Updated on May 15th, 2023
When it comes to Matcha, you can choose between two grades. The culinary grade matches the bitterest, while the ceremonial grade is suitable for the Everyday Matcha. As a rule, culinary-grade Matcha is generally the cheapest of the two. Its color and flavor depend on the tea’s quality and the water temperature. A ceremonial-grade tea is always green. But it has a slightly bitter taste.
The secret ingredient is Matcha. It is a beautiful Japanese tea powder that blends well with milk and sugar. The fine powder is known to have a low caffeine level and is a nutritious drink. It is also loaded with antioxidants and has more than 16 times the antioxidants of blueberries. The growing demand for Matcha has created a market in the UK.
What Does Matcha Latte Taste Like?
The taste of matcha is similar to green tea, but it is accentuated. It has a grassy, bitter flavor that lingers for a few minutes, and its texture is smooth and almost powder-like. While the color and appearance of a green latte can be tempting, it’s best enjoyed in its purest form with hot water and sugar.
Umami
A strong umami flavor is another sign of high-quality Matcha. Umami is a savory, deep flavor found in dishes such as bone broth and miso soup. This umami flavor is sometimes described as marine, comparable to seaweed when found in Matcha.
The umami taste of matcha tea comes from the shading process that the plants go through. These plants are shadowed for up to three weeks before harvesting, which boosts chlorophyll levels and gives them a rich, savory flavor. Caffeine and l-theanine levels are also increased. Kabusecha and Gyokuro are two more popular Japanese loose leaf green teas grown in the shade.
As with any complex beverage, the best way to judge Matcha’s flavor is to taste it, and its complexity prevents you from fully understanding it. If you have a sensitive stomach, it might be hard to enjoy the full umami taste of this beverage. For that reason, it’s best to avoid consuming Matcha in the form of a latte. It is a complex drink that’s best served hot.
Sweet
Matcha has a slight sweetness to it that lingers. While pure Matcha isn’t as sweet as, say, a matcha latte, it has a slight natural sweetness that helps balance out the tea’s other vital flavor elements. Matcha is frequently served with miniature sweets in the traditional Japanese tea ceremony, which helps to enhance the tea’s natural sweetness.
The taste of Matcha is a blend of milky texture and a rich green tea taste. It has a sweet, vegetal flavor and is an excellent replacement for coffee. However, you’ll need to experiment to find the right flavor that suits you. The more you experiment with Matcha, the more you’ll appreciate it. When it comes to the taste of Matcha, you can experiment with it by drinking it hot or cold.
Bitter
Matcha has an earthy bitterness to it. This is one of While low-quality or incorrectly prepared Matcha can be bitter, the best Matcha contains delicate bitter overtones that blend in with and accentuate the tea’s other characteristics. Matcha has a fantastic astringent bite to it as well.
The flavor of Matcha is complex, and it consists of two distinct elements: umami and glucosamine. The bitterness in Matcha is due to the lack of umami. While the latter has a strong flavor, the glucosamine-like amino acids add a delicate flavor. The nuttiness of the powder makes it so appealing to many people.
Smooth
Another feature of high ceremonial grade matcha is its smoothness. Smooth, rich, and almost buttery, with an entire body and lingering aftertaste, Matcha is frequently described. If you’re making Matcha the old-fashioned way, utilizing a matcha sifter and whisking it with a matcha whisk can help ensure that your Matcha is smooth, rich, and foamy rather than thin and clumpy.
The taste of Matcha is rich and earthy. It has an earthy flavor and a natural sweetness, and it should have a vegetal aftertaste. The taste of Matcha is derived from the amino acids in the tea leaves. A good cup of Matcha has a smooth, milky texture and an umami flavor. If you are considering trying it, make sure to check the ingredients of your cup.
What Is The Caffeine Content In Matcha?
Matcha has a significant impact on one’s mood and energy levels. Matcha green tea contains more caffeine than other brewed green teas since the whole pulverized leaf is consumed. With about 60mg of caffeine per serving, it’s more similar to black tea, or about a third of the caffeine in a cup of coffee.
Drinkers get calm alertness from the high theanine content indicated above paired with moderate caffeine, which some term as “energy.” While it gives you a morning boost, it does it in the form of alert concentration rather than the jitters or crash that coffee gives you.
Why You Should Drink Matcha Daily?
If you’re a regular reader, you’re probably aware that I’m not and never have been a coffee drinker, and I didn’t make the drastic move from coffee to Matcha that I’m sure many others have. As someone who suffers from persistent migraines, I’ve always been wary of coffee. To get me through deadlines in college, I’d drink the occasional “dirty chai” (espresso + chai + large amounts of milk and sugar). Still, I never liked the feeling of coming down after the initial high, which usually seemed to create a migraine.
It was a game-changer when I discovered matcha lattes, especially after becoming a new parent and having to wake up far earlier than my previous grad school schedule demanded. As a non-coffee person, Matcha gives me the morning jolt I need, and it gives me a morning high without the kick, buzz, or crash that coffee provides, as well as the headaches and caffeine withdrawal symptoms.
Coffee, according to my husband Lucas, has a steep bell curve. Or maybe it’s more like a cliff, where you get a little morning buzz but then hit a wall and have to fast come down. Matcha reminds me of a dramatic graph increase that levels off and keeps me going all day. And, like coffee, I have a hard time getting out of bed early without it.
So much so that, as you may recall, even my almost-two-year-old will tell you that mama drinks matcha lattes in the morning. I made a funny face at the smell of Lucas’s iced coffee last week, which developed into a fun debate pitting Matcha vs. coffee. “Which is better, Zoella, matcha or coffee?” Lucas asked our toddler to settle the debate.
For what it’s worth, Lucas has cut back on his coffee consumption this year, opting for matcha lattes instead, owing to persistent stomach issues he’s linked to his coffee use. I hope he’ll feel the same way I do about energy and mood.
If you’ve tried matcha and don’t care for it, see our post on how to make matcha taste good.
Where Do I Get The Best Matcha Tea?
If you’re still reading this matcha guide, you’re probably interested in giving it a try as a daily drink or even a once-in-a-while treat. But how do you go about selecting and purchasing Matcha? Type, quality, and grade are just a few aspects to consider. And not every matcha brand is the same.
Suppose you’ve ever had a horrible matcha tea experience and are convinced you don’t enjoy Matcha. In that case, I advise you to give it another shot, keeping these matcha selection suggestions in mind. It’s possible that you’re not a fan, but it’s also likely that you haven’t had proper Matcha, which can make or break your experience.
Where Do The Matcha Grades Come From?
You may have only heard of ceremonial and culinary grades up to this point because they are the most prevalent and universal. Almost every matcha company produces one or the other, if not both. Encha developed a third grade, Latte, to break into a new market of everyday matcha users.
I included all three grades of Matcha (plus two that didn’t have “grades” labeled) in the flavor comparison above, but they aren’t all created equal. For example, it’s only natural that ceremonial grade matcha should be listed first, and here’s why. The image above depicts each of these grades for the same brand, Encha, from left to right.
Conclusion
Premium matcha will be frothy and have a mild flavor, and you should look for a creamy, grassy flavor. The taste of Matcha will vary depending on your personal preferences and the type of milk you use. The best Matcha will be bitter unless you are using boiled water. For this reason, a cup of Matcha should be at least 80 degrees. When choosing a serving size, the tea powder should be as thick as possible, and adding too much or too little will result in a thinner consistency.
