Matcha is something I've always been curious about, but never got around to trying. It's not something that I commonly see on menus, but rather it's all over my Instagram feed. After scrolling through beautiful pictures of trendy green treats and drinks, I finally took a leap and hopped on the matcha bandwagon. I didn't want my first experience with matcha to be a traditional drink. I wanted it to be a unique cooking experience so that I could learn more about the product. 

Background

soup, tea, matcha, cream, green tea
Marie Chantal Marauta

Before I even tried matcha, I chatted with Chié Dombara, a matcha expert and owner of Yoko Matcha in Miami. Her food truck combines Japanese and Latin cultures — infusing matcha into traditional Latin cookies, pastries, and lattes. She told me that matcha has more health benefits than coffee, and that it's 100 percent eco-friendly (the entire tea leaf is used for the production of different products). That got my attention. Finally, I stumbled upon a recipe to make that would pop my matcha cherry. 

Matcha chocolate bark is a play on peppermint bark. I found the recipe in random magazine and quickly scanned the ingredients. It seemed easy enough. I zipped over to Trader Joe's to buy what I needed because it's the only place I knew in my area that sells matcha powder. Go figure. 

Recipe

vegetable, salad
Stephanie Cozza

The ingredients include semi-sweet chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, matcha powder, and coconut oil. I'm not one to follow recipes because I like to get creative, so once I had the basic ingredients, I made the recipe my own.

I melted the semi-sweet chocolate chips and the white chocolate chips separately (adding coconut oil to smooth it out). Then I added 2 tablespoons of matcha powder to the white chocolate and mixed furiously (I was breaking a sweat). The Trader Joe's matcha powder has an odd, milky smell that made me flinch when I first got a whiff of it. Off to a great start. 

egg, egg yolk
Gabby Phi

I lined a baking sheet with parchment paper and poured a layer of melted semi-sweet chocolate onto the sheet. Next, I poured the green, white chocolate concoction over the first layer of chocolate. It looked like a goopy mess to me. I stared at it, unsatisfied, and stuck the sheet in the fridge. I already didn't want to eat it.

Two hours later, I opened the fridge. The green mess magically hardened, but it still looked questionable. I broke off a piece of the matcha chocolate bark and took a bite. Whoa. Looks can be deceiving.

And the Winner Is...

tea, cream, herb, green tea
Gabby Phi

It actually has a strong matcha flavor — or what I'm guessing is the matcha (it's definitely not milk chocolate or coconut oil). It tastes like milky green tea, and I can't get over how overpowering the matcha is. I only added 2 tablespoons...

The matcha adds a delicate, earthy flavor to the sweet chocolate. I've never tasted anything like it and I'm excited to say that I love it. I'm glad that I decided to try a new product while incorporating it into my novice cooking skills. It made me appreciate matcha more, and I'm stoked to get more adventurous with it. My only regret is that I ate it too quick to take a picture. Next time.