What is matcha
Matcha is a high-grade green tea that is pulverized into a powder. Pour the green tea powder into hot water instead of soaking it to form a frothy drink. The meditative act of preparing, presenting and sipping matcha is a mainstay of the Japanese tea ceremony. While matcha’s origins are ceremonial, green tea powder is widely used around the world in drinks such as lattes or buckwheat noodle tea, and as a cooking ingredient for everything from ice cream to salad dressing.
The origin of matcha
The custom in early China was to grind tea leaves into powder and then whip or break the leaves in a bowl with hot water. Although “broken tea” was later abandoned by the Chinese in favor of steeping tea leaves, the Japanese continued to popularize the method.
One of Japan’s own Zen priests, who had studied in Buddhist monasteries in China, returned to Japan in the early 12th century and planted tea seeds and shrubs. The young monk, named Vesai, drew on his experiences growing up in China and drinking “crushed tea” to promote what he calls the “tea ceremony” as a meditation ritual within Japan’s Buddhist monkish community. Eventually, he spread the practice of drinking matcha to other parts of Japan.
