Ceremonial Matcha Powder

Uji, Kyoto • Japan

Ceremonial Matcha Powder

Name: Ceremonial Matcha Powder
Rating: 5.00 (3 reviews)

(3 reviews)

One cultivar. One harvest. One farm in Uji.

Okumidori cultivar is known for its vibrant green colour and rich umami flavour, and is often used in ceremonial grade matcha. We chose this cultivar which has been shade-grown for twenty days, hand-picked in spring and stone-ground into a powder finer than anything a machine can produce. Sweet, silky, faintly floral, with a clean astringency that lifts rather than lingers. Delicate enough for usucha. Rich enough that a latte made with it tastes like a different drink entirely.

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Delivery schedule

Usucha, traditional whisked tea
Cold brew matcha
High-grade lattes
Quiet mornings

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Store sealed in a cool, dry place or freezer, away from moisture and odours.

Orders are dispatched within 1-2 business days. Returns accepted on unopened bags within 30 days.

A Single Expression

Okumidori: one cultivar, one spring picking, one farm in Uji Kyoto

What's left is a rich, silky liquor and faintly floral finish. Delicate enough for usucha straight with water. Rich enough that a latte made with it transforms the drink entirely.

The Tea Itself

Twenty Days in the Dark

Three weeks before harvest, screens go up over the bushes and the light is cut. Starved of sun, the plant floods its leaves with chlorophyll and stops converting L-theanine, the amino acid behind matcha's savoury depth, into the catechins that make tea bitter.

Shade means sweetness and colour, sun means astringency and bite. Twenty days is a long shade, and it shows in the green before you have tasted anything.

First Harvest Single Cultivar

One hundred percent Okumidori, a late-budding varietal prized for deep colour, natural sweetness and low astringency. Single-cultivar matcha is rare for the same reason single-origin coffee once was: it is harder to source, harder to keep consistent, and exposes the grower completely. What it gives back is clarity. You are tasting one plant, from one place, in one season, rather than a committee decision.

Stone Ground, Not Jet Milled

Jet mills are fast and modern, producing particles of 15-30 microns. A granite wheel turning slowly produces 4-10. For baking or a blended drink, the difference is academic. For usucha, it is essential: jet-milled matcha simply cannot build the same froth or creamy weight on the tongue. The stones grind at roughly forty grams an hour. There is no shortcut to this texture.

How to Treat Ceremonial Matcha

Preparation — Thick or Thin

Usucha is the everyday preparation: two grams sifted, sixty millilitres of water at seventy to eighty degrees, whisked briskly in a W motion until a fine foam sits on the surface.

Koicha uses three or four times the powder and half the water, kneaded rather than whisked into something closer to a syrup.

Never use boiling water. It scorches the leaf and pulls out a bitterness that was deliberately bred and shaded out of it.

Chasen — Why The Whisk Matters

A bamboo chasen has around a hundred tines, and they exist to aerate. A spoon stirs; a chasen whips air through the suspension and builds the microfoam that gives usucha its texture. Paired with a stone-ground powder this fine, you get a genuinely creamy cup with no milk in it.

Storage and Freshness

Light and oxygen are what kill matcha, and the colour goes first. Miron biophotonic violet glass blocks the whole visible spectrum, letting through only infra-red and UVA, keeping the powder brighter and fresher than clear or amber glass ever will.

The jar is reusable. Seal it after every use, keep it cold and dark and away from anything strongly scented. A thirty-gram jar runs to roughly fifteen serves.

Brew guides

Explore our matcha recipes

Make your matcha FUN. These easy recipes give you simple, delicious ways to enjoy your favourite matcha, whether you're making your morning ritual or trying something new.

Tag @madeinmatchaco in your favourite or newly discovered recipe and share with the Matcha community.

Matcha Latte (Ice Optional)

Method

Sift 2g of matcha into a cup or bowl.
Add 60ml of water at 70–80°C — not boiling, which scorches the leaf and pulls out bitterness.
Whisk in a W motion until a fine foam holds on the surface.
If you want it iced, fill a tall glass with ice and pour the matcha over. If you want it hot, leave it where it is.
Top with 180ml of milk, or the mylk of your choice.
Taste it before you sweeten. It rarely needs what you would give it out of habit.

Shortcut: for the iced version you can skip the whisk entirely and shake the matcha, water and milk together in a sealed bottle.

Usucha

Method

Sift 2g of matcha into a warmed bowl to break up any clumps.
Add 60ml of water at 70–80°C. Never boiling — it scorches the leaf and drags out a bitterness that was deliberately bred and shaded out of it.
Whisk briskly in a W motion, keeping the whisk off the base of the bowl.
Stop when a fine, even foam holds on the surface. Drink straight away.

Koicha

Method

Sift 6–8g of matcha into a warmed bowl — three to four times the usucha dose. Use the highest grade you have.
Add 30ml of water at 70–80°C, half what usucha takes. Never boiling.
Knead rather than whisk, working slowly until the paste is glossy and completely smooth. It should not foam.
Serve thick, closer to a syrup than a tea, and sip it in small amounts.

Reviews

5 stars: 3 (100%)
4 stars: 0 (0%)
3 stars: 0 (0%)
2 stars: 0 (0%)
1 star: 0 (0%)

Love this Ceremonial. I compared prices across many brands to find the cheapest ceremonial from Kyoto and found Made in Matcha Co. Their customer service was so good, and they helped with some questions I had about origins. Highly recommend!