Reviewed by: Takahiro Sugiyama (CEO, meguri Inc.)
If your café already sells a matcha latte, a matcha float is an easy way to add a drink that is close to a dessert. It is a standard menu item at matcha cafés in Japan and is also sold at cafés in Singapore and Indonesia. We compared official recipes from a foodservice ice cream maker, a flavour maker and tea companies, and checked why the ice cream sinks, melts quickly or makes the soda foam over, using an ice cream textbook and a patent. We also cover the matcha milkshake, hygiene and labelling, and cost per drink.
What is a matcha float?
A matcha float is a cold matcha latte or matcha soda topped with ice cream or soft serve. Cambridge Dictionary defines a float as “a drink with ice cream on the top.” Because it serves a drink and ice cream in one glass, it appears on café menus in Japan, Singapore and Indonesia.
Latte floats and soda floats
There are two types, depending on the drink underneath: a latte float, made on a matcha latte, and a soda float, made with matcha and sparkling water or lemon soda. How to make the soda base is covered in Matcha Lemonade, Tonic and Soda. Affogato, where strong matcha is poured over ice cream, is covered in Matcha Ice Cream and Matcha Soft Serve.
Menus in Japan
In a July 2026 announcement, Nanaha, which runs nana’s green tea, described its matcha shiratama float latte as a long-popular item that tops “matcha latte,” its most popular drink, with soft serve and shiratama. Its official menu lists two sizes at 850 yen and 950 yen. It also sells a matcha green tea soft serve soda, which is matcha soda topped with soft serve.
In June 2024, Kyoto tea house Ippodo Tea sold a matcha lemon soda float for 1,300 yen at a limited-time café in Omotesando, Tokyo. In summer 2023, Fukujuen sold a matcha float for 770 yen at its Kyoto Station shop only: a matcha latte topped with Uji matcha soft serve.
Menus in Singapore and Indonesia
In Singapore, food site Eatbook reported in 2023 that Tsujiri’s ice blended drinks and floats include Uji matcha and start from S$6.50. Matsu Matcha’s “Double Matcha” is an iced Uji matcha latte topped with a scoop of tencha matcha gelato, for S$12.50 (Eatbook, April 2026).
In Indonesia, the lifestyle sites Orami and Popmama reported in 2025 that Matcha Bae in Jakarta serves a Matcha Float. Coffee chain Tomoro Coffee listed a Frosty Matcha Latte in its “Frosty” series topped with ice cream, at Rp28,000 for a large (state news agency Antara, March 2024).
Official recipes compared
In the official recipes, each drink uses one or two scoops of ice cream. The matcha goes in as the café’s matcha latte, as matcha syrup, or as a sweetened foodservice matcha milk powder.
Three official recipes and two café menus
These are recipes published on the websites of a foodservice ice cream maker and a flavour maker, plus cafés’ own descriptions and menu reports.
| Source | Type | Matcha | Liquid | Ice cream | Order |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lotte (foodservice) matcha milk float | Latte | Matcha milk powder 14g | Water 120cc | Matcha gelato, one No.18 disher | Ice → matcha milk → gelato → kuromitsu (brown sugar syrup) 5g |
| Lotte (foodservice) coffee jelly and kuromitsu kinako matcha float | Latte | Matcha milk 75ml, matcha sauce 2g | Included in matcha milk | Kuromitsu kinako ice cream, one No.18 disher | Coffee jelly 50g → ice → matcha milk → soy whipped cream 14g → ice cream |
| Nielsen-Massey (US vanilla and flavour maker) | Soda | Matcha mint syrup 2 to 3 tbsp (made with sugar 99g, water 135ml, matcha 1 tsp) | Sparkling water 177ml | Vanilla ice cream, 2 scoops | Ice cream in the bottom of a pint glass → sparkling water mixed with syrup |
| nana’s green tea (café menu) | Latte | Matcha latte | Matcha latte | Soft serve, shiratama | Not published |
| Matsu Matcha (café menu) | Latte | Iced Uji matcha latte | Matcha latte | One scoop of tencha matcha gelato | Not published |
“No.” in Lotte’s recipes is the disher size (a disher is the scoop used to portion ice cream). The higher the number, the smaller each scoop.
Source: Lotte, foodservice products, “抹茶ミルクフロート” (Matcha milk float, in Japanese) https://www.lotte.co.jp/products/catalogue/ice/business_top/recipe/recipe_16_009.html
What the table shows
For a latte float, the drink underneath can be the café’s own matcha latte. Lotte’s foodservice recipe only dissolves a sweetened matcha milk powder in water, so there is little work per order. The soda float uses matcha cooked with sugar into a syrup, then mixed with sparkling water. How to make and store matcha syrup is covered in How to Make Matcha Syrup.
