I Love Green Tea.

Among all the varieties of tea in the whole wide world, my favorite is green tea. Usually, I like it simple—just a cup of plain warm green tea—but sometimes I feel like having green tea a little fancy. Today, I want to share with you three fancy green tea recipes. Two of them are refreshing modern drink versions, while one is a traditional Japanese dish that is simple, savory, and delicious. What I love about these recipes is that they can be loved by both green tea lovers and non-green tea lovers alike!

Welcome to the world of green tea!

Introduction to Green Tea Recipes

Green tea recipes are made with green tea leaves brewed in water, either hot or cold. Green tea is surprisingly a versatile ingredient that can transform recipes to be not only delicious but also healthy. It is truly special! As so many people are not familiar with recipes that you can try with green teas, other than… well, a pure green tea, I will introduce them here.

• A Zesty Green Tea Lemonade: Perfect for hot summer days, so refreshing, and a unique twist on lemonade.
• A Comforting Japanese Ochazuke: A traditional Japanese savory dish, where warm green tea is poured over rice, and some toppings are sprinkled.
• A Cisrussy Modern Korean Yuzu-Green Tea: This is a modern tweak of the Korean yuzu drink, mixed with green tea.

I hope you are as excited about it as I am! These recipes are not only delicious but also very healthy for our bodies. Let’s briefly look at the health benefits of green tea.

The Antioxidant Cocktail

I don’t like having lemon juice with pure green tea in most cases, but it’s a different story when it comes to the green tea lemonade. The antioxidants in green tea, combined with vitamin C from the lemon juice, enhance each other’s antioxidant effects!

Health Benefits of Green Tea

Rich in antioxidants like catechins, including EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate), flavonoids, carotenoids, and vitamin E, green tea has a list of health benefits.

• Lower cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar, and body fat
• Protect cognitive abilities (good for our brains!)
• Anti-inflammatory
• Reduce allergic symptoms
• May help with mood
• Promotes skin health (both by drinking and applying!)

To learn more about the health benefits of green tea, you can read more about it in the green tea section of the Nutrition Facts Organization. and my blog post about why you should eat greens.

The Best Green Teas

Best Green Tea to Buy in 2025 | Picks for Health, Flavor & Value

Learn More

Here are the best green teas to buy in 2025—my picks for sencha, jasmine, and more. Learn the flavors, health benefits, and values I learned throughout my life.

 Are you interested in tea for weight loss?

I have a blog post dedicated to the best teas for weight loss, proven scientifically. I have included drinking one of the teas in my daily routine. Learn the teas and how I like to drink them in my article: 7 Best Teas for Weight Loss | How I Drink in My Everyday Life

3 Best Green Tea Recipes | Lemonade, Ochazuke & Korean Yuzu Drink

Here are my top 3 favorite green tea recipes for you!

1. Green Tea Lemonade

Green tea lemonade is the tastiest thirst-quencher in the summer! I LOVE it on a hot summer day. It’s a refreshing way to enjoy the health benefits of green tea with a citrusy classic lemonade touch. This is a drink that I got inspired by at Osulloc Tea House in Seoul, South Korea. They had a matcha lemonade on the menu, which I ordered and loved so much!

Flavors 🍵 🍋

The earthy and pleasantly grassy notes of green tea with bright and zesty lemon.

Ingredients

• Loose green tea leaves (or Green tea bags)
• Water
• Sparkling water
• Lemon juice (about a lemon)
• Sugar
• Mint leaves (optional)
• Ice cubes

Kreamy Vegan

Green Tea Lemonade

Make a homemade green tea lemonade with the perfect balance of earthy, tangy, and sweet.

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Course: Drinks

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

• 3 tbsp Loose green tea leaves or 3 Green tea bags
• 1 cup Water
• 2 cups Sparkling water
• 1/3 cup Lemon juice About one medium-sized lemon
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• Ice cubes
• 3 sprigs Mint Optional, for garnish

Method

 

1. Steep the green tea leaves or the bags in 1 cup of hot water for 2-3 minutes. Add sugar to the hot tea and stir well until dissolved.
2. Pour the green tea mixture into a large glass bottle. Let it cool in the fridge.
3. Once the green tea mixture is completely chilled, take it out. Squeeze some juice out of the lemon. Pour the lemon juice into the bottle. Add sparkling water. The green tea lemonade is done!
4. Fill glasses with ice cubes and pour the green tea lemonade over. Garnish it with lemon slices and mint leaves if desired.

Made Green Tea Lemonade?

Green tea lemonade is amazing, but perhaps you are looking for something hot and comforting. I got you! Let me introduce you to Ochazuke.

