Want to make green tea ice cream, not from real matcha

[TSomm]

So in looking up recipes to make green tea ice cream, they pretty much all use a matcha green tea, not plain old green tea.  Matcha is a powdered form of green tea.  So my question is, can't I just grind up my loose green tea to a fine powder and use that?  I realize real matcha probably has special benefits, but I'd rather just use what I already have. 

[CoBabyMaker]

I would grind it up and add it to hot cream (coconut milk, cashew cream, cow-whatever you use) and let is sit for a few minutes.  Then I would pour it through a fine mesh strainer to get out any bits that might be too big.  You will obviously need to chill the liquid completely before freezing.

[mumkimum]

I would brew the tea, then sweeten it and use that as your flavor and sweetner (so you're making a green tea-simple syrup).  Then combine with water (for a sorbet) or some milk base and make in your ice cream maker.  It might be helpful to look around at coffee ice cream recipes - I know I've made an espresso flavored granita before and I'm kinda thinking about how that worked.

Matcha is probably going to end up with a stronger flavor and less bitterness.  Using the brewed tea it might be nice to add a touch of orange, lemon, or vanilla to compensate and make sure you're not brewing the tea too hot (to decrease bitterness). 

[ollyoxenfree]

Originally Posted by mumkimum 

I would brew the tea, then sweeten it and use that as your flavor and sweetner (so you're making a green tea-simple syrup).  Then combine with water (for a sorbet) or some milk base and make in your ice cream maker.  It might be helpful to look around at coffee ice cream recipes - I know I've made an espresso flavored granita before and I'm kinda thinking about how that worked.

Matcha is probably going to end up with a stronger flavor and less bitterness.  Using the brewed tea it might be nice to add a touch of orange, lemon, or vanilla to compensate and make sure you're not brewing the tea too hot (to decrease bitterness). 

I also think it might work best if you steep the tea in the heated cream. I'm not sure that grinding the tea will work. Matcha kind of dissolves in liquids and I'm not sure that even finely ground tea leaves will act the same way. It's a pure guess on my part, though, since I haven't tried it. 

I hope you report back to let us know how it worked out, whatever way you try. 

[TSomm]

Thanks so much for the responses!  Not sure yet which technique I will try, but I look forward to the experiment.  In-laws coming tomorrow, and they're NOT food adventurous, so it will be a bit before I get around to it.

[lilyka]

I would just steep the tea in the milk.  And I would use a lot of tea leaves.