I have found a beautiful, tranquil little teahouse in the heart of Helsinki specialising in Chinese teas! TeeMaa teahouse is run by a lovely woman from Hunan. They are doing a series of tea workshops, and the first one I attend is actually about a Japanese tea!
What is Matcha?
Matcha is a Japanese green tea in fine powder form. It’s used in the traditional Japanese tea ceremony where the whole tea leaf is consumed. These days, you’ll also find matcha in a wide variety of foods, drinks and beauty products – matcha ice cream, matcha lattes, matcha face masks… The quality of matcha varies widely depending on the leaf cultivar and production techniques, and is produced as either ceremonial grade or culinary grade.
measuring out the matcha
How is Matcha produced?
Matcha is made from a tea called Tencha, the name of the dried tea before it is ground. Tencha tea bushes are covered for 2-5 weeks before plucking. Shading the tea leaves from the sun like this inhibits photosynthesis, increasing chlorophyll levels and producing a lovely deep green colour. The result is a boost in natural plant sugars, amino acids and caffeine which gives a sweet creamy taste with low bitterness. After drying, the stalks and veins are removed from the leaves which are then ground into a fine powder. The highest quality matcha is ground using traditional granite stone wheels. The speed of the grinding is very important for the flavour and colour. A slow grind reduces the friction and heat generated, preserving the tea’s freshness and bright green colour, whereas faster grinding will roast the tea leaf and turn the colour a more yellowish green.
not a bad first effort at preparing matcha!
How is Matcha prepared?
There are two methods of preparing matcha, thick and thin. We prepared ours thin. Matcha is measured out using a special bamboo scoop. We put 2 scoops, about 1.5-2g, into a bowl. Usually you would sift the matcha and add around 100ml of hot water, 70-80 degrees. Mikka, TeeMaa’s resident matcha expert, had his own method of preparation. He skipped the sifting, added a small amount of cold water first and gave this a whisk. Then added just under the boil water and continued to whisk. At first the whisking motion is from front to back, and then round at a slant to catch the bigger bubbles. The aim is to create a layer of foam consisting of small bubbles on top of the liquid. Having a loose grip and whisking from the wrist helps.
whisking up the foam
Matcha tea tasting
We tasted matchas from two of the main producing areas of Japan, Yame and Uji, as well as one made from Chinese green tea.
Shamila from Uji (silver and pink tin); Pond White from Yame (black tin)
“Pond White” (black tin) is from Yame, Fukuoka. This one is Mikka’s favourite and is very typical of the region. It gave a brilliant green colour with a good foam. Very smooth with a creamy mouthfeel, it was lovely and mellow with hardly a trace of bitterness.
Shamila (silver and pink tin) is from Uji, near Kyoto, the birthplace of Japanese tea. According to Mikka, this is the classic Uji taste – grassy and a little bit bitter. There’s such a difference in the flavour profiles of Uji and Yame matchas. Uji is bold and unapologetic, while Yame is the more laidback matcha!
We moved on to try a lower grade matcha, Matcha Magic Zen. The inferior grade was immediately obvious by the colour of the powder, a much more pale yellowy green than the other two. Another tell-tale sign was the difficulty in getting and retaining a good foam. The final test came in the tasting. The powder was coarser and gave a powdery mouthfeel and a more diluted flavour.
comparing foam: basic grade matcha on the left, Pond White matcha on the right
Finally, the matcha from China. This one is made from ground green tea leaves that probably have not undergone the stringent production methods required to make Tencha. First of all, the smell of the powder is quite unpleasant. It was very difficult to whisk up a good foam, and the bubbles very quickly disappeared. And yes, the taste was also pretty unpleasant with a very chalky mouthfeel from the coarse powder.
Matcha has been missing from my tea collection, but no more! I now have my whisk, my bamboo scoop and matcha. Which one did I go for? Pond White from Yame. Guess I was in a mellow kind of mood.