Black Matcha anybody?

[Jackie]

Watching a nice vid earlier today on green Matcha – I was wondering why we don’t see more black Matcha. Assuming that Matcha doesn’t mean “green”. I have never seen any at all, but before posting this I had a little nose around the net, and found a couple. Just wondering why we don’t see more, and whether it tastes okay? Anyone ever tried any? It might be quite good in recipes. Although since green matcha is so vividly green, would that make black matcha cookies charcoal black?

[riccaicedo]

Black matcha isn’t the original matcha, because it’s made of black tea instead of green tea (tencha).

I think it shouldn’t be called matcha, in Japan only tea powder made from tencha is called matcha, the rest are just powdered teas (funmatsucha).

Besides, those powdered teas called black matcha aren’t Japanese teas, why use a Japanese name?

Original matcha is high in L-theanine because of the special shading in the cultivation process. That’s the same for gyokuro, and the reason why both are so expensive.

But to be honest, I haven’t tried black matcha yet.

[Jackie]

I agree with you @riccaicedo – if Matcha doesn’t just mean “powdered tea” then why call the black version Matcha? But what does “Mat”-cha actually mean? 

Either way, like you I haven’t tried ground black tea – and I’m curious why we don’t see more of it. I was always weary of Matcha because I thought you could use the most inferior tea since it’d be hard to tell in its pulverized state. However, I guess there are standards, although I’m not sure what they are. Ground black tea though, could be almost any kind of tea. Would one kind of ground black tea be better than another? What would it taste like I wonder…

[riccaicedo]

Literally matcha does mean powdered tea. Makkou, for example, has the same initial symbol and it means incense powder. However, funmatsucha also means powdered tea, and that’s the term used for all other powdered teas.

The point is, matcha isn’t just powdered green tea. It’s powdered tencha. If you took, say, sencha or bancha leaves and ground them into a powder, its not matcha but funmatsucha by default.

Its not arbitrary either, you can notice it in the taste and as I said before L-theanine content. A powdered sencha will taste way too bitter, you would notice the lower quality that way.

Here’s a link to my article on matcha, just in case:

Matcha

[Xavier]

But since Japan seems to be going for black teas, we might one of these days see black Matcha.

[liberteas]

*I have tried black Matcha, as well as white Matcha, “red” Matcha, pu-erh Matcha and Oolong Matcha.  These just are not as popular as green Matcha and I believe that it is because the green is the original, and the purists usually don’t like it when black powdered tea is called “matcha”  (Note, all of these varieties of Matcha are available from Red Leaf Tea)

I have tried powdered Sencha and did not find it bitter.  It isn’t as amazingly delicious as traditional Matcha, but, I enjoyed what I tried.  I’ve also tried powdered Genmaicha, which is also quite good.

[riccaicedo]

@liberties the powdered genmaicha sounds fun, I’ll write down a note and someday try to powder it myself.

I’m not against powdered teas, I just want them to be named fairly. Can’t it just be powdered oolong? Matcha has a deep respect as a ceremonial drink, besides the Chinese and Japanese aren’t the best of friends, why mix a tea’s identity, both are diminished that way.

The same happens if I took ingredients from my country, mixed them with seafood and rice, and called it a Colombian paella. I’m sure the Spanish people wouldn’t be happy about it. It’s best to name it some other way.

[lazyliteratus]

I personally love black matcha (or powdered black tea, whatever). I’ve seen more and more of it lately. Heck, I’ve reviewed to of ’em. One of which was even from Red Leaf Tea (a company that hates me now after my flavored matcha rant) – and I loved the stuff.

What I would like to see is a powdered black tea made from Japanese kocha (black tea). THAT would deserve to be called matcha.

[liberteas]

@riccaicedo:  a word is a word is a word in my opinion.  I don’t think that it diminishes the value the tea’s identity nor the culture from which it originates.  I have enjoyed Sencha tea from China as well as from Japan.  I have enjoyed Oolong from China and from New Zealand. 

I don’t think it matters what it is called, it is still tea, and I’m not going to call it something for the sake of trying to preserve a tea’s “identity.”  Should I only consume Matcha (that is, the Japanese powdered Tencha) if it is served during Japanese Tea Ceremony?  Wouldn’t it diminish the tea’s identity to also enjoy it outside of the ceremony? 

I like to drink Matcha every day.  I don’t do the whole Japanese Tea Ceremony.  And sometimes, when I have my daily Matcha, it is not green Matcha but, a different color.  I prepare it in the same way, and to me it is Matcha.  Why can’t it be Matcha?

It seems so silly to put so much importance on a single word.

[Robert Godden]

 I think @riccaiceddo is 100% right if what he/she/them/gender-neutral-pronoun-of-your-choice says is correct. If matcha specifically means one type of tea, powdered, and there is a perfectly good word for all other powdered teas, then it should be used in that fashion.

However, I do not believe the tea needs to needs to be Japanese. I have the same issue with sencha. If a word is a technical term for the way something is grown, and processed, then it does not matter where it is grown. If I can make tencha in my back yard and powder it, it’s still tencha. I do buy a lot of sencha from China. Quite happily.

If, however, I decide to grind up some Lord Petersham, I would previously have described it as ” matcha-like”, but now, thanks to @riccaicedo , it’s “Petersham-san ‘s funmatsucha” .

[Robert Godden]

And of course, most of what is being discussed is still Japanese tea. i.e. Lipstick on a pig.

[riccaicedo]

It doesn’t have to be Japanese, what I mean is that they can just be called powdered teas instead of matcha, which comes from tencha only.

Just like caviar comes from a certain fish, champagne is only a sparkling wine from a certain region, a truffle is just a mushroom.

Why are powdered teas being called matcha, because it gives them more status? Could be.

[bram]

* And Parmaham comes from Parma. Because it is only Parmaham if it comes from Parma. So a lot of the pigs actually come from Holland, are transported to Parma (Italy), slaughtered and sold worldwide as Parmaham…

So what is in a name…?

And yes articles often get a certain name just because the name has value. Darjeeling anyone?

[Author]

Posts