Where To Sip On The Best Matcha Lattes In Singapore

Matcha drinks have taken the globe by storm, including in Singapore. Even amid a global shortage, online tea store Tealife Singapore reported that it saw its sales of matcha double in 2024 as compared with 2023.

Matcha – Japanese powdered green tea – is traditionally prepared by whisking matcha powder and water together in a bowl using specialised equipment. Many cafes serve matcha lattes that add hot or cold milk to the drink. These cafes generally pour whisked matcha and milk into the same glass one at a time, creating two aesthetically pleasing layers that are meant to be stirred together before drinking.

Scroll below to see if these popular local spots for matcha latte lived up to their hype.

Matchaya Takashimaya

Matchaya’s flagship store at Takashimaya blends a traditional Japanese teahouse with a chic, contemporary aesthetic. The shop‘s interior and seating is reminiscent of a modern coffee shop, rather than a traditional teahouse one would find in Japan.

Take a seat at its signature “progressive tea bar” – a bar counter where customers can observe baristas whisk and prepare their drinks up close. Matchaya offers a selection of classic drinks such as teas and tea lattes, as well as a variety of unique options such as tea mocktails and fruit matcha drinks. It has three different sugar levels for drinks – normal, reduced and no sugar.

In terms of plant-based options, Matchaya offers oat milk for an additional $1. Besides drinks, Matchaya also has snacks and all-day brunch and mains such as Japanese sandos, pancakes and pasta.

On a weekday morning, it’s relatively empty and drinks arrived in less than five minutes.

We had Cold Matcha Milk with oat milk and reduced sugar ($8) and Matcha Passionfruit Milk ($8), and the total was $19.18 (inclusive of service charge and goods and services tax). The Cold Matcha Milk has a strong, full-bodied taste. However, it’s a little bitter for our taste and we’d advise opting for the normal sweetness level.

We were also impressed by the Matcha Passionfruit Milk, which has real passionfruit pulp. The tangy flavour of the fruit complements the bitter matcha well.

Opens Mon to Thurs and Sun (10am to 9.30pm) and Fri & Sat (10am to 10pm). Matchaya’s flagship is at 391 Orchard Road, #03-10A Takashimaya, Singapore 238872. It also has concept stores in CapitaSpring and Suntec City, and a tea bar in Changi Airport Terminal 3. Visit its website for more information.

Hvala Odeon

Hvala – pronounced “fa-lah”, meaning thank you in Croatian – in Odeon Towers is a short five-minute walk from Bugis and City Hall MRT stations. The cafe has a minimalist aesthetic, and offers Japanese-style low table (horigotatsu) seating.

The cafe’s tea menu focuses on Japanese teas rather than novelty drink options, though it has a fairly large selection of straight teas and tea lattes on its drinks menu. Those who prefer plant-based options can switch to soya bean milk at no extra charge or have oat milk for an extra $1.

Its sweet and savoury food options include Japanese tea-inspired dishes such as Matcha Kaya Toast ($10.90) and sencha-infused ochazuke (tea poured over cooked rice) with different toppings. The cafe allows customers to borrow ichi-go ichi-e (‘once-in-a-lifetime’ in Japanese) conversation cards that have topics and questions on them, which patrons can ask fellow patrons in order to spark a conversation.

Hvala is at 333 North Bridge Rd, #01-11 Odeon Towers, Singapore 188721. Opens 12pm to 9.30pm daily. Apart from this flagship location, Hvala also has outlets at 111 Somerset, Raffles Specialist Centre and Takashimaya Shopping Centre. Visit its website for more information.

Rookie & Haus Concept Store (Haus Coffee)

Anyone who’s on TikTok would likely know about Haus Coffee’s banana pudding matcha. It was on our For You page for weeks, and we decided we had to try it out. Located in Golden Mile Tower, Haus Coffee is situated within a clothing thrift store. The interior of the store gives retro vibes, which we really loved. As a testament to how popular this store is, there was a queue forming even before the doors opened.

One cup of Banana Pudding Matcha costs $9.50, which is a really good price for how big the cup is (that’s not even counting the banana pudding). The matcha latte is smooth, grassy, and slightly bitter — all the qualities of good matcha that we look for. However, the star of the show has to be the banana pudding. 

The pudding features bread dipped in a secret in-house recipe, and topped with Biscoff crumbs for that toasted caramel-cinnamon flavour. It’s just the right amount of sweetness and comes with two whole slices of banana.

