Blog
Long-form guides on the parts of matcha you actually use — preparation, tools, caffeine, and the details that separate good matcha from forgettable matcha.
By category
The blog covers four main areas of matcha that come up over and over in reader questions. Browse all articles below, or jump to a category that fits your current question:
Preparation
8
Sifting, water temp, whisking technique.
Tools
2
Chasen care, what to buy, what to skip.
Caffeine
0
Doses, timing, comparisons.
Guides
29
Long-form explainers and decision frameworks.
All articles
Newest first.
- RecipesAug 22, 20266 min read
Matcha martini: the build that works, and the one that curdles
Whisk the matcha first, shake it cold, and keep dairy away from the citrus. Two ratios, the curdling trap, and why your martini turns brown before it reaches the table.
Read article - RecipesAug 22, 20267 min read
Matcha cocktails: eight builds that work, and the rules behind them
Whisk first, shake cold, keep dairy away from citrus. Eight builds from a matcha beer to a matcha spritz, and the three rules that decide whether any of them work.
Read article - GuidesAug 22, 20266 min read
Matcha tea bags: a contradiction in terms, and when they still make sense
Matcha means drinking the whole ground leaf. A bag strains it out — so most matcha tea bags are green tea with a little matcha dusted in. What you get, and when it is still worth it.
Read article - GuidesAug 22, 20265 min read
Matcha K-Cups: what is in the pod, and why the machine is the problem
A Keurig brews near boiling and filters what it brews. Matcha needs 75°C and needs its solids. The pods that exist, why they taste flat, and the thirty-second alternative.
Read article - GuidesAug 22, 20266 min read
Matcha and colostrum: why the stack took off, and what the evidence says
The pairing is a texture decision that got marketed as a health one. What colostrum is, why it works better in matcha than in coffee, and what the research does and does not support.
Read article - GuidesAug 22, 20265 min read
Is matcha acidic? No — it is mildly alkaline, around pH 9
Whisked matcha measures around pH 8.5 to 9 — alkaline, not acidic. Why that makes it gentler than coffee on reflux and enamel, and why it is not the whole story for your stomach.
Read article - GuidesAug 16, 20265 min read
How to order a less sweet matcha at Starbucks (and what doesn't work)
The sweetness is inside the powder, so half the internet's advice for ordering it "unsweetened" is asking baristas to remove something that was never there. Here is what actually works.
Read article - GuidesAug 16, 20266 min read
Is matcha a laxative? Not technically — but it acts like a mild one
Matcha contains nothing classified as a laxative, yet most people get a predictable bathroom trip 30 to 60 minutes after a bowl. Both statements are true, and the gap between them is the interesting part.
Read article - GuidesAug 16, 20264 min read
Does matcha make your pee green? No — but it does change your poop
Matcha turns stool green often enough that people assume urine is next. It isn't — and the reason why is a clean lesson in how the two systems differ.
Read article - GuidesAug 3, 20266 min read
Is matcha sweet? Yes — but not in the way you're expecting
Proper matcha has real, unsweetened sweetness — closer to sweet peas and corn than to sugar. It comes from amino acids the shading process protects, which is also why cheap matcha tastes bitter instead.
Read article - PreparationAug 3, 20266 min read
The best honey for matcha: 6 varieties ranked, and 4 that ruin it
Honey is the best-tasting sweetener for hot matcha, but only the mild ones. Six varieties ranked against matcha's flavour, four that bulldoze it, and the 60 °C rule that decides whether your honey still tastes like honey.
Read article - GuidesAug 3, 20268 min read
Matcha benefits: what the evidence actually supports
Drinking the whole leaf gives matcha a genuinely high catechin dose, and the caffeine-plus-L-theanine pairing is the most defensible claim it makes. Here's what holds up, what doesn't, and where the studied doses sit relative to one bowl.
Read article - GuidesAug 3, 20268 min read
Matcha side effects: what too much does, and who should be careful
At one to three bowls a day matcha is well tolerated by most healthy adults. The genuine cautions are narrower and more specific than the internet suggests — and one of the loudest warnings is about supplements, not tea.
