A sweet and invigorating smoothie inspired by some of the favorite fruits of Japan and featuring a healthy dose of matcha tea!
I’ve named this Kyushu Smoothie after the third largest island in Japan, where the agreeable climate and volcanic soil provides ideal conditions for growing delicious agricultural products. Sadly, the tectonic activity is particularly strong here, as evidenced by the recent string of earthquakes through the island. 🙁
I’ve taken a bit of creative license in the naming, as I doubt one would find a smoothie like this in Kyushu. It combines favorite Japanese fruits like melon, fuji apple, and satsuma citrus (which incidentally get their name from the province of Satsuma in Kyushu where they were first exported to the west during the Meiji period). Just a hint of spicy ginger and a healthy scoop of grassy matcha rounds out the sweet fruit flavors.
There is a considerable amount of green tea production in all seven prefectures of Kyushu. One of the best green teas I’ve ever had was a deep, sweet sencha that came from Ureshino region in Saga. Gyokuru tea from Yame region in Fukuoka is also another world-class product. It is gyokuru, the highest grade of shade grown tea, which is the tea most similar to that which is used to make matcha. The best matcha teas are vibrantly colored, as fine as baby powder, and have a flavor harmony of natural sweetness, earthiness, and even a touch of umami savoriness. Since matcha pairs well with fruit, I’ve enthusiastically added two heaping teaspoons of it to this smoothie!
- 2 cups of ripe honeydew melon
- 1 large fuji apple or similarly sweet-tart apple
- ¼ cup satsuma juice (or mandarin, or clementine)
- ½ teaspoon minced ginger
- 2 heaping teaspoons matcha
- 1 cup ice
- Add the melon, apple, citrus juice, and ginger to the blender jar and blend on high until smooth.
- Throw in the matcha and the ice and blend until the ice breaks down and you get a smoothie-like texture.
- Pour into glasses and serve immediately.
-It's best if you start with cold fruit so the ice doesn't melt immediately and result in a watery smoothie.
Congratulations. You’ve made the (by now) everyday green smoothie sound very inviting. I can’t wait to try it.
Haha Bethery! I am afflicted with matcha madness!
Hey, Omar, what are you using as a straw there? I’ve recently become concerned about the proliferation of plastic straws, and what you’re using in the pictures looks like a beautiful alternative.
Wow Erin, you noticed the straw! It’s actually a piece of bamboo! I have a bush of it growing in my yard. If you cut a piece of a stalk between the nodes, it makes a natural straw because the stalks are hollow. When it’s fresh it’s green like in the pic, but as it dries, it turns light brown. Many thanks to Mother Nature!