Matcha for Bakeries and Lunchrooms: Drinks and Bakes

A bakery or lunchroom uses matcha in two places: at the counter in lattes, and in the kitchen in bakes such as cookies, cakes, laminated pastry fillings or glazes. Both draw on the same bag but behave very differently. Run matcha as one purchase with two separate uses: cost each one on its own, give each its own working tin and measuring routine, and track usage on both sides so the bag does not run out halfway through a baking day. This article shows how to plan that.

Two uses, two sets of rules

	Counter (drinks)	Kitchen (bakes)
Dose	Grams per drink, weighed each time	Grams per batch, set in the recipe
Rhythm	Little and often through the day	Larger amounts, once or twice a day
Who measures	Barista or counter staff	Baker
Main risks	Over-scooping, clumps, wet spoons	Heat and steam in the bakehouse, open containers, colour loss in the oven
Cost unit	Per drink	Per item (per cookie, slice, pastry)

Treat these as two separate stations even if they are three metres apart.

The counter: drinks

Lunchroom drinks are mostly hot and iced lattes, often with plant milk, sold alongside sandwiches and cakes. The counter rush is at lunch rather than the morning commute, and the same person may be plating food and making drinks.

• Keep the build short. Paste, milk, out. A standard latte recipe with a 2 g dose suits most counters; the standard café matcha latte recipe sets out the method.
• Weigh every drink. A scale beside the frother costs little and protects your cost per drink.
• Pair it with what you bake. A matcha latte next to a matcha cookie is an easy counter suggestion, but make sure the cookie is not the only matcha flavour a guest tastes all day.

Ceremonial Barista Matcha is made for milk drinks: €195.00 per kg excl. VAT at the time of writing (November 2026; check the product page for the current price). At 2 g, matcha cost per latte = €195 × 2 ÷ 1,000 = €0.39 excl. VAT, before waste.

The kitchen: bakes

Choosing what to bake

Matcha colour and flavour change with oven heat and time. Shorter bakes and lower temperatures generally keep more of the green; long, hot bakes tend to dull it. Rather than relying on general rules, run a test bake of your own recipe and judge the result on colour, flavour and how it holds on the counter the next day.

Formats that tend to work well in bakeries: - Fillings, creams and glazes added after baking (no oven heat on the matcha) - Cookies and shortbread with short bake times - Swirls in enriched dough, where only part of the dough carries matcha - Dusting on finished items, applied just before display

Costing a bake

Cost per item uses the same formula as drinks, applied to the batch.

Worked example (replace with your recipe) - Batch: 24 cookies, 18 g of matcha in the dough - Matcha cost per batch = €195 × 18 ÷ 1,000 = €3.51 excl. VAT - Matcha cost per cookie = €3.51 ÷ 24 = about €0.15 excl. VAT

That is the matcha cost only. Flour, butter, sugar, labour and energy come on top. Cost per item for drinking-grade matcha in bakery goes deeper into recipe costing and whether a drinking-grade matcha is the right choice for a given bake.

One stock, planned for both sides

The common failure in bakeries is not cost but supply: the counter has been using the kitchen's matcha, or a large batch day empties the bag.

Usage worksheet

Use	Units per day	Grams per unit	Grams per day
Lattes		2
Iced lattes		2
Bake A (per batch)	batches:
Bake B (per batch)	batches:
Total

Then: usable quantity = purchased × (1 − loss %). Theoretical stock duration = usable quantity ÷ daily use.

Example: 1,000 g × (1 − 0.05) = 950 g usable. Counter uses 40 g a day (20 lattes at 2 g), kitchen uses 36 g (two cookie batches at 18 g). Total 76 g a day. 950 ÷ 76 = 12.5 days. Plan your reorder well before day 12, allowing for delivery and for a busier week.

Storage: counter and kitchen apart

• Main bag stays closed in a cool, dry, dark place, away from the ovens and proofers.
• Counter tin: small, opaque, airtight, refilled daily.
• Kitchen tin: separate, sized for one or two baking days, kept away from steam.
• Measure the kitchen dose before the bake starts, not with flour on your hands next to an open container.
• Label both tins with product and date filled.

Bakehouse heat and humidity are harder on matcha than a café counter. Working stock behind the bar explains how to size the tins so neither side holds more than it needs.

Menu and labelling

Matcha appears on two menus: the drinks board and the bakery labels. Keep the descriptions consistent and factual (flavour, origin, ingredients), and list allergens for each bake from your own recipe. If matcha is new to your menu overall, building a matcha menu covers range and placement.

Next step

Order a 10 g sample of Ceremonial Barista Matcha and use it for two latte tests at 2 g and one scaled-down test bake using the remaining 6 g. If both work, order the 1 kg bag and set up the two working tins from day one.