Matcha Research Hub
Matcha is the ultimate form of green tea in the whole world. It comes exclusively from Japan, where the benefits of matcha are strongest due to the special climate and cultivation techniques.
MATCHA 101
What is Matcha?
Can green tea have superpowers? When it comes to health benefits, it can. Powdered matcha contains antioxidants, amino acids, vitamins, and minerals that deliver health benefits no other food, drink, or traditional green tea can.
Matcha Health Benefits
Matcha Green Tea Delivers Real Health Benefits
Can green tea have superpowers? When it comes to health benefits, it can. Powdered matcha contains antioxidants, amino acids, vitamins, and minerals that deliver health benefits no other food, drink, or traditional green tea can.
Matcha vs Coffee
Why is Matcha Better than Coffee?
Matcha has caffeine like coffee, but your body processes it in a completely different way. The caffeine in matcha is released slowly, and the amino-acids control how it functions in the brain. This way you don’t get the jitters, anxiety, heart palpitations, or that familiar mid-afternoon caffeine crash from when you drink coffee. Unlike coffee, matcha also doesn’t irritate the gastrointestinal tract, instead it’s a probiotic for our gut-microbiome.
Matcha Recipes
Did you make tea that didn’t taste good?
Most people identify tea-drinking as a source of good health. Although not all of us may be familiar with the whole range of unique or exotic Japanese teas – it shouldn't stop us from participating in what can be a delicious ritual!
How is Matcha Harvested?
During a short and busy harvest season, tea farmers gather leaves and take them to processing facilities.
Drying
Heated from below in a carefully controlled fire pit, the leaves pass through 3-4 levels on a conveyor belt, ensuring thorough and even drying.
Cutting/Sorting
Once dried, the tea leaves are cut, sorted, and mixed thoroughly, ensuring consistent quality and flavor. The resulting product, called tencha, is stored in a temperature- and humidity-controlled environment until needed to make matcha.
Grinding
Tencha is ground into matcha powder between rotating grooved stones driven by machines. A funnel drops cut leaves through a hole into a space between two stones. The grinding process takes two hours, resulting in an extremely fine powder.
Grading
Matcha is graded by color, aroma, and flavor.
Sorting
As soon as matcha is graded, it is sealed in tins to prevent oxidation from exposure to air in the presence of light and heat. Unopened tins can be kept in a freezer for up to a year.
Picking
Small-scale growers hand-pick their tea plants. Larger-scale growers use machines to trim the tea plants during a small window of time. The best time to harvest is when the plant has 3-5 new leaves. Too early and the yield too small; too late and the quality is compromised.
Steaming
Fresh tea leaves are steamed for 30-40 seconds to destroy enzymes that would degrade flavor components.
Cooling
Steamed leaves are quickly cooled by a strong blast of air that blows them almost 20 feet into the air, stabilizing the bright color and aroma.
Frequently asked questions
1. Is there such a thing as decaf matcha?
No, unlike coffee, matcha is a 100% natural product and does not undergo that type of processing. If you're sensitive to caffeine, it's better to think about "is matcha high in L-theanine?" The reason is because this compound directly counteracts some of the caffeine side effects people get from coffee and other energy drinks. You really just have to try it to understand.
2. Is matcha safe for me to drink?
There's a lot of great research on the safety of matcha. Besides being a 1,000yr old health booster, many medical resources report the general safety of matcha, including the intake of green tea catechins. There are no well known interactions, especially when you consider that really, matcha is just green tea – albeit a very high quality! Still, if you're concerned you should consult your physician.
3. How soon will I feel health benefits?
The energizing qualities of matcha take place starting just minutes after enjoying your first bowl. The energy can support you throughout the whole day without a crash. You'll feel it day 1, but as time goes by with the daily enjoyment of this tea, your body will experience the established health benefits, such as those which may help metabolism, lower inflammation, aid in gut health, protect the brain, and promote longevity from within in a balanced way.
4. Why should I entrust Matcha.com as my source for matcha?
We are the official supplier of super-premium grades of Japanese matcha. We support customers worldwide, offer USDA organic and conventional options, and are exclusively focused on the convenience, quality, and ease of your matcha experience. You can tell by our URL that we are serious about what we're doing.
5. How does matcha.com support Tea-farmers in Japan?
But above all else, you should choose us for more than the quality, that's because our ethical relationships with multi-generational, small craft tea-farms in Japan allow us to truly represent a means of helping protect the tradition, and health benefits of high quality matcha. The supply of real matcha dwindles each year because of big corporations seeking quantity over quality, sacrificing authentic harvesting techniques and much more. Feel good about joining today.