Read article - GuidesAug 3, 20267 min read
When to drink matcha: morning, empty stomach, pre-workout, and the cut-off
Matcha timing comes down to three things: don't drink it fasted if your stomach objects, keep it away from iron-rich meals, and respect caffeine's five-to-six hour half-life. Everything else is preference.
Read article - GuidesAug 3, 20267 min read
Does matcha help you lose weight? An honest look at a small effect
The EGCG-and-caffeine effect on metabolism is real, measurable, and much smaller than the marketing implies. What actually moves the needle is what the bowl replaces, not what's in it.
Read article - GuidesAug 3, 20267 min read
Why is matcha so expensive? The stone mill is most of the answer
Shading, hand-picking, and de-veining all add cost, but the bottleneck is the mill: a granite wheel yields roughly 30 to 40 grams an hour and cannot be rushed without cooking the flavour out.
Read article - GuidesAug 3, 20265 min read
Does matcha stain teeth? Yes, mildly — far less than coffee
Matcha does stain, gently, through the same tannin mechanism as every other tea. It also brings antibacterial catechins and natural fluoride, which makes the overall oral-health picture better than the staining question suggests.
Read article - GuidesAug 3, 20267 min read
How to tell if matcha is good quality: six checks before you buy
Vivid jade rather than olive, silky rather than sandy, and an origin more specific than 'Japan'. The checks that actually predict what ends up in the bowl.
Read article - GuidesAug 3, 20266 min read
Japanese vs Chinese matcha: what the origin label actually tells you
The gap is not national pride, it's process: shading, steaming instead of pan-firing, and a granite mill. Where Chinese matcha is a bargain and where it isn't.
Read article - PreparationAug 3, 20265 min read
Matcha water temperature: 75 °C, and why boiling ruins it
Water temperature is the cheapest fix for bitter matcha and the one most people get wrong. Above 80 °C you extract catechins faster than amino acids, and bitterness arrives before sweetness.
Read article - RecipesAug 3, 20267 min read
How to bake with matcha without turning it brown and bitter
Two things ruin baked matcha: heat and enthusiasm. Culinary grade, restrained quantities, and a few structural tricks keep the colour green and the flavour recognisable.
Read article - GuidesAug 3, 20265 min read
Can you eat matcha powder straight? Yes, but there's no reason to
Dry matcha is safe to swallow and genuinely awful to experience — bitter, dusty, and rougher on an empty stomach than the same powder whisked into water. What it does and what to do instead.
Read article - GuidesJul 19, 20266 min read
Does Green Tea Make You Poop? Yes — Why, and How Fast
Yes — for most people, within 30 to 60 minutes. Caffeine fires the colon's natural reflex and catechins add a mild push. How green tea compares to matcha and coffee, what chai and yerba mate do, and how to turn the effect down.
Read article - PreparationJul 19, 20265 min read
How Much Matcha Per Cup? 2 g (1 Tsp) — Full Ratio Chart
2 grams — about one level teaspoon, or two chashaku scoops — to 60–80 ml of water. That's the standard bowl. The exact ratio for every other matcha drink, the gram-to-spoon conversions, and why heaping spoons are the #1 cause of bitter matcha.
Read article - GuidesJul 13, 20266 min read
Can matcha cause diarrhea? Yes — the 5 causes and how to fix them
It can, though the matcha itself is often not the culprit. Empty-stomach catechins, oversized doses, and the milk in your latte each explain more cases than the tea does. How to tell which one is yours, and how to fix it.
Read article - GuidesJul 13, 20265 min read
Does matcha make your poop green? Yes — and it's normal
It can, and it's almost always harmless. Matcha carries an unusually high chlorophyll load and speeds up gut transit — two independent routes to green stool. What's happening, and the few cases worth a second look.
