Detroit’s Matcha Cafe Maiko Serves 24-Karat-Gold-Covered Ice Cream | Eater Detroit

"A Troy dessert shop dedicated to matcha ice cream and drinks, I found Matcha Cafe Maiko—an outpost of a Hawaii chain that opened at the start of the pandemic—to be a great place to get a fix, with an Instagram-worthy menu of soft-serve cones, parfaits, tea, and lattes. The matcha, a naturally bright-green powder made from pulverized green tea leaves, is sourced from Uji on the southern outskirts of Kyoto, long regarded as one of the meccas for some of the best green tea in the world. Along with matcha the cafe serves hojicha (roasted green tea) and vanilla, strawberry, or ube-taro (purple yam) soft-serve; mostly everything is made in house, including the ice cream, waffle cones, sponge cakes, and adzuki bean toppings. For an extra $3.50 I can top a creamy creation with a paper-thin layer of edible 23.75-karat gold—a longstanding tradition in Japan that’s tasteless and passes through without being absorbed." - Monica Williams