What is Matcha? 🍵 Japanese Matcha Explained Simply -Question Asked During International Tea Festival

In this video, Kei Nishida, CEO of Japanese Green Tea Co., explains what matcha is. Kei answers questions from an interviewer at the International Virtual Tea Festival 2020. 

Video Script:

- I'm not as familiar with the matcha green tea.

Can you tell me some more about it?

I know you have videos out there I could watch, but tell me a little bit about it.

- Yup, okay. Matcha tea. This is loose leaf green tea. I don't know if you can see, it's a tea leaf. Matcha looks like this and it's powder.

- Powdery, yes.

- The loose leaf you would be using teapot like this and steep it, right?

But matcha is powder, so you wouldn't use this.

People tend to use something like a whisk, and if you have a bowl and you would be whisking them with the hot water is the traditional way. But it's not only the powder or the loose-leaf that is the difference. If you powder this tea it doesn't become matcha.

That's called Konacha and it's just a powder tea, which is still good. But the difference between the matcha and this tea is, let me actually show you my screen. So this is a tea farm, our tea farm in Japan, right?

We pick these tea leaf. What we do with matcha is we cover the tea with this black tarp before harvesting. What this does is, it makes the tea hungry for the sunlight. It produces a lot of different chemicals, which includes caffeine and a lot of healthy chemicals included.

This is what it looks.

We keep the tea under the tarp for a specific period of time before harvesting. What it does is, this is what it looks like.

Right side is covered and the left side is the tea that is not covered. You see the difference in the color?

- Yeah.

- It becomes a lot brighter and a vibrant color, that's because of the covering. That's why matcha, if you see a good matcha, you will have a very bright color and the nice color. Bright color doesn't mean that the tea is good or bad because non-covered tea is also good.

There are a lot of good tea, just a covered tea will have a different color like this. So once we have this covered tea, after harvesting we steam them and we take out the vein of the tea leaf and we grind them with a stone. So by grinding with the stone, sorry, I don't have the picture here, it is much finer than, say, you would be doing from a coffee grinder type.

It's very, very fine because of the pressure that you get from the stone. The result of it is matcha. 

- Hmm. I've seen people bake with it because it's like a powder and they use it for baking and coloring and the flavor. That's the first time I'd ever heard of matcha was watching people bake with it, so that's kind of interesting, yeah.

- Yup.

- Thank you.

Matcha Grades Explained: Ceremonial vs Premium vs Culinary

Now that you know what matcha is, here is the question I am asked next most often: what do the grades mean? Something that surprises many of my readers: there is no official, regulated grading system for matcha. In Japan, tea makers talk about harvest timing, cultivar, shading, and intended use - not "ceremonial" versus "culinary." Those grade names were created for export markets as a useful shorthand, and because no authority polices them, any producer can print "ceremonial" on any tin. That does not make the words meaningless - it means you need to know what they should stand for.

Ceremonial Grade

True ceremonial-grade matcha is made from the youngest first-harvest (ichibancha) leaves of shaded tea plants, with stems and veins removed, ground slowly on granite stone mills. The shading raises L-theanine and chlorophyll - that is what gives great matcha its vivid jade color, natural sweetness, and thick umami with almost no bitterness. This is matcha meant to be whisked with only water. Our Ceremonial Matcha (Global Tea Champion 2018 and 2025) is this style, and for the full ritual you can pair it with a 100-prong chasen whisk and scoop set.

Premium / Daily Grade

Between ceremonial and culinary sits what many producers call premium or daily-grade matcha: usually first or early-second harvest, stone-ground, smooth enough to drink straight but priced for a daily habit. If you drink matcha most mornings, this tier is where the value lives.

Culinary Grade

Culinary matcha is not "bad matcha" - it is matcha designed for a different job. Made from slightly later harvests, it has a stronger, more robust character, and that intensity is a feature when matcha has to fight through milk, sugar, butter, or flour: a delicate ceremonial disappears inside a cookie, while a good culinary matcha keeps its flavor and color. It is what I use in most of the dessert recipes on this blog. We offer a culinary-style matcha from the same farm as our ceremonial.

How to Judge Real Matcha Quality (5 Checks)

1. Color. Vivid, almost electric jade green = young shaded leaves. Dull, olive, or yellowish green = older leaves or age.
2. Aroma. Fresh matcha smells sweet and grassy, like nori and cream. Flat or hay-like means it is past its best.
3. Texture. Stone-milled matcha is silky - around 5–10 microns, finer than flour. Gritty powder is a bad sign.
4. Origin transparency. A real producer tells you the region, the harvest, and ideally the farm. "Product of Japan" alone tells you very little.
5. Taste without sweetener. Good matcha whisked in water should finish sweet and umami-rich, not harshly bitter. If you can only drink it with sugar, it is culinary grade - whatever the label says.

Which Grade Should You Buy?

• Drinking it straight (usucha/koicha): ceremonial - this is where the price difference is genuinely tasteable.
• Daily morning bowl: premium/daily grade, or a ceremonial you love if the budget allows.
• Lattes: premium or a good culinary - milk flattens a top ceremonial's nuance.
• Baking and desserts: culinary, always. Save the ceremonial for the cup.
• Gifts and special occasions: a limited reserve like our Issaku Reserve - the difference is memorable.

