matcha quality

Greenery in Kagoshima, Japan

Why you need to start paying attention to Kagoshima matcha

Kagoshima was historically the source of cheap “filler” teas that big, traditional tea houses in Uji would use to blend and balance out teas. This slowly changed in the late 1980s as the regional government sought to increase the brand recognition and quality of its tea product. History of Kagoshima tea Today, Kagoshima is an …

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Close up of tea plants

What are tea cultivars and should you pay any attention to them?

More than 70% of all tea plants grown in Japan are genetically identical. This is because they were propagated from cuttings rather than grown from seeds. This is known as a “cultivar”, and it allows farmers to standardize quality and output of matcha tea year after year. Certain tea cultivars are said to be better …

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Four matcha powder on wooden tray for matcha grade comparison

Understanding the real difference between ceremonial and culinary grade matcha

Outside Japan, most matcha consumers divide matcha into two types of matcha grades; ceremonial grade matcha and culinary grade matcha. The idea is that ceremonial grade matcha is a higher quality, and is good enough to drink near, whereas culinary grade matcha is more suitable for ingredient use in recipes due to its more pronounced …

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