brand new at matcha

[angie]

Hello everyone.

I am totally new here. I do not know much about green tea, except that I love to drink it. I have been drinking a steeped? matcha green tea that I love, and I also enjoy the starbuck's green tea latte....( faux pas I know...)
I wanted to try the real thing so I purchased a whisk and some matcha from my local asian market.

I have no idea about teas and the people in the store didn't speak much English. All I could gather is that I bought "Ten Ren" green tea powder that is supposed to be grade"A". It was the most expensive, at $30 cnd for 50gr. The supermarket had 50 gr for $6.50, but it was all in Japanese, and I couldn't even read the container - so I didnt buy it, but perhaps I will later to compare...

Anyways, any info about what I bought, and advice about buying the future would be great. I find the taste pleasant, though if I make it strong it is bitter. Is there anywhere that compares all the available matcha brands/prices/flavours etc in a chart or anything?

Thanks, Angie.

[iannon]

Hello and welcome! I dont know about a chart that compares them all or anything..since that would be absolutely gigantic! you can look around the forums as there is quite a bit about matcha lurking here. also check out the online vendors for all their different matchas like http://o-cha.comor http://www.yuuki-cha.comor http://denstea.com or http://www.ippodo-tea.co.jp/en/ just to name a few.
what temp did you brew at? some matcha can be very picky about the heat? I have never had Ten Ren's myself but you will probably find your best Matcha's at the online vendors of which I named a couple above.

[angie]

Thanks so much. I will definitely look at those suppliers. Online is so much easier than trying to figure my way around the chinese market. I have been snooping around the forum, looking for answers to my questions, and I have a few I will just ask below, in case anyone feels like enlightening me.

Thanks so much, I look forward to learning and enjoying lots of matcha!

OK, so firstly - how much matcha is OK to drink in a day? I had 3 bowls yesterday ... the quantities are so small, you want to drink more, but then maybe thats not how its done...? Plus I am wondering if it will keep me up at night...?

Do you sip Matcha, or chug it? haha. Its just there so little of it, you want to savor it, but I find if I sip it, it gets cold before I'm done...? Is there a "proper" way to drink it?

Which lead me to this question...do you warm your bowl first? I use water that is 170 degrees F. It seems to cool so quickly. There was no instructions on the box I got, so that's the temp I read to use.

Also if I sip it the granules sort of sink, and all the frothy bubbles disappear... do I re-whisk? I sort of swirl my bowl to catch the sediments, is that what you do?

OK. enough. Sorry for the barrage of questions. Happy tea drinking!

[AdamMY]

Hello,

Typically you prewarm the bowl, and you usually only make 1/3 of a bowl at a time. In all honesty there is no limit to how much you can consume in a day, other than your caffeine tolerance and your budget. Though matcha usually is a bit of an energy kick and it is probably best not to consume it too late in the day.

If you are making 1/3 of a bowl it should be gone in a few sips, and can easily be consumed before it goes cold (as long as you do not forget about it).

[angie]

Oh. sorry. One last question...

The Matcha I drink at Starbucks is sort of fishy smelling - like sushi nori. The Matcha I bought is not fishy AT ALL. it tastes "green" and when its thick, it is a little bitter. But not unpleasantly so... but is it supposed to be seaweedy tasting?

[AdamMY]

Oh. sorry. One last question...

The Matcha I drink at Starbucks is sort of fishy smelling - like sushi nori. The Matcha I bought is not fishy AT ALL. it tastes "green" and when its thick, it is a little bitter. But not unpleasantly so... but is it supposed to be seaweedy tasting?

It really depends on the matcha. To be honest you can get matcha that tastes remarkably like bittersweet chocolate, to matcha that is a bit like seaweed, to smooth and creamy. Basically matcha like quite a few other teas offers such a wide variety of possible tastes it is hard to really judge.

[angie]

Thanks so much Adam. I appreciate your answers. Looks like I am going to have to try more!

[iannon]

one example..in my opinion of a mellow sweeter matcha is the Den's matcha miyabi. its their higher priced matcha at 24 bucks for 20g. much less of the seaweedy taste and more on the sweet side..to me anyway.