Matcha
抹茶/MAH-chah/
Finely ground, shade-grown Japanese green tea.
Matcha is a powdered green tea made from shade-grown Japanese tencha leaves, slowly stone-ground into a fine, bright-green powder. Unlike steeped tea, matcha is whisked into water and consumed whole — leaf and all — which gives it dramatically higher concentrations of caffeine, L-theanine, and antioxidants than ordinary green tea. The full origin chain: Camellia sinensis plant → shaded for 2–4 weeks → harvested → steamed → dried → de-stemmed (now tencha) → stone-ground → matcha.
In practice
- Shade-grown green tea leaf, steamed, dried, de-stemmed and stone-ground to a powder of roughly 5–10 microns — fine enough to stay suspended in water rather than sinking.
- Because you drink the whole leaf rather than an infusion, one bowl delivers far more caffeine, catechins and chlorophyll than the same weight steeped and strained.
- A standard bowl is about 2 g of powder in 60–70 ml of water at 70–80 °C, carrying roughly 60–70 mg of caffeine.
- Colour is the fastest quality signal on a shop shelf: vivid jade is what shading and careful processing produce, while olive or khaki means older leaf, sun exposure, or oxidation in storage.
The common mistake
Brewing it with boiling water. Above about 85 °C the catechins extract aggressively and the result is harsh and bitter — people conclude they dislike matcha when what they dislike is a scalded bowl of it.
Questions people ask
Is matcha just powdered green tea?
No, though the confusion is understandable. Matcha comes from tencha — leaf shaded for weeks before harvest, then de-stemmed and de-veined before grinding. Ordinary powdered green tea is usually ground sencha, unshaded and complete with stem, which is why it tastes flatter, looks duller and costs a fraction as much.
How long does matcha keep?
Unopened and cool, about a year from packing. Once opened, four to six weeks before the aroma noticeably flattens. It does not spoil in a way that could make you ill — it fades, going duller in colour and hay-like in flavour. Keep the tin sealed, cold and away from light.
Related terms
Tencha
The shade-grown, dried tea leaves that become matcha.
Usucha
Thin matcha — the everyday whisked bowl.
Koicha
Thick matcha — concentrated, ceremonial-grade only.
L-theanine
The amino acid responsible for matcha's calm-focus effect.
EGCG
The most-studied antioxidant in matcha.
