Made with white chocolate, butter, and cream and dusted with Japanese green tea powder, this decadent Matcha Chocolate (or Matcha Nama Chocolate) is simply irresistible. It’s rich with a truffle-like texture and just the right touch of sweetness.
This Matcha Chocolate, or what we call Matcha Nama Chocolate (抹茶生チョコレート) in Japan, simply melts in your mouth.
As I was testing this recipe, I knew I won’t be able to stop eating them so Mr. JOC took them to work. He told me later, “The green tea chocolate disappeared in seconds.” I promise you, it’s really good!
Green tea powder, or matcha (抹茶), has a unique bitter taste to it. The flavor of “matcha” is quite different from the green tea served at Japanese restaurants. Matcha is typically used for making tea at the traditional Japanese tea ceremony. This tea tends to be thick and exceptionally bitter, but it goes quite well with wagashi (和菓子), a traditional Japanese confectioneries that are very sweet by itself.
The color of matcha is a bright, beautiful green color, so if your matcha powder doesn’t have that nice vivid hue to it, your matcha is well past its prime. The green tea powder is also quite pricey, especially if it is of tea ceremony quality, but the culinary grade is good enough for baking and making these chocolates.
As you may already know, green tea delivers a healthy dose of antioxidants and cancer-fighting power. Catechins in green tea are also known to have many beneficial health properties and matcha has greater potential health benefits than other green tea.
In Japan, there are many varieties of green tea chocolate in stores, including green tea Pocky’s, Melty Kiss, Kit Kat, and the popular ROYCE’ Chocolate.
When I made ROYCE’ copycat Nama Chocolate two years ago, I received many requests for the green tea version. I love anything with green tea, so I’m really happy to finally share this green tea version with you this year. Right in time for Valentine’s Day!
The cooking process for this recipe is very similar to the regular Nama Chocolate recipe, but white chocolate is used instead of regular chocolate. My only advice for you is to work fast to melt the white chocolate while the cream is warm.
Rich, yet not so sweet, decadent truffle-like matcha green tea chocolate, it is simply irresistible. If you love green tea sweets, this will be the ultimate treat for you.
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Matcha Chocolate
Video
Ingredients
- 14 oz white chocolate (you‘ll need 4 Lindt White Chocolate Swiss Classic Bars and measure the weight to get 400 g; see Notes)
- ½ cup heavy (whipping) cream (see Notes)
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 Tbsp matcha (green tea powder)
- 2 tsp matcha (green tea powder) (for sprinkling)
Instructions
- Gather all the ingredients. You will also need 1 8- x 8-inch (20 x 20 cm) baking dish and line it with parchment paper.
- Chop 14 oz white chocolate into small pieces so it will melt quickly.
- Cut 2 Tbsp unsalted butter into small pieces.
- Add ½ cup heavy (whipping) cream into a small saucepan and bring it ALMOST to a boil over medium heat. Keep an eye on the cream; when you see bubbles around the saucepan, remove from the heat.
- Immediately add the white chocolate and butter. With a rubber spatula, mix all together.
- The mixture will start to solidify, so melt the chocolate and butter while the cream is still warm.
- Once the mixture is smooth, sift and add 2 Tbsp matcha (green tea powder) into the mixture.
- Mix and combine together until the color is homogeneous.
- Into a prepared the baking dish lined with parchment paper, pour the green tea chocolate mixture.
- Tap the baking dish a few times on the kitchen countertop to remove any air bubbles. Flatten the surface with the rubber spatula if necessary. Refrigerate for 4–5 hours (or overnight).
- Lift the parchment paper to remove the green tea chocolate from the baking dish. Run the sharp knife under hot water to warm up the knife and wipe it dry completely.
- Slice the 8- x 8-inch (20 x 20 cm) chocolate block into 4 smaller squares, then cut each square into 9 small pieces.
- Dust 2 tsp matcha (green tea powder) on top of the chocolate. Store the chocolate in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Serve chilled.
To Store
- You can keep the leftovers in the refrigerator for 2–3 days, but it‘s best to enjoy it sooner.
Notes
- Make sure the bowls and utensils you are using are perfectly dry. Even a small amount of water/steam can “seize” the chocolate melting process.
- When buying white chocolate, make sure that it contains cocoa butter because some inferior brands contain vegetable fat. White chocolate should be ivory-colored (white chocolate made with vegetable fat is white-colored).
