The Sugar Bar

matcha latte from Mount Fuji Restaurant, Bullring Birmingham

One of my best girlfriends has placed the responsibility of being her daily scoop of food porn on my head and honoured as I am, I feel now a great determination to post responsibly and logically as well without forgetting my entertainment factor. I’m sat on my bed, sipping a quiet cup of ginseng brewed green & black tea and deliberating my next move. The likes of Wordsworth have been chucked aside momentarily for more domestic than literal concerns…

—

As promised, I present to you my post specifically on matcha, rather than green tea or Japanese green tea. Matcha is the new craze about town (we’ve revived its popularity) and I can see why it is - not difficult to comprehend since it’s got an amazingly alluring, attractive green colour. A lot of the green tea produce we get comes from Uji or Shizuoka (I hope I got that right). Shizuoka is near Mount Fuji and I’ve been there. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to visit any tea plantations. I have no expert knowledge on tea harvesting or matcha-making so I’ll just share the little knowledge that I have. So really, what is this matcha?

Green tea can be grown in the shade or out of the shade. Matcha is basically powdered green tea leaves which have been grown in the shade for 3 weeks prior to harvest. Due to the reduction in sunlight, the growth is slower than normal which increases the amino acids of the leaves. Also, growing it in the shade helps to preserve the greenness of the leaves when the leaves increase their chlorophyll content in response, taking on a darker shade of green as the weeks pass. After harvest, the leaves are steamed to stop any fermentation then dried. Kept in bales, the leaves undergo a short aging process to deepen its flavour. After, it goes through a process where it is ‘de-spinned’ so the inner parts of the leaves are separated from the veins that run through the leaves. What we have then is tencha. Put through a stone grind, it takes on a powder form - matcha.

As with everything else in the world, there are grades to matcha. There’s high grade matcha meant for the best tea ceremonies to the lower grade matcha, and ingredient grade matcha which is easy for cooking. There are 2 types of matcha. To prepare this drink, matcha is whisked (you need some skill for this) carefully in a tea bowl with temperature-controlled water. The more expensive one is koicha and has a characteristically milder taste. Commonly known as thick matcha, it has a thicker consistency and prepared with less water. It has a less bitter taste than the thin matcha or usucha and so matcha to water ratio can increase without affecting the general pleasantness of the drink. Koicha is usually produced closely according to demand as once it is exposed to a non-controlled atmosphere like your kitchen, its quality starts to decrease. It is why if you’re sourcing for really good koicha, it might take a while for you to actually get the great stuff. This also makes it pricier. Lower supply=higher price.

Usucha is your matcha you can typically find in stores. They are easy to get and aren’t too pricey. Although it is described as thin, it is only so because of its high astringency. To make a nice cup of usucha that doesn’t shock your system, the tea is prepared with a lower matcha to water ratio, so it’s wetter and thinner. Ingredient grade finally uses the same leaves really - just that the leaves are leaves lower down the plant itself and the stems are not removed before grinding. This doesn’t mean it’s bad quality. It simply has a less bold taste and so is more appropriate for cooking, baking, etc.

Green tea is known to have the highest levels of antioxidants amongst all other types of tea. Matcha, not just a tea made strained from the leaves, is made with the leaves. So you drink the leaves. In a sense, you take in its minerals and vitamins (A, B complex, C, E, K) directly. It also has a significant amount of dietary fibre and almost no calories. Ultimately, matcha is your health drink of the century. Not only does it taste good, make you FEEL good, it’s bloody good for you too. Period.

—

When I was younger, and a lot sillier than I was now, I always imagined myself to be some sort of tea girl. Or at least, kind of like an aristocrat, a refined lady who knew and cherished the art of tea. I giggle to think of that now. I used to collect little Japanese handpainted tea cups and did attempt making one in pottery class. I even went to the extent of getting books out about tea ceremony, shutting my bedroom door tight and playing pretend tea ceremony. Sadly, I still know zilch about the real thing and hope to learn from the Japanese pros one day. When that happens, all you people out there just you wait for me to say this to you: ‘watch and learn, suckers!’. By then, I hope too to have finally gotten myself my dream Chinese tea set and a Japanese one too. Those little bamboo whisks are well cool! Must have one of those noooww. Unfortunately I’m too poor to even speak of it, really. I always outdo myself and this time, heroic as it might sound - I have reached new heights of poverty.