The obvious dilemma here is whether to mix the matcha and the pudding together. For matcha purists, we recommend not mixing it to enjoy the banana pudding on top as a sort of side dessert to the matcha. For those who don’t mind their matcha a bit more creative, definitely go for it. It turns into a sort of smoothie with a strong taste of banana pudding. The matcha flavour may be less pronounced this way, but it is definitely still noticeable. 

Opens daily from 11am to 8pm. Located at Golden Mile Tower, #01-58, 6001 Beach Road, Singapore 199589. Visit its Instagram page for more information. 

Fatto Catto

Fatto Catto may be one of the newer matcha spots in town, but it has quickly won over the hearts of many a matcha lover on TikTok. What makes this all the more surprising is that Fatto Catto used to specialise in ice creams. 

When we visited on a weekday afternoon, all the seats were taken up. The matcha menu is extensive, and we were honestly (just a tad) overwhelmed by all the options. Each item on the matcha menu contains information about whether it’s made of one or multiple types of matcha leaves, the shading duration, where the leaves come from, and the flavour notes you can expect to taste.

We decided to keep it simple with the Fatto Catto Classic Iced ($8.50), less sugar (2.5g of sugar, whereas normal is 5g of sugar). Hand-whisked by the owner, the drink has a pretty thick layer of smooth microfoam. 

Even though we opted for less sugar, our drink wasn’t very bitter, making it a good option for those who have not tried matcha before and want to ease into the bitter flavour. The thick layer of microfoam might have helped to mellow out the flavour a little. It’s generally smooth with just a slight grainy feel. 

Open from Wednesday to Friday, and Monday, from 12pm to 10pm. Open on Saturday from 11am to 10pm. Open on Sunday from 10am to 9pm. Closed on Tuesday. Located at 15 Simon Road, Singapore 545900. Visit its Instagram page for more information.

Tsujiri @ The Central

Tsujiri’s matcha latte feels less rich than some other places. However, it still maintains matcha’s distinctive ‘grassy’ flavour and is perfect for those looking for a lighter taste, or for those who wish to introduce their friends to matcha drinks. A Cold Matcha Latte with oat milk is at $7.50 and Kinako Kuromitsu Latte is at $6.80.

The Kinako Kuromitsu Latte – a matcha latte sweetened with Japanese brown sugar syrup and dusted with kinako soya bean flour – is also light and easy to drink, although the taste of the kinako soybean flour feels like it slightly overpowers the matcha flavour.

Tsujiri has a total of six outlets across Singapore, including branches in Sengkang, Tanjong Pagar and Holland Village.

Kyo Kohee 112 Robinson

Nestled among the office buildings of Robinson Road is Kyo Kohee, which specialises in coffee, Japanese tea and matcha.

Catering mostly to the office-going crowd, Kyo Kohee has less seating than other places,but it does have a dedicated takeaway queue for those in a rush. It also has a smaller food and drinks menu compared to other cafes I visited. It offers few novelty drink options (outside of coffees, teas and tea lattes), and leans less heavily into its dessert and food options.

The cafe allows customers to switch from regular milk to premium Hokkaido milk or dairy-free alternatives like oat and soya bean milk for an additional $1. An Iced Ichigo Matcha Latte is at $10.90++ and an Iced Okumidori Matcha Latte with oat milk is at $9.90++.

Kyo Kohee’s Okumidori Matcha Latte, which uses the Okumidori variety of matcha powder known for its strong umami flavour, is a personal favourite of ours. It’s smooth, has a well-balanced taste, and has none of the powdery texture that often plagues matcha drinks.

The Ichigo Matcha Latte is also fantastic. The sweet flavour of the strawberry extract complements the earthy matcha taste perfectly without overpowering it.

Kyo Kohee is at 112 Robinson Rd, #01-01, Singapore 068902, with one other outlet in Asia Square Tower 1.

Ichigo by Tea Cottage

Ichigo by Tea Cottage is well-known as a build-your-own matcha store, but the Signature Ceremonial Uji Matcha Latte is also highly raved about online and was recommended to us by the staff. We opted for the Extra Rich Uji Matcha Latte ($9.90) for that extra matcha kick.

Compared to all the matcha lattes that we’ve tried, this is definitely one of the more umami ones. It has a robust flavour and is thick and rich. At 50% sweetness, it has subtly bitter and distinctly grassy notes.

