deep dive
MATCHA MAGIC
What it is, why it matters, and how you can make the most of it
LET'S TALK ABOUT MATCHA
At this point, you've probably heard of matcha. There's a huge range of how it's used, from formal ceremonies dating back 500 years, to lattes, to the latest gastronomical trends in the culinary world.
But what do you know about how and where it's made, the health benefits and which matcha to use for which occasion? Hopefully I can help unravel the mystery and address the Who, What, Where, When, Why and How.
WHAT IS MATCHA?
Matcha is a kabuseicha (shaded tea) that has been milled into a fine powder and is whisked. Traditional and ceremonial grade matcha comes from Japan, but there are now lower grades being processed all over the place.
The flavors can vary wildly depending on region, cultivar and processing method, but if you know what you want to use it for it will help you determine which matcha you should be buying. We'll get to that later.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
To know a good matcha, the first sign to look for is a bright, vivid green color. If it has a yellow, brown or dull tint to it, pass. The smell should be fresh, crisp and green, like seaweed and fresh cut grass.
It should be fresh, as powdered tea does not have a long shelf live.
Our matchas are freshly milled and shipped from Japan each month.
HEALTH BENEFITS
To appreciate how this magical tea is made and used, we should first address why people see it as an important element to living a healthy lifestyle. Sure, it tastes great and is fun to make, but it turns out it's also really good for you. Additionally, unlike other teas that are steeped, you take in 100% of all the health properties in the leaf.
Cholorphyll
The intense green color is a result of high levels of chlorophyll, which have been shown to improve skin tone and texture, boost energy levels, build blood and help heal wounds. Plus: antioxidants!
Vitamins
Matcha is loaded with vitamins! Just one gram of the stuff has vitamins A, B1, B2, B6, C, E, K, and more than 50% of the daily intake of vitamin A carotene. More antioxidant power!
Catechins
Matcha has the highest level of catechins than any kind of tea. Catechins have been known to fight cancer and have shown in recent studies to fight the growth and spread of viruses
Caffeine
The caffeine in matcha is much easier for your body and mind to process than coffee. It gets you just as caffeinated, but lasts much longer, and promotes a creative, focused energy as opposed to a jittery one
How is Matcha Produced?
The process of making matcha is different than any other tea out there:
SHADING
Matcha goes through a special process of shading, which changes the way the leaves grow.
In the weeks before being picked, the bushes are covered with a shade, which restricts the light and causes several changes:
- The leaves to grow wider and thinner to absorb the limited light.
- It creates a higher level of cholorphyll and the leaves become a very dark green.
- It also reduces the tannins, thus making the tea smoother to drink. If this wasn't done the resulting tea would be nearly undrinkable because it would be so bitter.
PICKING
To make tencha (un-ground matcha), the larger leaves are picked, below the tips.
Most ceremonial grade matchas are plucked by hand to ensure quality and consistency.
PROCESSING
The processing follows these steps:
- Plucking
- Whitering
- Steaming
- Drying
- Sorting (removing stems)
- Grinding: See Below
The result is Tencha, ready to be ground
GRINDING AND MILLING
The resulting tencha is finally ground into a fine powder that dissolves easily.
- STONE MILLED matcha is ground slowly between two millstones. All high quality ceremonial grade matcha is stone milled. The process must be slow because if the stones grind too fast they will heat the matcha and spoil it.
- TUMBLED matcha is placed in a tumbler filled with ceramic balls. When it rotates, the balls pulverize the matcha. This method is faster, but does not create the same quality as stone milling.
Once the leaves are ground, the tea will only stay fresh for a few months, so tencha is stored whole and then ground right before being packaged to give it the longest life.
Matcha: A Brief History
Matcha as we know it comes from Japan, and was first cultivated in Uji (Its roots come from China, and after a monk brought tea seeds to Japan in the 12th century, Japan fine-tuned the process).
At first, matcha was limited to the nobility class and not largely consumed by or available to the general population.
All that changed in the mid-1500's with Sen no Rikyu. He took the essence of the tea practice and distilled it down to the basics, making it accessible to everyone.
The ceremony was no longer about who had the most expensive teaware or tea room, but focused on only needing the tools necessary to make a bowl of tea with clear intentions and purity of heart.
CHANOYU: THE WAY OF TEA
Chanoyu (also called Japanese Tea Ceremony) has been around for over 500 years.
The ceremony is one that is studied and practiced for years, or even a lifetime.
To learn more about Chanoyu, you can start here...
Types of Matcha
There are different kinds of matcha teas for different occasions. Different types of matcha are also used by different Chanoyu schools, as determined by the head of each school.
Matcha can be made of a single cultivar, or a blend of multiple cultivars.
But to keep it simple, we will break down the types of matcha into these categories:
CEREMONIAL GRADE
Ceremonial Grade Matcha can be picked by hand or by machine, but is always stone-ground very slowly, so the speed doesn't heat up the tea and spoil it. There are two ways to prepare ceremonial grade matcha: Usucha and Koicha
USUCHA (Thin Tea)
- Usucha (thin tea) is the most commonly made and easy to find. It is very vegetal but smooth and usually has a little bitterness to it. Each person cunsumes their own bowl of usucha
KOICHA (Thick Tea)
- Koicha (thick tea) is a higher grade and extra smooth. Koicha is whisked with more matcha and less water so the consistency is about the texture of wet paint and threfore must be incredibly smooth in flavor. One bowl of matcha is usually made to serve three people, with each person taking three sips.
All Koicha grade tea can be used to make Usucha, but not the other way around.
CULINARY GRADE
Culinary Grade Matcha is used in most instances where ingredients are added to the matcha. Smoothies, lattes, cakes, sauces, etc... usually utilize this food-grade type of matcha.
Culinary matcha is picked and processed by machine and is ground in a giant tumbler (see above). The result is a bit less refined and usually has a bitter note to it.
The bitterness is actually a good thing when sweetening matcha; if the tea is too smooth, the flavor will get drowned out. But if the tea is bitter, the bitterness gets cancelled out and the flavor of the tea remains.
Who's Drinking Matcha?
It seems like nowadays everyone is making matcha, and that's a good thing! It's on the menu at most cafes, restaurants and bakeries are cooking with it, and it's made its way into the fridge of just about every health-conscious human there is.
When it comes to Chanoyu, or Tea Cermony, that's a different story. The formal practice of making tea has largely left the everyday lives of people in Japan, but there are still dedicated students making tea all over the world.
KEEP EXPLORING
More resources to fuel your matcha adventure
