Matcha Green Tea Powder - How to Find the Best Quality

Matcha green tea is a refreshing tea from Japan which was once exclusively available for the Japanese but now it is shipped to various countries of the world. The Matcha green tea leaves are hand-picked during the month of May in Japan and then the leaves are steamed in order to prevent fermentation. If the leaves are allowed to ferment, it can lose its original color and turn black. However, by avoiding fermentation, the leaves can retain its green color.

The leaves are then kept for drying in the shade. After this, the leaves are transferred to airtight tea jars. The leaves are stored until the month of November. The stems and veins from the Matcha green leaves are removed and then the whole leaves are then finely ground. At this point, even other kinds of tea leaves are added to the Matcha green tea powder to enhance the flavor, color and delicate scent.

Compared to other kinds of herbal teas, the Matcha green tea is quite expensive but also has manifold health benefits. The expense of the tea depends a lot on the quality of the tea. Here are some factors that decide the quality of the tea.

Place of the Tea Bush

The location from the tea leaves are picked is vital The upper part of the growing leaves from the tea bush should be soft and supple. The resulting tea powder will be of high quality with finer texture. When the leaves grow even more, they become harder which can result in lower quality tea powder with sandy texture. The tea powder produced from developing leaves has better flavor.

Process Before Grinding

Before the Match green leaves are finely ground, the leaves are kept for drying in the shade. Efforts are made to ensure the leaves do not come in direct contact with the sunlight. To avoid contact with sunlight, the leaves are dried indoors. The resulting tea powder attains fine green color.

Grinding

If the tea leaves are not ground properly, it can appear burnt and such leaves are of poor quality. Hence, Matcha leaves are stone ground until fine powder is not formed. In Japan, some tea manufacturing centers have granite stone mills for finely grinding the tea leaves.

Exposure to Oxygen

If the Matcha tea leaves are exposed to oxygen, it will lose its quality. Oxidized Matcha leaves can be easily identified through its peculiar smell and dull color.

Matcha Green Tea Powder - How to Find the Best Quality