For those who want to customise their own cuppa, here’s a rundown on what you have to decide on. First is the matcha profile. You can choose from four different Ceremonial Uji matchas or Barista Uji matcha. Toggle your matcha intensity level between light, regular, rich, strong, and intense. Select a sugar level and then choose your preferred amount of milk; whether it’s Japan style (less milk), regular (for a balanced drink), or Singapore style (more milk for a creamier and less intense matcha latte). 

Opens Mon to Thurs from 8am to 8pm. Opens Fri from 8am to 9pm. Opens Sat and Sun from 11am to 9pm. Located at Suntec City Tower One, #B1-136, 3 Temasek Boulevard, Singapore 038983. Visit its Instagram page for more information. 

Kora Bakehouse

Kora Bakehouse may seem like an unassuming cafe located in International Plaza, but it serves up a slew of different matcha drinks. While the ceremonial matcha menu features four different matchas that you can have as a latte or as an usacha, we were here for the curated matcha menu.

For $9.50, the Supernova Matcha features mango and strawberry puree with skim milk. The mango and strawberry puree offer refreshing bursts of tartness and sweetness that cut through the matcha. The occasional thick, chewy bits of puree are also delicious and provide an interesting textural experience. The matcha flavour itself isn’t very rich, but serves up the quintessential grassiness of matcha with a touch of bitterness. 

For those who do not like their matcha drinks bitter, this is a good option. Other items on the curated matcha list include the Earl Grey Matcha ($9) that is made with milk steeped overnight with Earl grey, Taro Matcha ($9) made with taro milk, Strawberry Ichigo Matcha ($9.50) that includes strawberry puree and Okinawa brown sugar, and London Fog Matcha ($12) consisting of maple, overnight steeped Earl grey milk, and espresso. 

Opens Mon to Fri from 8am to 6pm. Opens Sat from 10am to 4pm. Closed on Sun. Located at International Plaza, #01-03, 10 Anson Road, Singapore 079903. Visit its Instagram page for more information.

Top Quali Tea Kyoto

Located in Oxley Tower, Top Quali Tea is right in the heart of the CBD area — great for lunch-hour matcha runs. The drinks are all made with Uji matcha sourced directly from Kyoto, and the store also doubles as a wholesale distributor.

We were drawn to two items on the menu: the Matcha Latte with Jelly (made with 100% plant-based agar) and the Sparkling Matcha (does that not sound cool?). We got the small size for both at $7.90 and $6.90, respectively.

The Matcha Latte with Jelly is an interesting drink, namely because the taste seemed to change as we drank it. We got the 25 per cent sugar option and were surprised that it was not as bitter as some other stores’ 50 per cent sugar options. The flavour of the milk definitely shines through. We really liked that the matcha jellies add a bit of sweetness when chewed, becoming more pronounced as we sipped. Overall, a great drink for someone who prefers their matcha on the sweeter side.

The Sparkling Matcha is an acquired taste, but it got our nod of approval. The sparkling aspect hits quite hard, but the matcha flavour shines through as we let it linger in our mouths a little longer. There’s also a strong matcha aftertaste. We got 50 per cent sugar, which was a good thing — it definitely leans more bitter, probably because of the lack of milk to balance the flavour. 

Note that it’s a small store with no designated seats, so be ready to grab and go. 

Open from Monday to Friday from 8:30am to 5pm. Open on Saturday from 12pm to 5pm. Closed on Sunday. Located at Oxley Tower, #02-36, 38 Robinson Road, Singapore 068906. Visit its Instagram page for more information.

Muro Coffee

Last (but not least) on this list is Muro Coffee’s Pistachio’s Matcha-misu ($8.50). Our thought process going into this was simple: matcha oftentimes has a nutty flavour, so surely pistachio would complement matcha well. We are happy to report that we were right.

Instead of the matcha and the pistachio being separate entities, when mixed together, the taste of the pistachio really works to enhance the matcha’s bitter and already nutty flavour profile. The pistachio adds another layer of earthy nuttiness.

The drink is a thicker concoction than others on this list, but still goes down really easily. And even though it’s sprinkled with unwhisked matcha powder on top, the drink is smooth and not grainy at all. The ladyfinger coated in sugar was a nice, mini sugary dessert to go along with the drink. 

Note: Muro Coffee has two outlets but the Pistachio’s Matcha-misu is only available at the Chinatown outlet.

Opens Mon to Fri from 8am to 6pm. Opens Sat and Sun from 10am to 6pm. Located at 214A South Bridge Road, Singapore 058763. Visit its Instagram page for more information.

A version of this article was originally published on The Straits Times, and appeared here on Feb, 24, 2025. Additional text: Terri Kue