We did not find an official float recipe that gives the matcha powder in grams. Make the base with the same grams of matcha as your matcha latte, and fix the size of one scoop of ice cream by weight.
How to set your café’s standard (our view)
The following is our view. For a latte float, keep your iced matcha latte recipe as it is and reduce the liquid by the amount the ice cream takes up. The ice cream adds sweetness, so make the latte less sweet than usual and test two or three levels of sweetness. Iced matcha latte recipes are compared in How to Make an Iced Matcha Latte.
How to make a matcha float
Put ice, the drink and then the ice cream into the glass, adding the ice cream last and serving at once. For a soda float, add the ice cream after the foam has settled.
Latte float steps
- Whisk the matcha with a little hot water into a smooth paste
- Fill a glass with ice and pour in the milk and the whisked matcha
- Place the ice cream or soft serve on top of the ice
- Add toppings such as shiratama or kuromitsu and serve at once
How to dissolve matcha is covered in How to Make a Hot Matcha Latte. Lotte’s foodservice recipe also fills the glass with ice, pours in the matcha milk and places the gelato on top. The ice acts as a base for the ice cream, so it is less likely to drop into the drink.
Soda float steps
Nielsen-Massey puts two scoops of ice cream in the bottom of a pint glass and pours sparkling water mixed with matcha syrup over it. This order creates a lot of foam, so in a café use the method in the next section to keep the foam down. Why matcha loses its green colour with acids such as lemon is explained in Matcha Lemonade, Tonic and Soda.
Glass and presentation
The official recipes use a tall glass or a pint glass (about 470ml in the US). Choose a glass with room left at the rim after the ice cream goes in. For takeaway, a domed lid high enough that the ice cream does not touch it works well (our suggestion).
If you add shiratama, how to make it and how to serve it safely so it does not cause choking are covered in Matcha Mochi, Daifuku and Warabi Mochi.
Why the ice cream sinks, melts or foams over
Ice cream floats because the air in it makes it light, and sinks when it melts and the air escapes. Foam on a soda float rises sharply when a carbonated drink is poured onto ice cream. Once you know why, you can control both through how you serve.
Why ice cream floats, and why it sinks
According to an ice cream textbook from the University of Guelph in Canada, ice cream holds air, up to about half of its volume. Ice cream mix before freezing weighs 1.09 to 1.1kg per litre, and ice cream at 90% overrun (the percentage increase in volume over the mix used) weighs about 574g per litre.
Water weighs about 1kg per litre, so ice cream full of air is lighter than a latte or soda and floats. When it melts and the air escapes, it returns to a mix weighing more than 1kg per litre, so it sinks and mixes into the drink (our calculation). By the same calculation, dense ice cream or gelato with less air is closer in weight to the drink. With any ice cream, resting it on the ice makes it less likely to sink.
Melting speed depends on temperature and heat transfer
The same textbook says that when ice cream melts, two things happen: the ice melts, and the fat-stabilized foam structure collapses. How fast the ice melts depends on the outside temperature and the rate of heat transfer, fast on a hot day and faster on a hot, windy day. How fast it loses its shape depends on how far the fat droplets have joined together, which is controlled mostly by the amount of emulsifier.
Source: H. Douglas Goff, “Ice Cream Technology e-Book” (University of Guelph), Ice Cream Meltdown https://books.lib.uoguelph.ca/icecreamtechnologyebook/chapter/ice-cream-meltdown/
According to the same textbook, soft serve leaves the machine with about half of its water frozen. It is softer than hard ice cream, which is packed and frozen further. Melting changes with the air conditioning inside or the heat outside, so hand the drink over as soon as the ice cream is on.
Why soda foams over
A US patent (US7685936B2, granted 2010) explains that carbonated drinks such as root beer foam heavily when poured into a glass holding ice cream, and the foam can overflow the glass. The same patent says that adding ice cream to a drink that has been chilled over ice and has settled greatly reduces the foam, and that drink added after the ice cream also foams less.
For a soda float, pour ice and matcha soda to 70 to 80% of the glass, add the ice cream once the foam has gone, then gently pour the rest along the rim (our suggestion).
How to make a matcha milkshake
A matcha milkshake is vanilla ice cream, milk and matcha blended until smooth. Cambridge Dictionary defines a milkshake as a drink made of milk and ice cream and a flavour such as fruit or chocolate, mixed together until smooth. It has a larger share of ice cream than a frappé, which is made by blending ice.
