Ceremonial Matcha
✅ Used for centuries in traditional tea ceremonies in Japan, this matcha is the highest quality available on the market.
✅ This variety comes from the first harvest. The tea leaves are the youngest and least exposed to sunlight, which increases the chlorophyll content. As a result, the ceremonial matcha powder has the most vibrant shade of green among the different varieties.
✅ The stems and veins are removed before the leaves are ground into powder. As a result, the matcha obtained in this process is characterized by a naturally delicate consistency and a subtle, sweet taste.
✅ It is thicker than other types of matcha and foams beautifully. It has a smooth taste, with a slight hint of sweetness, making it ideal for tea ceremonies.
✅ Ceremonial matcha should be consumed in its original form to fully appreciate the taste of the best variety of this tea.
Why is first harvest matcha better?
✅ During the winter, tea buds hibernate for several months, waiting for spring. During this time, they accumulate valuable nutrients, making them exceptionally rich and full of flavor.
✅ As the saying goes, "Quality takes time." First-Pick tea leaves grow slowly in a cool climate, drawing the best from nature over a longer period of time. This makes First-Pick Matcha unmatched in quality and flavor, offering a more intense experience for true connoisseurs.
What does it contain?
✅ L-theanine is a key source of umami, the plant-based sweetness that defines the quality and character of matcha. First-harvest matcha contains three times more L-theanine than second-harvest tea. Later harvests, such as the third and fourth, have even lower L-theanine content. In addition, the first harvest concentrates the most nutrients in the leaves.
✅ If you have ever tried a very bitter matcha, dear reader, it was most likely not from the first harvest. Bitterness is not a typical matcha flavor; high-quality tea has an intense, full-bodied flavor with minimal bitterness, which means you don’t need to add sugar to balance it out.
✅ For both taste and health benefits, it is worth choosing only first-harvest matcha. Only such matcha can be considered true ceremonial matcha, which is consumed only with water. To meet the growing demand, many farmers produce matcha from later harvests, but only first-harvest matcha guarantees the highest quality and authenticity.
How to recognize good matcha?
✅ Good matcha can be recognized primarily by its color. It should be intensely green, because the higher the leaves grew and the younger they were, the more chlorophyll they contained, which is responsible for the intense green color. Leaves growing lower are more yellowish due to less light. Therefore, the more intensely green the matcha is, the better the leaves were used to produce it, and the more yellow, the older and from the lower parts of the plant. The classification of the types of matcha we offer can be found below.
- Here we offer ceremonial matcha where the producer has selected only the best leaves from the first harvest in spring.