This matcha lemonade mix is the drink that took over every café menu last summer, in a box, for about a dollar a glass. Three ingredients, add water, stir. No blender, no syrup pumps, no whisking a clumpy powder into submission.

What is in the matcha lemonade mix

Three things. That is the entire label.

• Pure Japanese matcha. A proprietary blend of ceremonial and culinary grades, sourced from Uji and Kagoshima.
• Organic cane sugar. Lightly sweetened at 9 g of added sugar per serving, not built around it.
• Real lemon juice powder. Actual lemon, not “natural lemon flavor” doing an impression of one.

No artificial flavors, no artificial sweeteners, no yellow dye, no powdered milk solids. If you have bought a matcha lemonade mix before and it tasted like sour candy with a green tint, it was almost certainly built the other way round: flavoring first, matcha as a garnish.

About a dollar a glass

One box makes 10 servings and costs $10.75, so you are at roughly $1.08 a glass before ice.

A café charges six or seven dollars for the same drink. That gap is the whole argument for keeping a box of matcha lemonade mix in the cupboard, and it is why this moves as fast as we can stock it once the weather turns.

How to make the matcha lemonade mix

Café style

1. Add 2 teaspoons of matcha lemonade mix to 8 fl oz of cold water.
2. Stir well until it is fully dissolved.
3. Pour over ice.

Sparkling

1. Add 2 teaspoons of mix to just 2 fl oz of cold still water and stir until smooth. Do this part first. Sparkling water on its own will not dissolve it cleanly and you will get foam and grit.
2. Pour over ice.
3. Top with sparkling water.

The sparkling version is the better one and it is not close. The carbonation lifts the lemon and keeps the matcha from sitting heavy. Add a sprig of mint if you are showing off.

Where the matcha comes from

Uji, near Kyoto, and Kagoshima at the southern end of Japan. Uji brings the deep, savory green tea character and Kagoshima brings a lighter, sweeter note. Blending ceremonial with culinary grade is a deliberate choice for a drink like this: you want enough real matcha character to taste it through the lemon, without paying ceremonial prices for something you are about to mix with sugar and citrus.

Caffeine in the matcha lemonade mix, honestly

Jade Leaf puts a serving at 20 to 40 mg of caffeine, and describes it as roughly 60 percent less than a typical 8 oz coffee. Enough to notice in the afternoon, not enough to wreck your evening.

That range exists because matcha content varies slightly batch to batch, and we would rather give you their number than invent a tidier one.

If you want the other matcha

This matcha lemonade mix is a single purpose product and it is very good at that one purpose. It is not what you want for a latte.

For hot and iced lattes at volume, the sweetened bulk matcha latte mix is the one, at about fifty cents a drink. For straight matcha, or any drink where you want to control the sugar yourself, go to the ceremonial grade matcha powder. Plenty of shops run all three.

Frequently asked questions

How many drinks does one box of matcha lemonade mix make?

Ten, at 2 teaspoons each. The 3.9 oz (110 g) box is sized for a household rather than a café bar.

Can I make it with sparkling water?

Yes, and you should. Dissolve the matcha lemonade mix in 2 fl oz of still water first, then pour over ice and top with sparkling. Skipping that first step is the only way to get it wrong.

Is the matcha lemonade mix sweet?

Lightly. Nine grams of added organic cane sugar per serving, which is well under what a café pours into the same drink. If you want it tarter, use a touch more water.

Can I make it ahead for a party?

Yes. Mix a pitcher with still water, keep it cold, and stir before pouring since the matcha will settle. Do not build a sparkling batch ahead, it goes flat.

Is it organic?

The cane sugar is organic. The product as a whole is not sold as certified organic, so we are not going to label it that way.

Does it contain dairy?

No. Matcha, sugar and lemon juice powder, nothing else. It mixes with water, so it is dairy free as prepared.

Who makes it?

Jade Leaf, who have been buying direct from small Japanese tea farms since 2014. More at jadeleafmatcha.com.

About Berk’s Beans

Family-owned roastery at 1717 Solano Way #12 in Concord, California, roasting since 2021. We stock this matcha lemonade mix for the same reason we stock the chai and the latte mix: people kept asking. Order it here for shipping, or pick it up at the roastery.

Buying for a café or an office? Ask about wholesale pricing.