Matcha is finely ground, powdered green tea leaf, which has been drunk in Japan for over 1,000 years. Matcha plays a key role in the calming, zen-like Japanese Tea Ceremony, called chanoyu. But more and more people today are finding a place for matcha in their everyday tea drinking as well, not only for it’s exceptional health benefits, but also for it’s delicious and unique flavor.

Matcha is prepared very carefully, first by covering the tea bushes to stop the sunlight from touching them. This process slows down growth by turning the tea leaves a deep jade green. After picking the tea leaves, the leaves are laid out flat to dry. They wrinkle somewhat during the process, but the finished dried green tea leaves are referred to as Tencha. The Tencha is then de-veined, de-stemmed, and stone ground by hand to produce the very fine silken powder which is Matcha. Only ground Tencha is officially considered matcha. Any other powdered tea is considered konacha, or “powder tea”.

Because of its high level of amino acids, Matcha is naturally very sweet, and tastes extremely vegetal - it’s an extremely green flavor, the very essence of green tea. During a Japanese tea ceremony, matcha is prepared plain by simply adding steaming water to the matcha and whisking. However, for everyday drinking, you can use a non-ceremony grade Matcha to create a lovely hot or iced Matcha latté with the addition of milk and sugar.

One of the best things about Matcha is it’s nutritional profile. Matcha is actually exponentially higher in antioxidants than both blueberries and spinach. The oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC) rating of Matcha is 1300 units/g, compared to 105 units/g for pomegranates and 91 units/g for wild blueberries. Matcha is also extremely rich in chlorophyll, Vitamin C, fluoride, and has 9 times the beta carotene of spinach. It is also sugar free and high in fiber, making this a powerhouse of healthy living, and one green tea you should definitely drink daily.

Matcha was once extremely rare and hard to find, but as more people are finding out about this wonderful type of green tea, it is becoming easier to find both online and offline. There is ceremony grade Matcha available for purchase which is usually much more expensive than the “everyday” Matcha grades also available for purchase. Overall, Matcha is a must-have addition in any green tea collection!