2. Ochazuke | Traditional Japanese 

Ochazuke is a traditional Japanese dish where hot green tea is poured over rice. It is then topped with savory ingredients like furikake (salty and dry condiment sprinkles) or umeboshi (pickled plum). I like to make this when I am busy and don’t want to cook. It is simple and comforting!

There are many different types of ochazuke, and this recipe I’m about to share with you is easy to follow with a few ingredients.

Flavors 🍵 🍚

The umami taste of soup with green tea and wakame, topped with salty furikake and fresh green onions.

Ingredients

• Green tea bag (or Matcha powder)
• Water
• Furikake
• Wakame
• Green part of spring onions, sliced (optional)

Kreamy Vegan

Simple ochazuke

Make this simple ochazuke with a few ingredients at home!

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Servings: 1 Serving

Course: Appetizer, Main Course

Cuisine: Japanese

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

• 1 Green tea bag or 1/4 tsp Matcha powder
• 1 cup Water
• 1 sheet Wakame, 5×5 cm (or 2 x 2 inches)
• 1 bowl Rice

Toppings

• 1 tbsp Furikake of your choice
• 1 tbsp Green parts of spring onions Thinly sliced, optional

Method

 

1. Take a pot and pour water into it. Bring it to a boil and add a sheet of wakame. Boil for 5 minutes. Then add a bag of green tea or matcha powder and boil for another 3 minutes. Remove the pot from the heat.
2. Prepare spring onions and thinly slice some green parts. About a tablespoon of this would work.
3. Into a bowl, add a cup of cooked rice. Pour the green tea broth into the bowl.
4. Sprinkle furikake of your choice and spring onion slices. Serve hot. Enjoy!

3. Modern Korean Yuzu-Green Tea Drink

I hope you really get to try this tea! In Korea, we like to make “yuja-cheong,” which is a bit like marmalade or syrup made from yuzu. Cheong is a type of preservation method in Korea using sugar without heat. You can read more about cheong syrup on my blog. We like to mix water with the delicious, sweet yuja cheong, either hot or cold. Then it came to me that it would be great to mix some yuja-cheong with green tea!

The result was fantastic. So I’m here to share it with you.

Flavors 🍵🍊🍹

The earthiness of green tea mixed with the bright, citrusy, and sweet flavor of yuja-cheong (Korean yuzu syrup)

Ingredients

• 1 Green tea bag (or 1/2 tbsp loose green tea leaves)
• 1 cup water
• 2 tbsp Yuzu marmalade* (can be substituted with other marmalade)
• Ice cubes

Kreamy Vegan

Modern Korean Yuzu-Green Tea Drink

A modern take on Korean green tea with yuzu cheong (Korean yuzu syrup)

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Course: Drinks

Cuisine: Korean

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

  

• 1 Green tea bag or 1/2 tbsp loose green tea leaves
• 1 cup Water
• 1/2 cup Yuzu cheong can be substituted with marmalade
• Ice cubes

Method

 

1. Take a cup of water and brew green tea with a green tea bag as instructed on the packaging. Or you can take 1/2 tablespoon of loose green tea leaves and brew them for 20 minutes.
2. Chill the green tea in the fridge for at least an hour.
3. Take a glass and add yuzu cheong or marmalade to the glass.
4. Pour the chilled green tea into the glass. Garnish it with mint leaves if desired. Enjoy!

My Tip for Using Leftover Green Tea Leaves

Once you start loving green teas like I do, you’ll begin to have many leftover green tea leaves after brewing. I like to have the used tea leaves lying on a small plate or in a bowl and place them on a desk or a table. While it dries again, it will have a fresh green tea scent! Once the leaves are completely dry, they won’t have any more scent left, and it makes it easier to throw them away.

Summary of Green Tea Recipes

I hope you liked this short post about the green tea recipes—a zesty green tea lemonade, a comforting Japanese ochazuke, and a modern Korean green tea with yuja-cheong. I wanted to create and/or share green tea recipes for all, whether you like green tea or not. For those of you who want to incorporate green tea into your daily life but are not particularly big fans of green tea. Then these unique green tea recipes might make you feel like you are not drinking it at all! Or, if you are like me, you like green tea so much that you want to find extra ways to drink it. Whichever side you are on, I hope you enjoy them, as these are healthy, easy, and delicious ways to drink more green tea.

You can check out my other matcha or green tea recipes here.

Other Matcha Recipes

Vanilla Matcha Latte Recipe | Japanese Matcha Drink Recipe

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This vanilla matcha latte recipe is a beautiful green tea matcha drink recipe! You’ll fall in love with the earthy, round, slightly bitter, and sweet flavors. 

Oat Milk Matcha Latte Recipe | Everything About Matcha

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Learn how to make a matcha latte using premium ingredients (I have recommendations!) with an original Japanese taste. Try this best matcha latte recipe with oat milk.