For a few, the thought of drinking a black green beverage that has been mixed from the powder-like substance and tastes somewhat fishy, isn’t particularly appealing. But in fact, matcha has become one of many new trends for not merely the health and beauty-conscious, but in the typical market as well. Its appearance such popular cafes as Starbucks, with the new Matcha Latte, is further proof its increasing popularity. Tea bags be careful, there’s a new means of drinking the green antioxidant beverage and it doesn’t involve steeping.
Matcha has its origins in ancient Japan, being the popular drink of the famous geisha tea houses. The standard serving of matcha is really a learned art of the geisha culture and tourists in cities such as for example Kyoto can pay costly amounts to go to shows where they watch these beautiful Best Japanese Green Tea, doll-like women serve the tea in its traditional ceremony. Or they could spend much more to really go to a traditional tea houses and be served a pot of matcha with some sweet traditional Japanese pastries.
So just what is matcha and why most of the fuss? In other words, matcha may be the green tea of most green teas. It’s the initial harvesting of the young green tea leaves and the pulverizing of them into a fine green powder which will be then stored in small tins and sold in the fine tea shops all over Japan. A tiny amount of this powder is then mixed (using a particular wooden mixer which somewhat resembles a tiny egg beater) with a tiny amount of warm (but certainly not boiling as this destroys the properties of the tea) in a tiny bowl, until creating almost a frothy liquid. The mixture is then included with the remainder of tepid to warm water and voila– matcha! https://www.bonsaicha.com/
Traditionally the tea isn’t served with sugar, but along with a sweet treat or chocolate. It might result quite bitter and almost fishy to some first-timers, because the taste is definitely an acquired pleasure. Adding to some foreigners’ shock could be the round, white sweet bean-filled pastries traditionally served with matcha in Kyoto. But, actually, matcha should indeed be a developed pleasure and after a few servings, the flavor definitely is acquired.
In Japan, matcha can be as common a quality as chocolate or strawberry. In supermarkets it’s common to begin to see the dark green powder as a topping or flavor for sets from ice cream to cakes to chocolate bars (ever here is another matcha flavored Kit Kat bar?) In Japanese Starbucks, it’s common to see girls drinking Matcha Frappuchinos or businessmen ordering a matcha latte. But will the remaining portion of the world be susceptible to this powdery green tea?
To discover the clear answer, take a look at among the local tea and coffee specialty stores. Chances are they curently have tins of matcha on the shelves. And chances are they are top sellers, despite the high cost (even in Japan these little tins are not cheap, about five times the expense of green tea sold in bags). And for more proof, check out the internet sites which are focused on the sales of matcha overseas…there are many! What is it about matcha that has foreigners scooping it into their mugs as well?
Perhaps it’s the fact matcha has some double the antioxidants of green tea in bags. Or the fact Japanese women swear by its skin-rejuvenating powers. Or just the trendiness of drinking tea out of a charming little metallic tin with a flowered Japanese design on it. Regardless of the reason, little paper tea bag beware…there’s a new tea in town.