Product Information

And fancy matcha drinks ......

The unique flavor of matcha

It brings us a wealth of taste buds to savor.

So what kind of tea is it?

Is matcha made by grinding green tea into powder?

Matcha is not a simple powdered green tea!

Looking at green matcha powder, many of you may simply think that grinding green tea into powder is matcha, but this is not the case, and the differences between matcha and green tea are quite significant.

First of all, in the cultivation stage of the tea plant, matcha needs to be planted by covering cultivation, the traditional practice is to use bamboo curtains and straw to cover, this process can make the leaves of the tea tree thinner, increase the chlorophyll content[1], inhibit the theanine decomposition into the polyphenols, thus reducing the bitter and astringent taste of tea, forming a natural sweetness and seaweed aroma different from that of ordinary green tea. Green tea, on the other hand, does not require the use of covered cultivated tea leaves. As a result, green tea is not as green as matcha, and has a heavier bitterness and less fresh flavor.

Secondly, there are also differences in the production process.

Matcha processing involves steam-killing - low-temperature drying - and grinding to a powder. Standard matcha tea needs to achieve the ultimate in fineness, generally in 800 mesh (18 microns), machine grinding out of the tea powder can reach 1000 mesh, or even 1300 mesh, 10 times finer than flour.

Matcha is not processed at too high a temperature throughout the entire process, which better preserves the activity of the various phytochemicals in the tea leaves. This method of tea production allows every part of the tea to be completely dissolved in the water when brewed, thus better releasing the flavor and nutrients of the tea.

Green tea, on the other hand, is often fried and dried directly after steam-killing and kneading. If it is made into green tea powder, it is then crushed into green tea powder with a particle size of only 100-300 mesh, which is much coarser than matcha. The processing is both high-temperature and not thoroughly crushed, so the nutrients contained in green tea are not as rich as matcha, and the taste is not as delicate as matcha.

From its origins to its resurgence

Matcha originated in China, where it was known as “Matcha” because of its powdered form, and was first used in tea ceremonies during the Wei and Jin dynasties, emerging in the Tang Dynasty and flourishing in the Song Dynasty. Later, it was gradually introduced to Japan, and under the influence of the local culture, the name evolved into “Matcha”, where the word “Matcha” can be interpreted to mean “ground”, i.e., the whole tea leaf is ground into a The word “Matcha” can be interpreted as “grind”, which means to grind the whole tea leaves into powder.

For a long time in the past, when mentioning matcha, people would always think of Japan first, but according to the White Paper on the Development of Matcha Industry released by the Saidi Research Institute of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) in 2023, the scale of China's matcha industry has been rapidly expanding since 2019, and it has become the world's largest producer of matcha tea and the first country to consume matcha products.

At present, China's largest matcha production base is located in Tongren City, Guizhou Province, where the Your Tea Industrial Park has the world's largest matcha single-unit refining workshop, known as the “World Matcha Super Factory”.

Tea trees like a warm and humid environment, are not cold-tolerant, and are best suited for planting in monsoon subtropical climate zones, especially cloudy areas. Guizhou's unique geographical advantage of “low latitude, high altitude and low sunshine” is suitable for tea planting.

According to China's Ministry of Agriculture, the tea polyphenol content of Guizhou Tongren tea reaches 16.7%-31.5%, and the amino acid content reaches 3.1%-10.6%, constituting a golden ratio of tea polyphenol and amino acid harmonization. In addition, Guizhou matcha has a major advantage of being “clean and safe”, and Guizhou is the first province in China to legislate against the use of chemical herbicides such as glyphosate in tea gardens.

In 2018, Tongren was awarded the title of “China's Matcha Capital” and “China's High-Quality Matcha Base”. Today, Guizhou's Matcha has accounted for a quarter of China's total Matcha production, and its products are exported to France, Russia and other countries and regions.

There are three guidelines for selecting high quality matcha

Matcha is rich in antioxidants, including catechins and anthocyanins, which help reduce the formation of free radicals in the body, protect cells and tissues from damage, and play an anti-aging role; it is also rich in polyphenols, which are also good for heart health.