Lemonade is a refreshing summer favorite, and this matcha twist takes it to a whole new level. Move over Arnold Palmer, there’s a new iced tea lemonade in town!
Matcha lemonade is the best friend of hot afternoons in your garden, days at the beach, and the perfect evening refreshment while dining al fresco.
It is super simple to make, tastes amazing, and looks fantastic too! Garnish with plenty of lemon slices for extra 'wow'.
Why this Recipe Works
The trick to the best lemonade is sweetening it with simple syrup. The sugar is dissolved into boiling water to create a sweet simple syrup that evenly sweetens the whole pitcher.
The matcha green tea is made much stronger than a regular matcha tea to compensate for the added liquid from the lemonade. This ensures you enjoy both the taste of the lemonade and the taste of the green tea in every sip.
The addition of matcha in this recipe is a perfect match – now the sweet and citrus flavors are met with an earthy matcha flavor that's both slightly bitter and nutty. It really complements a classic lemonade and brings something new to the table.
Ingredients & Substitutions
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Sugar – you'll need white granulated sugar/caster sugar for this recipe to keep the brightness of the green matcha. You can use turbinado, raw, or brown sugar, but the color of the final drink will be slightly brown.
Matcha powder – make sure to get culinary-grade or latte-grade matcha powder. Here is a matcha I like on Amazon, and here is the brand of matcha I usually use in my recipes.
Lemons - I always use as fresh lemons for lemonade. If they're available to you, Meyer lemons taste incredible, too!
How to Make this Recipe
The first step is to make your simple syrup. Depending on how much you want to make, you can either dissolve ¼ cup of white sugar in ¼ cup of hot water, or make a larger batch of simple syrup by combining 1 cup of sugar with 1 cup water in a small saucepan.
Stir to dissolve the sugar while the mixture comes to a boil. Once dissolved, turn off the heat and let the simple syrup cool until it's ready to use.
Now it's lemonade time! Roll your lemons with the palm of your hand against your counter to help release the juices. Cut them in half and squeeze them to get as much juice out as possible. Discard any seeds. Juice until you have ⅔ cups fresh juice and pulp.
Next, pour 2 cups of ice-cold water into a pitcher. Stir in the lemon juice and pulp, and add the simple syrup to your liking. ½ cup is my preference for sweetness.
Next up is making the matcha green tea. Using your usual go-to method to make a matcha latte, whether that's a blender, whisk, or jar. Not sure which method to use? I outline each one in this guide.
Start by adding ¼ cup of water to your culinary grade matcha powder and mixing it together to remove the clumps. Then add the rest of the 1-¾ cups of water and whisk, shake, or blend to combine.
Note: The ratio is different than usual because we are adding more liquid/water later when we add in the lemonade. So, it will be a thicker/heavier matcha than a regular matcha tea.
Now it's time to put it all together to make the matcha lemonade! Add your matcha green tea to the lemonade pitcher, and then add ice either to the pitcher or to your glasses just before serving.
Note: Taste test one more time for sweetness and adjust to your liking.
Thinly slice a washed lemon for a fun optional garnish.
Lemonade FAQs
I find lemonade is at it's very best when fresh, but it will keep well in the fridge for up to a week.
Aside from matcha lemonade, some fun lemonade flavors are fruit flavors like peach lemonade or raspberry lemonade, or even a calming lavender lemonade or mint lemonade. Lemonade is such a versatile drink it can pair well with lots of fun flavors. Or, you can make an Arnold Palmer, which is half iced tea and half lemonade.
Sometimes a pink lemonade is regular lemonade with a little food coloring added to give it a pretty pink color. It can also be made with pink lemons! However, often pink lemonade has an additional flavor added like watermelon, cranberry, strawberry or many other red/pink fruits.
While lemonade has lemon juice in it, it's not the same as pure fruit juice. It has added water and sugar.
Lemonade may be just as sweet and sugary as soda but is different in that it only has three ingredients compared to most popular sodas which have many other additives and flavorings.
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Matcha Lemonade
Ingredients
Simple Syrup
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¼ cup water
Lemonade
- ⅔ cup lemon juice freshly squeezed, about 4 lemons
- 2 cups water
Matcha Green Tea
- 4 teaspoons matcha powder culinary grade
- 2 cups water
Instructions
Simple Syrup
- You can either dissolve the sugar in hot water, or make a larger batch of simple syrup by combining 1 cup of sugar with 1 cup water in a small saucepan. Stir to dissolve sugar while mixture comes to a boil. Set Turn it off, and let it cool until ready to use.
Lemonade
- Roll the lemons with the palm of your hand to help release the juice. Cut them in half lengthwise, and squeeze into to juice them. Discard any seeds. Continue juicing until you have ⅔ cups fresh juice and pulp.
- Pour 2 cups of ice-cold water into a pitcher. Stir in lemon juice and pulp, then add simple syrup to taste, ½ cup is my preference.
Matcha Green Tea
- Start by adding ¼ cup of water to your culinary grade matcha powder and mixing it together to remove the clumps. Then add the rest of the 1-¾ cups of water and whisk, shake, or blend to combine.
Matcha Lemonade
- Add the matcha green tea to the lemonade, and add ice either to the pitcher or glasses just before serving. Taste test one more time for sweetness and adjust to your liking.
- Thinly slice a washed lemon for an optional garnish.
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