Do Matcha Desserts Contain Caffeine?
We're big fans of a good matcha, whether that comes in the form of this matcha latte that tastes like sipping spring, or desserts like these matcha pistachio popsicles. Matcha brings a delicious earthiness to sweets that can help counterbalance the sugar in a dessert. But did you know it can also bring a whole heap of caffeine, too? That's right: Everything from matcha ice cream to matcha cookies have caffeine, and perhaps a surprising amount of it. A typical 8-ounce cup of brewed coffee has around 95 to 165 milligrams of caffeine in it. Meanwhile, for an 8-ounce cup of matcha, you're looking at 60-70 milligrams of caffeine, though it could be as high as 176 milligrams, depending on type, brew time, and quantity of powder. This puts it lower than coffee itself but higher than the 35 milligrams of caffeine you could expect to find in an 8-ounce cup of normal green tea. But what about when we're looking at desserts made with matcha instead?
Unfortunately, it's a little hard to nail the exact amount of matcha in any given dessert because the amount of caffeine can differ pretty wildly from brand to brand. You can generally assume matcha has roughly 20 to 45 milligrams of caffeine per gram, which is about a teaspoon of powder. You can also expect higher-quality matcha powders to have more caffeine in them. Keeping this in mind, it's possible to get a rough estimate of how much caffeine your own home-baked treats may end up having.
How much caffeine are you actually consuming in your matcha sweets?
When you're working with matcha in desserts, you'll need to do a little math to figure out how much caffeine you're going to get per serving. First, it depends on the end result you're gunning for. The more matcha you add, the more intense the flavor will be. Some suggest starting with 1 teaspoon of matcha for a batch of cookies and going up to 3 or 4. Assuming you're making a dozen cookies, that could be anywhere from 20-180 milligrams of caffeine per batch, at the low end. Per cookie, you'd be looking at anywhere from 1.6-15 milligrams of caffeine. On the whole, while matcha cookies have caffeine, they aren't super caffeinated unless you use tons of it and scarf down multiple cookies per sitting.
Matcha is usually added into baked goods as a dry ingredient, much like flour or cocoa powder, and you may want to add in a bit of extra liquid to counterbalance the dryness of the matcha. You could even give your butter a boost from matcha powder and add that if you want more moisture and more matcha flavor at the same time. Just be sure that you're not adding excessive amounts of caffeine: Keep these ratios and amounts in mind, especially if you're sensitive to caffeine or planning on eating these tasty treats later in the day.