We have tried many matcha delicacies, such as matcha cake, matcha cookies, matcha ice cream, etc., but it seems that we have never truly understood matcha itself.
The history of matcha
When it comes to matcha, many people may associate it with Japan’s matcha culture, but in fact, China is the hometown of matcha. Matcha originated in China during the Sui and Tang dynasties. The tender leaves of spring tea were steamed and then made into tea cakes (or tea balls) for preservation. Bake and dry again over fire before consumption, then grind into powder using a natural stone mill.
In different dynasties, different methods of brewing tea have also emerged, including the Tang Dynasty brewing method, the Song Dynasty ordering method, and the Ming Dynasty brewing method:
1. Tea brewing method in the Tang Dynasty
Before brewing tea, crush the tea leaves, boil the water, add the seasonings, and then sprinkle the tea powder into the pot. When drinking, drink the tea leaves and tea soup together while they are still hot. Tang people once liked to add seasonings such as salt, scallions, ginger, or orange peel to their tea soup when making tea. However, during the mid Tang Dynasty, Lu Yu strongly opposed this method of tea making and added at most a little salt for seasoning. Afterwards, Tang Dynasty tea drinking began to promote the original flavor of tea soup, laying the foundation for the prosperity of tea ceremony.
2.Song Dynasty Tea Ordering Method
The way of drinking tea in the Song Dynasty reached an aesthetic level and reached its extreme. They decorated the tea cakes with many exquisite dragon and phoenix patterns. When drinking tea, first grind the pancake tea into a fine powder and pour some tea with boiling water. In order to blend the tea powder with the water, use a tea whisk to quickly strike and fully blend the tea water, resulting in a large amount of white tea foam appearing in the tea cup. The Japanese tea ceremony originated from here.
3.Ming Dynasty Tea Making Method
In the Ming Dynasty, the tea making and drinking methods were repeatedly simplified. Zhu Yuanzhang’s vigorous promotion of loose tea led to the differentiation of tea types. Previously, only green tea was available, but later other types of tea gradually emerged. Ming Dynasty people believed that this drinking method was very convenient and could restore the true taste of tea leaves. The method of brewing tea has also continued to this day. Tea is brewed without any seasoning, and the original flavor and true taste of the tea are enjoyed. At the same time, the tea utensils and methods used for brewing tea have been simplified, which is more conducive to the dissemination of tea culture.
Specific process of matcha powder
The production process of matcha can be briefly summarized as follows: high-quality fresh green tea → steaming green tea → grinding → ultrafine grinding → low-temperature drying → matcha. The whole process is carried out at low temperature, which can better preserve the active ingredients in tea leaves. And ordinary green tea powder is mostly made from steamed green tea, fried green tea, and roasted green tea, processed directly by crushing. Internationally, it is stipulated that:
*Any tea that is not ground and ground cannot be called matcha;
*Products that do not use matcha ingredients are absolutely not allowed to use the word “matcha”;
*The requirement for green tea powder is clearly stated in the formula that green tea powder is used.
Production steps of matcha tea:
Sunshade Cover
Set up a trellis 20-30 days before tea picking, covering it with reed curtains and straw curtains (shading rate: 98%), or simply cover it with black gauze (shading rate: 70-85%). Light blocking allows tea leaves to secrete more substances such as chlorophyll and theanine, reducing the breakdown of catechins and ensuring the color, flavor, and nutrition of tea leaves.
Steam fixation
That’s steamed green. Unlike stir frying, baking, and sun drying, steaming is the fastest, most thorough, and most uniform method of removing green tea leaves among existing methods. This process can preserve chlorophyll to the greatest extent possible, thereby fixing the natural green color of tea leaves. At the same time, the significant increase in oxides, ketones, and other compounds during the steaming process is an important source of the unique aroma and taste of matcha.
Tea powder grinding
The reason why matcha can make foam cannot be separated from the process of grinding. The higher the quality of matcha powder, the finer the powder, the more stable the foam, and the better the taste. The peculiar temperature of the stone mill is still the final fragrance enhancing process of matcha.
The difference between matcha powder and green tea powder
Many people think that grinding green tea into powder is matcha; Some people believe that the difference between matcha and green tea powder lies only in the thickness of the powder particles. The coarser one is green tea powder, while the finer one is matcha
Matcha is different from regular green tea powder, and it is not a typical tea powder. The differences between matcha and green tea powder mainly include the following aspects:
1. Raw material requirements:
Matcha has high requirements for the quality of raw materials, requiring the use of tea leaves with high amino acid, protein, and chlorophyll content, while also requiring low caffeine content in the raw materials. Before picking, there are requirements for the picking time and leaf size of fresh tea leaves. The production time of matcha is relatively short, only about 50 days. Using high-quality fresh tea leaves produced in 4-5 months as raw materials, the quality of matcha produced is the best. The tree species used for processing matcha tea also have their own requirements. This type of tea tree is cultivated through asexual reproduction technology, ensuring the purity of the tea tree variety. In addition, to ensure the quality of fresh leaves, during the planting process, the staff also need to provide shade and heatstroke prevention for the tea trees. The tea produced in this way is called covered tea. Matcha is made by processing tea as raw material.
2. Process requirements:
Matcha is not ground green tea powder. Only green tea powder that is finely ground, covered, and steamed using natural stone grinding can be worthy of the name “matcha”. The complex production process also makes the fragrance between the lips and teeth brought by the green belt particularly precious. Tea mill is an extremely unique device that can grind tea leaves very finely. The unique temperature of the stone mill is also the last fragrance enhancing process of matcha. Matcha ground by the stone mill has the fragrance of seaweed and zongzi leaves. Matcha ground with a stone mill shows torn thin slices under a microscope, only 2-20 microns in size. Nowadays, there are also air flow crushers or ball mills used for crushing, but the fineness cannot reach the fineness of stone mills. however,
Even if bought in Japan, it may not necessarily be genuine matcha. Compared to the demand of foodies, the annual production of matcha is extremely low, let alone domestically. Because according to the standard of “grinding green tea powder into a fine powder, covering it, and steaming it green with a natural matcha stone mill“, the approximately 40GB of matcha powder that can be manually ground per hour is not enough for one ice cream. So even if a product is labeled as “matcha”, it will be indicated next to it that it is actually green tea powder.
3. Different quality characteristics:
Matcha is different from regular green tea, as green tea leaves are soaked in water and then removed. As for matcha, you drink all the tea leaves. Matcha has a weak bitterness and a sweet aftertaste, while regular green tea powder does not have this taste. The tea brewed from green tea powder is grass green with little foam and bitter taste. In terms of color, matcha presents a bright green color, while green tea powder is a light green color. Matcha and green tea powder also emit different aromas, and good matcha will have a unique “seaweed fragrance”. Apart from the differences in color, aroma, and taste, matcha powder is much finer than green tea powder. Matcha powder is usually around 800-1000 mesh, the higher the mesh size, the better the solubility of matcha, and the easier it is to be absorbed by the human body. The average mesh size of green tea powder on the market is usually around 300 mesh.
In summary, matcha is green tea powder, but green tea powder may not necessarily be matcha.
