The Matcha Spring Specials Of It All

I tried 15 NYC spring matcha specials so you don't have to.

Yes, you read that right, I tried 15 different spring matcha specials. As soon as I saw all the storefront posters popping up around the city, I knew I had to try as many as financially feasible and start my self-proclaimed matcha quest.

Let me advise you on my matcha preferences so you know what type of girl I am before we get into the list:

• As a hot girl with stomach issues, if the matcha was milk-based, I had to ask for oat milk.

• I like a sweet matcha (my go-to order is typically an iced matcha with vanilla and oat milk from either 787 Coffee or Passionfruit), so it’s not too grass/dirt tasting.

• My ideal matcha shade resides between sage and pickle green.

• I’m an iced matcha girl so these are all iced!

Here is my matcha quest alignment chart:

And here’s a tier chart if that makes more sense to you:

Now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for: my rankings with brief descriptions.

*This is not sponsored, I’m just a girl who loves matcha*

1. Ten Thousand Coffee: Green Tangerine Matcha Ade

   

   My number one, my love, my baby, and what will undoubtedly be my go-to throughout the summer. Prior to this drink, I wasn't big on carbonated drinks, but this definitely changed the game for me. It’s like sipping on a fizzy energy drink instead of your run-of-the-mill seltzer. On a nice hot day, I can imagine myself with this drink in hand, strolling down the streets of NYC in pure bliss.

2. Kijitora East: Matcha Peach Fizz

   

   Kijitora somehow managed to retain the matcha consistency you typically get with a milk-based matcha, but with a soda base. The mango fruit at the bottom of the cup was fresh and juicy, and bonus points because it was slimy enough to slip through the straw. Like the Ten Thousand Green Tangerine Matcha Ade, it was spritz adjacent and refreshing.

   FYI, there are two Kijitora locations in Brooklyn, but the East location is the only one that serves the spring specials.

3. Blank Street: Strawberry Shortcake Matcha

   

   This is one of Blank Street’s four irresistible spring Matcha specials, and to say I was obsessed with this drink would be an understatement—there was a point where I had three of these in one week.

   It has all the sweetness of the berries along with the buttery and sweet flavors of a traditional strawberry shortcake, even without the actual cake pieces. The strawberry jam that is lined and layered in the cup is the icing on this nonexistent shortcake.

   And good news, the Strawberry Shortcake is staying on the menu for the summer!

4. Cafe Elorea: Heaven Matcha

   

   I was on my way to Boba Guys when I discovered Cafe Elorea and ended up trying their matcha special. The Heaven Matcha is based on Elorea’s Elements fragrance collection, that is “inspired by each trigram on the South Korean national flag, which collectively represents the four elements of the world.”

   Elorea ended up delivering the fragrance-inspired drink experience that Gregory’s (#14) and Matchaful (#15) attempted to achieve. This drink wasn’t fragrant in the slightest, but it did have something I’ve never seen in a matcha: pink salt. Weird? Yes. But did it totally work? Also, yes. The pink salt cut through the sweetness like a tiny, savory plot twist.

5. Amano: Honey Hibiscus Matcha

   

   This matcha had a delicate balance of honey and hibiscus with honey taking a slight upper hand. The honey softened the green tea’s natural bitterness creating a subtle yet well-balanced sip that was equal parts soothing and rejuvenating.

6. Sweetbee Coffee: Garden Party (Strawberry Matcha Lemonade)

   

   One of my friends, shoutout Matt Fisher, posted Sweetbee’s spring specials on his story and requested that someone go by and try them, so naturally, I had to add it to my matcha quest. And what a sweet surprise it was! This drink brought together two of my favorites—matcha and lemonade—in a subtle, balanced way where neither outshone the other.

   While it had a slight strawberry flavoring, it wasn’t overpowering, and since the lemonade wasn’t too tart, it was still very refreshing without making your throat dry like lemonade can sometimes do. The slices of strawberry on top were an added bonus.

7. Kijitora East: Iced Mango Matcha Latte

   

   This was the milky version of the matcha peach fizz, so of course it was delicious!

8. Fujiissa: Passionfruit Matcha

   

   This Fujiissa drink was similar to the Ten Thousand matcha Ade and Kijitora’s matcha peach fizz in its fizziness, except this one had pieces of passionfruit and seeds in it that detracted from the drink since they kept getting stuck in the straw.

