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Matcha
抹茶
Also called green tea powder, ceremonial matcha
Shade-grown green tea leaves, destemmed and stone-ground to a fine powder you whisk into water — not leftover tea dust and not a latte syrup. Ceremonial grades are for a bowl; culinary grades are for baking and milk drinks.
Origin
Japan, from Chinese powdered-tea practice that the tea ceremony kept. Uji, Nishio and Kagoshima are the names you will see. 'Matcha' on a biscuit is usually dye.
Flavour
Grassy, bitter, marine-umami and sweet in good leaf. Cheap powder is hay. Boiling water scalds it into astringency.
How it is made
Bushes are shaded so the leaves pack chlorophyll, then picked, steamed, dried as tencha, and stone-milled slowly. A blender cannot fake that particle size.
How to use it
Sift. Whisk a teaspoon with water at about 70–80°C until foam appears, then add milk. Do not pour a rolling kettle onto the powder. In batter, bloom matcha in a spoon of warm liquid first or you get green specks. Culinary grade is the right spend for cake; ceremonial grade in a muffin is a waste.
Storage
Fridge or a cool cupboard, airtight, dark. Air and light kill aroma in weeks once opened.
Recipes using it
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