Ceremonial Matcha - The 2026 Guide To Choosing the Best Matcha
- Josh Boughton
- 4 days ago
- 13 min read
Matcha has exploded in popularity. With that comes a lot of companies jumping into the matcha game, and most of them have no idea how to make a good matcha product. At the same time, a matcha shortage has led to a surge in fake and adulterated matcha products flooding the market.
What Is Ceremonial MatchA?
Ceremonial matcha is a fine, powdered version of the same plant that all tea comes from: the Camellia sinensis plant. However, the methods used to make matcha are much more specialized and different from those used to make regular tea. Matcha is shade-grown under tarps, which inhibit photosynthesis and cause tea leaves to overcompensate by producing more chlorophyll. The concentrated chlorophyll gives good matcha its iconic vibrant green color. Real matcha only comes from Japan.
Did you know that the terms "ceremonial matcha" and "matcha" are not regulated? Any company can write that their green tea powder is matcha or ceremonial matcha, and as you can imagine, this leads to a lot of fake matcha on the market. We will get into that later on in the article.
Matcha is milled tencha from Japan; anything else is just powdered green tea.
What Are The Benefits of Matcha?
Matcha isn’t just a delicious drink; it’s packed with benefits.
It is rich in the amino acid theanine, which supports relaxation.
It contains catechins, which support a healthy heart and cardiovascular system.
It contains EGCG and polyphenols that support a healthy immune system.
It supports healthy energy levels and alertness.
It is rich in natural chlorophyll, which is very different than the semi-synthetic kinds sold as “liquid chlorophyll.”
Caffeine In Matcha Green Tea Versus Coffee
One of the most common questions people have about matcha is how much caffeine it has compared to coffee.
One cup of coffee has about 95 milligrams of caffeine, which is released fairly rapidly. The average cup of matcha contains about 2 grams of matcha, providing about 64 mg of caffeine. However, caffeine is released more slowly and in a more sustained manner than coffee. The slow-release caffeine, combined with the theanine naturally present in matcha, means that it is far less likely to cause the jitters and other side effects of caffeine that coffee and energy drinks can have.
How Does Matcha Taste?
Real matcha is very different in taste from the mostly sugar powder they try to pass off as matcha at Starbucks. Most people think matcha tastes the same, but, just like with grapes and wine, how and where the tea used to make the matcha is grown can have a big impact on the flavor. Matcha can range from rich and earthy to sweet and delicate. Choose a variety that fits your taste profile or try a whole bunch to find your matcha prince.
How To Prepare Ceremonial Matcha
There are two main styles of traditional preparation: Koicha and Usucha. Daily Matcha drinkers will mostly prepare their Matcha in the Usucha style.
First, measure out or sift 2g (1/2-1 teaspoon) of Matcha into your bowl. You can use any wide-set dish that you can sip from comfortably.
Heat your water to 175ºF. Pour just enough over the powder to slightly wet it, then make a paste with your utensil, and remove any remaining clumps if you haven’t sifted them out. This step is called koicha.
Now, you make the usucha! Add about 2-3 ounces of water into your bowl and whisk for about 30 seconds, or until your Matcha reaches a silky, uniform froth with small bubbles. The quality of the froth will depend on the water temperature and how much water you use, so be careful not to add too much water or use water that is too cold.
Now it’s time to take a sip and enjoy your Matcha moment.
If you’re looking to take your matcha go, there’s an easy way to do it.
Measure out 2 grams of matcha into your favorite to-go thermos.
Fill with 175-degree hot water.
Close the lid very tightly.
Now get your shake on. While shaking your booty to your favorite song like you just got a date with one of those gentlemen on Heated Rivalry.
Carefully open the lid and check out the amazing foam you just made.
Now you can have your green goodness wherever you are.
How To Store Matcha
It’s important to refrigerate your Matcha after opening. The tea is sensitive to light, air, and heat, and will keep well for about six months before its flavors and color start to dull. Fresh matcha is the frothiest matcha!
Matcha color
The color of matcha is one of the biggest indicators of quality. Matcha should be a bright, vibrant green and a fine, fluffy powder. Most matcha is dull, brownish, and off color.
Due to the shortage of matcha, a lot of dull, lifeless brown tea is flooding the wholesale matcha market, mostly from China and India. Still, companies know matcha aficionados only want bright green matcha. To get around the color problem, they are dyeing it green and selling it as high-quality ceremonial matcha, even though it’s nothing of the sort. A lot of it is being labeled as a product of Japan, even though it was not made or grown there.
