How To Make Tea Powder

Learn how to make tea powder at home with this simple recipe. Transform your favourite loose leaf tea into a fine powder suitable for baking.

What is tea powder?

Crushed and finely milled loose leaf tea which is ground into a powder, usually by stone and pressure.

It is also known as microground tea or stone-rolled tea.

What's the difference between instant tea and tea powder?

Instant tea a concentrated tea that is dried into a powder by freeze-drying, vacuum-drying, or spray-drying. 

Why you'll love this recipe

This recipe yields a pure ground tea powder similar to matcha or hojicha, that is suitable for baking or drinks.

It's relatively easy and economical to make at home.

Although the ground tea will not be as finely milled as a commercial pressure stone-milled or microground tea powder, it will suffice for home use.

You can use any loose leaf tea that you like, such as oolong, jasmine, Earl Grey, etc.

Equipment you'll need

My method utilizes 2 pieces of equipment:

• coffee grinder: grinding the tea leaves first with a coffee grinder helps with breaking down the leaves into smaller pieces; I used an electric burr grinder
• mortar and pestle: to crush the ground tea leaves into a finer powder

Ingredients you'll need

• loose leaf tea of your choice: you can use any green or black tea; try oolong, jasmine (as pictured here), genmaicha, or Earl Grey

How to make it

Add the loose leaf tea to the coffee grinder.

Blitz intermittently until the tea leaves turn into a powder.

Transfer the tea into a mortar and pestle and grind, rubbing the tea powder with the pestle against the mortar, until the tea becomes a fine powder, similar to matcha powder.

How to store

Store the powder in an airtight container in a dark location, away from direct sunlight.

Best used within 1 month.

How to use 

Use the ground tea (as you would matcha powder or hojicha) in brewed tea drinks, or to give extra flavouring in baking, such as in Earl Grey Bergamot Loaf.

Tea powder is very concentrated.

You can use the powder in drinks, similar to making a matcha latte or hojicha latte.

To make tea using tea powder:

Add about ½ teaspoon ground tea to a jar or matcha bowl.

Pour in boiling water that has been slightly cooled and whisk until frothy with an electric whisk/frother or tea whisk (chasen).

Strain the tea into a glass.

Note: If using for drinks, you will still need to strain the tea to prevent additional graininess.

Enjoy as is, or add ice cubes, sweetener and milk of your choice.

Note: For a standard drink, use anywhere form ½ - 1 teaspoon and adjust according to your taste.

Coarsely ground tea

If you have an espresso machine, you can use coarsely ground tea to pull a concentrated tea shot (tea espresso).

In this case, do not grind the tea to fine powder -- just grind the loose leaf tea until coarse, and place ground tea into your portafilter.

Other tea recipes you may like

Be sure to check out these recipes:

How To Make Tea Using An Espresso Machine

Matcha 101: A Beginner's Guide

Hojicha 101: A Beginner's Guide

Jasmine Milk Tea

Yuenyueng (Hong Kong Coffee Tea Drink)

Let me know if you try out this recipe -- tag me on Instagram @siftandsimmer or leave me a comment/rating below!