matcha connoisseur
I really love matcha. I admit though, Iām not really the pure matcha bowl girlie with the bamboo whisk. I like mine with oatmilk in a thermos and whisked with an electronic milk frother. If I could, I would get a matcha machine just like coffee drinkers have, but sadly the only one out there for matcha isnāt really convincingā¦
Iāve gone through quite some matcha brands.
I tried the ones in my local supermarket, but the powder was rather coarse feeling, like fine sand, while drinking. The color and odor wasnāt always convincing either. I love when itās a bright and strong, almost neon green, not grayish or beige looking - thatās old and oxidized. I know itās a good matcha if I smell the open bag and there are a ton of different scents, not just the smell of cut grass.
I had settled for one from a local drugstore. It was softer in the throat and had enough flavor - back then, the ones I had tried often tasted almost like nothing, faintly of grass. This one was stronger, finally. A bit of bitterness.
Then I tried one from an asian supermarket and liked it more. I forgot the name and if I see it again, Iāll update this post. I think that one oxidizes pretty quickly, getting an ugly color. And while it is very soft, it also leaves an odd film in my mouth that I donāt like, and a very slight soapy taste.
At some point, I ordered one in a tea shop online and it replaced my usual one. Sadly, I have none of the packaging left and forgot what store I always ordered from. :( but I it was my first real expensive one, since it was sold as āceremonial gradeā. I have no idea how easily this claim is thrown around with matcha, but it was definitely high quality. The ones previously were very affordable, which reflected the quality. This one finally wasnāt just grassy or a bit bitter, but had nice flavors on different areas of the mouth, from the beginning of the sip until swallowing it.
Last year or so, a friend gifted me some matcha and it was absolutely amazing. Blew every matcha I ever had away. It was also more expensive, but so worth it.
I think this slowly started my journey into really getting into matcha, caring about the quality, where it came from and how it was made. I still cannot talk about it like wine connoisseurs do - Iām not knowledgable enough on geography and its effects on green tea leaves, but at least I now know where it even comes from and what type of green tea leaf it is made from. The lower end matcha doesnāt care to advertise any of that, because itās unimpressive and possibly the lowest quality just thrown together.
This is also why I wonāt buy gimmick matcha again - like the ones with curcumin mixed in, the blue ones, or vanilla flavor or strawberry flavor you can buy in Emma Chamberlainās shop. I tried. I initially really liked her normal matcha and I think itās still good. I also think of all the gimmick ones, the vanilla is the most solid choice. However, itās undeniable that they use the bad batches for the gimmicks. Youāre distracted by the strawberry flavor or the color and donāt notice the missing matcha quality. Youāre honestly better off investing into great matcha and then pouring some strawberry syrup in - that actually tastes amazing, because the different rich, earthy, sometimes slightly nutty notes of the matcha fit perfectly to the fruity sweet strawberry.
But when they sell the strawberry flavor included in it, itās just matcha + strawberry flavor powder - tasting like pure glucose with a hint of this artificial kind of strawberry taste you tend to have in strawberry milk, and almost no matcha taste. Not even close to mixing it together yourself with a syrup. The latter also produces a nicer color - the strawberry matcha from the shop is just an ugly green-beige, almost brown. Ew.
So the matcha from my friend has been my standard matcha for a while. Itās a Garucha matcha from the Jangwon tea farm on Jeju (an island of South Korea). It grows under partial shade, has an amazing color, rich smell, and tastes slightly sweet too next to the usual earthy matcha flavor.
But recently, the shop I order at got a new type of matcha, and I wanted to try it out. Itās described as a Kirishima Miumori matcha, a matcha from Japan on the Kyushu island.
Every time I think I cannot possibly find an even better matcha, I do. I was blown away. The smell alone has such a wide range and is so strong, so aromatic, almost like seasoning. The umami taste is intense - it tastes less like something grassy and more like a light roast coffee without acidity. My girlfriend and me agreed itās almost like walnut or pecan. Itās creamy and soft, and has a hint of freshness, almost like a tiny bit of mint. The sticker on the box says it is made from the midori tea bush (āsae midoriā) with an extra long shading phase. How long a leaf is shaded affects the taste; the longer the shading, the more umami taste there is.
Now Iām savoring the taste every time I get to drink it. What a blessing.
Thanks to matcha-moon-moth for inspiring me to make my own post about my love for matcha. I wish we had matcha tastings where I live.
Published 20 Sep, 2024, edited 7Ā months, 2Ā weeks ago