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Green Tea Ice Cream (抹茶アイスクリーム) or matcha ice (抹茶アイス Matcha aisu) is a Japanese ice cream flavour. This flavour is extremely popular in Japan and other parts of East Asia. Green tea ice cream is also sold in monaka form. It has been available in the United States since the late 1970s, primarily in Japanese restaurants and markets, but is currently moving into mainstream availability.

Summary
There is a clear indication of Green Tea Ice Cream, shaped as Mount Fuji, on the menu at the royal fudging party during the Meiji period (1868-1912). Regardless, the origin of Green Tea Ice Cream is unknown. None of the Japanese flavored ice creams were really merchandized until around 1995 because the major Japanese ice cream manufacturers were producing vanilla, strawberry and chocolate as the most popular flavors.

The amount of luxurious imported ice cream has increased in the Japanese market since the import liberalization act of ice cream in 1990. However, the trigger of the nationwide sales of Green Tea Ice Cream in Japan was actually from the importation of Green Tea Ice Cream from Maeda-en USA in California with the catch phrase "Pure Japanese style made from California”. It has been produced since April 1995, using fresh California milk made in U.S.A.

The same product was soon imported and distributed to convenience stores and supermarkets in Japan as well and it was introduced in some Japanese newspapers.

During a certain period of the 1980s in Japan, Meiji Dairies started selling its Green Tea Ice Cream with Lady Borden Brand, however after a while Meiji Dairies stopped selling that product. In 1995, Maedaen exported Green Tea Ice Cream to Japan, which became current topic in Japan rapidly, then influenced other major manufactures to start introducing their Green Tea Ice Cream products.

Häagen-Dazs Japan started producing Green Tea Ice Cream in 1996 and this Green Tea Ice Cream has been accepted by Japanese grocery markets and eventually became one of the most popular flavors along with vanilla, strawberry and chocolate.

Statistics from the Japanese Ice Cream Association show that Green Tea Ice Cream came in last in the “Favorite Ice Cream Flavor” study.It is served in many restaurants as a dessert.

In order to prevent a change in color to Green Tea Ice Cream (catechin) from sunlight, some containers have silver colored materials on the inside of the lid. Some Green Tea Ice Cream is artificially colored and others have natural green coloring from the catechin present in green tea.

Popularity
It has been available in the United States, the country with the largest ice cream consumption, since the late 1970s, primarily in Japanese restaurants and markets. It is currently moving mainstream and can also be homemade.

The U.S. saw rapid growth in Japanese cuisine and sushi popularity in the mid 1990s, which resulted in a big expansion of the Japanese restaurant business in the U.S. This development gradually helped people learn about Green Tea that resulted in having Green Tea Ice Cream as a typical dessert.

In those days, there were two different kinds of Green Tea Ice Cream served at restaurants. One made by mixing dissolved Matcha powder into vanilla ice cream in a restaurant’s kitchen and the other one is made by a local ice cream manufacturer who does not know what Green Tea Ice Cream is supposed be like. The former ice cream had to be melted once and re-frozen when they mixed in the dissolved Matcha powder and it was lacking the creamy texture of ice cream. The latter one had artificial Green Tea coloring and flavoring because most of those local ice cream manufacturers could not import authentic Matcha powder from Japan, therefore they usually substituted it with an artificial flavor that was accompanied with a strong chemical smell which was often covered by the heavy usage of sugar.

In 1984, Taku Maeda moved from Japan to the U.S. and started his business ‘Maeda-en USA’. He has been to many Japanese restaurants all over the United States and wondered how he could promote high quality and tasty Japanese Green Tea and establish it among Americans as a staple. He also tried Japanese menu at restaurants he visited for sales and often found this artificial type of Green Tea Ice Cream on the menu that he felt was weird. The color he sees is green, but the taste was questionable to call it “Green Tea Ice Cream”, as most of the Green Tea Ice Cream was made from artificial colors and flavors in those days. He then had an idea of making Green Tea Ice Cream by mixing in real Green Tea from Japan, and since 1993, Maeda-en USA started OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturing) and sold their original Green Tea Ice Cream.

As to their original Green Tea Ice Cream recipe, it was said that Japanese restaurants supported in developing the taste since they were serving the Green Tea from Maeda-en USA. After many tests by the chefs and the managers of those restaurants, the Maeda-en Green Tea Ice Cream was born with the concept of “East meets West”.

On November 14th in 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama visited Japan for the first time. He gave a speech about foreign policies toward Asia at the Suntory Hall in Tokyo and at the beginning of his speech, he mentioned one of his memories from childhood; visiting Japan with his mother, during which he saw an ancient Buddha statue in the seaside town Kamakura. He recalled being most interested in enjoying Green Tea Ice Cream and also expressed his gratitude towards Yukio Hatoyama, the Japanese prime minister at the time, for serving Green Tea Ice Cream at the dinner party to welcome Obama. It is said that the sales of the Green Tea in Kamakura increased because of the speech he made.

Also, the CEO of the Michelin Guide commented that he ate Green Tea Ice Cream during his visit to Kamakura, Japan.

How to eat
Green Tea Ice Cream could easily be integrated into various decorations and arrangements with other ice cream flavors. It could be served with other Japanese sweets such as Azuki (小豆), Dango (団子), and Monaka (モナカ).