Shaded tea in powdered form. You don’t drink an infusion — you drink the whole leaf, slowly stone-milled.
Matcha isn’t tea in the usual sense. Green tencha leaves are shaded before harvest, dried and slowly milled into a powder so fine it dissolves in water. When you drink matcha, you drink the whole leaf. That’s why 2 grams are enough where loose-leaf tea would need ten.
The tradition reaches back to the 12th century, when the monk Eisai brought it to Japan. Today it belongs to tea ceremonies, the morning ritual and modern cafe culture alike.
Three to four weeks before harvest the bushes are covered with mats. Without sun the leaves slow their photosynthesis and build up chlorophyll and amino acids — the reason matcha is so vividly green and gently sweet.
Only the young top leaves of the first harvest (shincha) are picked. The leaves — known as tencha, the raw material for matcha — are then steamed, dried and stripped of veins and stems.
Tencha is ground on a granite mill so slowly that an hour’s work yields only 30–40 grams. The slow grind keeps the temperature low and preserves the colour, aroma and flavour.
A high concentration of catechins (especially EGCG); because you consume the whole leaf, the amount is several times higher than in a steeped green tea.
The amino acid L-theanine paired with a gentle dose of caffeine brings on focus without the jitters. That’s why matcha is the drink of monks and students.
Caffeine from matcha releases more slowly than from coffee. No spike, no crash. Just five quiet hours of focus.
Three quality grades, differing in when and how the leaves are picked. The finest go to the tea ceremony; the most workaday, to the bakery.
The highest grade, from the first harvest. Delicate flavour, pronounced umami, a deep green colour. Prepared with water — never with milk.
A slightly more robust flavour, still from the first or second harvest. Works in a latte or on its own — a good balance of price and quality.
A coarser powder from later harvests. Bolder, slightly bitter — ideal where matcha sits beneath other ingredients.
Two ceremonial matchas and hojicha. Always from the first harvest, always in limited batches.
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