How to Make a Little Witch Halloween Latte (Black Sesame and Matcha)

What you need

• Serving cup or glass
• Squeeze/sauce bottle (for smearing the paste on the cup walls)
• Bar spoon for stirring
• Milk frother or hand mixer (for whipping the cream)
• Spoon for topping

Method

1. Load black sesame paste into a squeeze bottle and smear it around the inside walls of the cup in a deliberately messy, creepy pattern.

   Because it is a paste rather than a thin syrup, it holds its shape on the cup wall.

   Expert tipSmear it fairly high up the cup so the spooky look is visible; go easy, as too much can taste overpowering.

2. In a separate cup, combine black sesame paste, condensed milk, and milk to make the black sesame milk.

   Black sesame syrup is already sweet, but the paste is not, so the condensed milk supplies the sweetness.

3. Stir the mixture with a bar spoon until it takes on an even black-sesame color.

   Paste straight from the fridge can be stubborn to dissolve and may stay a little lumpy.

   Expert tipPrefer a bar spoon over a milk frother here; the frother will foam the milk. If you do use a frother, pulse it in short bursts so it loosens the paste without creating foam.

4. Make the matcha cream by combining heavy cream with matcha powder, then whip it.

   The creator found store matcha cream weak in flavor and added extra matcha powder for a stronger matcha taste.

   Expert tipA hand mixer with twin beaters whips it quickly; a milk frother works but takes much longer.

5. Whip the cream until it is stiff enough to hold its shape when scooped with a spoon.

6. Fill the smeared cup with ice and pour in the black sesame milk.

   The drink works hot or iced; the creator makes the iced version.

7. Spoon the stiff matcha cream on top of the drink.

   A casual, plopped-on mound suits the Halloween mood; a piping siphon gives a fuller, neater look if you have one.

   Expert tipMore cream makes for a more generous, better-looking drink.

8. Finish with a Halloween-themed garnish, such as a cone-shaped snack standing in for a witch's hat.

   The creator tried a spider gummy but found it unappealing once it sat in the drink.

   Expert tipSkip the spider gummy; it sinks and gets coated in sesame.

Why this works

Black sesame paste delivers a deep, toasty nuttiness, but because it carries no sugar of its own, condensed milk is added to balance it into a drinkable sweet milk. Whipping the cream stiff lets it sit as a defined layer on top instead of sinking, while loading it with extra matcha powder ensures the matcha actually reads on the palate rather than being just a color.

Where beginners go wrong

1. 1

   Black sesame paste won't dissolve and rises in clumps

   Paste from the fridge resists stirring; pulse it loose with a frother, or use black sesame syrup instead, which mixes in far more easily.

2. 2

   Matcha cream tastes weak

   Add more matcha powder than you think you need so the matcha flavor comes through clearly, not just the green color.

3. 3

   Cream slides off or sinks into the drink

   Keep whipping until it is firm enough to hold its shape on a spoon before scooping it on top.

4. 4

   Too much paste smeared in the cup

   Go lighter on the wall smear; an overly heavy coat gives occasional harsh, unsweetened bursts of sesame.

What you should taste

Sweet and nutty from the black sesame milk, with a distinct, assertive matcha flavor in the cream on top. The black sesame is so naturally good that the drink tastes great as long as it is sweet enough; the creator says the base tastes nearly identical to the original in a blind comparison.

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