ICED COCONUT GINGER MATCHA LATTE

If you follow along with my Insta Stories, you’ve likely seen me sipping away on my fair share of iced matcha lattes this summer! As someone who works from home most of the time, I’ve concocted quite a few homemade latte recipes over the years — but since they’re so simple I always thought they weren’t worth sharing here at JustineCelina. When I snapped a quick photo of my afternoon Iced Coconut Ginger Matcha Latte a few weeks ago, I was totally surprised by the response (who knew my most requested recipe to date would be a homemade latte?). Well — ask and you shall receive, my friends! If you have 5 minutes and 5 ingredients, you too can enjoy these refreshing iced lattes in the comfort of your own home.

Today I’m thrilled to be partnering with Kiwami Greens (a plant based, nutrient-rich Japanese vegetable powder) to bring you my Iced Coconut Ginger Matcha Latte — a tea latte infused with superfood ingredients to power your day with clean energy. Although delicious, traditional matcha lattes can be time consuming to prepare and require special tools, but my Iced Coconut Ginger Matcha Lattes truly couldn’t be easier. I believe you can nourish yourself and treat yourself at the same time — and this powerhouse matcha latte is a healthy indulgence you can feel great about. Creamy coconut milk, fresh ginger, exotic coconut nectar and filtered water combine over ice with Kiwami Greens — a smooth, rich blend of meticulously selected Japanese vegetables, green tea and prebiotics. I’ve been enjoying variations of this Iced Coconut Ginger Matcha Latte almost daily for the past few weeks and I’m thrilled to be sharing it with you!

ICED COCONUT GINGER MATCHA LATTE

My love for green tea and matcha lattes runs deep — we’re talking back to my days in art school, 10 years ago! Like most college students I was broke, exhausted and in need of all the caffeinated assistance I could get. Back then, nutrition was definitely not top of mind and I would regularly order green tea lattes from a nearby coffee shop. In fact, I loved those green tea lattes so much, I bought the powered mixture that they were made of in bulk so I could save some extra bucks by making them at home. Turns out my favourite green tea latte was just a mixture of sugary, food colour laden ‘green tea powder’ and milk (this is also back before I became dairy intolerant). Reading the ingredients on that mixture completely took the magic out of my beloved green tea latte — and it was also a contributing factor in my quest to educate myself about food.

After college, I got really into plant based cooking and nutrition. I honestly shudder when I think back to all those empty calories and dodgy tea lattes — but I simply didn’t know better! For the past 10 years I’ve focused on finding a lifestyle that works for me, educating myself about whole foods, plant based nutrition and teaching myself to cook (I too used to rely on heavily processed foods and packaged dinners in college!). If you’ve followed along with my FOOD archives over the years you’ll know that my recipes are simple, seasonal and packed full of awesome, fresh ingredients. My aim is to also to educate, so you too can make informed choices when it comes to what you put in your body. Food has the power to nourish us, heal us and fuel us — and I do my best here at JustineCelina to infuse a little knowledge into my recipes and promote a healthy lifestyle that’s attainable.

Now as a very plant based eater, I consume my vitamins naturally (i.e: in my food), so I’ve never had any need to supplement. Although most days you can find me munching away on fresh fruits and veggies throughout the day as I putter away on various creative projects (I’m definitely a grazer!), there are also days when I’m strapped for time between multiple meetings or shoots and that’s simply not possible. Hey, we can all use a little extra help sometimes! So when I stumbled on Kiwami Greens earlier this summer, I was intrigued.

Kiwami Greens is an individually packaged Aojiru — a traditional Japanese vegetable drink that balances the body and the mind, designed to be enjoyed daily. This mixture of carefully selected young barley leaves and ashitaba greens blended with matcha and sencha teas is harvested from the nutrient dense soil on the isles of southern Japan. It’s packed with calcium, vitamins B, C, and E, iron, fiber, as well as folic and amino acids. Ashitaba is a very unique plant that’s long been used in traditional Japanese medicine — it’s a rich source of vitamins B1, B2, and B6, dietary fiber, calcium and vitamin E. Because of the purity of this masterfully crafted blend, it’s actually categorized as food, not as a supplement.

My first inkling was to try my Kiwami Greens in an iced green tea latte — and while they’re absolutely delicious in this recipe, they’re also extremely versatile if you’d like to pick a box up to try for yourself. So far, I’ve enjoyed my packets in smoothies, over ice with filtered water and lemon and also in homemade salad dressings and dips. If you’re interested in learning even more about Kiwami Greens, I encourage you to visit their website where you’ll find a wealth of information from the history of Aojiru, to the specifics of each ingredient and their relationship with the environment. Kiwami Greens is vegan, gluten free, non-GMO and full of prebiotics — an innovative product I’m very happy to have in my pantry and continue experimenting with!

