Matcha (Powdered Green Tea)

I've been reading Taiko by Eiji Yoshikawa (a Japanese samurai epic), and since tea is a hobby of mine, I've thought about trying matcha. Like shaving though, there seems to be quite an investment in order to try it - purchasing the chasen (bamboo whisk) and the powdered tea itself, which can run from anywhere between $20USD to $600USD an ounce.

Is it worth trying and getting into? I personally love sencha and gyokuro, so what makes matcha so special?

Matcha is one of the current "hot things from Asia". People give big points to its antioxidant properties.

I think Starbuck's has a matcha latte, right? And Jamba Juice puts it in as a boost.

My wife likes to make her own matcha lattes with rice milk. No fancy bamboo whisk, just blends it into a paste with water. When I do it for her, I used a hand blender.

She gets a tiny canister of it from Whole Foods for like $35 I think. Don't sneeze into that thing or you've got a mess, lemme tell ya.

IMHO I think it shouldn't be made into an everyday thing. It's too special and expensive. And, frankly, it's too intense as a tea for everyday drinking. It's a little depressing to see it so mainstreamed into every chain's drink.

There is a very small Japanese store in Montreal that carries exotic and rare tea. The lady is very knowledgeable and the website gives a lot of info.

http://www.ruchiyama.com/

kongjie said:

IMHO I think it shouldn't be made into an everyday thing. It's too special and expensive. And, frankly, it's too intense as a tea for everyday drinking. It's a little depressing to see it so mainstreamed into every chain's drink.

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I agree it is quite sad that it is now everywhere. However, an upside for us is that resources for getting high quality matcha are more available. Also, a person wanting to make the more traditional tea is able to do so. Granted, I like your blender idea.

Texican said:

I've been reading Taiko by Eiji Yoshikawa (a Japanese samurai epic), and since tea is a hobby of mine, I've thought about trying matcha. Like shaving though, there seems to be quite an investment in order to try it - purchasing the chasen (bamboo whisk) and the powdered tea itself, which can run from anywhere between $20USD to $600USD an ounce.

Is it worth trying and getting into? I personally love sencha and gyokuro, so what makes matcha so special?

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Matcha is basically like green tea concentrate. Matcha is used in food products to infuse green tea flavor (like with green tea ice cream) a little goes a long way. If you enjoy the mildness of Sencha, you may not like Matcha.

If you believe the hype, the process of creating it is rediculously time consuming, along with the fact it was only used in Tea Ceremonies, this somehow justifies the insane price.

mecha_buddha said:

Matcha is basically like green tea concentrate. Matcha is used in food products to infuse green tea flavor (like with green tea ice cream) a little goes a long way. If you enjoy the mildness of Sencha, you may not like Matcha.

If you believe the hype, the process of creating it is rediculously time consuming, along with the fact it was only used in Tea Ceremonies, this somehow justifies the insane price.

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I just thought about trying it since I like green tea ice cream (I'm not a dessert connoisseur like my wife). But since I rarely believe in hype, I'll probably just purchase some nice Buddha Palm Oolong and Gyokuro from Upton for the same price that I would end up spending for 40 grams of matcha, plus a chasen.

I rather like an Oolong I get from Red Blossom Tea up in San Francisco. They do mail order if you're interested. It's milk-infused and has an amazing fragrance.

http://www.redblossomtea.com/details.php?sec=anxi&item=51

Texican, if you PM me with your address, I can send you a bit in an envelope, enough for a couple cups.

kongjie said:

I rather like an Oolong I get from Red Blossom Tea up in San Francisco. They do mail order if you're interested. It's milk-infused and has an amazing fragrance.

http://www.redblossomtea.com/details.php?sec=anxi&item=51

Texican, if you PM me with your address, I can send you a bit in an envelope, enough for a couple cups.

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Oh! Much obliged. PM sent.