One last note: the grade does not change the caffeine much - all matcha runs roughly 60–70 mg per serving. Higher grades carry more L-theanine, which smooths how that caffeine feels. And if you are starting out, begin with a trustworthy premium or entry ceremonial: harsh culinary matcha whisked in water is how people wrongly conclude they "don't like matcha."

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FAQs about Matcha — Japanese Matcha Explained

What is matcha (抹茶), in plain terms? How is matcha different from regular green tea — they're both green, right? Where does matcha come from in Japan? Why is matcha so expensive — like, why is it $20-30 for what looks like a small tin? How did matcha become globally popular outside Japan?

What is matcha (抹茶), in plain terms?

Matcha (抹茶) is a powdered Japanese green tea made by stone-grinding shade-grown leaves into a fine powder, which you then whisk into hot water and drink — the whole leaf, not just an extraction. That's the core of what makes it different from every other tea: with regular green tea, you steep leaves and discard them; with matcha, you ingest the leaves themselves.

The plants used for matcha are shaded for 30+ days before harvest, which boosts L-theanine and chlorophyll while reducing the bitter catechins. The leaves are steamed (not pan-fired the way Chinese green tea is), the stems and veins are removed, and what's left — called tencha (碾茶) — is ground in slow stone mills into a vivid green powder. The labor and the careful processing are why matcha costs significantly more per gram than steeped green tea.

Visually, matcha is the bright vivid green many people associate with "Japanese tea" generally. Most other Japanese green teas are darker, more olive in color.

How is matcha different from regular green tea — they're both green, right?

Same plant species (Camellia sinensis), but everything else differs. Matcha is shaded, steamed, ground; sencha (煎茶) is unshaded (mostly), steamed, rolled, and steeped. Because matcha is whole-leaf consumed and sencha is extracted, the per-serving differences are large: more caffeine, more L-theanine, more antioxidants, more chlorophyll, more fiber per cup of matcha than per cup of sencha. Our matcha vs sencha breakdown goes into the specific numbers.

Flavor-wise, matcha is denser, sweeter, more umami-rich, and has the foam-and-texture experience that brewed tea lacks. Sencha is brighter, lighter, and more fragrant. Many people end up drinking both — sencha for casual cups, matcha for the focused single-bowl experience.

If you've only had matcha in lattes (mixed with milk and sugar), you've never quite tasted what matcha actually is. A traditional bowl whisked plain is the calibration point.

Where does matcha come from in Japan?

Historically, Uji (in Kyoto Prefecture) is the heart of matcha production — the soil, climate, and 800-year unbroken tradition there produce what most experts consider the highest-grade matcha. Uji's tea was favored by tea masters from the 13th century onward and remains the prestige source today.

Beyond Uji, matcha is also produced in Shizuoka, Kagoshima, Aichi (especially Nishio, which is the second-most-famous matcha region after Uji), and Fukuoka. Each region has slightly different soil and climate, which produces measurable differences in flavor — Uji matcha tends toward refined umami, Nishio toward boldness, Kagoshima toward vegetal directness.

If a matcha label says only "Japan" or doesn't specify the region, it's likely a blend or a lower-grade product. Single-origin matcha from Uji or Nishio is usually labeled clearly because the region is part of the value.

Why is matcha so expensive — like, why is it $20-30 for what looks like a small tin?

Several reasons, all real. Shading the plants for 30+ days requires labor and infrastructure most green teas don't need. Hand-harvesting the youngest leaves (the only ones that go into ceremonial-grade matcha) cuts yield dramatically. Steaming and processing are gentle and slow. Stone-grinding takes about an hour per 30g of finished powder — so a single mill working all day produces less than half a kilo. The math of all that lands matcha at $5-15+ per gram for the highest grades. Our Limited Reserve Ceremonial matcha sits in the upper range of that spectrum because of the cultivar, the growing region, and the slower stone-grinding.

Culinary-grade matcha is cheaper because it's made from later harvests, slightly older leaves, and processed at higher volumes. It's perfectly fine for lattes and baking; it's the wrong choice for plain whisked bowls. The card below is the daily-bowl matcha I drink myself.

If a matcha is selling for $5-10 per ounce, it's either culinary-grade or it's lower quality than the price implies. Real ceremonial matcha is expensive because the labor genuinely is.

Matcha - Japanese Limited Reserve Ceremonial Green Tea - (Global Tea Champion 2018, 2025) From $250.00 /

How did matcha become globally popular outside Japan?

Slow buildup over decades, then a fast spike in the 2010s. The first wave was Japanese restaurant chains and specialty tea shops in major cities exposing Western customers to matcha lattes and matcha desserts. The second wave was the wellness/health movement — research on EGCG and L-theanine made matcha sound like a superfood, which Instagram made photogenic, which influencers turned into a cultural moment.

Matcha's vivid green color is part of why it spread so fast online — it photographs beautifully, especially in lattes with milk patterns. The same compound mix that makes it healthy (L-theanine + caffeine) produces a calm-focused mental state that wellness culture loves. The combination of "healthy," "photogenic," and "slightly exotic" was nearly perfectly engineered for 2010s social media.

The downside of fast popularity is that demand vastly outpaced supply, which produced a flood of low-quality matcha entering the market — culinary-grade marketed as ceremonial, mediocre Chinese green powder marketed as Japanese matcha. The popularity wave is real, but quality varies wildly. Buying from a source that specifies origin and grade is how you avoid getting burned.

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