My Iced Coconut Ginger Matcha Lattes are made with just a handful of nutritious, healing ingredients. Personally, I like to use high quality, full fat coconut milk in my lattes and dilute myself it with filtered water (I’ve linked my favourite one here — it’s 85% coconut extract with just a small amount of water — those are the only 2 ingredients. I also purchase it at Superstore!). It makes for a creamy, indulgent tasting beverage — but you actually only need a very small amount of coconut milk to achieve that. You know I’m all about plant based sweeteners as alternatives to refined sugar and coconut nectar was a natural choice here. I actually picked this Big Tree Farms Amber Coconut Nectar up at HomeSense for a steal, but you can also order it online from Vitacost or find it locally at Community Natural Foods (I experimented with a few different brands and this one was the clear winner!). Coconut nectar is low glycemic (no sugar crash!), nutrient dense and includes 16 essential amino acids along with prebiotics. It’s similar in taste to maple syrup (which you can also use in this recipe if you prefer), but it has a more unique taste — like maple syrup infused with caramel and salt! And lastly, a generous dose of fresh ginger rounds out this latte while making it incredibly calming, refreshing and cleansing. Combined with Kiwami Greens, this homemade matcha latte is a nutritional powerhouse!

INGREDIENTS

Serves 1

• 3/4 cup water
• 1 package of Kiwami Greens
• 1/2 tbsp fresh ginger
• 2 tbsp amber coconut nectar
• 1/4 cup full fat coconut milk

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Microplane your fresh ginger.
2. Add all ingredients but the coconut milk to your Vitamix (or similar) and blend until ginger is well integrated (if you don’t mind the texture of finely grated ginger, feel free to skip this step).
3. Fill a tall glass half full with ice, then pour the blended latte base over top.
4. Finish the Iced Coconut Ginger Matcha Lattes by topping them off with coconut milk. Stir to combine — this method is how that marbled, gradient effect is achieved!
5. Enjoy immediately.

Print

ICED COCONUT GINGER MATCHA LATTE

Prep Time

10 mins

 

If you have 5 minutes and 5 ingredients, you too can enjoy a refreshing Iced Coconut Ginger Matcha Latte lattes in the comfort of your own home. This tea latte infused with superfood ingredients to power your day with clean energy! Although delicious, traditional matcha lattes can be time consuming to prepare and require special tools, but my Iced Coconut Ginger Matcha Lattes truly couldn't be easier. I believe you can nourish yourself and treat yourself at the same time -- and this powerhouse matcha latte is a healthy indulgence you can feel great about. Creamy coconut milk, fresh ginger, exotic coconut nectar and filtered water combine over ice with Kiwami Greens -- a smooth, rich blend of meticulously selected Japanese vegetables, green tea and prebiotics.

Servings: 1

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup water
• 1 package of Kiwami Greens
• 1/2 tbsp fresh ginger
• 2 tbsp amber coconut nectar
• 1/4 cup full fat coconut milk

Instructions

1. Microplane your fresh ginger.
2. Add all ingredients but the coconut milk to your Vitamix (or similar) and blend until ginger is well integrated (if you don't mind the texture of finely grated ginger, feel free to skip this step).
3. Fill a tall glass half full with ice, then pour the blended latte base over top.
4. Finish the Iced Coconut Ginger Matcha Lattes by topping them off with coconut milk. Stir to combine -- this method is how that marbled, gradient effect is achieved!
5. Enjoy immediately.

MORE REFRESHING, PLANT POWERED BEVERAGES

Tropical Pineapple Turmeric Cooler

Blushing Beet Juice

Peppered Pear Exilir

Detoxifying Watermelon Mint Limeade

Apple Carrot Lemon Ginger Juice

Lean Green Protein Juice

What’s your caffeinated beverage of choice this summer? Iced matcha lattes are high on my list — but I’ve also been enjoying my morning coffee over ice lately. If you make one of my Iced Coconut Ginger Matcha Lattes or give Kiwami Greens a try, I’d love your feedback! Leave me a comment, or tag me on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook. You can use the hashtag #justinecelinarecipes in your recreations so I can find them — I love scrolling through the feed and spotting your beautiful recreations! I also have a Pinterest board for my recipes if you’re looking for more plant based culinary inspiration. Thanks for stopping by for a homemade latte today, everyone!

Note: Since Kiwami Greens is such a new company, they currently ship within the United States only. However, they hope to be able to offer international shipping soon and I’ll update this post when they do!

Disclaimer: Thank you to Kiwami Greens for sponsoring this post. JustineCelina uses affiliate and referral links, which allow me to receive a small commission when you make a purchase through one of my links. Thank you for supporting the brands and businesses that support JustineCelina!