Matcha Powder: How to Choose it, Brew it, and Store it Properly
Matcha has gone from curiosity to everyday drink in about five years. Interest is at an all-time high, and so is the confusion. One shop sells 100 grams for seven euros. Another sells thirty grams for thirty. Both labels say the same word.
We buy our tea directly from a single family farm in southern Kyoto, where matcha has been grown for four generations. This guide explains honestly what you are actually paying for, how to brew it properly at home, and when the expensive powder is worth it, and when it isn't.
What matcha powder actually is
Matcha is not simply finely ground green tea. The difference starts in the field.
Roughly three to four weeks before harvest, the tea bushes are covered with shade netting. Reducing sunlight forces the plant to produce more chlorophyll and more L-theanine, the amino acid responsible for matcha's sweet, brothy umami character. The shaded leaves are picked, steamed, dried, then stripped of stem and vein. What remains is tencha, which is ground between granite stones into a powder finer than flour.
A single stone mill produces about 30–40 grams of matcha per hour. That one number explains most of the price gap you see on the shelf.
With ordinary green tea you discard the leaves after steeping. With matcha you drink the entire leaf. That means more antioxidants, more chlorophyll and more caffeine, and it means the quality of the raw material is immediately obvious in the cup.
Matcha is one of five Japanese green teas we sell. How it compares with sencha, kabusecha, genmaicha and hojicha, in making, taste, caffeine and price per cup, is in Japanese green teas explained. For the taste itself, sip by sip, read what matcha is and what it tastes like.
Ceremonial or culinary: which one do you need
One thing worth knowing before anything else: "ceremonial" and "culinary" are marketing terms, not regulated Japanese grades. No authority certifies them, and any producer can print either word on a bag. Treat them as a rough signal of intended use, and read the origin and harvest date instead.
With that said, the distinction still describes something real.
Ceremonial matcha is typically made from first-harvest young shoots. It tends to be vivid green, silky, naturally sweet, and intended to be drunk as it is: water and a whisk, nothing else. If you plan to drink matcha straight, this is where your money actually matters. Poor powder tastes bitter and grassy without milk and syrup, and no technique will hide that.
Culinary matcha usually comes from later harvests. It is duller in colour and sharper in flavour. In baking, smoothies and desserts it is perfectly good; sugar and fat flatten the bitterness out. If you are making a matcha cake, there is no reason to pay ceremonial prices.
The working rule: the fewer ingredients in the cup, the better your powder needs to be.
On price, plainly. Our 30 g ceremonial Uji matcha works out at roughly one euro per gram. A seven-euro 100 g bag works out at seven cents. These are not the same product at two price points; they are two different products. One is a single farm's spring harvest; the other is usually a blend of later pickings from several sources. Blending is not itself a flaw, incidentally. Many of Japan's finest matcha are deliberately blended by a tea master to hold a consistent house character year after year. What matters is what goes into the blend. Neither is a wrong purchase. What does not work is buying the inexpensive one and then wondering why matcha is hard to drink without milk.
How to make matcha
The classic single serving is called usucha in Japanese. The whole process takes under two minutes.
You need: 1–2 g of matcha (about half a teaspoon), 60–70 ml of water, a sieve and a whisk. A bamboo whisk (chasen) gives the best foam, but a small electric milk frother will get you started.
- Sift the powder into the bowl. Do not skip this. Matcha always clumps in the bag, and unsifted clumps will not break down with whisking alone.
- Heat the water to 70–80 °C. This is the most important number in this article. Hotter water extracts proportionally more of the bitter, astringent catechins, so water near boiling gives you a harsh cup, by far the most common mistake.
- Add a splash of water and make a paste. About 15 ml, mixed smooth.
- Add the rest of the water and whisk. Move the whisk quickly in a W shape, not in circles. About 15–20 seconds, until a fine even foam forms on the surface.
- Drink it immediately. Matcha begins to settle within a minute.
No thermometer? Boil the water and let it stand for five minutes. That is close enough.
Matcha latte recipe
For a hot latte, prepare the matcha as above but with half the water (about 40 ml). Froth 150–200 ml of milk and pour it over. Your milk choice changes the flavour more than you would expect. Oat is the safest, because its natural sweetness balances matcha's slightly bitter green note. Dairy mutes the umami most.
