Anyone know anything about Matcha Tea?

[Stickerbunny]

My mother wants me to buy her Matcha Tea because she read about it somewhere – but there are six different varieties ranging in price from $12 to $45 and only thing I can tell is different is the taste. Anyone know anything about it?

[longhairmike]

100% pure macha powder is VERY expensive ($100-$200 per pound),, often times you will find matcha blends at lower prices.
some blends actually are presweetended mixes (the sugar obviously adds tons to the weight)

[Stickerbunny]

The stuff I was looking at is from a tea farm in Japan – it’s $45 for 1 oz for the most expensive, $12 for 1 oz for the least. Do you know the difference between these types mike? Organic Uji Matcha Tenkei Hana (the $45 one) and Organic Uji Matcha Yuuki Konjo ($12 one).

— Cheap one
“What our grower in Uji has done for this matcha is combine a selection of first harvested tencha leaves and stone-ground them into a fine powder to create an Uji matcha that can be enjoyed at a very affordable price. This makes it perfect for economically minded consumers who are looking for a low-cost cheap matcha to drink on a daily basis. ”

— Expensive one
“Tenkei Hana is extremely aromatic and has the most lingering matcha scent when prepared. It has a distinctive complex taste that is full-bodied, rich, and mature, never chalky, bitter, bland, or solely sweet as so many matcha can be. The liquor color is a deep forest green and the aftertaste is thick, creamy, cleansing and endless. When it comes to ORGANIC matcha, it is easy to spot that Tenkei Hana is on a complete level of its own! ”

Would they both taste pretty much the same, or should I just go for the expensive one?

[Elrohwen]

I don’t drink matcha, but I do know a bit about tea (interned for Lipton for a while and just like to drink it :-P) and to me it sounds like the price difference is mostly in the organic name. It costs them more to produce organic and to get certified organic (at least I’m assuming they’re certified – not sure how that works for countries other than the US). There are probably other things that make it higher quality and an experienced matcha drinker could probably tell the difference, but I don’t think it will be huge.

If your mom just wants some because she read about it, I would get the cheap stuff. I’ve had it before and wasn’t a fan and it would be a shame if you spent a lot of money on it and she didn’t like it. If she gets into it, she can always ask for something more expensive. For tea, in general, anything that is first flush or first harvest is going to be higher quality, and the cheaper one is first harvest. It makes a huge difference if it’s hand harvested or machine, so if you can find that out if might make your choice easier. Hand harvested tea is just the leaves, while machine harvesting often gets the little twigs in as well and that adds a bitter taste.

[Stickerbunny]

Both are organic, they only sell organic teas, all are “Matcha tea” and they have six varieties, varying in prices. So I am like er… *boggle*. lol Textures and tastes seem to be different, I think, from what I am reading. I got a long tea lecture in England, but it was just about Earl Grey and “English Black Tea”, the differences in sugar/honey and when to use milk.

And yeah I don’t expect her to like it – she goes on these crazy health kicks when my grandmother gets sick and does weird stuff. Pills, Atkins, green tea, herbal teas, water-only, etc etc… she usually grows bored after a week or two and goes back to normal. So I try to humor her. She lost her job (of 12 years due to economy slow down, they moved her job to China), so when she wants something she can’t afford, she asks me to buy it for her birthday and stuff. Price doesn’t bother me much if there is a big difference, but if there isn’t yeah I will end up just going for the cheaper stuff.

Thanks for replies. I hate buying stuff I don’t know anything about. lol

[Elrohwen]

In that case, I’d definitely just go for the cheaper stuff. If they’re growing organic and using only first harvest, it sounds like high enough quality to me.

[Author]

Messages