Matcha Men & Women

[Seeker]

Glad your matcha and you came to a reconciliation!
Yes, the steps taken, and attention to detail - the Goddess
Thea is particular about these things sometimes (well, maybe all
the time).

[Intuit]

violson2000: my comment was aimed more at SmellsFamiliar than you. Unless you have an exceptionally strenuous workout exceeding two hours, you won't be as energy depleted nor have the significantly elevated and long-lasting boost to cortisol.

[twinofmunin]

Just wanted to chip in again.... for some reason I did not have matcha for a few weeks (!) -- travelling, uncertainty, lack of travelling water-heater, and so on -- and when I finally returned to my sweet green mistress, I'd forgotten just how lovely she is... excellent stuff. Going to need to acquire more, soon... nearing the end of my Ippodo order.

[TokyoB]

Thinking of placing an order for matcha at Yuuki-cha. Any recommendations?

As a note, the couple of organic matcha's that I previously tried I found to be too bitter for my taste. I found the Hibiki-an organic matcha to be very bitter and the O-cha organic Kaoru to be less bitter but still too bitter. Of course I varied amounts/water temp etc. but still too bitter. I recently bought a can of Wakamatsu no mukashi from Ippodo and have almost finished it. It is for koicha but I use it for usucha. While I still find it somewhat bitter I do enjoy it.

Anyway, any thoughts on Yuuki-cha's organic matcha offerings would be appreciated.

[Tead Off]

Thinking of placing an order for matcha at Yuuki-cha. Any recommendations?

As a note, the couple of organic matcha's that I previously tried I found to be too bitter for my taste. I found the Hibiki-an organic matcha to be very bitter and the O-cha organic Kaoru to be less bitter but still too bitter. Of course I varied amounts/water temp etc. but still too bitter. I recently bought a can of Wakamatsu no mukashi from Ippodo and have almost finished it. It is for koicha but I use it for usucha. While I still find it somewhat bitter I do enjoy it.

Anyway, any thoughts on Yuuki-cha's organic matcha offerings would be appreciated.

I am almost through Yuuki-Cha's 40g can of Organic Yame Matcha. This is a smooth, tasty (almost nutty), Matcha without any bitterness that I can see.

O-Cha's organic Uji Matcha is okay in the sense of no bitterness for me, but, I prefer the taste of Yuuki-Cha's.

[TokyoB]

Tead Off,
Sounds like you've been drinking matcha more often. Have you grown to enjoy it?

[Tead Off]

Tead Off,
Sounds like you've been drinking matcha more often. Have you grown to enjoy it?

No, I am just too stingy to waste it!

To be perfectly honest, I like using the teaware more than drinking the matcha. Gyokuro and Sencha are a different matter. These can be very delicious and give me a much fuller experience combined with the teaware. I can understand ritual and I can understand habit. I can also understand the health aspects. I cannot understand the attraction of matcha itself as a tea drinker. If I didn't have some nice chawan, I wouldn't go near it.

[kigawa]

I was just wondering if anyone has matcha with something sweet? I recently tried matcha with dark chocolate and quite liked it. I have read that sweets are sometimes served at Japanese tea ceremonies.

[Chip]

I think dark Chocolate is a nice accompaniment to matcha. Perhaps accentuated by the fact that matcha powder often has cocoa-like aroma?

[Tead Off]

I was just wondering if anyone has matcha with something sweet? I recently tried matcha with dark chocolate and quite liked it. I have read that sweets are sometimes served at Japanese tea ceremonies.

Here in Thailand, as well as in many places in Asia, small sweets are often made with red bean, lotus, pandan, etc. Locally, we have a small, crumbly, thick, coin shape sweet made like this. It can serve as a good bite with matcha. I would think that dark chocolate might overpower the subtleties of matcha. There are subtleties in matcha, aren't there?

[kigawa]

Here in Thailand, as well as in many places in Asia, small sweets are often made with red bean, lotus, pandan, etc. Locally, we have a small, crumbly, thick, coin shape sweet made like this. It can serve as a good bite with matcha. I would think that dark chocolate might overpower the subtleties of matcha. There are subtleties in matcha, aren't there?

I see what you mean Tead Off. The sweets you describe are probably not so different from the ones they serve in Japan. Dark chocolate might have masked the subtleties of matcha, but the combination was enjoyable. I guess the same goes for matcha latte.

[Intuit]

TokyoB: do you find all matcha's to be bitter, or just certain ones (regardless of organic labeling, this might be tea subtype/subregion specific)?

Could be that commercial fertilizers induce a different nitrogen amino acid content in the leaves. Organic fertilizers are slow release and are seasonally applied, as described in cultivation details on a couple of Japanese green tea websites.

Could also be that you, as an individual, have more sensitive bitter-taste receptors.

Science details:
http://ajpcell.physiology.org/cgi/conte ... 280/4/C742

Patent that suggests that bitter taste receptor sensitivity can be modulated:
http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/65409 ... ption.html

Maybe certain green teas and tea-derived beverages rich in inositol, like kombucha, could help desensitize these receptors by feedback inhibition of the receptor.

No clear explanation here on why you're finding organic matcha to be bitter, just some educated guesswork.

[TokyoB]

TokyoB: do you find all matcha's to be bitter, or just certain ones (regardless of organic labeling, this might be tea subtype/subregion specific)?

Could be that commercial fertilizers induce a different nitrogen amino acid content in the leaves. Organic fertilizers are slow release and are seasonally applied, as described in cultivation details on a couple of Japanese green tea websites.

Could also be that you, as an individual, have more sensitive bitter-taste receptors.

Intuit - Thanks for the thoughts. I did read this NY Times article a few weeks ago.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/scien ... ter&st=cse
I may be one of those who can perceive bitter taste well (for better or worse). From the article it sounds like about half of the population falls into this category.

And yes, I do find all matcha to be bitter - some more than others. My wife also finds them to be quite bitter. The funny thing is that I would say that I enjoy many bitter foods (like brussel sprouts) and dislike food that is overly sweet. I much prefer dark chocolate with 71% cocoa over lower cocoa content/sweeter chocolate, although I find 85% not sweet enough.

Do you not find matcha to be bitter? I can't believe anyone would describe a matcha as sweet, but that may just be due to my own perception of taste and bitterness. Interesting, makes tea reviews that much less useful.

[Intuit]

Aye, have found matcha to be bitter. I kept quiet on this issue because I had high hopes that it was the tea, not mutant taste receptors at fault, having had a limited selection of matcha sampled to date.

*eyes rolling back in head*

I'm going to try inositol powder to see if I can beat my errant receptors into submission. I have two new chawan on the way, and I am not prepared to use them for sencha sipping sessions.

Speaking of evolutionary selection for bitter taste receptor genes, read this lovely:

http://www.gnxp.com/MT2/archives/002295.html

Wikipage on PTC/PROP
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenylthiocarbamide

[TokyoB]

Intuit,
In Japan I've usually had matcha served with a very small but very sweet confection. I enjoy the contrast between the two. Have you tried matcha with something sweet like that?

By the way, I've found all dancong to be fairly bitter as well but not necessarily unjoyable. That said, I much prefer Wuyi yancha to DC.