Matcha Latte

by Celia Cheng
August 25th, 2008

TAFU [CLOSED]
569 Lexington Ave
@ 51st St
212-980-1310
$$

Tafu is an artisan tea house from Japan, but it’s hard to tell since it’s located in a Double Tree Hotel in Midtown, hidden with its own side entrance on 51st Street. But they take their teas seriously, monitoring the temperature and using small traditional teapots for brewing. And their insistence that real matcha be enjoyed in-store and not for take-out shows integrity. They do, however, serve some café style drinks, including my favorite matcha latte. In fact, they have several variations with different add-ons, such as kuromitsu (brown sugar syrup), chocolate syrup or ice cream. But I like the regular latte without any extraneous sweets. The astringent taste of matcha is balanced by the sweetness of the milk, and the texture is silky smooth. Topped with frothy milk, it is also the healthiest choice for a little afternoon indulgence.

Also in Drinks, Japanese, Midtown East