About MatchaWhat
An independent reference site about matcha — what it is, how to make it, what it tastes like, which tools are worth the money, and how it compares to coffee and other green teas. Written by people who drink it daily and weigh it before they write about it.
Why this site exists
Most matcha content online has one of two problems. Either it is sponsored copy wearing an article's clothes, or it is a one-sentence answer to a question that genuinely needed three paragraphs and a number.
The tell is that the numbers contradict each other. One page says brew at 70 °C, the next says 80 °C, neither says why, and neither mentions that the reading it matters at is the one in the bowl rather than in the kettle. We started MatchaWhat to be the version of that page we kept failing to find: specific, measured, and willing to say "this varies, here is the range" instead of inventing certainty.
Who writes it
The MatchaWhat Desk
Editorial team
MatchaWhat is written and maintained by a small independent editorial desk rather than a rotating cast of freelancers. We publish under a desk byline because the work is shared and because one name stays accountable for every factual claim on the site. Figures are taken from published sources and cited where they appear, health claims are kept conservative and sourced, and corrections are made in the open.
What that means in practice
- Sources caffeine, nutrition and price figures from published references
- Cites those sources at the point of the claim rather than in a footer
- Re-checks published figures on a rolling schedule
- Reads and answers every correction email sent to the site
We publish under a desk byline rather than individual names. That is a deliberate choice about how the work is actually done — drafted by one of us, edited by the other, signed off together — and not an attempt to obscure who is accountable. The email below reaches us directly, and we answer it.
Editorial principles
Specific numbers, not vague reassurance
Grams, millilitres, temperatures and prices, given as figures you can act on. Where a number is a typical value rather than a fixed one, the page says so instead of pretending to a precision the ingredient does not have.
Ranges, not false precision
Matcha is agricultural. Caffeine and catechin content shift with cultivar, shading, harvest and grind. We give a typical figure and the range around it, and we say when a number is an estimate.
We link what we cite
Health and nutrition claims point at the original source — currently 5 institutional references, each re-opened and verified on our review cycle rather than cited once and forgotten.
Advertising only
The site is funded by ads. We take no paid placements, no sponsored posts, and no payment for inclusion in a buying guide. No advertiser sees a guide before publication.
Corrections are visible
When we get something wrong we fix it within a week and note the change at the foot of the article. A correction that leaves no trace isn't a correction.
The long version — our testing method, sourcing standards, how we use AI tools, the review schedule, and what happens when we get something wrong — is set out in the editorial policy.
What we are not
We are not a shop — nothing on this site is for sale and we hold no stock. We are not a medical resource: we write about a caffeinated drink, we cite the institutional guidance where health comes into it, and we tell you to take the personal version of that question to a doctor. And we are not a brand's marketing arm. When a producer's name appears in a grade guide, it is because readers ask about it.
Get in touch
Spotted a factual error, a stale price, or a question that deserves its own guide? The MatchaWhat Desk reads every message sent to [email protected]. Corrections jump the queue.
