Matcha tea was and is the best and finest tea in Japan, which used to be reserved for the elite only. The bright green, frothy drink is still considered a cult drink.
However, the trend towards matcha tea did not come to Germany directly from Japan, but from the USA. Stars, starlets and wannabes have been spotted there with the green “in” drink in their hands for a number of years.
It is said to make you slim, fit and healthy, and helps fight signs of aging and even cancer. Like all other green teas, it also serves as a stimulating alternative to coffee with its caffeine content (tein). Is the expensive cult drink worth its price?
Why is matcha tea actually powder?
Matcha tea is one of the green tea varieties and is traditionally drunk in Japan. The tea probably originally came from China, but was forgotten there. Unlike “normal” green teas, matcha tea is not prepared as a decoction of tea leaves, but from a bright green powder.
This powder consists of finely ground green tea leaves from which the stalks have been removed. “For Matcha of the highest quality, the tea farmers even remove the leaf veins by hand,” explains Heidrun Schubert from the Bavarian Consumer Advice Center
Only the pure leaf remains, which is also consumed as a whole in tea. Since matcha tea is a so-called “shade tea”, the tea bushes are shaded with bamboo mats or similar four weeks before harvest. This makes the leaves particularly intense green.
Prepare matcha tea
If the matcha tea from the green powder is not brewed properly, neither the taste nor the effect are said to be right. Preparing matcha tea is part of a tea ceremony in Japan. You don’t have to make a ceremony out of it at home, but it still takes some practice and effort.
The water for the foamy tea should be as soft as possible, it must have a temperature of 80° Celsius when brewing. The easiest way to check this is with a roast thermometer. About a teaspoon of the powder goes into a bowl, which you then pour on with around 100 milliliters of water.
Then manual work is required – matcha tea has to be opened during preparation. To do this, take a special broom made of bamboo (the Chasen) and stir with a loose wrist in your own movement until the powder has completely dissolved and a fine foam has formed on the surface.
The right accessories
In order for the preparation to succeed, you need the right accessories – a normal teacup or blender is not enough to create the perfect foam. A set consists of the already mentioned bamboo whisk, a suitable bowl and a bamboo spoon for portioning the tea powder. Purists or lovers then get a suitable ladle and a Japanese kettle.
