Matcha Jelly for Cafés: Drink Cubes and Cup Jellies, Gelatin vs Kanten vs Agā vs Kudzu, and Matcha Amounts in Official Recipes

Matcha jelly can be a topping for lattes and milk teas, a dessert set in a cup, or a layer in parfaits and kakigori (Japanese shaved ice). How it melts, how clear it looks and how long it keeps all change with what you set it with: gelatin, kanten (agar), agā or kudzu. We checked material from gelatin and kanten makers, official recipes from a tea company and a baking supply shop, university research, and the US model food code for restaurants, and summarised how to decide for a café.

Two ways to use matcha jelly

In cafés, matcha jelly is either cut or broken into cubes for drinks, or set in the serving cup as a dessert. Cubes need to be firm enough to keep their shape in the drink, and cup jellies are expected to be soft enough to eat easily with a spoon.

Cubes for drinks

Jelly set in a tray or mould is cut into cubes, or set in the glass and then broken up, and milk or a latte is poured on top. In Ina Food Industry’s iced hojicha latte, kanten jelly is set in the glass, roughly broken up with a spoon, and then ice and hojicha latte are poured in. The same format works for matcha lattes, matcha milk tea, kakigori and parfaits.

Dessert jelly set in the cup

The jelly mixture is poured straight into glasses or cups and set, then topped with anko (sweet red bean paste), shiratama (small rice flour dumplings) or cream. The recipe from Kataoka (a company that sells products of Tsujiri, a Kyoto tea brand) sets the jelly in cups and tops it with anko, cream or vanilla ice cream. Another way, as in the rich matcha jelly from Tomizawa Shoten (a baking supply shop), is to set it in a tray, cut it and plate it with shiratama and chunky anko.

Both can come from the same mixture

Cubes and cup jellies can be made from the same matcha mixture by changing the amount of setting agent. Making cup jellies softer and cubes firmer lets one matcha cover more of the menu (our view).

How gelatin, kanten, agā and kudzu differ

Gelatin sets at fridge temperature and melts at 20 to 30°C, kanten and agā set at room temperature and keep their shape even in summer, and kudzu sets when heated and stirred and loses its clarity when chilled. For café matcha jelly, the choice comes down to the temperature it will sit at and how it should look.

Nitta Gelatin’s comparison table

Nitta Gelatin, a gelatin manufacturer, compares gelatin, kanten, carrageenan (an ingredient used in agā) and pectin in one table. The rows relevant here:

Source: Nitta Gelatin, “09. 他のゲル化剤との比較” (Comparison with other gelling agents, in Japanese) https://www.nitta-gelatin.co.jp/ja/labo/gelatin/09.html

What matters for choosing in a shop: gelatin needs cooling to 20°C or below to set, while kanten and carrageenan set at room temperature. The melting temperature is 20 to 30°C for gelatin, 85°C or above for kanten, and for carrageenan 5 to 10°C above the temperature where it starts to set. The temperature difference between gelatin and kanten, and how to choose between them for puddings, is covered in How to make matcha pudding.

What agā is made of

“Agā” (アガー) is the name used in Japan for products that combine carrageenan and other ingredients. It sounds like agar but is different from kanten (agar). Pearl Agar 8, sold by Tomizawa Shoten, is made of locust bean gum (a thickener taken from the seeds of a tree in the bean family) 8%, carrageenan 7%, potassium dihydrogen phosphate 2% and food material 83%. The same shop describes its Pururun Agar as giving a “wobbly texture somewhere between kanten and gelatin” and setting colourless and clear. Ina Food Industry’s Ina Agar L is a jelly powder that contains kanten; its ingredients are glucose, kanten and a gelling agent (thickening polysaccharides). Contents differ by product, so check the ingredients and directions on the bag before deciding how much to use.

Kudzu

Kudzu starch (kuzu) is a starch made from the root of the kudzu plant. In Tomizawa Shoten’s matcha kudzu pudding, 50g of Yoshino hon-kuzu is dissolved in 300ml of water and 200ml of milk; when it starts to set at the sides of the pan, the heat is turned down, and once it turns creamy it is heated for 1 more minute. It gives a chewy texture, but the same shop’s kuzukiri (kudzu noodle) recipe says that putting it in the fridge makes it lose its clarity and changes its texture, and recommends eating it right after it is made. Kudzu jelly is not suited to cubes made ahead; it is something to stir up to order or serve on the day it is made (our view).

