LET'S TALK
MATCHA MAGIC
What it is, why it matters, and how you can make the most of it
LET'S TALK ABOUT MATCHA
Unless you've been living under a rock (no judgement if you are, it sounds cool and quiet) you've 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.
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.
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.
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?
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 the leaves to grow wider and thinner to absorb the limited light.
This 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.
It is then picked, withered, steamed, dried, and sorted to remove the veins and stems.
The resulting "tencha" is finally stone-ground into a fine powder that dissolves easily.
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.
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.
chanoyu: the way of tea
There are three main schools of Chanoyu that are direct descendants of Rikyu. He had three grandsons, and each formed their own tea school. Each one interpreted Rikyu's teachings slightly differently, so there are details of each school that vary, but the main focus is still the same.
- Urasenke is the most widely practiced and well-known school. It's trademark is a thick layer of frothed matcha that covers the tea in the bowl. When you think of matcha, this is probably how you view it.
- Omotesenke is less common, but still widely practiced. The telltale sign of a bowl of matcha in this school is the "pond", or area of tea soup that can be viewed through a hole in the foam.
- Mushanokoji is hardly practiced, even in Japan. Their school leaves half of the tea covered in foam, and half uncovered. It is the most difficult to achieve this (at least for an Omotesenke student like myself).
Types of Matcha
Each school has different styles of matcha that they use, as determined by the head of that school. But to keep it simple, we will break down the types of matcha into these categories:
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 make ceremonial grade matcha:
- 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.
- Koicha (thick tea) is a higher grade and extra smooth. Koicha is whisked with more matcha and less water so the consitencey is about the texture of wet paint and threfor must be incredibly smooth in flavor
All Koicha grade tea can be used to make Usucha, but not the other way around.
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 most commonly ground in a giant tumbler that rotates with ceramic balls inside which pulverize the matcha at a much faster rate than stone-grinding. 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.
the four pillars
Beyond the physical health, we must also consider the role matcha plays in out mental and spiritual health.
Matcha is not only a beverage, but an art form, as practiced in Chanoyu (the Way of Tea). This ancient practice is based not only around making an exceptional bowl of tea, but by utilizing the four pillars in doing so:
- Wa (harmony),
- Kei (respect),
- Sei (purity)
- Jaku (tranquility)
Each of these pillars are utilized in every aspect of the Tea Ceremony.
The lifelong practice of Chanoyu is one that may not be for everyone, but the simple act of making a tea with purpose and intention can do wonders to help one's psychological health.