For an iced latte, reverse the order: whisk the matcha with 50 ml of cold water, fill the glass with ice, pour in the milk, and add the matcha last. That is how you get the layered look.
If you drink lattes daily, consider hojicha powder as well: roasted green tea, nutty and caramel-like, usually lower in caffeine than matcha or sencha, and especially good with milk. It is a considerably cheaper way to drink something excellent every day than ceremonial matcha.
What you actually need to make matcha
Matcha sets usually contain four items, and they are not equally important.
Sieve: the cheapest item in the set and the only one whose absence ruins the result. Buy it now.
Whisk (chasen): hand-cut from 80–120 bamboo prongs, and it creates foam no spoon can. If you buy one thing, buy this. Expect to replace it after about a year of daily use. An electric frother is a perfectly reasonable alternative and lasts longer.
Bowl (chawan): wide and shallow, so the whisk has room to move. A deep mug does not. Any wide cereal bowl from your cupboard works to begin with.
Scoop (chashaku): a bamboo measuring scoop. Beautiful, traditional, and honestly the most replaceable thing in the set. Half a teaspoon is the same amount.
So for a beginner: a sieve, a whisk, and one wide bowl. Add the rest once matcha has become a habit.
Five common mistakes
Water too hot. By a wide margin the most common reason matcha tastes bitter. 70–80 °C.
Powder not sifted. Clumps do not dissolve. A sieve costs a couple of euros.
Whisking in circles. A circular motion does not create foam. A W-shaped motion does.
Too much powder. More matcha does not mean more flavour, it means more bitterness. Start with half a teaspoon.
Old powder. Opened matcha oxidises quickly. If the green has turned yellowish or olive, the flavour has already gone.
How to store matcha powder
Matcha has three enemies: oxygen, light and heat. The fourth is odour. The powder absorbs everything around it.
Keep it in an airtight, opaque container. An unopened bag is happiest in the fridge. An opened bag is easiest to keep at room temperature in a dark cupboard, simply because every trip out of the fridge risks condensation inside the tin, and moisture spoils matcha faster than mild warmth does. Refrigerating an opened bag works too. Just seal it well and let it come back to room temperature before you open it.
Finish an opened bag within about two months. That is precisely why we sell 30 g packs. A hundred grams of ceremonial matcha is simply more than most households can drink while it is still fresh.
How to read a matcha label
The word "matcha" on the front tells you almost nothing. Four things do:
Named origin. Good matcha states a region: Uji, Nishio, Kagoshima. If the bag says only "Japan", or nothing, you are being asked to trust the brand rather than the tea.
Stated harvest. First spring harvest (ichibancha) is generally sweeter and softer. Later harvests are sharper.
Vivid colour. Quality matcha is almost neon green. Yellowish or brownish tones usually mean old powder or a late picking.
Small, opaque packaging. A large clear jar is a bad sign. It means the product is designed to sit on a shelf for a long time.
Our own matcha comes from one farm in southern Kyoto, from the first spring shoots, and we bring it in small batches. You can order it from our online shop across Europe, or come and taste it at Morii Teahouse in Tallinn, Kopli 16, which is honestly the best way to find out whether you can taste the difference, and whether it is worth paying for. For every kind of shop that sells matcha in Tallinn, with verified prices per 30 g, read where to buy matcha in Tallinn.
Frequently asked questions
How much caffeine is in matcha?
A 2 g serving contains roughly 40–70 mg of caffeine, comparable to a lungo. Matcha is also unusually high in L-theanine, and many people describe the effect as steadier than coffee. Research on the caffeine and L-theanine combination is promising for attention and alertness, but it is not settled. Treat "calm focus" as widely reported experience rather than established fact. For the full numbers per serving and EFSA daily limits, read how much caffeine is in matcha.
Can I make matcha without a bamboo whisk?
Yes. A small electric milk frother gets you almost the same result. A spoon does not. It creates no foam and does not break up clumps.
Why is my matcha bitter?
Almost always water that is too hot. The next likeliest causes are too much powder, or a culinary-grade powder being drunk straight.
How long does opened matcha last?
About two months in an airtight container in the dark. It stays technically edible longer, but by then the flavour has noticeably flattened.
Is matcha suitable for drinking every day?
Yes. One to two servings a day is entirely normal. If you are sensitive to caffeine, drink it in the first half of the day.