- The fat content for heavy (whipping) cream is 38%, which is used to whip cream.
- Separation (oil came out of the chocolate) happens when you get the chocolate too hot. When chocolate gets too hot, the cocoa butter separates from the solids, and there is no way to salvage it (although you can bake with it and it tastes fine). The best way to prevent separation is to use gentle heat (simmer on lowest heat) and stir frequently. Since we’re not using a double boiler in this recipe, make sure you do not bring the heavy whipping cream to a full boil. Remove from heat as soon as you saw bubbles around the edges of the saucepan.
- Seizing happens when moisture is introduced to melted chocolate (even a tiny amount of liquid or steam). It happens all of a sudden from a smooth bowl of liquid chocolate to a lumpy, grainy mass of chocolate.
[…] your traditional meals and snacks, then go all out and create an entirely new one. Consider making green tea chocolate. Massively popular in Japan, matcha chocolate has an exotic taste and a texture that simply […]
Dear Nami,
did you try these or the regular Nama chocolate with silicon forms? I just bought small ones for the Birthday of my boyfriend (he’s a huge star wars fan) and would like to make him this delicious chocolate thing in the form of something he loves a lot. Do you think the chocolate would come out of the silicone even if there are detailles and it’s not a plain form?
P.S. I too looking forward to testing this delicacy 😉
Hi Anna! I’ve never tried with silicon mold before just because I’m a bit lazy and I don’t have a fine skill and I know I’ll mess up taking out from the mold. 🙂
Since your mold is a big shape mold (I love Star Wars! So cool!!!), I think it’ll work out. The best part is that you can sprinkle the chocolate with matcha powder and you won’t see any flaw. 😀
Are you making the green tea version or chocolate version? Happy Birthday to him!
Hi Nami,
I’m sorry I didn’t answer, my boyfriend and I split up, so I never did this. But thanks for your nice reply!
I wanted to make the green tea version and had small moulds. It didn’t work well with plain, melted, then refrigerated nougat
Hi Anna! I’m so sorry to hear that. Sending love your way. xoxo
[…] recipe is adapted from green tea chocolate recipe from Just One Cookbook. Thank you! Just One Cookbook Organic Matcha–culinary grade, […]
Hi Nami, I’m just looking at this recipe and the variations on the ‘Net. I noticed this recipe is VERY similar to yours (in ingredients, instructions and structure) but written later, I was wondering if you’re aware of this? https://www.kenkotea.com.au/blogs/news/66563653-matcha-green-tea-nama-chocolates
Hi Jules! Thank you so much for notifying me. Yes, indeed, it’s very similar… Since she changed some words around a bit, I can’t confront her that she stole my content. Recipes don’t have copyright so I can’t do anything about it unless the wording is exact same… it’s a blogger’s nightmare.
Thank you for letting me know. I’m lucky to have wonderful readers like you who take time to let me know. I believe in karma. Be good, and good things happen. 🙂
Thanks for the recipe!
I really want to try this recipe for Valentines day but it’s impossible to obtain heavy cream in my country. Will it work if I use this heavy cream substitute recipe instead? https://lifehacker.com/5933953/substitute-butter-and-milk-for-heavy-cream. (In the comments section you mentioned the it has to be the kind that whips, but this substitute recipe doesn’t)
Thanks
Hi Taffy! Hmm… maybe the name of the product is different but you do have a type of milk which fat is usually between 36 and 40%? I had never tried this recipe without substitute, so I can’t tell… 🙁 So sorry…. I don’t think you don’t need one that is required to be whipped in this recipe. It requires rich milk (higher fat) for the texture and taste.
Okay, thanks a lot Nami!
I searched for sweet flag and got this recipe… (Japanese sweet flag is Acorus gramineus) what is the Japanese name?
Hi Tim! That’s too funny…. I didn’t know about sweet flag so I checked online and it is Shoubu (or Shobu) in Japanese. 🙂
Thanks. I then found this info: “The symbolic flower of Tango no Sekku is a type of iris called shobu. The shobu has long leaves that resemble swords. Boys traditionally take shobu leaf baths on this day. The shobu is so important on this day that sometimes the festival is called Shobu no Sekku or Iris Festival.” Shobu is delicious herb for cooking with an anise but more sharp flavor, somewhat like French tarragon. The European sweet flag species has a different flavor leaf and root. It was or still is part of the distinctive flavor of Dr. Pepper.
