Matcha Horchata
This Matcha Horchata recipe blends creamy Mexican horchata with sweet and earthy matcha green tea to make an irresistibly sweet and creamy summer sip! Vegan & dairy-free.
Just in time for Cinco de Mayo, we’re sharing a matcha horchata recipe that puts a sweet, earthy, and vibrant green spin on a classic Latin drink. Before we jump into the step-by-step, let’s go over the basics of an authentic horchata.
The ingredients vary by region, but at its core, horchata is a plant-based beverage popular in Spain and Latin America made with sweetened soaked white rice, seeds, or nuts. This matcha horchata is a take on traditional Mexican horchata made with soaked white rice, cinnamon, and sugar.
Authentic Mexican horchata is made by blending soaked white rice as the base of the drink. While you’re welcome to take the extra time and DIY rice milk, there’s no harm in using rice milk from the store.
👉 Why You Should Make Creamy Matcha Horchata
- It’s a tasty twist on Mexican horchata with the added benefits of green tea matcha.
- Served over ice, this drink is the ultimate thirst-quencher on a hot day.
- Perfect afternoon pick-me-up from the bit of caffeine in matcha.
- You can use storebought rice milk as a shortcut.
- It’s naturally dairy-free and vegan!
🍵 Ingredients
To make the most of your homemade matcha horchata, stick with these ingredients:
- Rice milk – For authentic Mexican horchata, rice milk is non-negotiable. Store-bought rice milk is perfectly fine here.
- Matcha powder – Matcha is a powdered green tea that originated in Japan. The quality of your matcha powder makes a difference. A rule of thumb is the brighter the green, the better the quality and flavor.
- Cinnamon – Cinnamon is a staple in traditional recipes. Feel free to add nutmeg, allspice, and clove to enhance the cozy warming flavors.
- Simple syrup – Use simple syrup made with granulated sugar or make your drink even more decadent with vanilla simple syrup.
- Vanilla Extract – To intensify the sweet and creamy flavor. Use your best pure vanilla extract here.
- Sea Salt – Sea salt magically makes every element of this drink taste sweeter and creamier.
- Recommended Tools:
- High-speed blender
- Large Glass
- Straw
🥛 Rice Milk for Matcha Horchata
Save yourself the extra step and grab pre-made rice milk from the store. You’ll find it in the shelf-stable milk section. The brands below are great options:
- Rice Dream
- Better than Milk
- Trader Joe’s
- Pacific Foods
- Vitasoy
- Kirkland (Costco)
- Whole Foods 355
📖 How To Make A Matcha Flavored Horchata
1️⃣ Step One: add ingredients to blender
Add the rice milk, matcha powder, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and salt to a high-speed blender.
2️⃣ Step Two: blend
Blend the ingredients until well incorporated and smooth and creamy!
3️⃣ Step Three: sweeten
Next, stir in the simple syrup and adjust to taste. Alternately, you can blend the simpe syrup in with everything else if you know precisely how sweet you like your horchata.
4️⃣ Step Four: pour and serve
Last but not least, pour your matcha horchata into a tall glass over ice and serve with a straw. Enjoy!
📌 Recipe Tips
- The matcha quality matters. Use the best quality within your budget.
- You can adjust the matcha to horchata ratio. After blending, give it a taste. For more matcha forward flavor, blend in a quarter teaspoon of matcha power at at time until it’s perfect.
- A high-speed blend works best to achieve a luxuriously smooth consistently. If you don’t have a high-speed blender, mix the ingredients with a heavy spoon, whisk, or in a mason jar as best as you can.
- The beauty of this horchata drink is that it’s delightful hot or cold. You can warm the liquid in a small sauce pan over medium heat for a hot version.
🔀 Variations
Rice milk substitutions – Rice milk is best, but you can also use coconut, oat, almond, or hemp milk. If dairy isn’t a concern, whole milk is another option.
Flavor variations – Enhance your horchata matcha with flavored simple syrups like vanilla simple syrup, gingerbread simple syrup, honey lavender simple syrup, or brown sugar syrup.
Natural sweetening options – Use an unfined liquid sweetener like maple syrup, honey, agave nectar, or date syup.
Top with cold foarm – Top your drink with a luscious layer of regular or vegan cold foam.
Frozen matcha horchata – To make a frozen version, blend the ingredients with a cup of ice. To achieve a thicker, more cohesive consistency rather than wet and slushy add a 1/2 teaspoon of xantham gum. You can also blend the drink with a frozen banana instead of ice.
🧊 How To Store
Storing: Once blended, horchata with matcha will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days. You’ll need to reblend or shake the mixture again before serving.
Freezing: Another option is freezing the liquid into cubes and blending the frozen cubes in a high-speed blender to make a frozen matcha horchata.
❔ FAQ
This cool and creamy blended drink is a combination of a refreshing Mexican horchata and matcha green tea.
The core of Mexican-style horchata is soaked white rice sweetened with cinnamon and sugar.
Yes! This is one of the most delicious and nutritious drinks ever created. The dairy-free plant-based ingredients are great sources of vitamin C, vitamin E, and a variety of minerals and nutrients.
🧋More Specialty Drink Recipes
Activated Charcoal Lemonade
Bulletproof Hot Chocolate
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Persimmon Latte
Sweet Potato Latte
Matcha Horchata
Equipment
- 1 High Speed Blender or mason jar
Ingredients
- 1½ cups rice milk storebought
- 1 teaspoon matcha powder
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablepoons simple syrup
- 1/8 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch sea salt
Instructions
- Pour the rice milk, matcha powder, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt into a high-speed blender.
- Blend the ingredients until the mixture is well incorporated, smooth, and creamy
- Stir desired amount of sweetener and taste to adjust. You can also blend the sweetener into the drink if you know how much you need
- Pour over ice and serve with a straw.
