Matcha
Matcha is a finely ground powder of green tea specially processed from shade-grown tea leaves. Shade growing gives matcha its characteristic bright green color and strong umami flavor. Matcha is typically consumed suspended in hot water.
Matcha emerged from Japan, where, during the Muromachi period in the 16th century, Japanese tea farmers developed shade grown cultivation in order to produce a tea leaf called Tencha made specifically for milling into Matcha. This innovation constitutes the essential process that defines modern matcha from earlier forms of powdered tea. Most matcha is produced there today. The traditional Japanese tea ceremony, typically known as chanoyu or sadō/chadō, centers on the preparation, serving and drinking of matcha as hot tea, and embodies a meditative and spiritual practice.
Matcha is also used to flavor and dye foods such as mochi and soba noodles, green tea ice cream, matcha lattes, and a variety of Japanese wagashi confectionery. For this purpose, matcha made green by color additives instead of expensive shade-grown matcha is often used.
Definition
Strict definitions of matcha are given by the International Organization for Standardization, ISO 20715:2023 "Tea — Classification of tea types", and the Japanese food labeling standard defined by Japan Tea Central Public Interest Incorporated Association.Both definitions require that matcha must be:
- made from Camellia sinensis var. sinensis
- grown in the shade
- steamed and dried without being rolled
- ground to a fine powder
Inexpensive green tea, 2=粉末茶, made by crushing non-shade grown tea leaves, is sometimes sold under the name of "matcha" although it does not satisfy the above definitions. The cheaper alternative is used to flavor and dye foods.
Characteristics
The characteristics of matcha are as follows:- Color: bright green, might be dark green depending on which leaves are used
- Flavor: strong umami flavor
- Aroma: unique, like green laver
Green tea is more umami oriented than black tea and the matcha form is particularly rich in umami flavor with twice the amino acids as sencha green tea. The amino acids, theanine, succinic acid, gallic acid, and theogallin are the primary contributors to matcha's umami flavor. The growing of tencha, which serves as the material for producing matcha, relies on the tencha plant being grown in shade, therefore, not breaking down the content of theanine on the leaves. Shading increases the amount of caffeine and total free amino acids but also reduces the accumulation of catechins in leaves.
Matcha tea contains polyphenols, including high amounts of chlorogenic acid.
In recent decades, matcha has seen growing international popularity as a health food, owing to its rich concentrations of antioxidants, particularly catechins and theanine. Clinical and preclinical research supports its health-promoting properties, including stress reduction and cognitive enhancement in humans, as well as potential cardiometabolic and anti-cancer effects in animal models.
Preparation
In production, the leaves of tencha are steamed and dried. It is usually steamed at for 10–15 seconds. The steaming softens the tea leaves and deactivates the oxidizing enzymes. The leaves are then dried in a tea processing machine and spread on a conveyor belt. The temperature inside the machine is set to approximately 170–200°C in the drying process, but the temperature of the tea leaves themselves is around 70°C.This leads to the suppression of glycosides. After drying, the tencha is aged for several months in cool, dry conditions, and blended by expert tasters. The leaves are then ground in a grinding mill to make matcha. In the past, the prepared tea leaves would be ground by hand in a single-purpose stone mill, which produces a finer grind than those used for grain and pulse flours, but today matcha producers use mechanically turned stone mills – the slow speed of grinding and use of cool grinding rooms prevents heating the tea and deteriorating the quality.
Matcha is typically consumed by mixing with hot water. There are two kinds of matcha tea - 2=濃茶 and 2=薄茶. Koicha is made by higher-grade matcha and less hot water with a lower temperature than for usucha. Usucha is foamed to reduce astringency while koicha is not foamed. Specifically, koicha is made from matcha and of hot water at, and usucha is made with half matcha in twice the volume of hot water at. Due to the above differences, koicha has more of an original taste of matcha than usucha.
In Japanese ceremony
Drinking koicha is considered the main part of Japanese tea ceremony, while drinking usucha is considered as a sub-part of it. In the ceremonies, matcha is stored and made using a special teaware called chaki. Specifically, matcha for koicha and usucha are stored in special containers, 2=茶入 and 2=棗, respectively. Before use, the matcha can be sifted through a sieve to reduce clumps. Matcha is scooped out from these containers by 2=茶杓, a traditional Japanese spoon. Matcha and hot water are then put in a 2=茶碗, the bowl, and stirred with 2=茶筅, a whisk usually made from bamboo. It is drunk from the chawan. One drinks matcha after finishing eating sweets to allow a prolonged taste of the matcha.Difference from other Japanese green tea
There are four types of powdered Japanese green tea and the differences are as follows.All of the above ones are made from Camellia sinensis var. sinensis.
