Matcha Collagen Latte

Honestly, if you want to control the ratio, buy them separately. We sell both, and plenty of people do exactly that. What a blend gives you is one spoon instead of three, a sweetness level already sorted, and no morning maths. It is a convenience trade, not a performance one, and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise.

Taste, mostly. It is evaporated palm sap rather than refined white sugar, and the caramel note works against the grassiness of matcha in a way plain sugar does not. The alternative would have been a sweetener blend with a bulking agent and a flavouring to mask the aftertaste, which is three or four extra ingredients on a pouch that currently has three. We would not tell you it is a healthier sugar. Your body treats it as sugar. What we can tell you is that there is 1.8g of it per serving, about a third of a teaspoon, in a 26 calorie cup.

Four things on the back of any pouch: whether it is Japanese, whether it says ceremonial grade and what that means in practice, how many grams per serving, and how many other ingredients are in there. A vivid green colour is a good sign too, since dull khaki usually means older leaf or a pouch that has been open too long.

Both, in effect. It is a matcha latte powder: a sweetened blend you top with milk. The matcha in it is a plain Japanese matcha powder at a full gram a serving, so it tastes of matcha rather than of sweetener.

Yes. Japanese cultivation, shading and stone milling are what produce the colour, texture and rounder flavour people associate with good matcha, and plenty of green tea powder sold as matcha comes from elsewhere.

No special kit. A handheld electric milk frother is what our directions assume, and it costs very little. A matcha set with a bamboo chasen and a bowl works beautifully if you have one or want one, but it is not needed here.

The same thing, described two ways. Both mean stone-milled whole green tea leaf. Grade is what actually varies: ceremonial grade is young top leaf, culinary grade is coarser older leaf.

It describes young top leaf, harvested early and stone milled very fine, as opposed to the coarser older leaf used in culinary grade. That is what ours is, and it is Japanese. Worth knowing that it is not a legally defined or independently audited standard: there is no Japanese body issuing ceremonial grade certificates, so anyone implying otherwise is overselling it.

Japan. That matters more than most things on a matcha label, because Japanese cultivation, shading and stone milling are what produce the colour, the texture and the sweeter, rounder flavour people associate with good matcha. Plenty of green tea powder sold as matcha comes from elsewhere and tastes noticeably different.

Usually not enough matcha, or too much milk. A gram of matcha is the standard for a single serving and a lot of home attempts use half that, then drown it in 250ml of oat milk. Each of our servings has a full gram in it, and our directions use 90ml of milk rather than a full mug, which is the ratio a coffee shop actually works to.

Grassy and green from the matcha, a mild caramel note from the coconut blossom sugar, creamy once the milk goes in. Sweetened lightly rather than heavily, so it lands closer to a coffee shop matcha latte than a sweet instant sachet.

Boiling water scalds matcha. It pulls out the harsh, astringent compounds and flattens the sweeter notes, which is why so many people try matcha once, make it with a kettle straight off the boil, and conclude they hate it. Let the kettle stand a couple of minutes, or use a variable temperature one.

Matcha clumps when it meets cold liquid, or a large volume of liquid at once. Make a paste first: 30 to 40ml of warm water, whisk until the surface is smooth and there is no powder left on the sides of the cup, then add the rest of the milk. That one step solves nearly every lumpy matcha.

A handheld electric milk frother works and is what our directions assume. A bamboo chasen works beautifully if you have one, since it was designed for this exact job. A teaspoon alone will not break the paste up properly, and that is where most complaints about grittiness come from.

Green tea is leaves steeped in water and then thrown away. Matcha is the whole leaf, stone milled into powder and whisked into the liquid, so you drink the leaf rather than an infusion of it. That is why it needs whisking, why it sits as a suspension rather than a brew, and why the flavour is so much denser than a tea bag.

Colour comes largely from chlorophyll, which builds up when the plants are shaded before harvest. A vivid green powder generally indicates younger, shaded leaf. A dull khaki or yellow-brown powder usually points to older leaf, coarser milling, or a powder that has been open too long.

1000mg, which is a full gram, in each 7g serving. A plain matcha is typically made with one to two grams, so a cup of this sits in the normal range for a matcha rather than being a token amount for the label.

Yes, naturally, because matcha is a tea leaf. We do not print a milligram figure on the pack or on this page, because we only publish numbers we can stand behind and this one is not yet documented. If you are sensitive to caffeine or avoiding it, factor that in.

Dairy, oat, almond, soya and coconut all work. Oat is the most forgiving and gets closest to a coffee shop texture. Very acidic plant milks can split slightly at high temperature, so warm rather than boil.

You can. Whisk the 7g into 100 to 150ml of warm water and skip the milk. It will taste sharper and more directly of matcha, since the milk is doing a lot of rounding off. The coconut blossom sugar and collagen are still in there, so it will not taste like plain ceremonial matcha on its own.

In cold blends and overnight oats, yes, the blender or the soaking time does the dispersing for you. For baking, we would not. Heat dulls the colour and the flavour, and putting a ceremonial grade powder in a cake is an expensive way to do something culinary grade does better.

Matcha is sensitive to air, light, heat and moisture, and it fades in colour and flavour long before it becomes unsafe. Keep the pouch sealed, in a cool dark cupboard rather than next to the hob, and always use a dry spoon. Use within 30 days of opening and no later than the Best Before End date on the bottom of the pouch.

20 servings, so around three weeks at one a day.

4000mg per 7g serving. The full amino acid breakdown is printed on the back of the pouch if you want to look, and it adds up to exactly 4000mg.

The collagen is hydrolysed bovine collagen, so the blend is not suitable for vegetarians or vegans. Wellgard Pure Collagen Powder is bovine too; for a plant-based option the Vegan Collagen Builder is the one to look at.

Different jobs. Wellgard Pure Collagen Powder is a dosing format, unflavoured, taken by the tablespoon in whatever you are already drinking, at 13,000mg a serving. This is a drink in its own right, and 13g of collagen will not fit in a 7g serving. If your priority is the highest collagen figure per serving, that one is the answer. If your priority is a drink you look forward to, this one is.

It mixes in under a minute, so in practice yes, but it is not an instant sachet. An instant matcha latte is usually mostly sugar and milk powder with a little matcha for colour. This is a full gram of ceremonial grade matcha, collagen and a third of a teaspoon of sugar, whisked with your own milk.

Japanese. Plenty of matcha powder UK shoppers are offered is grown elsewhere and tastes noticeably different. Ours is Japanese and it is stated on the pouch. If the country of origin is not on a label, it is worth asking why.

A collagen latte is formulated to taste of the drink rather than of collagen. Here the matcha and the coconut blossom sugar do that work, which is why a matcha collagen latte tastes like a matcha latte and a spoon of plain collagen in tea does not taste of much at all.

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Full refund within 30 days, even if the pouch has been opened and some of it used.