How to Prepare Matcha - A comprehensive guide to brewing matcha and matcha lattes.
How to Prepare MatchaAfter becoming more popular among health aficionados and tea practitioners alike, matcha is experiencing extreme popularity in North America for its ease of preparation and jolt of caffeine. This vibrant, stone-ground green tea requires a bamboo whisk to unify the tea and water, as opposed to steeping the leaves over time. Compared to drinking a cup of steeped tea, directly ingesting the ground leaves provides a larger caffeine boost, as well as a dose of an amino acid called L-theanine, which balances the jittery feeling from caffeine and helps to boost and improve your mood. It’s a way to step away from daily stresses and take a moment to care and nourish yourself with tea. If you’re looking to make the switch to a tasty coffee alternative, matcha may be for you.
What is Matcha?
Matcha is a powdered green tea originating in China, but made popular and refined by Japanese farmers in recent years. It’s made from the stone-ground leaves of the camellia sinensis - the mother plant of all teas. High quality matcha is harvested in the first tea plucking of the season- in Japan, this happens around the first week of May.
The tea plants are kept in the shade by farmers for 19-30 days to develop a higher chlorophyllic content, resulting in its vibrant green colour and a spring, vegetal sweetness.
Farmers take the tencha - tea leaves processed with the removal of woody stems - to be ground in large stone mills, where it takes up to an hour to produce a mere 40 grams of tea. The slow grind of the stone mill prevents the leaves from oxidizing, and provides you with a very fine powder.
Matcha Tools
Matcha is meant to be a special experience, and presentation of tea to yourself should be as special as serving your dearest friends. By introducing these tools to your matcha, you’ll be well on your way to creating a wonderful matcha ceremony or daily ritual.
The Whisk - Made of the finest bamboo, this whisk is designed to integrate as much air into your tea as possible to produce the signature, luscious froth. Keep it on its holder to maintain the whisk’s shape, and allow for the whisk to dry without cracking the handle.
Bamboo Scoop - While any teaspoon would do, the bamboo spoon is an aesthetic and traditional addition to the matcha kit. This sturdy scoop is perfect for doling out your daily matcha and the bamboo material keeps the matcha from picking up any metallic taste.
Matcha Bowl - This bowl has been created to be wide enough to give the matcha whisk enough space to move within the bowl. Its flat bottom helps the prongs break apart the matcha clumps with ease, creating a smooth and thick concoction. Check out our matcha bowl Sourced from Common Goods Studio in Markham, Ontario.
Matcha Preparation
The art of making matcha is aligned with the Japanese philosophy of Wabi-Sabi, where transience and flaws are essential to the daily matcha practice. Matcha preparation celebrates the imperfections with each stroke of your whisk. Each cup you make will be a unique experience for you to enjoy.
Ceremonial Matcha Directions:
Fill your kettle with spring or filtered water and bring it to about 75°C. Hotter water may result in a more bitter brew.
Warm up your matcha bowl with hot water. Place your bamboo whisk inside the bowl of water to soften the bristles. This will help ensure the bristles don’t break when whisking and help preserve your whisk for longer use.
Discard hot water and dry your bowl with cloth.
Scoop 2 grams or 1.5 teaspoons of matcha with your bamboo scoop, about 1.5 scoops.
Place matcha in your bowl. Optional - Place the matcha in a small fine mesh sieve over the matcha bowl, and sift matcha evenly around the surface of the bowl. This is not necessary, but will ensure you won’t have any lumps in your matcha after whisking.
Add 2-3oz or 60-90ml of hot water to your bowl. Begin whisking matcha vigorously in an “M” shape using your wrist, making sure your whisk doesn’t touch the bottom of your bowl. Whisk for about 30 seconds, or until your matcha has a uniform froth on the surface, like a good quality latte.
Enjoy!
Matcha Latte Directions:
Follow the steps for ceremonial matcha directions.
Grab your milk and sweetener of choice. Add 8 oz of milk to a pitcher and sweeten to taste.
Steam or heat your milk or milk alternative of choice to 80-85°C.
Pour milk over your freshly whisked matcha.
Enjoy!
Meet Your Matcha
The difference is in the details with these distinct cultivars, brought to you from the Nagatani family in Ujitawara, Kyoto. Click here to discover our Daily Drinker and our Ceremonial Matchas.