Matcha is definitely worth pursuing-- it's completely different than sencha and gyokuro, but if you like those you will more than likely enjoy matcha. I recommend sticking with specialized Japanese tea vendors like Den's Tea, O-Cha.com (highly recommended), or Hibiki-an. There are plenty of other good vendors too, but these three are some of the more highly regarded by us tea folks.

For a first matcha, you can't go wrong with O-Cha's "Kiri-no-Mori"; it's ~$15 for 30g, and is an excellent matcha. Also, when looking for whisks, keep in mind that you will likely have to spend a bit more for a Japanese-made whisk, so if you see a cheap one, it's probably Chinese-made. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, but do they tend to be poorly made and wear out much more quickly.

When your TAD (teaware acquisition disorder) really gets out of hand, check out Artistic Nippon-- they have great chawans (tea bowls). Check out their Tokoname Kyūsu as well, they have a fantastic selection, and are ideal for sencha and gyokuro.

A couple other links:

http://anotherteablog.blogspot.com: This is a great tea blog, and the author (Alex) writes a lot about matcha-- it's a good place to get instructions and reviews.

http://www.teachat.com: This is where all the cool tea people hang out. Drop on by, there is a pretty active chat, and has a lot of knowledgeable, active members.

Also, with regard to some of the above comments: 1) Preparing matcha in the traditional manner, with a whisk and bowl, is not hype. It's history, and it's delicious. 2) Matcha is *NOT* green tea concentrate. It is produced in a very different manner. It is also incredibly smooth and can be milder than sencha if prepared correctly. 3) It is not only used in the tea ceremony. It is expensive because it takes an incredible amount of time and labor to produce matcha.

Texican said:

I've been reading Taiko by Eiji Yoshikawa (a Japanese samurai epic), and since tea is a hobby of mine, I've thought about trying matcha. Like shaving though, there seems to be quite an investment in order to try it - purchasing the chasen (bamboo whisk) and the powdered tea itself, which can run from anywhere between $20USD to $600USD an ounce.

Is it worth trying and getting into? I personally love sencha and gyokuro, so what makes matcha so special?

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Interesting. I'm a HUGE tea fan (with a pantry full of black, oolong, chinese green, white and puerh tea), but I've kept almost all my acqusitions well under $100/lb (tho' I have paid up to $108/lb. for white tea).

But I've never developed a taste for Japanese green tea -- I find it too vegetal tasting.
Although in my Camellian pursuits, I did learn of a reputable site for Japanese tea: http://www.o-cha.com.

I'm curious. Do you find that you have to pay strict attention to preparation? No matter what I did, I found that I couldn't get a cup that I enjoyed.

Cheers,

- Richard

Richard,

Yes, Japanese teas are finicky. Out of blacks, oolongs, puerhs, etc., Japanese greens are the hardest for me to get just right. Also, there is a lot of crappy Japanese tea out there. I recommend taking a look at some of the vendors I posted above-- especially O-Cha. The Yukata Midori and Hatsumi senchas from O-Cha are spectacular, and not very vegetal at all if you pay close attention.

I might be going against the grain with this. I picked up a small packet of matcha through amazon. Not sure of the name, but it did have decent reviews. Being new to tea, the reviews were good enough for me. It was last year, but I do remember it being pretty inexpensive for matcha.

It was a bit vegetal tasting, but in a good way. It also seemed that I always had horrible gas the following morning after drinking it at night Might have been something I ate though. Anyways, you might be able to pick up cheap packet to at least get the idea of the taste. I used no whisk or bowl etc. either.

Matcha....where do I start? There are so many different types and grades available it almost defies comprehension. If you are seriously looking I can check some out for you over here...are you interested in any other types of Japanese tea? Genmai-cha? Houji-cha? Sen-cha? You can also get chasen (bamboo whisk) fairly cheaply here though they of course range greatly in price.

The most famous tea store i know of (Ippoudou) in Kyoto makes the most amazing macha...so thick you have to wait about 5 seconds for it to hit your mouth after you tip the bowl...damn!