Official recipes compared
| Source | Matcha | Milk | Ice cream | Servings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Smith Tea (US tea company) | 1 tbsp (1 tsp for one serving) | Whole milk 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp | Vanilla, 4 scoops (2 scoops for one serving) | 2 |
| Jade Leaf (US matcha company) | Culinary matcha 1 tbsp (sifted) | 1/4 cup | Vanilla, 4 scoops (about 1.5 cups) | 1 |
| DAVIDsTEA (Canadian tea company) | Flavoured matcha 3 tsp | 1/2 cup | Vanilla, 1 cup | Not stated |
Milk is about 1/6 (Jade Leaf) to 1/2 (DAVIDsTEA) of the volume of ice cream (our calculation, taking 1 cup as 240ml). The amount of milk changes the thickness a lot, so set a thickness your straws can handle by testing.
Method and avoiding clumps
Smith Tea puts the ice cream in the blender, pours the milk over it, sifts the matcha on top and blends. Because matcha clumps easily when it touches moisture, it says you can whisk it with a little water first. Jade Leaf blends for about 30 seconds. The order of ingredients in the blender and how long to blend, as described by a blender maker, are compared in How to Make a Matcha Frappé.
Which matcha, and variations
Jade Leaf says culinary matcha, made from second harvest leaves, has a slightly stronger bitterness that goes well with sweet ice cream. Smith Tea says you can make it without dairy by using a non-dairy ice cream and milk. If you add fruit or banana, see Matcha Smoothie.
Prep, hygiene and labelling
Keep ice cream scoops in a hygienic place between uses, and clean soft serve machines according to the rules for each model. In Singapore, ice cream added to a drink also needs a sugar declaration.
Where to keep the scoop
The US FDA Food Code (2022) sets where utensils are kept between uses. Utensils used with moist food such as ice cream are kept in running water fast enough to flush particles to the drain, or in a container of water kept at 57°C or higher. That container is cleaned at the set frequency.
Soft serve machines and making matcha ahead
Cleaning soft serve machines, mix temperature, and what to check when adding matcha to pasteurised mix are covered in Matcha Ice Cream and Matcha Soft Serve. How long the base drink can be made ahead is covered under “Can you make it ahead?” in How to Make an Iced Matcha Latte.
Sugar labelling in Singapore
Singapore’s Ministry of Health (MOH) extended the “Nutri-Grade” labelling of sugar and other content to freshly prepared beverages from 30 December 2023, and says toppings that can be added to them, such as pearls, jellies, ice cream and whipped cream, must be labelled with their sugar content. Businesses with revenue of no more than S$1 million selling at fewer than 10 premises have a concession for now. Work out the sugar in the float’s ice cream as a topping as well. The scheme is covered in more detail in Strawberry Matcha Latte.
Which grade, and cost per drink
The sweetness of the ice cream and the milk soften the matcha in floats and milkshakes, so latte grades work. For cost per drink, work out the matcha and the ice cream separately by weight and add them together.
Which grade
For a latte float, using the same matcha as your matcha latte means you do not need to buy anything extra. The matcha needs enough bitterness and colour to stand up to the sweet ice cream, so compare candidate grades with the ice cream on top. Grades are explained in Matcha Grades, and choosing matcha for lattes in How to Choose Matcha for Café Lattes.
Working out the cost
The matcha cost per drink is the price per kg ÷ 1,000 × the grams used per drink. For the ice cream, weigh one disher scoop several times to get an average, then multiply the price per gram by that weight. If you top the drink with matcha ice cream or gelato, the matcha in it is part of the ice cream cost.
Add the milk, soda, syrup, toppings such as shiratama, and the cup, lid and wide straw to get the ingredient cost per drink. How matcha prices are set is covered in Why Is Matcha So Expensive?.
What to check when buying and adding it to the menu
You can start a float with your matcha latte ingredients plus ice cream and a suitable glass. Decide on the ice cream, the matcha colour and the time to serve before putting it on the menu.
Choosing the ice cream
Vanilla or matcha, a high-fat ice cream or soft serve: each floats and melts differently. Rules on what counts as ice cream differ by country, and how Japan, Thailand, the US and Singapore classify it is covered in Matcha Ice Cream and Matcha Soft Serve. If you use plant-based ice cream, check the ingredient list for milk.
Adding it to the menu (our suggestions)
- Test two or three combinations of matcha latte or matcha soda with different ice creams
- Compare how far the ice cream has sunk and the foam at the rim 2 minutes and 5 minutes after topping
- Fix the weight of one scoop and the amount of toppings, then work out the sugar and cost
- Add “stir as you drink” and “enjoy the ice cream soon” to the menu
Omakase Matcha works with matcha from the Uji, Yame, Shizuoka, Kagoshima and Miyazaki regions. Orders start from 1kg, you can choose up to 3 samples, and we can help adjust the blend to suit your menu. You can request samples for testing on the samples page.
