Mango Matcha Coconut | A layered iced cup built on clean sweetness

Three colours, stacked in one glass: gold mango at the base, milky coconut through the middle, a pale-green matcha cap on top. It looks like a drink you would queue for, and it comes together at the kitchen counter in a few minutes.

Nothing here is cooked. You build it cold, layer by layer, and the trick to keeping those layers clean is a sweetener that dissolves without a trace.

The sugar that holds it together

Matcha whipped with cream can turn grainy the moment you add granulated sugar, and a cold cup gives sugar no heat to melt into. That is where the syrup earns its place.

Ship Brand Rock Sugar Syrup is made from traditional Chinese rock sugar, poured ready from the bottle. It stirs into the matcha cap with no grit and no cloudiness, so the sweetness stays clean and glassy and the mango and matcha both read bright. Shop Rock Sugar Syrup.

Because it is already liquid, you can add it to taste and stop the moment the cap tastes right, rather than chasing undissolved crystals around the cup.

Recipe: Layered Mango Matcha Coconut

Makes one tall glass. About 10 minutes.

You will need

• Mango, 120g, peeled and diced
• Ice, enough to fill the glass
• Coconut milk, poured to about four-fifths full
• Matcha powder, 4g
• A little warm water, to dissolve the matcha
• Whipping cream, 50g
• Rock Sugar Syrup, to taste
• Desiccated coconut, for dusting

Method

1. Mash the 120g mango into a smooth puree and spread it across the bottom of the glass. This is the sweet base of the whole cup.
2. Fill the glass with ice, then pour coconut milk to about four-fifths full, leaving room at the top for the cap.
3. Dissolve the 4g matcha in a little warm water, grinding out any lumps until it runs smooth.
4. Whip the 50g cream together with the matcha and a measure of Rock Sugar Syrup to taste, into a soft cap that just flows.
5. Pour the matcha cap slowly over the back of a spoon so it settles in one clean layer on top.
6. Dust the top with desiccated coconut and serve cold.

Eat it with a long spoon straight down through all three layers, or give it a stir and let the mango, coconut, and matcha meet in the middle. Either way works.

A cup for a hot afternoon

This is a summer drink in the plainest sense: cold, layered, and a little bit of a show when you pour the cap. The mango carries the fruit, the coconut softens everything into cream, and the matcha sits on top with just enough edge to keep the glass from going flat and sweet. The syrup is what lets you dial the sweetness exactly where you want it.

Make one for yourself on a warm afternoon, or line up a few glasses and let people watch the layers land.

Ship Brand (帆船牌) is the retail line of Yuen Tung Sugar Factory Industrial Company Limited. Sugar refined in Hong Kong since 1987. Shop the collection.