture was smooth and creamy like soft serve. I also loved how it wasn’t too sweet like many American dessert recipes!
Overall, it was delicious, and I would absolutely recommend it! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Thank you so much for the lovely comment and wonderful rating Mio <3
Another delicious recipe, thank you so much, Shihoko! I used to buy Meiji green tea ice cream cups, but from now on will be using this homemade version. I don’t own the ice cream maker yet, but blending the setting ice cream 4 times every 1.5-2 hours gave a good result.
Thank you Cayce, I am glad that you have now your own matcha ice cream and also thank you for sharing your adjustments 😀
Hello. If I have no ice cream maker how many time do we need to whisk it every 2-3 hours? When do we know it is ready to be eaten?
Hi Catherine, yes every 2-3 hours and you will know when it is ice cream like consistency and texture.
Hi Shihoko
Can I swap the milk for soy milk (Bonsoy)?
Hi Nicky. Yes you can. I made with bonsoy and it add nutty flavour and I liked it.
Hi ShIhoko, could you please advise how to make this ice cream without the machine? Would blender work?Thanks
Hi Cara, let me try another way to make
I lvoe it i wanna have it soon
Yes 😀 hope you enjoy it
Hi Shihoko,
I love your recipes thank you for sharing them and beautiful photos.
My husband and I just return from trip to Japan and we fallen in love with Japan and culture, cooking, how well organised society Japan is.
I’ll be following your blog and cook as much I can Japanese food.
Thank you again.
Alina
Konbanwa Alina-san. Thank you so much for your kind word. Hope you enjoy cooking and tasting simple yet delicious Japanese food 😀
Hi! I’d like to know if it’s possible to use this recipe for soft serve ice cream 🙂
Hi Magda, I think it will. I have never tried it, so let me know if it works.
thank you so much for sharing this…!!!
Hi Qualitytrees 😀 you are welcome!
I’m so happy to see this recipe..THANK YOU!
You are welcome 😀
This looks so delicious.thanks for sharing with us..:)
Hi GavinJBranks 😀 Thank you.
thanks for posting! its really very delicious
Thank you too for trying out my recipe 😀
I have just discovered your blog recently and love the look of your recipes.This looks delicious!!well it just looks damn incredible!! Thanks for sharing.
Ohh Thank you orielrosen 😀 I am glad that you found my authentic Japanese food blog <3
Delicious..! thank you 🙂
Thank you Steve 😀
i am so happy to see this,Thank you soooo much for sharing it!
You are welcome John, I am glad that you have found what you have been looking for 😀
This sounds very yummy, The photo is also very nice!
It is yummy 😀 and Thank you.
I love matcha green tea, can’t wait to try this ice cream, thanks for sharing.
You are welcome Lucy 😀 Thank you for visiting my blog 😀