most people have tried matcha. fewer know what's actually in their cup.. we put this together because the story behind matcha, is just as good as the taste. here are 15 things that surprised us when we first got deep into it, and that we think every matcha drinker should know.
#1. it was invented by accident.
shade-growing, the method that defines real matcha, wasn't planned. japanese farmers covered their tea plants with straw to protect them from frost during a harsh winter. the lack of sunlight forced the plants to produce more chlorophyll in new shoots. the result was a greener, richer, creamier powder. they kept doing it on purpose after that.
#2. it's the only suspension tea in the world.
matcha doesn't dissolve. when you whisk it into water, the powder suspends, which is why you drink it immediately before it settles. every other tea is an infusion. matcha is the leaf itself.
#3. you're drinking the entire leaf.
with any other green tea, you steep the leaves and throw them away. with matcha, you consume the whole thing, stone-ground into powder. that's why the nutritional profile is in a completely different category.
#4. the stems and veins have to be removed for it to be real matcha.
a lot of products are marketed as matcha that haven't had this step done. removing the stems and veins before stone-grinding is non-negotiable for ceremonial-grade quality. if it wasn't done, it's not really matcha, it's just green tea powder.
#5. color tells you alot.
vibrant, almost blue-green? high grade. brownish or yellowish? lower grade, older harvest, or poor processing. in japan, the distinction is described as pine green versus bamboo green. pine is what you want, you'll find that all matchas we source will have the lush vibrant green that matcha should always look like.
#6. it has more amino acids than any other green tea, by a lot.
a standard cup of green tea contains around 3mg of amino acids. a cup of ceremonial matcha contains close to 45mg. that's roughly 15x more. the shade-growing process is what drives this, it forces the plant to accumulate l-theanine instead of converting it.
#7. the antioxidant content is not comparable to regular green tea.
ceremonial-grade matcha contains around ten times the antioxidant properties of standard green tea, and 125 times more than spinach per gram. it's not a small difference.
#8. the caffeine in matcha is a different type.
matcha contains theophylline, not the same caffeine compound as coffee. it releases slowly, sustains energy over hours, and doesn't cause the spike and crash. combined with l-theanine, it produces alertness without anxiety, which is why monks drank it before meditation, not despite it.
#9. monks have been drinking it before meditation for centuries.
zen buddhist monks incorporated matcha into their meditative practice specifically because of how it affects the mind, calm, alert, present. the feeling matcha gives has been described for centuries as a kind of meditative state in itself.
#10. the samurai drank it before battle.
in the 13th century, zen monks shared the properties of matcha with samurai warriors. they drank it before combat for mental preparation, endurance, and recovery. the japanese tea ceremony as we know it has roots in this warrior practice.
#11. water temperature changes the taste significantly.
matcha's flavor comes from three compounds: theanine (sweet, mellow), catechins (astringent), and caffeine (bitter). each extracts at a different rate depending on temperature. under 75°c pulls more theanine, softer and sweeter. higher temperatures extract more catechins and caffeine, more complex and bold. we recommend 75°c for most preparations.
#12. premium matcha has its own fragrance category.
it's called oika, a buttery, vegetal, almost oceanic aroma unique to shade-grown japanese green tea. only one other tea has a similar scent: high-grade gyokuro. if your matcha doesn't smell like anything, that's a sign, all our matchas as noted by our customers, have been one of the most fragrant they've ever smelled, especially umi as most people have never smelled a matcha so nutty before.
#13. it has a fifth flavor that has no english equivalent.
umami. high-grade matcha has it distinctly, a depth that isn't sweet, bitter, sour, or salty. it comes from the concentration of glutamate and theanine in the young shade-grown shoots. it's the thing you taste in our yama and umi that's hard to describe but immediately recognizable, umi and yama have very a clean umami note to them which we have been getting non-stop compliments about.
#14. matcha blends are given poetic names.
in japan, this tradition is called chamei, "tea name." when a grandmaster at a tea ceremony finds a blend particularly exceptional, he names it. that named blend becomes his konomi. we took this seriously when naming umi (sea in japanese), yama (mountains in japanese).
#15. there's a recipe made from tea plants over 100 years old.
it's called koicha, or dark matcha. it's thick, distinctly sweet, and used in the most formal japanese tea ceremonies. the original version was made from 100 year-old plants. today, it's mainly used to signify that it's a thick matcha with less water approx. 3g/30-50ml water.
editor's notes:
the reason we source directly from small farms in japan is because none of this is possible at scale. the care that goes into shade-growing, hand-picking, stone-grinding, and proper processing disappears when corners are cut, most matchas in circulation today are almost certainly mass-produced and most likely hailing from China or Peru, or lesser known industrial areas of Japan, we however are not shy when it comes to origin, as we source directly from the farms with little to no middle men involved, and here comes bonus fact #16, did you know some matcha farms we work with have a yearly output of 700kg, thats 0.7 tonnes, and that's on the larger side too, some farms output much less, and for your reference.. your own car weighs 2.2+ tonnes, and some people think we are over-pricing our matcha, we're not.. if you've ever been to Japan, you'll know our pricing is actually very close to the Japanese market price for this grade / caliber of matcha.. true matcha is not and never was supposed to be a commodity, it's an art practiced for centuries and we are proud to be one of the only if not the only brand actually trying to bring this art to the GCC.
nakameguro's matcha,
your gateway to true japanese matcha in the gulf