Matcha
抹茶
Tea TypesDefinition
Matcha is shade-grown green tea milled into a powder so fine that it is whisked into water and drunk whole, rather than steeped and thrown away. The tencha leaves are covered for roughly three to four weeks before picking, which raises chlorophyll and theanine and deepens both the jade color and the umami. Grades are split by use rather than quality alone: ceremonial for usucha and thick koicha, culinary for lattes, smoothies and baking.
Etymology
From Japanese 抹茶, "rubbed tea," built on the verb 抹する (masu, to rub or grind). The method itself came from Song-dynasty China, where powdered tea was whisked in a ritual that the Japanese tea ceremony later inherited and refined.
In use
Used for powdered shade-grown tea specifically, and in café menus to separate a whisked matcha from a steeped green tea.