A while back, I wrote about the salty green tea powder at Yakitori Totto. (It comes with a tempura silver fish appetizer.) At the time, it struck me that it would be good on popcorn, but of course the idea faded from my mind…

Until I found out that green tea powder was poised to be huge in ’07. Yes, this week, Joseph Baum & Michael Whiteman Co. announced their food trend predictions for the new year, and one of the buzzwords is “matcha green tea powder,” so you better get on that shit quick.

The powder is used for tea and smoothies, but we're predicting that green tea popcorn will be the must-do snack of 2008, and you can be ahead of the curve.

As you'd expect, this stuff is very bitter (tastes like way too-strong green tea), so start with a three-to-one ratio, salt-to-matcha. I found that using a big flaky sea salt (like Maldon or cheaper versions found at Asian markets) works well. Use a mortar and pestle to grind the salt and tea together and sprinkle on popcorn. Your friends will be so impressed—unless they think it's Veggie Booty, and then they'll just think you're a hippie.

Green tea powder, $6.99 for 1.4 ounces:
Sunrise Mart

4 Stuyvesant Street

(212) 598-3040

or

494 Broome Street

(212) 219-0033

Yakitori Totto

251 West 55th Street

(between Broadway and Eight Ave.)

(212) 245-4555

Also, this week Peter Meehan reviews Yakitori Totto's sibling restaurant, Yakitory Torys in $25 and Under.