green tea ice cream

File:抹茶北海道霜淇淋, 108 MATCHA SARO 抹茶茶廊, 一〇八抹茶茶廊, 108 MATCHA SARO, 台北 (15256851000).jpg from Taipei, Taiwan]]

Matcha is powdered tea made from a special type of green tea called {{Nihongo||碾茶|tencha}}. Tencha is a tea grown in the shade and one of the most expensive of all green tea types. It is also used in tea ceremonies in Japan.

Matcha is sweeter and less bitter and is used today in a variety of sweets. In Japan, the Food Labeling Law prohibits the sale of powdered green tea made from any green tea other than tencha as matcha.{{Cite web |title = 食品表示基準Q＆A |trans-title = Food Labeling Standards Q&A |publisher = Consumer Affairs Agency |date = March 2021 |access-date = 2024-01-25 |url = https://www.caa.go.jp/policies/policy/food_labeling/food_labeling_act/assets/food_labeling_cms101_210317_12.pdf|language = ja}}{{Cite report|author=Japan Tea Central Public Interest Incorporated Association|url=https://www.nihon-cha.or.jp/pdf/hyoujikijyun.pdf| title=緑茶の表示基準 |trans-title = Green Tea Labeling Standards|language=ja|year=2019|page=21}} Therefore, it is important to note that calling matcha ice cream simply "green tea ice cream" may be misleading.

File:ロッテZEROビスケットクランチチョコバー香る焙煎抹茶 - 2.jpg with chocolate shell]]

There is a theory that Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1537–1598) ate shaved ice with matcha and millet sugar added. In the Edo period (1603–1867). There was also a shaved ice called {{Nihongo||宇治金時|Uji Kintoki}} with matcha and anko (sweet bean paste) added.{{Cite news |title = かき氷：江戸時代の宇治金時を復元 千葉 |trans-title = Shaved ice: Restoration of Uji Kintoki from the Edo period, Chiba |newspaper = Mainichi Shimbun |date = 2016-06-19 |url = https://mainichi.jp/articles/20160619/k00/00e/040/142000c |access-date = 2024-03-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160620175332/https://mainichi.jp/articles/20160619/k00/00e/040/142000c |archive-date=2016-06-20 |language = ja }}

Matcha ice cream was served as {{Nihongo|ice cream with hikicha|挽茶入氷菓子}} at court luncheons and banquets in Japan during the Meiji era. {{Nihongo||挽茶|Hikicha}} means ground tea, i.e., matcha.{{Cite web |title = 挽茶 |trans-title = Hikicha |url = https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%8C%BD%E8%8C%B6-863061#goog_rewarded |access-date = 2024-03-02

|language = ja}} For example, ice cream with hikicha was listed on the menu of a court banquet for Prince Vittorio Emanuele, Count of Turin, a member of the Italian royal family who visited Japan in 1898.{{Cite book |editor = Shushikai |title = 天皇家の饗宴 |trans-title = Emperor's Feast |publisher = Tokuei |date = December 1978 |url = https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/11932669 |doi = 10.11501/11932669 |page = 49 |language = ja |author1 = 秋偲会 }} In addition, a 1907 cookbook includes instructions for making tencha ice cream. {{Nihongo||碾茶|Tencha}} is tea before powdered matcha.

Also in 1926, a proposal by a Japanese American living in Texas to advertise matcha in the U.S. with a newspaper ad for "matcha ice cream" was claimed in a Japanese tea industry report.{{Cite book |editor = Central Chamber of the Tea Industry Association |title = 茶業彙報 第12輯 米加両国に対する日本茶広告宣 |trans-title = Tea Industry Bulletin, Vol. 12: Japanese Tea Advertisements to the United States and Canada |publisher = Central Chamber of the Tea Industry Association |date = 1926 |url = https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/929735 |page = 88 |language = ja }}

When Charles Lindbergh of the United States flew to Kasumigaura, Ibaraki Prefecture, in 1931, he was presented with matcha ice cream by the Japanese tea association and was very pleased. He was the first American to eat matcha ice cream on record.{{Cite magazine |title = リンドバーグ大佐に緑茶 |trans-title = Green tea for Colonel Lindbergh |magazine = The Tea Industry |volume = 26 |issue = 10 |publisher = Shizuoka Prefecture Tea Industry Union Chamber |date = October 1931 |url = https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1589868 |doi = 10.11501/1589868 |page = 52 |language = ja }}

