Matcha

[johnsmith45678]

I read this here:

Matcha (MAH-cha)  When you drink a cuppa matcha (also spelled maccha), you're getting green tea's powerful antioxidants to the max, because you're actually consuming the whole green tea leaf in powdered form. In Japan, slightly bitter matcha is traditionally served syrupy thick. But in the US, you'll find matcha stirred into lattes, sprinkled on ice cream, and used to bolster energy drinks and turn smoothies into pick-me-ups (it's said to boost alertness). Just be respectful of matcha if you're caffeine sensitive: Ounce for ounce, it has almost as much caffeine as coffee.

I've check Vitamin Cottage (the local chain of health food stores) and searched online. Looks like Matcha is pretty hard to come by -- I was only able to find VitaLife offering it and/or some Japanese brand of tea. Anybody know where to get matcha?

[JasonTrue]

Matcha's pretty easy to find these days. Most Japanese markets carry some, and almost every tea company these days offers something that uses matcha, including companies like Remedy. It's not primarily marketed in health food stores, but by tea companies, because it's meant for drinking, not as a supplement.

My web store offers cooking matcha, a green tea latte mix, and ceremonial grades from a Seattle-based tea company, Three Tree Tea. One of my other tea vendors, MyGreenTea, also produced matcha-iri genmaicha, which is brewed tea with toasted rice and added matcha for flavor.

I personally like mine infused in gin.

I read this here:

Matcha (MAH-cha)  When you drink a cuppa matcha (also spelled maccha), you're getting green tea's powerful antioxidants to the max, because you're actually consuming the whole green tea leaf in powdered form. In Japan, slightly bitter matcha is traditionally served syrupy thick. But in the US, you'll find matcha stirred into lattes, sprinkled on ice cream, and used to bolster energy drinks and turn smoothies into pick-me-ups (it's said to boost alertness). Just be respectful of matcha if you're caffeine sensitive: Ounce for ounce, it has almost as much caffeine as coffee.

I've check Vitamin Cottage (the local chain of health food stores) and searched online. Looks like Matcha is pretty hard to come by -- I was only able to find VitaLife offering it and/or some Japanese brand of tea. Anybody know where to get matcha?

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[Beebs]

Best places to find matcha are tea retail shops; most shops will either carry some version of matcha, and if they don't, they'll likely know where you might find it in your area. Asian & some gourmet markets may also have it available. I get mine from Tealeaves.com (they have a shop in my area, but mailorder is available too), and they grind matcha in-house so it's nice & fresh. Suggest calling them as I don't think matcha is listed on their website (tel 1-888-291-TEAS).

Some types of matcha that you might find at Asian food stores may be improperly labelled as "matcha", but should actually be labelled as "powdered green tea". True matcha is produced from particular grades of Japanese green tea, whereas powdered green tea is, well, any green tea that is powdered, usually Chinese or Taiwanese. This stuff is perfectly fine for cooking, desserts, lattes, etc. and still has all the health benefits as real Japanese matcha -- but will be easier on the wallet.

Powdered green tea & matcha are pretty bleah on they're own (unless it's the really good ceremonial grade stuff!). It's nice as an iced latte with a shot of vanilla syrup -- yum!

[chamekke]

A couple of tips. First of all, matcha should really come with a "best by" date. If it's missing, the matcha may still be OK - but you might be taking a chance. Stale matcha is not worth drinking (although sometimes you can still cook or bake with it).

Also, I'm told that the best matcha sellers keep the unopen tins refrigerated. Again, this isn't as common as you might hope. But it helps to preserve the tea's freshness.

I study Chadou (Japanese tea ceremony), and most of the time I don't have to buy matcha myself because my tea teacher keeps bringing it back from Japan for us! This is lucky, since the matcha that's available locally is usually not very good. The best I've found so far is the ceremonial matcha sold by Blenz, the coffee-shop franchise. Although they don't refrigerate it (and I don't think they use a best-by date), it is still very good, and I've certainly never opened a tin to find it stale. But I think Blenz is still restricted to British Columbia, Canada, so this may not be too helpful to most people.

There are some online sellers who will ship directly from Japan. If I had to buy my own on a regular basis, that's probably where I'd go.

[PandoraLost]

Asian markets and many tea vendors will sell a decent to good Matcha powder. the tea company Teavana offers an okay matcha, along with matcha-making utensils. I'm not sure that they use a best-by date, though the seals on their packaging are really excellent.

About refrigerating tea: honestly, much like coffee, it doesn't make a huge difference for short-term storage. An Asian market would move through matcha pretty quick, so they're the best resource (they also have multiple brands and varieties!). I would only really recommend putting either in cold storage if the seal on the container wasn't as good. Kept in a dark, relatively cool place, tea and coffee keep perfectly well simply in airtight containers.