Ceremonial Matcha Versus Culinary Matcha
There are two main types of matcha: culinary and ceremonial, but there are many misunderstandings about the terms.
There is currently no regulation or standardization for determining whether matcha is ceremonial or culinary, so any company or brand can label its matcha "ceremonial" or "culinary" – even in Japan. There is also no specific definition of how matcha should be grown in the field or processed after harvest, so each matcha manufacturer or brand is free to label its tea as it wishes. With high demand, some companies try to pass off low-quality matcha as ceremonial, or deem culinary matcha always low-quality.
Real culinary matcha is made from the mature leaves lower down on the plant, whereas ceremonial matcha is made from the younger leaves at the top. The flavor tends to be stronger because of this, which makes it better suited to things like baking and cooking, where ceremonial matchas' more delicate flavor would be overpowered. Culinary matcha should not be lower quality and should be made to the same standards as ceremonial matcha. Culinary matcha got a bad reputation because so many companies used it to sell poor-quality matcha. It should have the same bright, vibrant color and texture as ceremonial matcha.
Matcha Adulteration And Quality Control Problems
A major and rapidly growing problem due to the shortage and the cost of making good matcha is adulteration. Matcha adulteration can take many forms; here are a few examples, but it’s definitely not a complete list.
Something can be added to the matcha, but not disclosed on the label. This is done to decrease costs and increase profits. Common additive adulterants include:
Different grades of matcha
Barley seedling powder
Rice starch
food dye
Regular green tea
Green clay
Dyed cellulose
Food dye
A cheaper type of green tea can replace the ceremonial matcha
Tea grown in India and China is used instead of Japanese matcha, but the product is still labeled as Japanese matcha.
Spent matcha
This is where certain compounds, such as theanine and EGCG, are extracted from matcha and sold as separate supplements. The leftover matcha after extraction is then sold on its own. While it is technically still matcha, it will be missing lots of the benefits.
As the popularity of matcha increases and the shortage grows, the problem of matcha adulteration will worsen and become more sophisticated.
How To Choose The Best Ceremonial Matcha
There are many factors to consider when choosing a good matcha. Let’s go through a few of them.
First up, and something I harp on a lot for all kinds of whole food supplements, is the source. Real matcha is only from Japan. If you see a company selling it and it was grown or made in other countries, it’s not real matcha. Matcha requires a lot of experience and specialized practices that only Japan has the experience and expertise in doing. However, due to all of the companies that are lying about selling Japanese matcha, it’s important to get your matcha from companies that can trace their matcha back to the individual farms where it is grown and the facilities where it is produced. Just stating that the matcha is from Japan isn't enough, because most companies don’t have a direct connection with the farmers and instead buy it from a middleman who may get it from a variety of sources and mix it all together.
Next up, you want matcha produced from nutrient-dense spring-harvested Tencha leaves. These very special leaves are the cream of the crop and produce the best matcha, with the highest levels of beneficial compounds. Matcha produced later in the season is cheaper, but does not compare.
Third is the growing practices. While many companies are opting for faster-growing methods and machine harvesting that require less human labor to increase profits, but this results in matcha that does not come close to matching the traditional methods.
It’s important to choose matcha that is grown in the shade. Most matcha products now use sun-grown tea leaves to make their matcha, because that is less expensive to produce. Growing matcha in the sun results in lower levels of theanine and a more bitter tea. Real matcha is produced only from shade-grown tea leaves, hand-harvested. Handpicking takes extreme attention to detail, and each leaf is chosen carefully. Farmers with many years of experience pick the best leaves from each tea plant, resulting in a more pleasant flavor and a delicate scent. Machines cannot match this.
Shading limits bitterness and produces a lovely, balanced flavor profile. A few weeks before harvesting tea leaves, direct coverings (jikagise, or kabuse), tarps (tana), or wara reed screens (honzu) are rolled out over the tea plants. The shading time of a tea plant will affect characteristics such as flavor, aroma, caffeine level, and leaf size. Good matcha requires shading to produce distinct flavors and notes.
The next step is the stone grinding. This is a crucial step in making matcha the right way; it requires patience, diligence, craft, and care, which companies looking to make a quick buck are all too happy to cast aside. The methods for growing the tea bushes, how and when to shade them, the cultivation of tencha tea leaves, and the “de-veining” process for making tencha are all integral to how matcha gets to your cup. These days, very little emphasis is placed upon arguably the most important tool in the creation of matcha powder. That tool is the “ishi-usu”, or “stone mill”. Let’s explore why it’s so important.
