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Copyright © 2025 Foodies Only
Copyright © 2025 Foodies Only
5 min
18/12/2025
You must’ve heard of matcha green tea, which is known for its health benefits, bright, fresh flavour, and caffeine boost. This Japanese green tea is really popular right now. So, what exactly is Matcha Green Tea? Matcha has a long and interesting history. Aside from that, there is so much missing from the flavour and experience of ordering a matcha latte.
If you are unfamiliar with matcha, it is a Japanese green tea powder prepared from finely ground dried tea leaves. It has a slightly bitter, vegetal flavour and a vivid green colour from the leaves' high chlorophyll content. It has formed the foundation of traditional Japanese tea rituals for generations, but it has recently gained popularity around the world due to its health benefits and aesthetic appeal.
Essentially, one can say that matcha denotes "ground tea" as it is a tea that is made from green tea leaves, which are ground into a powder. Green teas are usually steeped in water, but matcha is mixed directly with the water using a bamboo whisk or chasen.
However, the term matcha may also be interpreted differently in different contexts. It can be a drink, a culture, or even a spiritual discipline. The meaning of matcha changes depending on the person.
The production of the best matcha teas involves selecting just the top two leaves that are mildly cooked and dried briefly. This process helps to keep the tencha nutrient-rich ingredients and vibrant green colour. After this, the parts that come from the stem and the veins of the leaf are separated from the most delicate portions of the leaf. These portions are ground into a very fine powder using granite stone mills. The slow grinding process only produces 30-40 gm of matcha can be produced every hour. The high prices of the best matcha teas can be explained by their production, laborious cultivation, and manual harvest.
Matcha has been made and used in Japan for many years. Now it is slowly but steadily becoming famous in Europe and America. This is due to the complex ingredients and unique flavour.
When drinking matcha tea, one takes the whole leaf, and therefore, the powder is much more nutrient-dense compared to other forms of tea. Apart from a wide range of vitamins (A, B1, B2, B6, C, E) and minerals (copper, iron, potassium, zinc), matcha also has a very high content of L-theanine, caffeine, and antioxidants. The amino acid L-theanine helps the body relax and improves focus. Caffeine is a source of energy and is perfect as a morning pick-me-up. It is less stimulating than caffeine in coffee, and a longer-lasting effect is associated with it. Matcha tea has the highest amount of antioxidants known to man, above all other superfoods.
Matcha tea is known to be extremely beneficial due to the diverse nature of its constituents, such as antioxidants, amino acids, and vitamins. Certainly, the fine powder is a source of numerous stimulating and vital nutrients for our bodies, and at the same time, it has a far higher nutrient density than regular teas. Just here, you can see exactly what ingredients it has.
Inexpensive and low-quality matcha may mislead you when buying, as you might not understand what is really in the jar. Surely, the tea might have been blended with some fillers or synthetic colourings to reduce the costs of production and raise the profits. Besides, it is quite probable that the bright green colour, which is a trademark of good quality matcha, is less vibrant since poor matcha is, more often than not, made of old tea leaves which have already lost their freshness. Moreover, low-quality matcha could have a flat and bitter taste, contrary to high-quality matcha, which is characterised by a sweet, umami-rich flavour. The same goes for the tea's beneficial side, which, to begin with, is made up of antioxidants and amino acids, but finally, these compounds are lost, giving rise to an array of health benefits such as cardiovascular and cognitive support.
The variety of matcha qualities has expanded nowadays, and that is why you come across different matcha labels. Sometimes teas come with these kinds of adjectives like ceremonial, supreme, premium, or even super-premium to indicate the highest quality. Nevertheless, none of these terms is protected; thus, the labels mean nothing.
The quality of matcha tea is dependent on factors such as its origin, cultivation, and processing methods. These points have a great impact on the product's consistency, colour, fragrance, and taste. These factors enable you to analyse a tea really quickly. A high-quality tea will have a very fine powder which is green in colour and almost odourless, yet when smelling, you can catch a fruity and floral scent, a flavour that is rich and sweet, and a creamy taste in the mouth.
The first thing to do is to put it in a bowl or mug. Since matcha tends to form lumps, it is always advisable to sift it before mixing with water. If not, the tea may be difficult to disperse uniformly in the liquid, leaving your drink lumpy.
After that, put a very small amount of water that is just off the boil and mix. But, wait! This is not the circular whisking that you do when baking or scrambling eggs. Instead, quickly whisk from side to side, i.e. either directly back and forth or in a zigzag manner, to evenly dissolve the powder in the liquid and create a frothy layer on the surface. If you whisk your tea in a circular motion, it will not foam.
Finally, complement the drink with more hot water or steamed milk. Matcha green tea is traditionally made with just tea powder and water; however, it can be converted into a latte by adding steamed milk at the end. Additionally, you are free to do it with almond milk, coconut milk, or your very own homemade oat milk. Whisk once more until frothy, sweeten to taste if you wish, and serve!
If you are looking to buy good-quality matcha in India, here are a few points you must consider:
Firstly, Indian e-commerce sites are loaded with a varied range of matcha powders that you can buy online. A lot of vendors get authentic Japanese green tea powder and also deliver all over India. So, without going to a store, you can easily look at options and compare them.
How to check if the matcha powder is authentic? One can find terms such as "ceremonial grade," "culinary grade," or "first-harvest leaves" that point to products of high quality and can be used both for drinking and baking. A trusted source elaborates on how quality is broken into grades, i.e., ceremonial, daily, and culinary.
Besides, it is also worth mentioning local Indian speciality tea shops and health-food stores: a number of them bring in matcha or have better domestic blends, thus giving you the opportunity to inspect the packaging and taste before buying. Along with this, by checking freshness (matcha loses its qualities when exposed to air/light), you will be able to pick the one that suits your taste, consumption, and budget.
Matcha is not just a brightly coloured powder; it is a meditative ritual, a potent antioxidant, and a bridge between the past and the present. Whatever be the mode of consumption - tea or desserts - its earthy flavour never fails to attract the new consumers while, at the same time, it is faithful to the centuries-old Japanese artisanship and the art of quiet, deliberate living.