[Richard Kilgore]

A recent tasting at the T-Bar Club of The Cultured Cup introduced me to Matcha, the Japanese green tea used during the Japanese Tea Ceremony. I am going to have one of Ginny Marsh's tea bowls (Chawan) soon and want to add a Japanese Matcha whisk and Matcha scoop. The Cultured Cup is getting in some very high quality Matcha soon, too, so I want to try that, but also would like to find some good, but less expensive alternatives.

So I am curious about other's experience with Matcha. Please show us your tea bowls and other Matcha pieces. What are some good other sources for the equipment and the tea?

[Naftal]

Hello-Originally, all tea was powdered. When the Chinese brought tea to Japan, they brougt over a powdered variety. This is why powdered tea "matcha" is used in the Japanese tea ceremony. Recently, I went to a store that imports stuff from Taiwan and I discovered that they had/sold a very nice powdered tea that I use the way I would use matcha.I do not have a tea-bowl. I use any nice ceramic bowl that can hold enough water. The Japanese once believed that the ideal tea bowl resembled a Korean rice-bowl.So now I am looking for a traditional Korean rice-bowl, any suggestions?

[Richard Kilgore]

How is a Korean rice bowl differnt from a Chinese or Japanese rice bowl, Naftal?

[Naftal]

How is a Korean rice bowl differnt from a Chinese or Japanese rice bowl, Naftal?

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Richard-I really don't know.My sources did not go into detail and I have not found one yet.But, I am still looking.

[Richard Kilgore]

How is a Korean rice bowl differnt from a Chinese or Japanese rice bowl, Naftal?

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Richard-I really don't know.My sources did not go into detail and I have not found one yet.But, I am still looking.

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Perhaps they are referring to the Japanese Chawan designs being rooted in Korean designs due to "The Potters' War". (The potter Ginny Marsh first told me about this history.) Hideyoshi, the Samuri warlord who unified Japan, invaded Korea and conscripted several thousand Korean potters who became the basis of fine Japanese pottery. Many Japanese potters today are descendants of these Korean potters.

Here's a link to a site with more on fine Korean pottery and its history. The link takes you to pottery including several celadon Korean tea bowls. However, I think it is the Punch'ong rough style of pottery that went to Japan with the Korean potters and is related to the wabi-sabi aesthetic, seen for example in Japanese Hagi-ware.

[jpr54_]

richard-it is a pleasure to read your posts and questions

i hope u can bring in others to this board-

[Richard Kilgore]

I have been learning to make matcha recently. Here's the process I have been using informally at the kitchen counter.

The basic equipment: a chawan (Japanese tea bowl) from The Cultured Cup made by Japanese-American ceramic artist Aki Shiratori, a chasen (bamboo matcha whisk), bamboo tea scoop for matcha, a special stainless steel sifter and the matcha - an Organic Yabe Matcha from yuuki-cha.com.

First I warm the brittle dry chasen in the chawan in order to make it more flexible, the water warming the bowl at the same time. While the chasen and chawan are warming, two scoops of matcha go onto the screen and are sifted and pushed with the bamboo paddle into the bottom of the sifter.

Then the tea bowl is dried thoroughly, and the sifted matcha goes into it.

A little over 2 ounces of 170 F water is poured over the matcha. Then the whisking begins. This takes a minute or two in order to develop the foaming surface that indicates the matcha powder is in suspension in the water.

With matcha you are actually drinking a suspension of the tea leaves in powdered form, rather than drinking an infusion as we do in most other forms of tea drinking.

Edited December 20, 2009 by Richard Kilgore
added chawan ID (log)

[Wholemeal Crank]

What quantity of tea are you using, for that volume of water?

[nickrey]

The information that I have is that there are two different strengths of tea.

The first is called Usacha, which is a weaker version that is popular, this is made with 2 chashaku (1/2 level teaspoon) to 75 ml of water (below boiling [85 - 95 degrees celsius]).

The second is the one used in the tea ceremony, Koicha, which is stronger. This uses 4 chashaku (1 level tsp) of matcha to around 55 ml of hot water.

Sorry about only using metric but it's all I've got.

[Richard Kilgore]

Nick is correct in pointing out that there is usacha (thin matcha), which is what you would be starting with, and koicha (thick matcha). It's not only the amount of matcha powder used, but different matcha is used for thick and thin. I think most matcha powder for koicha may be used for thin matcha, but not vice versa.

Here's a link to the brewing instructions for matcha on yuuki-cha.com, which may interest you.