Differences in clarity

Pururun Agar is described as colourless and clear, letting the colour of other ingredients show, and Ina Agar L is also described as highly transparent. For kanten, a 1966 study from Japan Women’s University found that the gel let less light through as the kanten concentration rose, and more light through as the sugar content rose. For gelatin, Nitta Gelatin explains that when the pH of the liquid is below a certain point (on the acidic side), gelatin can bind with polyphenols (compounds found in tea and other foods) and turn cloudy or form a sediment, giving black tea jelly as an example. Matcha jelly has the powder mixed into the liquid, so it is not see-through itself. Clarity matters for how it looks when you, for example, set matcha cubes inside a clear jelly or make two layers.

Matcha amounts in official recipes

In 4 official recipes that give matcha in grams, matcha was about 0.8 to 2.4% of the liquid, and in the 3 that state the number of servings, matcha per serving was 0.5 to 2g. Even for the same “matcha jelly,” matcha relative to the liquid differs by about 3 times.

The 4 recipes compared

The percentages and matcha per serving are our own calculation, dividing the weight of matcha by the amount of liquid and by the number of servings. We treated ml and g as equal. Kataoka’s amount is for its own matcha product made to dissolve easily in water and milk, and the recipe does not say whether plain matcha powder can be swapped in at the same amount. Tomizawa Shoten’s matcha kudzu pudding gives matcha as 1 tablespoon, so it is not in the table because the grams are unknown.

Amount of setting agent

In the same 4 recipes, the setting agent relative to the liquid was 2.0% for Ina Agar L, 2.0% for gelatin, 2.5% for Pururun Agar and about 0.4% for powdered kanten (our calculation). The makers’ guides: Tomizawa Shoten’s Gelatin 21 uses 15 to 20g per 1000ml of liquid, and about 4g of Ina Agar L makes 200 to 300ml. In Nitta Gelatin’s table, gelatin usually sets at 1.5 to 3.0% and kanten at 0.15 to 0.6%. Kanten sets at about one tenth of the amount used for gelatin or the agā products in these 4 recipes. Using kanten at the same percentage as gelatin goes far beyond the range in the table.

What the table shows

Tomizawa Shoten’s rich matcha jelly and the Tsujiri recipe, with more matcha, are in the 2% range, while Ina Food Industry is below 1%. Ina Food Industry’s jelly is a recipe served with shiratama and chunky anko. In a shop, starting at around 2% and then making drink cubes stronger so they hold up against the drink, and cup jellies with sweet toppings lighter, lets you settle the amount with fewer test batches (our suggestion). Jelly ratios for parfaits are also compared in Matcha parfait.

How to make it with each setting agent

Gelatin is dissolved without boiling, kanten is boiled until dissolved, agā is mixed with sugar before going into boiling water, and kudzu is heated and stirred. Most recipes add the matcha after the setting agent has dissolved.

Gelatin

In Kataoka’s Tsujiri method, gelatin and granulated sugar are mixed well with hot water to dissolve, the mixture is cooled until it thickens, then the matcha is added and it is poured into cups and chilled to set. Nitta Gelatin advises against heating gelatin solution unevenly or boiling it, and says it is better to cool it after dissolving to a point where it does not set (around 40 to 50°C). Tomizawa Shoten’s Gelatin 21 also warns that boiling the jelly mixture makes it harder to set. Add fruit juice or citric acid near the end, not at the same time as dissolving, and heat raw pineapple, papaya, kiwi and melon, or use canned fruit, because their enzymes break down gelatin. Drinks that combine matcha and citrus are covered in Matcha orange.

Kanten

In Tomizawa Shoten’s matcha milk jelly, powdered kanten and granulated sugar go into water and are heated, then boiled for about 1.5 minutes until clear. With the pan still on the heat, milk is added a little at a time and the heat is turned off just before it boils. The reason is that adding the milk all at once makes the kanten set. The matcha is sifted through a tea strainer and mixed with hot water beforehand, a little of the kanten mixture is added to make it even, and then it goes back into the pan. Ina Food Industry explains that kanten’s setting point is about 40°C and that it sets at room temperature without going in the fridge.

Agā

For Tomizawa Shoten’s rich matcha jelly, the agā, granulated sugar and sifted matcha are first mixed well with a whisk, and boiling water is added a little at a time to dissolve them. The mixture goes back into the pan and is whisked over medium heat for 1 to 2 minutes, then poured into a tray and chilled to set. The notes on Pearl Agar 8 also say to mix it well with sugar first, add it a little at a time to boiling water, and add anything strongly acidic after it has been heated and dissolved. Ina Food Industry also says Ina Agar L forms lumps more easily without sugar, and mixes it with sugar before it goes into the water.

