Uploaded August 2024 | Updated September 2026, 3 hours ago
Enjoying Japanese matcha green tea at Nana’s Green Tea in Sapporo Hokkaido and Daimaru department store.
What is Matcha?
Matcha is a Japanese green tea powder made from finely powdered dried tea leaves. It has a slightly bitter, vegetal taste and a vibrant green color that results from the leaves’ high chlorophyll levels. It’s been the cornerstone of traditional Japanese tea ceremonies for centuries, but it recently became popular outside of Japan because of its health benefits.
Regular green tea is already touted as an antioxidant powerhouse, but matcha has even more benefits. Here’s why: when you make other forms of green tea, you steep the leaves in hot water and then discard them. When you make matcha, you whisk the powder into hot water or milk. As a result, you actually consume the entire tea leaf when you drink it! The antioxidants it contains may lower blood pressure, reduce your risk of heart disease, and even boost your metabolism.
Ingredients for Usucha (thin matcha)
1 tsp. (2 grams) matcha (= 1 ½ heaping ladles)
About 2 oz (70 ml) boiling water
Equipment you’ll need
Chasen (tea whisk)
Chashaku (tea ladle)
Chawan (tea bowl)
A fine mesh strainer/seieve
A teacup
Enjoying Japanese matcha green tea at Nana’s Green Tea in Sapporo Hokkaido and Daimaru department store.
What is Matcha?
Matcha is a Japanese green tea powder made from finely powdered dried tea leaves. It has a slightly bitter, vegetal taste and a vibrant green color that results from the leaves’ high chlorophyll levels. It’s been the cornerstone of traditional Japanese tea ceremonies for centuries, but it recently became popular outside of Japan because of its health benefits.
Regular green tea is already touted as an antioxidant powerhouse, but matcha has even more benefits. Here’s why: when you make other forms of green tea, you steep the leaves in hot water and then discard them. When you make matcha, you whisk the powder into hot water or milk. As a result, you actually consume the entire tea leaf when you drink it! The antioxidants it contains may lower blood pressure, reduce your risk of heart disease, and even boost your metabolism.
Ingredients for Usucha (thin matcha)
1 tsp. (2 grams) matcha (= 1 ½ heaping ladles)
About 2 oz (70 ml) boiling water
Equipment you’ll need
Chasen (tea whisk)
Chashaku (tea ladle)
Chawan (tea bowl)
A fine mesh strainer/seieve
A teacup