In 1958, a tea company in Wakayama Prefecture developed and sold a soft-serve ice cream containing matcha named "Green Soft."{{Cite book |last = Shinbo |first = Tamihachi |title = チラシ広告：成功した実例250集 |trans-title = Flyer Advertising: 250 Successful Examples |publisher = Dobunkan Shuppan |date = 1960 |url = https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/2492541 |doi = 10.11501/2492541 |page = 254 |language = ja}} A coffee shop menu book published in 1968 listed matcha ice cream, which was already a standard ice cream served in coffee shops at that time.{{Cite book|last1 = Oguma |first1 = Tatsuo |last2 = Akado |first2 = Ryoji |title = 喫茶店のメニューブック |trans-title = The Coffee Shop Menu Book |publisher = Shibata Shoten |date = 1968 |url = https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/2517173 |doi = 10.11501/2517173 |page = 144 |language = ja}}

In 1983, a confectionery store in Kyoto Prefecture sold matcha ice cream and soft serve.{{Cite book |editor = Kyoto Shimbun |title = 京都年鑑：1984年版 |trans-title = Kyoto Yearbook, 1984 Annual Edition |publisher = Kyoto Shimbun |date = November 1983 |url = https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/9571175 |doi = 10.11501/9571175 |page = 310 |language = ja |author1 = 京都新聞社 }} In 1983, Meiji Dairies sold matcha ice cream under the Lady Borden brand (the Japanese brand name of the American Borden Company).{{Cite journal |last = Yoshida |first = Munehiro |title = Relationship between matcha and sweets, and history of matcha sweets |journal = Dietary Scientific Research |publisher = The Foundation of Scientific Research |volume = 41 |issue = 3 |date = 2021 |pages = 111–119 |url = https://ku-food-lab.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/839574a666e08cda7dbf30c4d9e9de13.pdf |language = ja }}

The amount of imported ice cream increased in the Japanese market after the import liberalization act of ice cream in 1990.{{cite web|url=http://www.nochuri.co.jp/report/pdf/r0509wto1.pdf|title=Japanese Dairy Farming and the WTO Agricultural Negotiation|author=Norinchukin Institute Co., Ltd.|access-date=2013-09-27|archive-date=2011-11-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111120020333/http://www.nochuri.co.jp/report/pdf/r0509wto1.pdf|url-status=live}} In 1995, Maeda-en USA in California began selling green tea ice cream in Japan. The same product was soon imported and distributed to convenience stores and supermarkets in Japan as well, and it was introduced in some Japanese newspapers.{{cite news|newspaper=Nihon Keizai Shimbun|date=1995-04-18}}

Häagen-Dazs Japan started producing green tea ice cream in 1996;{{cite news |last=Moriyasu |first=Ken |date=August 17, 2016 |title= Haagen-Dazs' star flavor Green Tea turns 20 |url= https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Haagen-Dazs-star-flavor-Green-Tea-turns-20 |work= The Nikkei|location= Tokyo|access-date=January 13, 2024}} it became an immediate hit, having twice as many sales as the previous favorite flavor, vanilla. The product is now sold in Japanese grocery markets and has become one of the company's most popular flavours.{{Cite web|url=https://matcha-jp.com/en/8235|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210124113249/https://matcha-jp.com/en/8235|url-status=dead|title=A Taste Of Japanese Culture: The Story Of Häagen-Dazs GREEN TEA|archivedate=January 24, 2021}}

The statistics from the Japanese Ice Cream Association show that green tea ice cream was ranked third in the "Favourite Ice Cream Flavour" study.[http://www.icecream.or.jp/data/hakusho05.html 日本アイスクリーム白書2016] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171230172350/http://www.icecream.or.jp/data/hakusho05.html |date=2017-12-30 }} (日本アイスクリーム協会)

Green tea ice cream has been available in the United States, the country with the largest ice cream consumption, since the late 1970s, primarily in Japanese restaurants and markets. It is becoming mainstream and can also be made at home.{{cite web|url=http://japanesefood.about.com/od/japanesedessertsweet/r/greenteaice.htm|title=Matcha green tea ice cream recipe|publisher=about.com|access-date=29 August 2010|archive-date=14 September 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160914172058/http://japanesefood.about.com/od/japanesedessertsweet/r/greenteaice.htm|url-status=dead}}

The U.S. saw rapid growth in Japanese cuisine and sushi popularity in the mid-1990s, which resulted in a big expansion of the Japanese restaurant business in the U.S. This development gradually helped people learn about green tea, resulting in green tea ice cream becoming a typical dessert.

Green tea ice cream is often served with other foods, such azuki beans, dango dumplings, monaka wafers, shaved ice, taiyaki, and so forth.

File:Matcha ice cream shiratama.jpg|With dango

File:Ice Cream Taiyaki.jpg|With taiyaki

File:Korean shaved ice-Green tea bingsu-03.jpg|With Korean bingsu

File:Green tea ice cream.JPG|With azuki

File:GT Greentea-Icecream.jpg|With wafers

File:GreenTeaMochiIceCream.jpg|In mochi ice cream

{{portal|Food}}

• List of Japanese teas
• List of ice cream flavors

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{{Ice cream}}

Category:Flavors of ice cream

ice cream

Category:Japanese desserts and sweets