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Mar 11, 2024

The Best Matcha Powders 2023: Ippodo, Clevr, Matcha Konomi, Laird

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Whether you’re inspired to start a new meditative ritual like Brad Pitt, want to build an at-home tea bar like Travis Barker or love to sip green tea in the afternoon like Serena Williams, some of the best matcha tea powders can bring potential health benefits to your caffeine routine.

Matcha — a type of green tea with a bright green hue — continues to have a moment in Hollywood. Used traditionally in Japanese tea ceremonies, the tea plant is shade-grown and the leaves are harvested into a fine, jade-colored powder that gives a balanced taste of bitter, umami and mellow grassy notes. Meghan Markle recently became the first celebrity investor of supplement-powdered latte mix brand Clevr and stars including Justin Bieber, Gwyneth Paltrow, Bella Hadid, Selena Gomez and many others are often spotted sipping on the vibrant green drink streetside.

From hot to cold drinks, matcha can also be mixed into smoothies, shakes and even your favorite dessert. It has caffeine, but not as much as coffee, so some drinkers prefer a more jitter-free experience. You can even customize your delicious blend with extra add-ons like cinnamon, nutmeg, cacao or your favorite frothed milk. Matcha also offers potential health benefits: Research indicates that the superfood green tea is shown to help improve cardiovascular health, boost antioxidants and could also have cancer-fighting effects. It’s packed with chlorophyll, L-Theanine and catechins, which are natural substances found in tea that can help regulate blood pressure, support weight loss and protect cells against damage from free radicals.

It’s important to know the difference between ceremonial and culinary matcha before you start boiling your next cup. Ceremonial is the finest, purest form of matcha. The highest-grade blend is made during the first and second harvest from the tea plant and has a strong, natural nutty and savory flavor with a touch of bitterness. If you’re looking to make matcha lattes, ceremonial is the best type.

Culinary matcha is a top choice for baking. It’s perfect for mixing and can taste somewhat bitter on its own compared to ceremonial grade. It’s also less expensive compared to ceremonial matcha.

Other things to look for when you select a matcha powder include picking organic matcha produced without chemicals or pesticides. Stone-ground, non-GMO and fine texture are also key factors to high-quality matcha. Experienced matcha drinkers prefer vegetal notes and that slight, earthy and bitter taste, followed by savory.

You’ll need a few things to make matcha lattes. A sifter will help remove clumps in the powder, and a bamboo whisk (like the one in this BambooWorx set) is ideal for evenly mixing matcha powder with hot water in a small bowl. If you don’t have all of these items already, there are plenty of matcha tea kits on Amazon (such as this seven-piece set).

Now that you know what gear you’ll need, we’ve rounded up the best matcha powders for your Hollywood-inspired green tea ritual. From collagen-infused options by Jennifer Aniston’s Vital Proteins and YouTube star Emma Chamberlain’s mix, to organic, ceremonial grade blends check our top picks below.

BEST MATCHA TEA OVERALL

Ippodo’s light and creamy, pleasant matcha is part of a long Kyoto tradition that dates back three centuries. The robust, earthy tea is high-quality, with rich, powerful umami, sweet, rich and complex flavor notes. The tin gives you about 10 servings.

Amazon

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BEST CEREMONIAL GRADE GREEN TEA

Matcha Konomi’s Amazon bestseller is a fine, stone-ground ceremonial-grade, certified organic green tea matcha powder. The Japanese product is made during the first spring harvest — grown in the shade for at least three weeks during the first harvest — then stone ground in Uji, Kyoto. It comes in both sweetened and unsweetened, with no additives or fillers.

Amazon

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BEST COLLAGEN MATCHA POWDER

Vital Proteins, the brand backed by creative officer Jennifer Aniston, is known for offering great taste and big benefits: long-lasting energy, skin, hair and nail support. The brand’s matcha collagen latte powder is no different. You can get a caffeine boost from this matcha powder made from green tea powder and the hides from grass-fed, pasture-raised bovine and coconut water powder.

Amazon

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BEST FLAVOR

Made of chaga mushrooms, cacao and cinnamon, Renude’s Chaga Matcha is a favorite of Gywneth Paltrow and other stars for its superfood concoction that helps support immune function, focus and stress relief. Drink it hot or iced, and add your favorite dairy or nut milk for more flavor.

Renude

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BEST INSTANT MATCHA LATTE WITH NON-DAIRY CREAMER

Get an instant, frothy drink that gives you fuel with Laird Superfood’s instant matcha latte mix. This powder is mixed with non-dairy coconut milk creamer, organic coconut sugar, freeze-dried coconut water, organic extra virgin coconut oil and naturally occurring MCTs, and is a good source of calcium, iron and vitamin C. It’s vegan, gluten-free, soy-free and made in the U.S. All you have to do is add hot water and mix.

Amazon

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BEST PROBIOTIC-INFUSED MATCHA LATTE MIX

Available on Amazon and its own website, Clevr’s organic matcha latte (investor Meghan Markle famously introduced the brand to Oprah) is designed to give you enhanced focus and clear-headed energy. You can drink it hot in a mug or try it iced. It’s blended with SuperCreamer (no dairy or sugar) and has adaptogens, mushrooms and probiotics.

Clevr

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BEST FLAVORED MATCHA

YouTube star Emma Chamberlain is known for her fashion and her podcast — and for growing a coffee and tea company with cute packaging. Her namesake brand’s matcha green tea powder is vegan, gluten-free and full of antioxidants, and comes in original, vanilla and mango flavors.

Amazon

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BEST GOLDEN MILK MATCHA

One of our favorite superfood-blended green teas for ditching the jitters, Golde’s matcha latte mix contains turmeric, an anti-inflammatory that helps support gut, skin and immune health. Aided by coconut and black pepper for absorption, this organic matcha blend is perfect for making green tea golden milk drinks at home.

Golde

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BEST TRAVEL SIZE

Cure’s small-sized matcha tea mix is ideal for those who need an energy boost in the morning, before a workout or anytime you want to fight the late afternoon, post-lunch haze. It has electrolytes, coconut water and pink Himalayan salt. It’s vegan, gluten-free, kosher and has no added sugar. You can drink it hot or cold with ice.

Amazon

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BEST GIFT SET

Get the Hollywood-loved Alfred experience at home with the coffee shop’s ceremonial-grade matcha gift set. The famed café known for its “but first, coffee” mantra offers its popular drink in a four-piece kit that includes a 40-gram tin of matcha powder, a pint glass, a rechargeable electric whisk and a measuring scoop. The brand even has a matching matcha hoodie and sweatpants. (Selena Gomez, Kendall Jenner and Justin and Hailey Bieber are just a handful of stars who are regularly spotted at Alfred.)

Alfred

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