Kudzu

Kudzu is dissolved in water, then heated and stirred constantly with a wooden spatula. In Tomizawa Shoten’s matcha kudzu pudding, the kudzu starch is dissolved in water, then the milk, matcha and kibi sugar (light brown cane sugar) are all added; it is stirred over medium heat, heated for 1 more minute once creamy, divided into cups, cooled slightly and chilled. In this method the matcha goes into the liquid from the start and is heated with it.

Stopping matcha from sinking, separating or losing colour

Sift the matcha and mix it with sugar, pour into cups after the mixture thickens, keep heating short, and do not leave set jelly under lights for long. Jelly takes time to set, so matcha powder has more time to sink.

Stopping it from sinking

Kataoka’s Tsujiri recipe says that cooling the mixture until it thickens before pouring it into cups makes the matcha less likely to sink to the bottom.

The recipe page lists Tsujiri “saratto tokeru matcha” (easy-dissolving matcha) 6g, granulated sugar 20g, gelatin 5g and hot water 250cc. Steps: mix the gelatin and sugar well with the hot water to dissolve; cool until it thickens, add the matcha and stir well; pour into cups and chill in the fridge to set. A note says that cooling until it thickens before pouring makes the matcha less likely to sink.

Source: Kataoka, “抹茶ゼリー” (Matcha jelly, Tsujiri recipe, in Japanese) https://www.kataoka.com/tsujiri/enjoy/recipe/matchajelly.html

Gelatin mixture thickens sooner if you stir it with the bowl set in iced water. Kanten and agā start to set at around 40°C, so pour them into cups before they set in the pan, and stir a few times in the cups before chilling (both our suggestions). The same way of stopping sediment is also described in Matcha pudding.

Stopping lumps and separation

Yamamasa Koyamaen in Kyoto explains that matcha is a fine powder of about 10 microns that easily forms lumps from static electricity and its own weight in storage, and that sifting it just before use prevents this. Ina Food Industry also sifts powdered matcha just before use and mixes it well with sugar before adding it to the liquid. For kanten jellies with milk, add the milk a little at a time, as Tomizawa Shoten does. Ina Agar L warns that adding yoghurt or lactic acid drinks may make it separate or set poorly.

Stopping colour loss

According to Yamamasa Koyamaen, heating can weaken matcha’s flavour or turn its colour reddish, and both sunlight and artificial light fade it. Among the official recipes, Ina Food Industry and Tsujiri add the matcha to liquid that has finished heating, while Tomizawa Shoten’s rich matcha jelly and kudzu pudding heat the matcha in the mixture. The more you want the green to show, the more it helps to add matcha after turning off the heat, which shortens the time it is heated (our view). Not leaving set cubes out on a lit display case or counter also helps keep the colour.

Firmness and cutting of cubes for drinks

Any setting agent works in cold drinks, but for warm drinks or a hot shop, kanten or agā, which melt at higher temperatures, are better suited. The firmness of cubes depends on the amount of setting agent and sugar.

Drink temperature and melting

In Nitta Gelatin’s table, gelatin jelly melts at 20 to 30°C, so it melts in a warm latte. Kanten does not melt until 85°C or above. For agā, Pearl Agar 8 is described as “not losing shape or softening even in summer,” and Ina Agar L as “keeping its shape even at summer room temperature.” However, carrageenan melts at 5 to 10°C above the temperature where it starts to set, so for warm drinks kanten holds its shape more easily (our view). Temperatures in Singapore and Bangkok are covered in Matcha shelf life and storage.

Setting the firmness

According to Nitta Gelatin, gelatin jelly gets firmer as the concentration rises, and at the same 2.0%, jelly made with 10 to 20% sugar dissolved in it is firmer than jelly made with water alone. Its strength rises sharply in the first 1 to 5 hours after cooling starts, then keeps rising slowly. For kanten, Ina Food Industry’s coffee jelly uses 4g of kanten to 550ml of unsweetened coffee and is firm enough to take out of its mould whole. The same company’s iced hojicha latte uses 1g of kanten and 40g of brown sugar in 150ml of boiling water, set in the glass and broken up with a spoon. If customers drink it through a straw, set it softer and break it up, or cut it smaller than the straw opening (our view).

Cutting and adding to drinks

Tomizawa Shoten takes the jelly out of the tray and cuts it to the size you like, and Ina Food Industry cuts jelly set in a container into bite-size pieces. For cubes, keeping the thickness even with the depth of the tray and cutting at the same width both ways lets you count the amount per drink by the number of cubes (our suggestion). Putting jelly, ice, milk and then matcha into the glass in that order shows the layers (our suggestion). Matcha milk tea ratios are in Matcha boba and matcha milk tea, and kakigori syrup and serving in Matcha kakigori and Uji kintoki.