That’s correct. I didn’t know European types are different.
Thank you for sharing, Tim!
Hi Nami, it was delicious! I was wondering how long you could store the chocolate for? Assuming of course you don’t finish it too quickly. Thank you, and keep up the good work, Vera
Hi Vera! I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe! You can keep in the refrigerator for 2-3 days. 🙂
Hi. It’s difficult to find a whipping cream here in my city. Are there any substitute for whipping cream?
Hi Valerie! Do you think it’s called differently? Maybe heavy cream? It should be 35% fat or above.
Here on this site, there is substitute info: http://www.food.com/about/heavy-cream-361
Hope that helps!
I added too little matcha powder, Would I be able to heat them again and add more matcha powder?
Hi Cimi! No, I am afraid you can’t. Sorry you can’t add…
I made this last night and it didn’t turn out the way I had expected. I followed the instructions, everything was perfect until I removed it from the freezer to cut. The chocolate had a taffy texture when I made the first cut. Any reason why this may have happened!?!? Thanks in advance!
Hi Theresa! I think I know the taffy texture (I don’t eat too much candy ????), and I think the texture is pretty similar. This is not a chocolate bar. In 5 minutes at room temp, it turns to soft more like truffle texture. It’s impossible to cut once it is soften. So right out of fridge it is kind of harder taffy texture I think. When you put in mouth after soften, it is more like truffle softness not taffy like texture.
I made these this afternoon — at first the taste and color was not at all what I was expecting, but after letting the flavors meld in the fridge for several hours, they are AMAZING! My non-matcha loving family members even enjoyed several little pieces. Other than it being a super expensive recipe ($28.50 CDN), I think it’s my favorite matcha “chocolate” I’ve had, ever!
Hi Courtney! Awesome! I’m so happy to hear that! The quality of matcha and chocolate do matter in this recipe, and you can control the quality of match chocolate…. 😀 It’s cheaper than going to Japan and grab ROYCE’ matcha chocolate but I know, matcha is expensive…. Thank you for your kind feedback!
thank you for the lovely & easy recipe! i may still need to find better white chocolates to use (to make it less white chocolate-y and have more matcha taste), but so far everyone loved what i have made. 🙂
Hi Sax! It helps to make really good chocolate if you can find good quality chocolate. Also matcha’s quality is important. The low grade (it might look yellowish) matcha lacks fragrance and flavor and it tends to be bitter. The good matcha has very nice “sweetness” in bitter taste… 🙂 . Thank you for trying my recipe!
Sorry if I submitted my comment twice as it just stayed there.
I had the pleasure of tasting a few flavours of the real Royce’s Nama chocolate (Matcha, Ghana bitter, au lait) following my first trip to Japan this May. [Yes it was that good of a trip that I’m mentioning it repeatedly. Lol.]
I have made Nama chocolate using both of your recipes (matcha one & dark chocolate one). I tried the dark chocolate first & then the matcha one after I bought the Lindt chocolate you mentioned in the recipe. I found my matcha chocolate a bit softer and easier to cut comparing to the dark chocolates. No splintering either with the matcha chocolate pieces. When I cut the dark chocolate, I really needed to use strength but with the matcha one, the knife goes down so easily. Is it because white chocolate doesn’t contain cocoa butter & the added butter changed the mixture, contributed to the ease of cutting? Should I assume this is supposed to be like that & not a failure of my attempt?
Love to hear your thoughts on this matter. Thank you.
Hi Christina! I haven’t tried the dark chocolate Nama Chocolate for a while and I don’t remember the struggle I had. It could be the type of chocolate too (the fat %)? It’s too many variables that I’m not too sure why the dark chocolate one was the harder. I’ll remember your feedback and check when I make dark chocolate one and I’ll make a note if I notice something (or I usually update the recipe). Thanks for bringing to my attention!
Thank you Nami. In any case, both matcha and dark Nama chocolate were amazing!!
Thank you Christina! 🙂
Tried making it but I couldn’t seem to get that rich dark green colour after adding the powder :/ Did I do something wrong? Or is it my ingredients? (I did check that none of them were expired though)
Hi Calla! The rich dark color comes from the green tea powder itself. If your green tea powder is not vivid color green when you open the package, it’s probably the lower quality grade. It has to be vivid beautiful green color to start with. Hope this helps!
not 12 grams?
No, matcha powder is SUPER light. Imagine the feathers in 1 Tbsp. 🙂