I haven’t gone as in depth about matcha as I would’ve liked because as I was typing this post, I read back on myself and realized how mechanical and lecture-like I was starting to sound. That isn’t any fun now is it? This is a blog for pete’s sake, not an info questia site or science journal and I would never dare to think my readers incapable of getting more indepth info on food - yes indeed, when your motivation is food or eating, nothing can get in your way, not even a lousy library or slow broadband speed. Google and wikipedia swiftly become your quickfix choice of weapon!

As we hop on the bandwagon and this new health-conscious wave, we see a lot of people adding matcha to cakes, cookies, ice cream, drinks. It’s incredible how flexible the matcha powder is and how creative people are in the kitchen. I love looking at all the unique posts foodbloggers are coming up with: matcha cookies, matcha opera cake and the list just keeps getting longer and longer. The green just draws me in too like a fly to manure. I can’t help but click, even if it’s at the cost of a virus on my Macbook - it’s that bad. Talk about sexual attraction. Not only is matcha making this appearance everywhere - not that it hasn’t been before, I think just a greater number of people are being exposed to it and not just in the States - it refuses to be restricted to just the food and drink category.

Why do I say that? Matcha is appearing in handwash, in moisturisers and other cosmetic products, and it’s even in my shower cream?! How amazing is that? You don’t only eat what you eat in this day and age, you bath in it. Again, not that this hasn’t occurred before but that it’s more popular and readily available now I suppose. And of course, that I am more aware of it myself. Anyway, I love tea and why I think matcha is my baby of all teas is (yes, we’ve already established this before - it’s damn colour) for one, its health benefits. But, at the end of the day, I love its taste. Not taking into consideration flower teas, arguing this strictly on tea leaf grounds, green tea although slightly bitter to the tastebuds initially mellows itself out as you drink it and blossoms into sweetness. You don’t need milk or sugar, for that matter, to make it taste any better or enhance its original flavour. It’s good as it is. Naked tea. The way I like it. You can drink as many cups of it as you like, and it doesn’t leave any acidic feeling in your mouth. It’s a silent, slick goddess, this one. Or as in my title, I refer to her as The Green Bride. Sexy, humble, unoppressive and refined is this drink. She accompanies me after lunch and after dinner, keeps me nice and comfy whilst I work and brings the best out of family banter at special events. To keep up with the times, she goes for a makeover and puts herself in fancy lattes (like the one above, it was so good! blew me away), tarts and cakes and what not. Strong yet subtle, mild yet sharp, green tea or matcha - she’s totally in control of her potency and strength. Isn’t the green tea exactly representative, almost metaphorical of the female?

It might be that I’ve just chatted a whole load of bullcrap. Hopefully not though or I would have put myself and Sam to shame. Haha, how I amuse myself so. I have all these thoughts in my head that I want to put to words and get out through my hands that are tapping away on my keyboard, but somehow I’m vexed by this loss for words (ironic as it sounds since you are reading words here on this very page). It’s like being stuck in a dark tunnel. You know there’s an end to it but you can’t see the light just yet so you gotta keep moving forward anyway and hope to God that you are actually moving forward - to make it to your final point, your conclusion. Well, I can’t see the light just yet, I’ve breezed on a little about matcha and pray this post has been a little more interesting that the usual fare I churn out. Nonetheless, let me create the light-at-the-end-of-the-tunnel for myself — I dig this green lady, and reckon the majority of the 21st century living beings do too. Doubt we will be, at any time now, be getting a divorce with our new favourite Green Bride.