How to Choose Matcha

With the rise of Matcha only climbing higher, it can feel overwhelming when you’re looking at all the different choices in cafés or online. Whether you’ve always wanted to try Matcha for the first time or you’re unsure about which one is right for you, we’ve put together this guide to help you choose.

Before we get into it, here are a few key rules to bear in mind to ensure optimum flavour and quality. Look for:

Packaging: Matcha is a sensitive product, which means it needs to be kept in optimum packaging to preserve its aroma, colour and flavour, as well as improving shelf life. AVANTCHA Matcha are packed with nitrogen at the source into tins that are an excellent material for thermo-regulating (keeping the temperature balanced), and are air, light and moisture tight.

Colour: An easy way to tell a good Matcha apart from another, is to look for deep green, vibrant colour. Poor quality Matcha, or Matcha that hasn’t been stored well, will have a tell tale dullness and lack of colour to them, and smell stale.

Texture: Good Matcha will have been milled very carefully, creating a very fine powder. While some natural clumps are expected, they should easily break down when you press down lightly upon them. Good Matcha, when you smear a small amount of it across a white piece of paper with your finger, should have a thick, consistent streak.

For the latte drinkers and bakers: Organic Matcha Cocktail Grade Kagoshima

We have exclusively designed our Organic Cocktail Grade Kagoshima with the ristretto base for flat white coffee in mind, which balances sweetness and strength. Our blend of ceremonial first harvest Yabukita, Okumidori, Okuyutaka and Zairai cultivars allow the rich, authentic taste of Matcha to shine through milk or milk alternatives, or as a premium culinary ingredient in cocktails, speciality beverages, desserts, and food.

Grown in the volcanic soil of Kagoshima, this Matcha has a rich, earthy flavour with an umami finish. We have delicious recipes using our Organic Matcha Cocktail Grade Kagoshima from Matcha Mascarpone frosting, Rose White Chocolate to Matchamisu.

For the Matcha experts: Organic Matcha Ceremonial Grade Fuji

Umami, sweet and fresh Matcha from Fuji, Shizuoka with a complex mineral character. Our Organic Matcha Ceremonial Grade Fuji is a fine choice for connoisseurs looking to discern more savoury, vegetal notes that are common in the highest quality Matcha and as a result of organic production methods. It is exclusively grown and produced at the footsteps of Fuji Mountain in volcanic soil rich with minerals in the Shizuoka region of Japan. Grown in shaded plantations, the top tencha tea leaves are picked in the first flush of spring by farmers before being traditionally ground in stone mills to a fine powder.

For Matcha experts with a sweet tooth: Matcha Ceremonial Grade Yame

This single origin Matcha is nutty and velvety and comes from Yame, Fukuoka with delicate notes of white chocolate and Brazil nuts. Our Matcha Ceremonial Grade Yame is a beautiful example of how smooth and sweet Matcha can be, enjoyed as a treat to uplift the spirits perhaps with a square of high-quality chocolate on the side for optimal enjoyment. Grown in fertile soils in tea gardens with streams of water from the Hoshino River, Japan, surrounded by bamboo and pine tree forests.

For Matcha Connaisseurs: Matcha Ceremonial Grade Uji Saemidori Hand Plucked

A profoundly special and hard-to-find handplucked AVANTCHA Platinum Ceremonial Grade Matcha from Uji that we sourced this year upon our extensive travels in Japan. You have to taste it to believe it and we fell in love at first sip, savouring the super-rich, creamy and sweet flavour balanced with a deep, vegetal umami and high notes of spring flowers. The colour is almost hard to believe in a mesmerising, vivid-green with a soft, foamy texture. This is a truly magical Matcha to be made in the traditional style with water.

Once you’ve got your Matcha, don’t forget to make sure that it’s kept in an airtight container in the fridge to preserve freshness. Happy Matcha-ing!

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