matcha preparation

When drinking matcha tea, you consume whole matcha leaves, unlike other green teas. Because of this reason matcha contains, by volume, higher concentrations of catechins and vitamins and is therefore extremely healthy.

There are 2 types of matcha; "Koicha" and "Usucha". These are chanoyu (Japanese Tea Ceremony) terms and literally translate as "thick" tea and "thin" tea.

Usucha comes from the leaves of tea plants that are less than 30 years old. Koicha comes from the first harvest of plants that are a minimum of 30 years old.

In tea ceremony koicha is brewed with less water than usucha. Koicha has a naturally mellower and sweeter taste and the tea is made thicker for that reason. In the japanese tea ceremony Koicha is served right after the meal. Then the guests of the tea ceremony are served more sweets and then they are offered thin tea called Usucha.

Prepare Matcha Your Way

Matcha preparation is personal, and there are no rules outside of Tea Ceremony. the water used to make the matcha with should be around 80 to 90 degrees centigrade but not boiling. the matcha green tea powder is grounded super fine so that it solves completely in the water.

If you are new to green tea it may take you 2 or 3 attempts to find the concentration that is right for you. Koicha when prepared in tea ceremony is very thick, like syrup. If you use usucha for this the tea would be somewhat bitter.

Most people do not prepare matcha to the syrupy thickness of tea ceremony koicha. While there is a qualitative difference between the 2 (thick tea is composed of the highest quality leaves) there is also a significant difference in cost. If you have not tried matcha before it is recommend that you purchase some inexpensive usucha first and see if you like matcha.

Matcha comes from gyokuro leaves that have been steamed and dried. All stems and veins are removed from the leaves. The pure dried leaves (tencha) are then stone ground into a super fine powder that is the consistency of talc. Matcha is uniquely Japanese.