For matcha maniacs and non-believers alike, this is an absolute must-try!

We are knee-deep in summer, meaning you can’t take two steps outside the house without instantly being hit with a vicious wall of heat and humidity. With weather like this, all we want to do is just stay inside, safe in the loving, cool embrace of our air conditioners on full blast.

While staying indoors certainly keeps you nice and cool, you might miss out on the fun of going to cafes or restaurants and are just stuck with food and drink you make yourself.  But thanks to this nifty make-your-own-matcha kit from green tea specialty store Kaminari Issa, you can have all the joy of a fancy glass of matcha without stepping a single foot outside.

While most people would say that matcha has quite a bitter, acquired taste, Kaminari Issa’s concept is that matcha isn’t bitter, and can actually be quite sweet.

The kit contains ingredients to make your own Matcha Warabi Latte. Warabi mochi is a kind of mochi made from bracken starch and covered in kinako flour, and is a very popular dessert enjoyed in summertime. Inside the kit were three sachets of matcha powder, three packets of matcha-flavoured warabi mochi and some gum syrup, as well as straws.

 ▼ All we needed to prepare was 100 millilitres (3.4 ounces) of water, 80 millilitres (2.7 ounces) of milk and some ice cubes.

The kit was delivered to us in a cool pack, so once the matcha warabi mochi had thawed out we were ready to start, as the first step was to slice up the blocks of mochi.

The next step to making a perfect cup of matcha latte is to prepare the matcha. The matcha powder comes from high-quality tea leaves from Uji, a city in Kyoto Prefecture known as one of the best green tea producing regions in Japan. Even just from opening the sachet of matcha powder, we were already overwhelmed with an enchanting aroma of green tea.

Once the powder had been sifted in through a strainer and stirred so it was free from any lumps, it was time to create our beautiful matcha warabi latte.

Into an empty glass we added the matcha warabi mochi, followed by layers of ice, milk and finally the matcha mixture. Then we poured the matcha layer slowly in order to make a gorgeous layer of green on the top of the drink.

The separate layers are beautiful to see but don’t last very long, as any slight disturbance causes the layers to meld into one. It was mesmerising to watch the matcha slowly sink down and mix with the milk layer, though; like some sort of green tea lava lamp.

Perhaps most impressive of all was the taste of the matcha warabi latte. As promised, the Matcha Warabi Latte from Kaminari Issa wasn’t bitter at all, and completely changed our preconceptions of how matcha should taste. The warabi mochi gave the drink a slight sweet taste, but you can add the gum syrup included in the kit if you want a bit more sweetness with each sip.

The Matcha Warabi Latte kit costs 1,950 yen (US$14.63) for three servings, but you definitely get what you pay for. The kit also includes a voucher for a green tea experience at one of Kaminari Issa’s stores, plus a bunch of coupons, so it feels kind of like a lucky bag!

The Matcha Warabi Latte kit is the perfect summer pick-me-up to help you feel instantly refreshed. It’s certainly easier than eating cold noodles in a makeshift outdoor shower, at any rate.

Related: Kaminari Issa
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