Matcha
Matcha ( Japanese : 抹茶 [ ma.tɕa ] for "ground tea") ( ) is a green tea that is ground into a powder and used in the Japanese tea ceremony . It has an intense green color and a lovely sweetish taste that is slightly bitter in later pickings. The tea contains catechins and carotenes and vitamins A , B , C and E .
The green tea intended for Matcha is harvested from tea bushes, which are usually shaded four weeks before harvest. This creates a delicate, dark green leaf. After the harvest, the tea leaves are steamed, dried and, after all coarse leaf vessels have been removed, ground to a fine powder in stone mills.
Matcha is considered a particularly noble type of tea and is accordingly expensive. The tea should be tightly closed and stored in a cool and dry place.
preparation
1 to 2 grams of the powder are placed in a matcha bowl, 60 to 100 ml of hot water are poured over them and whipped with a bamboo whisk , called Cha-sen , until foamy.
The water should be around 80 ° C and not too hard . When the tea is whipped, the broom is moved back and forth from the wrist, for example in the form of the letter 'M'. The higher and firmer the foam, the better the tea turned out.
Depending on the taste, the tea can be served more mildly with a higher proportion of water and stronger with more tea.
In the Japanese tea ceremony, in addition to the above-described preparation of thin tea, usu-cha (薄 茶), in which Matcha is brewed and stirred with a corresponding amount of water, there is also the preparation method of strong tea, koi-cha (濃茶), with a lot Tea powder and a little water.
history
The way of preparing Matcha was probably developed in China in the 6th century. As is customary in traditional East Asian medicine, the tea leaves were dried as a medicinal plant and ground into a fine powder. This medicine was traditionally produced in Buddhist monasteries and most of it was consumed there. From this tradition a first tea ritual of the Zen or Chan Buddhists developed. Chan Buddhism reached Japan in 1191 through the monk Eisai , who also brought tea seeds with him in large quantities for the first time .
While matcha was forgotten in China, it was further cultivated in Japan as part of Buddhism. The Japanese tea ceremony developed in the 16th century under the great Japanese tea master Sen no Rikyu . Sen no Rikyu explained in his poems about the tea way how to properly prepare and drink matcha.
production
Traditional Matcha is produced in Japan . Famous growing areas are Fukuoka , Uji and Nishio prefecture ; For some time now it has also been cultivated and produced in more southern regions such as the Chiran region in Kagoshima on Kyushu . With increasing popularity, the production of matcha in China , for example in the region around Hangzhou , has also increased.
Matcha is made from fully shaded leaves. This means that the leaves are covered with opaque nets before harvesting in order to increase the quality by extending the ripening period. The tea is steamed, dried and broken so that the stems and leaf veins detach from the leaf tissue and are then separated from one another by a draft process. Only the fine leaf tissue is used for the Matcha. This leaf meat, freed from knots and stalks, is called tencha, which is then ground on granite mills to achieve the finest possible grain.
Traditional granite stone mills need an hour to produce around 30 grams of matcha powder.
There is now also Matcha that is ground in Germany.
Further use
Matcha as an ingredient
As an ingredient in a wide variety of dishes and drinks, Matcha has long been an integral part of Japanese cuisine. Classic examples are the use of matcha in mixed milk or fruit juice beverages , yogurt, ice cream or chocolate. Matcha is also used as an ingredient for sorbets , macarons , cookies or brownies .
Matcha & leaf teas
Matcha is also used to refine leaf teas. Traditionally, this is done with three types of tea: Sencha, Kukicha and Genmaicha.
With the Matcha-iri Sencha , a little Matcha is added to the Sencha . The tea leaves have a slightly fluffy appearance. In the cup, the green color of this tea is more intense than that of conventional Sencha.
Matcha-iri Kukicha is a stem tea ( Kukicha ) mixed with some Matcha. The result is a dark green, sweet tea with an intense fresh aroma.
Matcha-iri Genmaicha consists of roasted rice ( Genmaicha ), Sencha and some Matcha tea.
Matcha in the food industry
Matcha is also increasingly used as a raw material in the food industry. Matcha ice cream, matcha chocolates and ready-made matcha mixes are industrially produced in Japan, the USA and also in Germany.
Differences in quality
Matcha quickly loses its quality due to oxidation in contact with atmospheric oxygen and should therefore be consumed as quickly as possible. Storage in the refrigerator and airtight packaging will extend the life of the tea.
Further taste differences result from the picking time and processing. As with leaf tea, the tea from the earlier pickings is generally more aromatic, more intense and less bitter in taste. Different degrees of drying result in additional taste nuances. The taste of real, high quality matcha is called umami . This also denotes the fifth sense of taste.
The term Matcha is not a protected term and means something like ground green tea.
Due to the growing popularity of matcha, some dealers offer what is known as green tea powder. Such green tea powders are ground from the entire tea leaf and can vary greatly in quality, taste and color. Here, too, the quality depends on the picking time and the degree of shading (a distinction is made, for example, between unshaded tea powder and half-shaded tea powder). In terms of taste, green tea powders are usually more bitter and less complex than matcha, but due to the simplified production process these powders are much cheaper and therefore particularly suitable for further processing in matcha drinks, matcha ice cream and for baking or cooking. For this reason, some providers simply label it as “Koch-Matcha”, “Matcha for cooking” or “Beginner's Matcha”. Higher quality green tea powder can also be prepared pure like a matcha.
Web links
- Comprehensive information on Matcha: www.matcha.de
- A Japanese tea ceremony in Kiel on YouTube
- The correct preparation of matcha tea on YouTube
- Trend drink Matcha: whiskers from Japan
Individual evidence
- ↑ Matcha. Retrieved September 25, 2019 .
- ↑ Matcha production. Retrieved September 25, 2019 .