HEYTEA Matcha Cloud

HEYTEA Matcha Cloud is $2.88 as a topping and adds 105 calories. Fine matcha whisked into a cheese cloud, which makes it the only cap on the board that brings a flavour of its own rather than only richness.

The base is the same salted cream and cream cheese used in the original cloud, with matcha powder worked through before whipping. That order matters. Matcha stirred into finished cream streaks and clumps, so it has to go in while the mixture is still loose.

Matcha brings bitterness, which is the point. A plain cheese cloud contributes salt and fat against the sweetness underneath. This one adds a third element, and the grassy edge of good matcha does more to cut a sweet drink than salt alone.

It costs $2.88, the same as the original cloud and roughly triple the price of the jellies. Matcha of drinkable grade is expensive and the powder in a cap is not a small amount, which is where the money goes.

Nutrition sits close to the original at 8g of fat, 3g of protein and 4g of sugar for 105 calories. Matcha itself contributes almost nothing to any of those figures, so the numbers are a cream story rather than a matcha one.

Caffeine is worth flagging. Matcha is the whole leaf ground and consumed rather than steeped and thrown away, so even a cap adds a real amount. Put it on an already caffeinated tea and the total goes higher than most people expect.

The pairing takes some thought. On a plain milk tea it works immediately. On a fruit tea it fights, because grassy bitterness and sharp fruit both want to be the loudest thing in the cup. On another matcha drink it doubles down, which some people want.

Sweetness is worth watching when this cap goes on. The cloud is sweetened slightly more than the plain version to balance the matcha, so a full sugar drink underneath ends up sweeter than the same drink with a plain cap on it.

Drink it fresh. Matcha in cream separates faster than plain cream does, and a cap left ten minutes shows green streaking through the white.

For matcha as a whole drink, the Cloud Matcha Latte is $10.49. For a cheaper matcha texture, Matcha Jelly is $0.98.