Sugar labelling is required in Singapore

According to Singapore’s Ministry of Health (MOH) and Health Promotion Board (HPB), since 30 December 2023, toppings that can be added to drinks made in food and beverage outlets such as cafés, including pearls, jellies, ice cream and whipped cream, must have their sugar content shown on menus and signs. Under HPB’s specifications, the sugar content of a topping is shown as a percentage per 100g. If you sell matcha jelly as a drink topping, work out the grams of sugar in 100g of jelly from your recipe (our suggestion). For now, businesses with revenue of not more than S$1 million that sell those drinks at fewer than 10 premises are not required to show this. Dessert jelly served in a cup is not listed as covered by this labelling. More on the system is in Matcha boba and matcha milk tea.

Prep, chilled storage and shelf life

No authority gives a number of days for matcha jelly, so set your own number of days within the US FDA Food Code’s upper limit (a maximum of 7 days at 5°C or below) and mark the date. The prep timing also depends on the setting agent.

Chilling temperature and date marking

The 2026 edition of the FDA Food Code (the US model food hygiene code for restaurants and shops) requires refrigerated, ready-to-eat foods that are made on site and held for more than 24 hours to be marked with the date by which they must be eaten on site, sold or discarded, with a maximum of 7 days at 5°C or below and the day of preparation counted as day 1. For jelly made with milk, also check the date on the milk you used when setting the number of days. Cooling speed and refrigeration standards in other countries are covered in Matcha pudding.

Prep guide by setting agent

The prep guide is our view, based on the sources in the right-hand column.

Reducing water release in kanten jelly

Kanten jelly lets water seep onto its surface over time. This is called syneresis (rissui in Japanese). In a 1996 study in the Journal of the Japanese Society for Food Science and Technology, the higher the kanten concentration, the more water was released, and the more sugar was added, the less was released. In a 2008 presentation from the University of Shizuoka, kanten cooled at room temperature set at 30 to 35°C and took a long time, while kanten cooled with ice set at about 15°C and set quickly, but less water was released at the higher cooling temperature, giving a more stable gel. You can cool it in iced water when in a hurry, but for cubes made ahead, letting them set somewhat at room temperature before the fridge, rather than chilling them quickly in iced water, is closer to the conditions that released less water in that presentation (our view).

Allergens and gelatin

Gelatin is an animal protein made from the skin and bones of cattle and pigs, while kanten and carrageenan are made from seaweed. Jelly made with milk contains milk. How to check gelatin jelly before serving it to halal customers (customers who eat food permitted under Islamic law) is covered in Halal matcha.

Matching grade and matcha per drink and per serving

In Yamamasa Koyamaen’s chart by use, jellies range from drinking grade to the processing grade Toku-B, and official recipes use 0.5 to 2g of matcha per serving. When it goes into a drink, add the matcha in the jelly to the matcha in the drink to get the amount per glass.

Suitable grades

Yamamasa Koyamaen puts jellies and puddings in the range from drinking grade to the processing grade Toku-B, and matcha drinks from drinking grade to the processing grade Toku-A. Matcha in jelly is heated only briefly and its colour shows, so using the same matcha in the cubes as in your latte matches the colour and taste of the drink and the jelly (our view). Grade differences are explained in Matcha grades.

Working out matcha cost per drink and per serving

Matcha cost can be worked out as “purchase price per 1kg ÷ 1,000 × grams.” Matcha per serving in the official recipes, and matcha in a drink if we assume 50g of cubes per drink, are as follows (our calculation).

None of the official recipes says how much jelly goes into a drink, so 50g is an assumption we made for the calculation. The matcha in the cubes is an estimate from multiplying 50g by matcha’s share of the liquid; the real amount is slightly lower because of the weight of sugar and setting agent. In the shop, weigh the cubes on a scale. Check the matcha per drink in Choosing matcha for café lattes and add the jelly’s share. Besides matcha, include sugar, milk, gelatin or kanten, containers, and anything not used within your set number of days and thrown away in the cost. How matcha prices are set is explained in How matcha prices are determined.

Omakase Matcha supplies matcha from Uji, Yame, Shizuoka, Kagoshima and Miyazaki, with orders from 1kg and up to 3 samples. To compare colour and bitterness in jelly cubes and cup jellies, request matcha from Samples.

