Today I received a 100g bag of matcha powder (actual matcha and not powdered green tea leaf) from Japan and made a 2 fl-oz. cup and a 1 fl. ounce cup of the stuff. I prepared it in a tea bowl with a bamboo whisk. It's been a long time since I've prepared any matcha and my skills have gotten rusty. The 2-ounce cup tasted rather flat, so I may have either put in too much water or the water temperature was too low. In the 1-oz cup I got a bit more flavor, but I got a slight paperish aftertaste. I probably put in a pinch too much powder and the water temperature may have been too low. I will have to practice a bit more before getting a good cuplet of matcha.

By no means is the below footage of Senke-style or other Japanese-style tea ceremony (which I love watching), but it resembles how I usually prepare matcha.


Has anyone here drunk matcha lately and, if so, do you like it or hate it? Much obliged in advance for your input.

I don't hate it, but I don't particularly like it either. If offered, I would drink it. But I would not prepare it for myself. Not sure what it is, but it just doesn't taste like a decent cup of tea to me. On the other hand, I love regular green tea.

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Still officially AGA 5d but I play so irregularly these days that I am probably only 3d or 4d over the board (but hopefully still 5d in terms of knowledge, theory and the ability to contribute).

I completely agree with DrStraw's feelings on the matter. The fact that you described the taste as bland or papery does not necessarily indicate you prepared it the wrong way. It sounds exactly like matcha.

I always have several different types of green tea at home, and matcha isn't one of them. I just don't like it. Might I suggest some sencha (Uji near Kyoto has some excellent green teas!), tamaryokucha or gyôkuro if you're looking for a more well-rounded taste. If you like a clear taste that is a bit different, try kukicha (green tea with some stalks mixed in with the leaf).

I think it's important to have a nibble of something sweet before drinking the tea. It knocks the edge off, so you can taste the nice vegetal flavour even if your water was a little too hot and the tea is a little too bitter. Better than if the water was too cool, to my taste.

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I write Go-ing Shodan, a blog about trying to get through the sdk's. If you want to check it out, tenuki.

True. Wagashi (Japanese confectionery) or even a pellet of XXXX powdered sugar is good to have before drinking the tea. Koicha (thick tea), which is the tea usually offered at the beginning of a Japanese-style tea ceremony, has a very moderate bitterness, so a sweet appetizer may not be required. (I suspect that the host has discretion when it comes to this.) Usucha (thin tea), however, tends to be bitter, so I imagine that sweets are offered before drinking it.

As for water temperature, it's better for the preparer to look at the steam and bubbles rather than a thermometer, since the boiling point of water varies with altitude and ambient temperature. It will take less energy to bring water to a boil at, say, 2000 meters than it would at sea level. The ideal water temperature for matcha is when the water is very steamy and pea-sized bubbles can be seen rising to the surface. At sea level this should be 180 degrees Fahrenheit, or 80-82 degrees Celsius. Any hotter than this and the matcha will come out bitter. Any cooler and the matcha will taste rather flat. If the water does reach a boil, take it off the fire and let it cool for 2-3 minutes before preparing the matcha.

I suspect that the custom of eating confectionery with tea was imported to Japan from China, where it is still practiced. Once in Japan, the custom was refined over the centuries into the present form seen in Japanese tea ceremony. When tea traveled westward, the Indians and Arabs replaced the confectionery with a cube of sugar. The cube would be placed under the tongue and tea would be sipped with the sugar in the mouth to moderate the bitterness. In Europe the old tea-drinking traditions tend to indicate Middle Eastern origin; tea is often poured in concentrated form, diluted to taste with hot water, and consumed with a cube of sugar under the tongue. In some events the host may offer a wider range of flavorings such as citrus rind and mint, to be added to the tea as desired.

I tend to like bitter things, so the bitterness of matcha does not put me off too easily, but it did take some getting used to when I first began drinking it.

By regular green tea, do you mean sencha, gunpowder green tea or other Chinese green tea, or green tea in teabags as sold in a North American supermarket?

I have prepared gunpowder green tea with teapot and I can recommend it as a good tea to drink on a regular basis; it has a slight honey note that I like very much. As well, I often prepare sencha the traditional way, with a teapot and loose leaf. I find it to be better than the same tea prepared with teabag, even if the quality of teabag tea has improved much over the years. I have tasted teabag green tea for much longer than I've tasted loose-leaf green tea, but unless the teabag tea is of a high quality its taste is not as agreeable as that of tea prepared from loose leaf. Off the top of my head, I say that Twinings and Yamamotoyama are high-quality brands of teabag tea.

What's the theory behind trying to monitor how close the water is to boiling instead of the temperature? Is that actually a better determinant of the extraction?

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Occupy Babel!

Boiling point varies considerably depending on altitude. So temperature is not a good way to test how close to boiling the water is.

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Still officially AGA 5d but I play so irregularly these days that I am probably only 3d or 4d over the board (but hopefully still 5d in terms of knowledge, theory and the ability to contribute).

Sure, but is the important factor for making tea the temperature of the water, or how close to boiling it is?

I'm skeptical that the tea is better when prepared at, say 160 F at altitude instead of boiling at 180 F but similarly better at 180 F at sea level.