Production
The majority of matcha is produced in Japan, where it is highly regarded as part of the tea ceremony, but rarely used otherwise. China and Vietnam also produce some matcha intended for export to the Japanese market.Other uses
Matcha is used in castella, manjū, and monaka; as a topping for shaved ice ; mixed with milk and sugar as a drink; and mixed with salt and used to flavor tempura in a mixture known as matcha-jio. It is also used as flavoring in many Western-style chocolates, candy, and desserts, such as cakes and pastries, including Swiss rolls and cheesecake, cookies, chou à la crème, castella, pudding, mousse, and green tea ice cream. Matcha frozen yogurt is sold in shops and can be made at home using Greek yogurt. The snacks Pocky and Kit Kat have matcha-flavoured versions in Japan. It may also be mixed into other forms of tea. For example, it is added to genmaicha to form matcha-iri genmaicha.The use of matcha in modern drinks has also spread to North American cafés, such as Starbucks, which introduced "green tea lattes" and other matcha-flavored drinks after they became successful in their Japanese store locations. As in Japan, it has become integrated into matcha lattes, iced drinks, milkshakes, and smoothies. This increase in matcha-based drinks in the U.S. is driven by a rise in consumer interest in healthier beverage options, with many opting for matcha due to its perceived health benefits and lower caffeine content compared to coffee.
History
Japan
The earliest documented reference to tea in Japan appears in the 9th century, in an entry in the concerning the Buddhist monk Eichū, who is believed to have brought tea back from China. According to the entry, Eichū personally prepared and served to Emperor Saga during an imperial excursion to Karasaki in 815. This sencha is believed to have been Chinese compressed tea, rather than the modern form of sencha in which tea leaves are steeped in hot water for infusion.In 816, by imperial order, tea plantations were established in the Kinki region. However, public interest in tea soon declined.
Introduction of powdered tea
Powdered tea is generally believed to have been introduced to Japan in 1191 by the Zen monk Eisai, who brought it from the Song dynasty in China along with tea seeds. He authored the and presented it to Minamoto no Sanetomo, the third shōgun of the Kamakura shogunate, in 1214. At the time, tea was regarded as a form of medicine. The Kissa Yōjōki describes the methods of tea preparation Eisai observed during his time in the Song dynasty. According to the text, tea leaves were plucked in the morning, steamed immediately, and then placed on a roasting rack to be left overnight. This method is believed to have been introduced to Japan at that time. However, a major difference is that modern matcha production omits the long roasting process, apart from drying for approximately 30 minutes. At the time, the tea was a brownish-black lump, rather than the bright green powder of modern matcha. It is thought that this lump tea was ground into powder and consumed in a manner similar to modern matcha.In Japan, illustrations of "matcha jars" appear in the Kundaikan sōchōki, a Muromachi-period manual on art connoisseurship and interior decoration compiled by the art connoisseurs Nōami and Sōami for the shogun Ashikaga Yoshimasa. The "Nōami-bon" and "Sōami-bon" versions of this text both include such illustrations, indicating that the term matcha was already in use in the late 15th century. Furthermore, in the oldest surviving manuscript of the Sōami-bon, the "Tōhoku University manuscript", the characters 抹茶 are glossed with the phonetic reading "Surichatsubo", indicating that the word may originally have been pronounced suricha rather than matcha.
The characters for matcha also appear in the Japanese dictionary Unpo Iroha Shū, compiled during the Muromachi period. The Book of Agriculture by Wang Zhen of the Yuan dynasty includes the terms mòchá and mòzichá. One theory suggests that these words were adopted and transformed into the term "matcha" in Japan. However, as this book was published about a century after Eisai, no documentary evidence confirms whether these terms were introduced to Japan or evolved into "matcha" by the 16th century.
Moreover, whether read as matcha or suricha, the term 抹茶 literally means "tea that has been ground". In contrast, the terms 末茶 and 末子茶 mean "tea reduced to powder," and thus differ not only in characters and pronunciation, but also in meaning.
Eisai's disciple, the monk Myōe, received a tea urn containing seeds from Eisai and established a tea plantation in Togano'o, Kyoto, by sowing them there. During the Kamakura period, Togano'o tea was known as, while teas from other regions were referred to as. Togano'o tea gained the highest reputation at the time. Myōe also established tea plantations in Uji, Kyoto, which subsequently became Japan's foremost tea-producing region.