   There was also a tuna carving ceremony—which I had not previously heard of— taking place, which was really overstimulating for my olfactory senses, which might’ve inadvertently lowered the drinks score.

9. Passionfruit: Strawberry Pandan Iced Matcha Latte

   

   Although Passionfruit is home to my go-to matcha, their strawberry special was nothing spectacular. In fact, if it wasn’t for the strawberry powder on the top, it would taste like my usual order, which I obviously adore, but I wish it leaned more into the strawberry flavor.

10. Boba Guys: Mango Matcha Latte

    

    As a boba aficionado, I had to see if boba and matcha go together, and spoiler, they do. Along with the tapioca pearls, there are also mango pieces, but not as stringy or distracting as the passionfruit pieces in the

    Fujiissa passionfruit matcha.

    The only negative about this drink is that, although the drink is iced, since the boba is warmed up, the drink itself gets warm pretty quickly. This makes me think that this would actually be more refreshing without the boba.

11. Bótani Cafè: Baby Blue Matcha

    

    Apart of Bótani Café’s six spring specials, the Baby Blue matcha has coconut pureé, spirulina, oat milk, and of course their house matcha. My thought process behind choosing this one and not the Live, Laugh, Love special that is much more up my alley is that I wanted to venture out and try something new. I wish I hadn’t.

    I really tried to come around to this one, and while fruits and matcha usually pair well together, I don’t think that coconut is one of them. You know how there is an obvious taste difference between cherry versus cherry flavoring? Likewise, there’s an obvious difference between coconut versus the coconut used here.

12. Rhythm Zero: Blueberry Matcha

    

    I’d seen people raving about Rhythm Zero on TikTok, so when I stumbled upon their Greenpoint location, I knew I had to see what the hype was about. This place was super cool and the staff was super friendly, but vibes aside, like coconut, I don’t think that blueberry and matcha go well together.

    The matcha was also very strong and earthy, and I had been hoping for something a bit sweeter. All of the syrup was at the bottom of the cup, resulting in the drink tasting like a regular matcha instead of a blueberry one, even after thorough stirring.

    If you want to see my video reaction to trying this, check out my TikTok (skip to 02:36 for the reaction)!

13. Dell’ Aria: Orange Blossom Pistachio Matcha

    

    I tried to step out of my usual matcha comfort zone with this one as well, and it was not great. Texture-wise, pistachio pieces were floating around were getting stuck on my tongue, which was unenjoyable. Although other citrus fruits complement matcha nicely, orange blossom simply didn’t work. I believe the key difference was that when paired with other citrus fruits, a carbonated base was used rather than a milky one, which made all the difference.

    Despite being at the bottom of the pyramid, I have to give them credit for the creativity, though!

14. Gregory’s Coffee: Cherry Blossom Matcha

    

    Gregory’s I’m trying to work with you, but you are making this very difficult. I already wasn’t a fan of some of their other specials, but I decided to give them another try.

    From Starbucks with their cherry cold foam to Dunkin’s arctic cherry energy drink, I saw that the cherry flavor was making its way through the coffee community, but it just wasn’t for me. The cherry blossom comes off fragrant like the Bath and Body Works perfume rather than a fruity cherry taste. In their defense, they did run out of the vegan cold foam, and who knows, maybe that would’ve been a game changer.

15. Matchaful: Lavender Dream Matcha by OSEA

In collaboration with skincare brand OSEA, the two partnered to create a drink that “blends sweet, subtle floral notes of lavender with spirulina (blue-green algae) powder and, of course, Matchaful’s Kiwami Super Ceremonial matcha.”

I had heard rumblings via word of mouth and social media that Matchaful wasn’t good, but I had to check it out for myself. While aesthetically pleasing looks wise, unfortunately, when it comes to this drink, the rumors were true. This was awful. My full grimace was accompanied by a physical recoil after mere sips of this drink. “Subtle floral notes,” ya, right. This tasted like they poured the serum into the matcha straight from the bottle. As you can see from the picture, the cold foam was about half of the drink, and even once that melted away, the matcha was subpar at best.

And to top it off, it was $11.43! I know the economy is in a rough place right now, but come on!