From our friends at Mizuba:
“Matcha must be powdered green tea. But not all powdered green tea is matcha. Any tea leaf can be pulverized to a fine powder, but as far as matcha is concerned, the tea leaves are specifically designed to be pulverized. Enter tencha: this is what separates matcha from powdered sencha and other powdered teas. It's the quality of the powder itself. Tencha is grown and de-veined specifically for grinding, as stems and veins would interrupt the grinding process, leading to an uneven powder. When processed into tencha, the leaves are ground more uniformly.
The second most important part is the artisan approach to grinding the tencha. When tencha leaves are added to an ishi-usu, the grind needs to be very careful and controlled. First of all, ishi-usus are made of granite - granite is considered a "soft" stone, as it doesn't produce much friction or heat. The teeth of the mortar are specifically designed to adhere to a counter-clockwise rotation at a certain speed. Meaning, the stone mill must be turned slowly and methodically to create a fine, even powder. Too fast a rotation results in too much heat, and the leaves will oxidize and burn; plus, the powder might end up too coarse for whisking.
The preferred method of grinding with an ishi-usu is to (as mentioned above) rotate the mill counter-clockwise. Each rotation should be done in three-second intervals. Too fast, and the leaf material might end up damaged; too slow, and the material might not grind at all. The wrong direction, and the tencha will catch on itself and not grind.
The matcha must be ground to a mere micron (μm) size - super fine! A slow, steady, and precise grind leads to an exquisite, finely-sieved powder with a sweet, umami-rich, aromatic profile. Keep in mind that these rules apply only to traditional hand mills. It takes quite a long time to grind matcha! For example, it will take about an hour to grind 40 grams of matcha.
With the matcha craze still in full effect, many companies are quick to buy up anything that “looks” like matcha and turn it over as a product. However, not all powdered green teas on the market are (or should count as) matcha. To be the real deal, the leaves must be made into tencha.
Stone grinding alone won't ensure a true, matcha-status product. Unfortunately, today, some tea leaves are either pulverized by steel balls or high-powered blenders, which can destroy the integrity, quality, bioavailability (degrading nutrients), and flavor of your matcha tea. Mass-producing matcha in this fashion can also yield larger particle sizes (not the fine micron-sized particles that traditional stone mills produce), which don't make for as smooth or flavorful a cup. Look for companies advocating the ishi usu!”
Ideally, this is how tencha should be stored and processed. The farmers in the mountains should harvest their tencha in the spring and put the whole leaves into cold storage.
Then, once the matcha order comes in, the tencha leaves should be ground. Far too many companies get matcha that has been ground and sitting around for a long time. Ground to order yields the best-quality matcha. The best matcha leaves are ground at 30 revolutions per minute for 24 hours to ensure a fresh product.
Adherence to tradition, as well as a strong ethic for quality, separates true matcha from other wares presented as matcha. The simple, humble ishi-usu makes all that possible. An 800-year-old innovation is still the ticket that brings high-quality matcha straight to your table.
Of course, color cannot be forgotten as an important measure of quality. Matcha should be vibrant, bright green, and fluffy. Brownish or dull matcha is a sure sign your matcha is not up to par.
Matcha should be packaged in small metal tins, dark glass, or bags. Matcha should never be in clear packaging, as light degrades it.
Matcha should be tested for heavy metals and pesticides to ensure you get the purest matcha possible.
While price is not always a good indicator of quality, a price that is too low is a big red flag. Good matcha will not come in big bags for consumer purchase. When you see big bags of matcha for twenty dollars, it’s definitely too good to be true, even for culinary matcha. We saw on Amazon a 2.2-pound bag of culinary matcha for $47 or 48 dollars. There is no way you are getting good matcha for that price. Good matcha will only come in small packages, unless you are buying large amounts for use in a cafe, but even then, a 2.2-pound bag will cost hundreds of dollars for the good stuff.
Third-party Tested Matcha
Many people believe that third-party testing is the best way to determine the quality of matcha. This could not be further from the truth. There are so many things that are important to making great matcha that cannot be tested for, such as growing, harvesting, and grinding, and won’t be on a third-party test results. In addition, there is a whole host of problems with third-party testing, which you can read more about here.
