Koicha
濃茶/KOY-chah/
Thick matcha — concentrated, ceremonial-grade only.
Also known as: thick tea
Koicha ("thick tea") is the concentrated form of matcha — about 4 grams of matcha kneaded into 30 ml of water until it forms a glossy, paint-like consistency. Stronger, sweeter, and far more umami than usucha, koicha is reserved for high ceremonial-grade matcha; anything less smooth or less sweet becomes unpleasant at this concentration. Koicha is whisked slowly in a folding motion, not aerated. It's the strongest serving you'll encounter — about 130 mg of caffeine in a single bowl.
In practice
- 'Thick tea' — roughly 4 g of matcha to 30 ml of water, about four times the concentration of usucha. The result has the consistency of warm single cream.
- Kneaded rather than whisked. The chasen moves slowly in a folding motion; whisking fast produces foam, which is a fault in koicha.
- Demands the highest grade you can get. The concentration amplifies everything, so any bitterness in the powder becomes overwhelming.
- In a formal tea gathering koicha is the centrepiece, served from a single bowl shared among guests, with usucha following afterwards as the lighter close.
The common mistake
Making it with culinary or standard ceremonial matcha. At this concentration the astringency of a mid-grade powder is genuinely unpleasant — koicha needs a matcha explicitly sold as suitable for it.
Questions people ask
Why does my koicha come out lumpy?
Almost always because the powder was not sifted, or the water went in all at once. Sift the matcha into the bowl, add a small amount of water first, and work it into a smooth paste before adding the rest. At this ratio there is not enough liquid to break up lumps once they have formed.
