Matcha made badly is bitter and full of lumps. Both problems come from the same two mistakes, and both take seconds to fix.
Water temperature is the whole game
Matcha is not tea you steep, it is whole leaf you drink. Boiling water scorches it and turns it harsh and astringent.
Use water at about 70 to 80C. If you have no thermometer, boil the kettle and let it stand five minutes, or add a splash of cold water. This is the single biggest difference between matcha you enjoy and matcha you tolerate.
Sift it
Matcha clumps in the tin. Push it through a small sieve before adding water and the lumps disappear. Skip this and you will be chasing green pellets around the bowl with a whisk.
Hot matcha
- Sift 1 to 2 teaspoons, about 2 to 4g, into a wide bowl.
- Add a small splash of the hot water and work it into a smooth paste.
- Add 60 to 80ml more water.
- Whisk briskly in a W or M motion, not a circle, for about 15 seconds until a fine foam covers the surface.
A bamboo whisk works best because the fine tines break up particles a spoon cannot. A small milk frother is a decent substitute.
How to make a matcha latte
Make the paste as above with a little hot water, then top with 200ml of steamed milk. Oat handles matcha best of the dairy free options, it is sweet enough to balance the grassiness without overwhelming it.
Serve the paste under the milk rather than dumping powder into a full cup, or you will get lumps that never disperse.
How to make iced matcha
Whisk the paste with 60ml of cool water, fill a glass with ice, pour milk over, then the matcha on top for the layered look. Stir before drinking.
Ceremonial or culinary grade
Ceremonial grade is the youngest leaves, stone ground, bright green, sweet enough to drink with water alone. Culinary grade is older leaves, duller in colour, more bitter, meant to be baked or buried under a lot of milk and sugar.
If you are drinking it straight, ceremonial is worth it. If it is going into a cake, it is not.
What matcha actually is
Green tea leaves that are steeped and discarded give you a fraction of what is in them. Matcha is the whole leaf, stone ground to a powder finer than flour, so you consume all of it.
The plants are shaded for three to four weeks before harvest. Starved of light, the leaf floods itself with chlorophyll and L-theanine, which is what gives good matcha its colour and its sweetness. Only the youngest leaves are used, and the stems and veins are stripped out before grinding.
Stone grinding is slow, around thirty to forty grams an hour, and that is a real part of why ceremonial grade costs what it does.
Caffeine, and why it feels different
A serving of matcha has roughly 40 to 70mg of caffeine, so somewhere between a black tea and a coffee. People consistently report it feels calmer, and there is a reason.
L-theanine, which the shading concentrates, promotes alpha wave activity in the brain and takes the edge off caffeine's spike. The result is a slower onset and a longer, flatter curve without the crash. Same stimulant, different delivery.
Colour tells you almost everything
Good matcha is vivid, almost fluorescent green. Dull, yellowish or khaki powder means older leaves, poor shading, or oxidation from bad storage.
Smell it. Fresh matcha is sweet and grassy. If it smells of hay or dust, it is stale, and no technique will save it.
Five things people get wrong
- Boiling water. The biggest one. 70 to 80C.
- Not sifting. Thirty seconds that removes every lump.
- Circular whisking. Use W or M strokes, briskly, from the wrist.
- Too much powder. More matcha is not stronger, just more bitter. Stick to 2 to 4g.
- Storing it on the bench. Light and air are what kill it. Sealed, in the fridge.
Storing it
Matcha oxidises quickly in light and air, going from bright green to dull khaki and taking the sweetness with it. Keep the tin sealed in the fridge and use it within a couple of months of opening.
Ours is ceremonial grade from Sonogi Ridge in Nagasaki, 100 percent pure with nothing blended into it.
The matcha we use
Ceremonial grade, stone-ground in Nagasaki. One ingredient, no sugar or milk powder.
Common questions
What does matcha taste like?
Good ceremonial matcha is sweet and grassy, sweet enough to drink with water alone. Culinary grade is more bitter. If it smells of hay or dust it is stale, and no technique will fix that.
Does matcha have caffeine?
Yes, roughly 40 to 70mg a serve, between a black tea and a coffee. The L-theanine concentrated by shading the plants gives it a slower, flatter curve than coffee.
What is matcha?
Green tea leaves, shaded for three to four weeks before harvest, then stone ground to a powder finer than flour. Because you whisk the whole leaf into the water, you drink all of it rather than a steeped fraction.