Mizuba Matcha Green Tea
After a lot of searching, tasting, testing, and researching, we finally found a company that did everything we were looking for in producing an incredible matcha.
Mizuba Tea Co. is a woman-owned, family-run company that specializes in stone-milled, traditional Japanese matcha.
Mizuba Tea sources its matcha directly from farmers across different regions of Japan. Every matcha is a bright, vibrant green, with a fluffy texture from stone milling, shade growing, and hand-harvesting. The matcha is tested for heavy metals and contaminants.
Each of their matchas tells a unique story. The devotion the farmers put into crafting each tea results in an entire experience to be savored with each sip. Most of their matcha is organic certified, which is a relatively new movement in Japan. They have recently enabled one farmer to convert his entire tea fields from conventional to organic. Another partner farm is becoming a UNESCO World Heritage site, and another farm pioneers the Traditional Tea-grass Integrated Agricultural System, nurturing biodiversity.
These efforts help ensure that the same care and respect given to each leaf in the field is carried through to your cup—nurturing both the land and those who enjoy the tea from it.
Because of their decades-long friendships with farmers in Japan, they can access unique varieties of matcha with incredible flavor profiles. It’s just like with wine and chocolate, how and where the tea leaves are grown makes a big difference in the flavor.
Every year, what’s available changes based on what the farmers are growing, so it’s always good to check back often to see what unique matchas are available. You never know when you might find one you cannot live without. Here are some of the amazing varieties out right now:
This product used to be called culinary matcha. Due to the bad reputation and poor quality of most culinary matcha, they decided to change the name.
This is the secret to every matcha latte, smoothie, cookie, dish, and culinary creation.
This matcha is exceptionally fresh: sourced, shade-grown & stone-milled to order from their producer partners' organic farms in Shizuoka, Japan. This matcha is grown solely with natural, organic fertilizers, and no synthetic agricultural chemicals or pesticides are used.
This is a certified organic first-flush artisanal matcha. This is a savory matcha that showcases fresh, traditional & enjoyable flavors. With organic matcha, it is said that the more savory, earthy flavor reflects how matcha was grown and produced historically. Like the ceremonial Nagomi Matcha, this organic tea is harvested only once a year, as growing organic tea is difficult. Sip the vibrant green tea and dream of the equally vibrant tea fields of Uji, Japan.
A shogun legacy: Honyama tea was beloved by Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder of the Edo Shogunate. Matcha from this mountainous region was offered to these rulers as an official tea for generations, prized for the tea's deep, layered umami honed by terroir and elevation. It is renowned for its transparent, elegant taste and a distinctive "mountain aroma" (yama no kaori) that results from the region's high elevation, mineral-rich soil, and natural fog.
This incredible matcha is harvested only once a year from their friend's organic farm. This first flush organic matcha is certified by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries of Japan (JAS). The single harvest ensures your tea is the highly sought-after first harvest of the year and full of nutrients. The bold, profound umami taste of this matcha is an experience not to be missed.
This is a very special matcha hailing from the mist-covered tea farms in Haruno, Shizuoka. This tea is lovingly farmed, stone-milled, and crafted by a husband-and-wife team. Tsuyuhikari translates to "dew light" and is a relatively rare, premium cultivar known for a vibrant, deep-green liquor, deep umami, a refreshing aroma, and exquisite flavor. Tsuyuhikari is high in theanine, the amino acid responsible for tea's sweetness and umami. This gives it a smooth, rich flavor that's easy to enjoy for a wide range of tea drinkers. When brewed with cold water (mizudashi), the sweetness becomes even more pronounced, making it ideal for iced tea. Tsuyuhikari contains relatively low levels of catechins, so bitterness and astringency are minimal.
A masterpiece from Japan's Southern Alps, Yama matcha exemplifies clarity and centuries of history. The Honyama region produces teas renowned for an impeccable balance of sweetness and clean umami, with a fresh, airy, slightly floral aroma evoking its mountainous terroir. It is best for traditional whisked tea (usucha).
Yorokobi, translating to "joy" in Japanese, certainly lives up to its namesake! This exquisite matcha is one of the smoothest, most umami-filled organic matchas. While most organic matcha teas are very tannic and earthy, the care and attention to growing our beautiful Yorokobi result in a velvety, vegetal sweetness that is a joy to drink. It is a deep, mellow, and rich matcha.
Ceremonial Matcha questions and support
If you have questions about our ceremonial matcha, email us at info@rooted-nutrition.com, and we would be happy to answer them!
