tea · japan · china
Matcha
抹茶
A green powder that doesn't dissolve so much as suspend — the only tea where you drink the leaf, whisked into a single bowl, the colour of new spring.
You drink the leaf — not its infusion.
Origin
The technique of grinding tea leaves into powder, then whisking the powder into hot water, came to Japan from Tang and Song dynasty China around the 12th century, brought by the Zen monk Eisai. Powdered tea had been the standard form of tea consumption in China for centuries; by the Ming dynasty, China abandoned it for steeped loose leaf, and the powdered tradition essentially survived only in Japan.
What the Japanese refined into matcha is a specific cultivar program. The leaves come from tencha, a green tea grown under shade for the final three to four weeks before harvest. Shade slows photosynthesis, raising the chlorophyll content (hence the brilliant green) and the L-theanine content (hence the smooth, vegetal sweetness on the back palate). The leaves are steamed, dried without rolling, and then ground on granite stone mills at glacial speeds — about 30 grams of matcha per hour per mill — to keep heat from oxidizing the powder.
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Sensory profile
Matcha is the only tea where you drink the leaf, not just its infusion. The full caffeine content is in the bowl, and so is the full L-theanine — an amino acid that crosses the blood-brain barrier and produces the “alert calm” that drinkers describe. The powder also contains all the catechins (the antioxidant polyphenols that give the bitter astringency), all the chlorophyll, and all the cellulose.
Grade matters more than vendor. Ceremonial grade — used for koicha (thick) and usucha (thin) — is fine, deep green, and intensely aromatic. Culinary grade — used for lattes, ice cream, baking — is coarser, browner, and bitter rather than sweet. The two are not interchangeable.
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In the cup
The classical Japanese tea ceremony preparation: 2 grams of usucha in a warmed chawan bowl, 70 ml of water at 70°C, whisked with a chasen in a brisk W motion until a layer of micro-foam forms on top. Koicha is more concentrated — 4 grams to 30 ml of water — kneaded rather than whisked, with the consistency of paint.
Outside ceremony, matcha has become the spine of a global café drink. Japanese cafés serve it as latte (matcha + steamed milk), as ice cream, as a layer in cake. Korean and Taiwanese cafés took the leaf into bingsu and bubble tea. The chemistry travels, but the calm bowl on a tatami mat is the original argument.
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How to handle
Buy small tins (30g) and store airtight in the refrigerator. Matcha oxidizes within weeks of opening; a tin that’s been sitting on a counter for two months tastes flat. Sift before whisking to break up clumps. Water temperature is critical — boiling water makes ceremonial grade taste bitter rather than sweet.
References
- Sen, Soshitsu XV. Tea Life, Tea Mind (Weatherhill, 1979) — the modern Urasenke ceremony.
- Hohenegger, Beatrice. Liquid Jade (St. Martin’s, 2006) — global tea history including the Tang/Song shift.
- McGee, Harold. On Food and Cooking (Scribner, 2004) — L-theanine, catechins, and tea chemistry.