The Electrum Latte: Turmeric and Matcha in Coffee

Have you heard that turmeric cures pretty much every disease? And matcha—also known to be a powder—has disease-fighting power of its own. Got a disease? Why not stick these powders in your body? Why not stick them in your coffee?

The “golden latte” is not a new idea. Trendy big city cafes have been putting turmeric in coffee ever since ancient gurus discovered the nourishing properties of the spice (about 2016). Matcha is ground green tea that usually replaces coffee rather than adding to it, and is said to give you a calmer buzz than caffeine alone. Both powders have an earthy flavour, like you’re sucking the healing energy straight from a pile of dirt.

I decided to mix both turmeric and matcha into a latte. I call it the “Electrum Latte” because apparently green gold actually exists, and is called electrum. Electrum Latte copyright, 2017, me.

Anyway, here’s the recipe. Follow along carefully:

1. Scoop turmeric and matcha into a latte

Good job, you did it! Those diseases will be running for their lives in no time.

Martha Stewart has a recipe for a golden latte, and she recommends making your own yellowish almond milk by straining ground almonds and water through a “nut bag.” Unfortunately, all I have is normal cow-based milk, and the only “nut bag” I own is probably not what she has in mind.

I did the normal espresso and steamed milk thing, then sweetened this with honey, because it seemed like the right thing to do.

The result is a surprisingly normal-looking and delicious latte. It straddles the line between drink and food, because the turmeric can make it taste a bit like sipping the extra curry after you run out of rice. But honestly, I love curry, and it doesn’t clash with the coffee as much as you’d think (as I discovered in PWTIC’s first official success story, Curry Coffee). The matcha mostly disappears flavour-wise, though it would probably give you an extra kick if you’re sensitive to caffeine, since it’s just about doubling the amount.

And in case you didn’t catch the sarcasm, this won’t actually cure any maladies. There’s a small amount of evidence that the ingredients in turmeric and matcha are good for you, but not enough for gurus to be declaring them miracle cures and selling overpriced versions of them. Gwyneth Paltrow can go screw herself with a matcha-coloured egg.

They taste good, though, so, drink up.