Side-by-Side Matcha Comparisons

Accept no substitutes. Thanks to Yunomi Tea's Instagram feed we can visualize the difference between these three grades of tea.

Continuing the matcha comparison (photos brightened a little at the same rate). From top to bottom: Yunomi Factory Direct Organic Uji Matcha G1 (ceremonial grade master class), G5 (culinary grade) and a "matcha" from China that we received as a sample. www.yunomi.life/collections/matcha #Matcha #matchatea #matchalove #matchaholic #matchagreentea #matchalover #greentea #japan #matchagreentea #japanesetea #japanese #comparison

A photo posted by Yunomi Tea (@yunomitea) on Dec 3, 2015 at 12:42am PST

The Forecast is Green for 2015

Matcha (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Green food, that is: Kalette, pot, and green tea are trending foods for 2015.

Tea is making the food trend lists from CBS to NPR. Takepart.com listed matcha as one of "four foods for health nuts." World Tea News reports that tea was gaining ground in 2014 and will continue to do so this year.

Tea Time

Tea time: Kirkland branded
Ito-en green tea with matcha,
available from Costco.

So where do you get your Matcha? Part II

We first posted this question nearly a year ago ("So where do you get your Matcha?", Aug. 22, 2009, and "Matcha source update," Oct. 5, 2009). Recently, we purchased Matcha from, of all places, Amazon.com and we were pleasantly surprised.

We conducted a taste test of these teas:

DoMatcha Green Tea, Organic Matcha
1.06-oz. (approx. 30 g) $25.97
Cost per gram: 87¢
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0019FOZC4/ref=oss_product

The Tao of Tea, Liquid Jade Powdered Matcha Green Tea
Loose Leaf,* 3-oz. (approx 90 g) $18.46
Cost per gram: 21¢
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000TVQVNA/ref=oss_product
(*The product description states "loose leaf" but it was indeed powdered matcha)

Tea's Tea Matcha Ceremonial Green Tea
20 g Units (Pack of 2, 40 g total) $24.00
Cost per gram: 60¢
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0037ASIJA/ref=oss_product

There were five tasters whose experience with Matcha ranged from expert to novice. Our yardstick was Ippodo Aoyama-no-shiro Matcha which we purchased for everyday practice while in Japan. It is a mid-grade tea, but still was of a higher quality than the teas under examination. (In Japan, this tea cost about $5.00 for 40 grams, 13¢ per gram. We haven't been able to find it in the U.S. Yet.)

We rated these teas using a rubric based on dry and wet color, aroma, flavor and "whiskability" (how well the dry powdered tea could be whisked to a drinkable consistency in a chawan). DoMatcha barely sneaked into first place with Tea's Tea close behind. Both teas were very drinkable and had fine color and aroma but were not what we consider of the highest quality. The flavor was one-dimensional and didn't develop the desirable aftertaste we like in a ceremonial-grade tea. We found the Tea's Tea to be the best value for everyday practice. (Interesting side note: The dry Tea's Tea dry Matcha had an interesting alkaliney-chocolatey aroma, but it was absent when the tea was whisked in hot water.)

On the other hand, the Tao of Tea was entirely unacceptable -- old, stale, bitter. It was straw-colored (not the vibrant emerald-green we associate with Matcha) and it is no exaggeration to describe the aroma and flavor as "foul," "nasty" and "gaggy." (I shudder to think that an unsuspecting tea novice would drink this evil brew and forever be repelled by the mere thought of Matcha.) Amazon.com customer product reviews were not glowing, but they didn't come close to describing this unbelievably awful tea. We were given a full refund, no questions asked.




:: :: ::

Apologies to Canadian tea brethren: Amazon.com does not offer grocery products in Canada (this was brought to my attention by a reader's comment on a previous post -- thank you Hitsch). I'm sure there are more Canadian tea associations than this, but perhaps this is a place to begin:

Montreal Association of Chado Urasenke Tanokai, Inc.
(514) 393-134.

 Suggestions and comments welcome.

So, where do you get your Matcha?

Weekly Tea ceremony practice with four or five people will use up a tin of tea in short order so we're always looking for good and affordable matcha. We often stock up when friends go to Portland or San Francisco, and until recently have ordered delicious tea from Pacleaf.com. However, necessity dictates we broaden our tastes and shopportunities.

Here are some sites I found while cruising for new tea sources. Any recommendations? Comments are welcome!

http://www.ippodo-tea.co.jp/en/index.html
We have tried Ippodo teas and found them to be of very good quality. The tea was sent as a gift from Sensei in Japan. We have not ordered directly from them.

http://www.amazon.com/DoMatcha-Organic-Matcha-Green-1-06-Ounce/dp/B0019FOZC4/ref=pd_bxgy_misc_img_b Who'da thunk that you could buy matcha from amazon?? I'm tempted.

http://www.lupiciausa.com/

http://www.matchasource.com/

http://www.shizuokatea.com/index.htm
We bought Shizuoka Tea from vending machines in and around Shizuoka. Very tasty.

EDEN Organic Matcha http://www.edenfoods.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=110510&ref_src=froogle&ref_id=froogle

http://www.choiceorganicteas.com/greenteas-order.asp#1838

http://www.artoftea.com/catalog/ceremonial-matcha-p-67.html