Read article - GuidesJul 13, 20266 min read
Does matcha cause constipation? Rarely — it usually helps
For most people matcha helps: caffeine triggers the colon's natural reflex, and the whole ground leaf adds fiber steeped teas don't have. The mechanism, the morning protocol that works, and the rare ways matcha backfires.
Read article - PreparationJun 5, 20265 min read
The best sweetener for matcha: all 8 ranked for hot, iced, and lattes
Maple for iced, honey for hot, simple syrup for anything sparkling. A practical ranking of all eight common sweeteners against matcha's flavor, with the one-rule fix for each drink format.
Read article - GuidesMay 30, 20266 min read
Mushroom matcha: what it is, what the science says, and whether it's worth it
Matcha plus lion's mane, reishi, chaga, or cordyceps — the trendiest drink in the functional-beverage aisle. What's actually in the tin, what the research supports, and when you're better off buying the parts separately.
Read article - GuidesMay 24, 20266 min read
Matcha grades explained — and why 'ceremonial' isn't a regulated term
Here's the industry secret: no official body certifies 'ceremonial grade.' The tiers are useful shorthand, not standards. How to read them — and how to judge a matcha with your own eyes instead.
Read article - GuidesMay 19, 20269 min read
The matcha plant: what matcha is made from, and can you grow it?
There is no special 'matcha plant.' Matcha comes from Camellia sinensis — the same species as every true tea — transformed by three weeks of shade. The botany, the cultivars, the regions, and what it takes to grow one.
Read article - PreparationMay 14, 20265 min read
Does matcha expire? What the date on the tin actually means
Matcha rarely becomes unsafe — it becomes boring. The difference between expired and stale, what the best-by date really means, and what to do with a tin past its prime.
Read article - GuidesMay 9, 20265 min read
Matcha calories: from a 6-calorie bowl to a 240-calorie latte
Plain whisked matcha: about 6 calories. A grande café matcha latte: 240. Everything between those two numbers is milk and sugar — here's the breakdown, drink by drink.
Read article - GuidesMay 4, 20266 min read
Can you drink matcha while pregnant? What the caffeine math says
Yes, in moderation. A standard bowl of matcha has about 66 mg of caffeine — a third of the 200 mg daily limit recommended during pregnancy. The math, the one real caveat, and the questions to ask your doctor.
Read article - GuidesApr 26, 20265 min read
Does matcha make you poop? Yes — how fast, why, and what helps
Yes — matcha usually does. Caffeine plus catechins plus whole-leaf fiber make matcha hit faster than coffee at the same caffeine dose. The science, the timing, and how to dial it down.
Read article - GuidesApr 25, 20266 min read
Ceremonial vs culinary matcha: which one should you actually buy?
Ceremonial is for drinking plain. Culinary is for lattes and baking. The mistake everyone makes is treating them as the same product at different prices.
Read article - PreparationApr 22, 20264 min read
How to store matcha so it doesn't go stale in three weeks
Open a $40 tin of matcha, leave it on the counter for a month, and it's a $40 tin of dull green dust. Three habits that prevent it.
Read article - ToolsApr 20, 20265 min read
How to care for your bamboo matcha whisk so it actually lasts a year
Six to twelve months with care, three months without. The whisk routine that doubles a chasen's life.
Read article - GuidesApr 18, 20267 min read
How matcha is made — from shaded bush to your bowl
Six weeks of shading. Twenty minutes of steaming. Hours of stone milling for thirty grams of finished matcha. The full chain from bush to bowl.
Read article - PreparationApr 1, 20264 min read
Why your matcha tastes bitter — and how to fix it in five minutes
Bitter matcha isn't your matcha — it's almost always preparation. Five fixes, in order of impact.
Read article - PreparationMar 12, 20263 min read
The five-minute morning matcha routine
Five minutes from cold kitchen to a bowl in your hands. Repeatable, no ceremony required.
Read article - ToolsFeb 4, 20265 min read
Buying your first matcha set without overpaying or under-buying
Three tiers, three honest configurations. Skip the cheap 7-piece sets — here's where the value actually is.
Read article