I think the only crucial equipment is a chawan (tea bowl) and a chasen (whisk). Different whisks are used for usacha and koicha. In a pinch you could try using a bowl you already have, although I think the texture of the surface of a good chawan makes the whisking more effective, but you really, really need a bamboo chasen. Sifting is important for the matcha not to clump when you whisk it; you can try using some other kind of tea strainer or kitchen sifter, but I ended up with the dedicated matcha sifter from yuuki-cha.

I have been using a chasaku rather than measuring weight, but I'll weigh it today to find out. Some matchas are best with a little more powder than others in the powder to water ratio.

[Richard Kilgore]

Today, WC, my two scoops of matcha weighed in at 1.1 g. combined. But it all depends on how much you load into the scoop. I fill it almost as full as possible.

[Richard Kilgore]

Matcha from a couple of days ago. A yuuki-cha matcha prepared in a chawan made by Chicago studio potter Jay Strommen. The clay is his own brew and the style is a blend of Shigaraki, Bizen and Shino.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Bought a chasen today and a simple 8 oz white porcelain rice bowl for a first go at matcha, and an extra pair of gaiwans soni have a matched set of four for tastings. All ready for the Wuyis.

[Wholemeal Crank]

How do you clean & store your chasen? The container it came in is hard plastic and

mostly airtight....seems like an invitation to mold.

[Richard Kilgore]

How do you clean & store your chasen? The container it came in is hard plastic and

mostly airtight....seems like an invitation to mold.

I have simply been rinsing mine out well, letting it stand on end and air dry as long as practical and then storing in in the plastic sleeve - handle down - with the lid off. So far this seems to work okay as far as mold prevention goes. But on my next order, I am going to get a kusenaoshi (whisk keeper) from Dan at yuuki-cha.com. These doo-dads are designed to help the chasen maintain its shape longer.

[Richard Kilgore]

I have been improving my whisking technique lately. The goal is to produce very small bubbles for a sweeter taste - smaller than the ones in the photo up-topic. Start out whisking as rapidly as possible for at least 60 seconds, until the surface is covered with bubbles, some large, some smaller. Then gradually whisk slower and slower, which reduces the size of the bubbles. This works very well for me.

Anyone else have a whisking technique to share?

[Richard Kilgore]

I am curious as to who else here drinks matcha - even occasionally.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Mine is still unopened in the cupboard; I have the whisk, and a reasonably sized and shaped bowl, and just need a quiet weekend day to make my first attempt. Probably will break into it within a week or so.

[Richard Kilgore]

Adventures in Making Matcha

My current efforts at learning more about matcha involve working my way through the organic matchas at yuuki-cha.com. I'll eventually try other matchas, but for now it makes sense to me to focus on these organics as a way of having some kind of cohesive experience. And the fast shipping and customer service at yuuki-cha.com have been great.

I first tried the Organic Yame Matcha as an inexpensive way to get started and to learn how to use a whisk properly. I really liked this matcha; it was much smoother and tastier than I anticipated, and I would gladly drink it daily.

Now I am making the Organic Uji Matcha Yuuki Midori. A small step up in price and a little richer taste. Interestingly, the first time I made it I did not care for it and was concerned I was not going to like it at all. But each time I have whisked up a bowl it has gotten better. This could be due to several factors, including me simply learning how to make it with the right amount of matcha. But I have also made it in a different chawan each day - different shapes, different clays, different glazes. And other teas have needed a week or two rest after arriving from Asia to brew well for whatever reason, so that's a possibility, too.

In a few weeks, I'll be ready for the next one. In the meantime, I'll try to figure out what makes the taste somewhat different from day to day.

[Wholemeal Crank]

Tried my first matcha this morning. Reviewed instructions on Dens and Yukki-Cha sites, watched

to prepare.

Used 1 gram sifted Dens organic matcha in a plain porcelain bowl, 3 oz water, water started at about 180 degrees in the first bowl before adding to the matcha in the mixing bowl, whisked well with the chasen, got to a nice foam. I did not preheat the pseudo-chawan, per dens direction, so the water hitting the tea was starting at about 180 but should have cooled to about 160 pretty quickly, although I didn't remeasure the temp as I whisked it. The foam was thick and pleasant.

Just didn't care so much for the flavor. It was not particularly bitter, but very strongly umami and not very sweet.

So....a few questions: the youtube video suggests more whisking will sweeten the tea. But whisking should be oxidizing things, and extra rest time does not seem to sweeten my senchas or dragon wells. Is whisking sweetening or just for foam/texturizing? And what should I try first to maximize the sweetness--change temps, proportions, whisk more/less?