Sources
- Nanaha Co., Ltd., “【nana’s green tea】人気メニューを高密度刺繍で表現したブランド初の刺繍シールワッペンを7月10日より発売” (nana’s green tea embroidered patches of popular menu items, PR TIMES, 9 July 2026, in Japanese) https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000154.000042376.html
- nana’s green tea, drink menu (in Japanese) https://www.nanasgreentea.com/collections/drink-menu
- Ippodo Tea, “【店舗】ひやかしIPPODO TEA・新メニュー『抹茶檸檬ソーダフロート』登場！” (New matcha lemon soda float at Hiyakashi IPPODO TEA, 21 June 2024, in Japanese) https://www.ippodo-tea.co.jp/blogs/news/hiyakashi0622
- Fukujuen, “【期間限定】新感覚かき氷＆口どけなめらかな抹茶・和紅茶フロートが今年も登場！” (Limited-time shaved ice and matcha and Japanese black tea floats, in Japanese) https://experience.fukujuen.com/blog/%E3%80%90%E6%9C%9F%E9%96%93%E9%99%90%E5%AE%9A%E3%80%91%E8%89%B2%E3%80%85%E3%81%AA%E9%A3%9F%E6%84%9F%E3%81%8C%E6%A5%BD%E3%81%97%E3%81%84%E6%96%B0%E6%84%9F%E8%A6%9A%E3%81%8B%E3%81%8D%E6%B0%B7%EF%BC%86/
- Eatbook, Tsujiri 1-for-1 (29 September 2023) https://eatbook.sg/?p=145675
- Eatbook, “Matsu Matcha” (15 April 2026) https://eatbook.sg/matsu-matcha/
- Orami, “Matcha Cafe di Jakarta” (9 June 2025, in Indonesian) https://www.orami.co.id/magazine/matcha-cafe-di-jakarta
- Popmama, “Rekomendasi Matcha Cafe di Jakarta” (26 June 2025, in Indonesian) https://www.popmama.com/life/health/rekomendasi-matcha-cafe-di-jakarta-00-wjk9l-7p8dcs/amp
- Antara, “Menu Tomoro Coffee yang perlu dicoba” (8 March 2024, in Indonesian) https://m.antaranews.com/amp/berita/4000767/menu-tomoro-coffee-yang-perlu-dicoba-dengan-promo-bri
- Lotte, foodservice products, “抹茶ミルクフロート” (Matcha milk float, in Japanese) https://www.lotte.co.jp/products/catalogue/ice/business_top/recipe/recipe_16_009.html
- Lotte, foodservice products, “コーヒーゼリー＆黒みつきなこ抹茶フロート” (Coffee jelly and kuromitsu kinako matcha float, in Japanese) https://www.lotte.co.jp/products/catalogue/ice/business_top/recipe/recipe_60_007.html
- Nielsen-Massey, “Matcha Mint Shamrock Float” https://nielsenmassey.com/recipes/matcha-mint-shamrock-float/
- Smith Tea, “Matcha Milkshake Recipe” https://www.smithtea.com/blogs/recipes/matcha-milkshake-recipe-1
- Jade Leaf Matcha, “Extreme Matcha Milkshake” https://www.jadeleafmatcha.com/blogs/matcha-recipes/extreme-matcha-milkshake
- DAVIDsTEA, “Make a Matcha Milkshake” https://blog.davidstea.com/en/make-a-matcha-milkshake/
- Cambridge Dictionary, “float” https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/float
- Cambridge Dictionary, “milkshake” https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/milkshake
- H. Douglas Goff, “Ice Cream Technology e-Book” (University of Guelph), Freezing/Whipping of Ice Cream https://books.lib.uoguelph.ca/icecreamtechnologyebook/chapter/freezing-whipping-of-ice-cream/
- Same, Overrun calculations https://books.lib.uoguelph.ca/icecreamtechnologyebook/chapter/overrun-calculations
- Same, Ice Cream Meltdown https://books.lib.uoguelph.ca/icecreamtechnologyebook/chapter/ice-cream-meltdown/
- US Patent US7685936B2, “Root beer float strainer and method of reducing foam” https://patents.google.com/patent/US7685936B2/en
- US Food and Drug Administration, “FDA Food Code 2022” https://www.fda.gov/media/164194/download
- Ministry of Health Singapore (MOH), “Implementation of Nutri-Grade requirements for freshly prepared beverages from 30 December 2023” https://www.moh.gov.sg/newsroom/implementation-of-nutri-grade-requirements-for-freshly-prepared-beverages-from-30-december-2023/
- Health Promotion Board Singapore (HPB), “Measures for Nutri-Grade” https://hpb.gov.sg/healthy-living/food-beverage/nutri-grade