Sources

• Nitta Gelatin, “09. 他のゲル化剤との比較” (Comparison with other gelling agents, in Japanese) https://www.nitta-gelatin.co.jp/ja/labo/gelatin/09.html
• Nitta Gelatin, “07. ゼラチンゲルの性質” (Properties of gelatin gel, in Japanese) https://www.nitta-gelatin.co.jp/ja/labo/gelatin/07.html
• Nitta Gelatin, “12. よりよく活用するために” (Using gelatin well, in Japanese) https://www.nitta-gelatin.co.jp/ja/labo/gelatin/12.html
• Ina Food Industry, “寒天の疑問解決！” (Answers to questions about kanten, in Japanese) https://www.kantenpp.co.jp/kanten/faq
• Ina Food Industry, “寒天ってなに？” (What is kanten?, in Japanese) https://www.kantenpp.co.jp/kanten/about
• Ina Food Industry, “抹茶ゼリー” (Matcha jelly, in Japanese) https://www.kantenpp.co.jp/recipe/matchajelly/
• Ina Food Industry, “ほうじ茶アイスラテ” (Iced hojicha latte, in Japanese) https://www.kantenpp.co.jp/recipe/hojicha-ice-latte/
• Ina Food Industry, “コーヒーゼリー” (Coffee jelly, in Japanese) https://www.kantenpp.co.jp/recipe/coffee-jelly/
• Ina Food Industry online shop, “イナアガーL” (Ina Agar L, in Japanese) https://eshop.kantenpp.co.jp/shop/g/g243/
• Kataoka, “抹茶ゼリー” (Matcha jelly, Tsujiri recipe, in Japanese) https://www.kataoka.com/tsujiri/enjoy/recipe/matchajelly.html
• Tomizawa Shoten, “濃い抹茶ゼリー” (Rich matcha jelly, in Japanese) https://tomiz.com/recipe/pro/detail/20220724235320
• Tomizawa Shoten, “寒天で作る♪小豆&抹茶ミルクゼリー” (Red bean and matcha milk jelly made with kanten, in Japanese) https://tomiz.com/recipe/pro/detail/20240423144318
• Tomizawa Shoten, “抹茶の葛プリン” (Matcha kudzu pudding, in Japanese) https://tomiz.com/recipe/pro/detail/o-se-201305a-01
• Tomizawa Shoten, “吉野本葛でつくる本格くずきり” (Kuzukiri made with Yoshino hon-kuzu, in Japanese) https://tomiz.com/recipe/pro/detail/20200602150622
• Tomizawa Shoten, “パールアガー8” (Pearl Agar 8, in Japanese) https://tomiz.com/item/00332105
• Tomizawa Shoten, “ぷるるんアガー” (Pururun Agar, in Japanese) https://tomiz.com/item/00533600
• Tomizawa Shoten, “ゼラチン21” (Gelatin 21, in Japanese) https://tomiz.com/item/00393100
• Yamamasa Koyamaen, “抹茶の取扱い” (Handling matcha, in Japanese) https://www.yamamasa-koyamaen.co.jp/matcha/basic/handling.html
• Yamamasa Koyamaen, “加工用抹茶・他パウダー（業務用・製菓用）” (Processing matcha and other powders, in Japanese) https://www.yamamasa-koyamaen.co.jp/product/for-processing.html
• Keiko Nagasaka and Shinichi Taneya, “寒天ゲルの離漿の速度解析” (Kinetic analysis of syneresis of agar gels), Journal of the Japanese Society for Food Science and Technology 43(11), 1996 (in Japanese) https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/nskkk1995/43/11/43_11_1176/_article/-char/ja/
• Yasuko Kainuma and Yuka Matsuura, “寒天ゲルの凝固状態に及ぼす冷却温度の影響” (Effect of cooling temperature on the setting of agar gels), Japan Society of Cookery Science annual meeting abstracts 20, 2008 (in Japanese) https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/ajscs/20/0/20_0_139/_article/-char/ja/
• Nobuko Nakahama, “寒天ゲルの凝固温度と透明度” (Setting point and transparence of the agar-gel), Journal of Home Economics of Japan 17(4), 1966 (in Japanese) https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/jhej1951/17/4/17_4_203/_pdf
• U.S. Food and Drug Administration, “FDA Food Code 2026” §3-501.17 https://www.fda.gov/food/fda-food-code/food-code-2026
• Ministry of Health Singapore, “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, “Measures for Nutri-Grade” https://hpb.gov.sg/healthy-living/food-beverage/nutri-grade
• Health Promotion Board Singapore, “Specifications of the Nutri-Grade mark and sugar declaration” https://isomer-user-content.by.gov.sg/484/6fac1f9b-5c07-4b73-9a2c-c3ca2c0c1bb8/specifications-of-the-nutri-grade-mark-and-sugar-declaration-(final).pdf