Matcha Grades?
Hey there everyone! I'm fairly new to tea outside of the few basic black, white and green teas available pretty much anywhere. Recently I've started looking into matcha tea because I really appreciate the preparation and philosophy behind the ceremony. When I was looking into buying some though, I noticed there were different grades of matcha powder such as culinary, ceremonial, and premium. Anyway, my question is this. Is there any significant difference between different grades or can I use any grade to make good matcha tea? Thanks in advance for the help.
Re: Matcha Grades?
Hi teatorture,
The main grades of matcha that you need to look out for are culinary, usucha (or thin) and koicha (thick).
Culinary matcha is not for drinking, it's for using in cooking to add matcha flavour to baked goods, icecream and such. You could also use this for matcha lattes and other sweetened matcha drinks. It has too rough of a flavour to be good for drinking alone.
Usucha is for preparing matcha normally for drinking.
Koicha is for preparing matcha that is very thick like wet paint.
You can use the higher grades of matcha for lower grade preparations but if you try to use a lower grade matcha for the higher grade preparation the taste will be harsh.
Other grades you might see like premium or super premium are assigned by the vendor and indicates the general quality of the matcha compared to others from the same vendor and usually follow a price scale. The more expensive tea is usually sweeter or has more umami than the ones lower in the price ladder at least from the same vendor. They should also indicate in the description somewhere if it's for cooking, usucha, or koicha.
The main grades of matcha that you need to look out for are culinary, usucha (or thin) and koicha (thick).
Culinary matcha is not for drinking, it's for using in cooking to add matcha flavour to baked goods, icecream and such. You could also use this for matcha lattes and other sweetened matcha drinks. It has too rough of a flavour to be good for drinking alone.
Usucha is for preparing matcha normally for drinking.
Koicha is for preparing matcha that is very thick like wet paint.
You can use the higher grades of matcha for lower grade preparations but if you try to use a lower grade matcha for the higher grade preparation the taste will be harsh.
Other grades you might see like premium or super premium are assigned by the vendor and indicates the general quality of the matcha compared to others from the same vendor and usually follow a price scale. The more expensive tea is usually sweeter or has more umami than the ones lower in the price ladder at least from the same vendor. They should also indicate in the description somewhere if it's for cooking, usucha, or koicha.