Matcha Okumidori - Otsuka, Kakegawa
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- Free EU shipping over €75
Single cultivar matcha from Otsuka, made from Okumidori, a late budding variety.
Deep green, mild umami, sweet, with a long aftertaste. Softer and rounder than a blend, which is what a single cultivar tends to give you.
The most expensive matcha we carry from Otsuka, and the one to compare against the Uji grades if you want to taste what region does.
Usucha, the everyday bowl
Sift 2 g of matcha into a warm, dry bowl. Add about 80 ml of water at 80 °C. Whisk briskly in a W shape for around 15 seconds, until there is a fine, even foam across the surface. Drink it straight away.
Koicha, thick tea
Twice the matcha and half the water: around 4 g to 40 ml. You do not whisk this into foam, you knead it slowly with the whisk until it is smooth and glossy, like thin honey. Only a ceremonial grade will do this well.
Matcha latte
Whisk 2 g of matcha into 50 ml of water at 80 °C first, then pour it into 150 ml of hot or cold milk. Doing it in that order is what stops it from clumping. Any milk works, dairy or plant based.
Sift the powder before you start. Matcha clumps in the tin and a lump will not whisk out.
Matcha grades are not a legal standard, so what one producer calls ceremonial another may not. What is behind the difference is the leaf.
Ceremonial grades are made from the youngest leaves of the first harvest, shaded for weeks, with the stems and veins removed before grinding. That gives a bright green powder, a sweet flavor and very little bitterness. This is what you whisk and drink on its own.
Culinary grades are made from later leaf. More body, more astringency, a duller green. That is not a downgrade: in baking and cooking a delicate ceremonial grade disappears, while a culinary grade holds its own.
For a latte either works. Culinary is the value choice and what most people use. A ceremonial grade gives a sweeter, greener cup with less bitter edge, and whether that is worth the difference is a matter of taste and budget.
The price difference between grades comes from how little of the harvest qualifies for the top of the range, and from the work of sorting it.
Ingredients: Green tea
Storage advice: Store in a cool, dark place. Close the tin firmly after every use, as matcha loses colour and aroma on contact with air and light. An unopened tin can be kept refrigerated; let it reach room temperature before opening.
Country of origin: Japan
Shipping
Orders placed before 15:00 on a working day are shipped the same day.
Free shipping within the EU on orders over €75. Below that, shipping starts at €5.00 to the Netherlands and €7.50 to Belgium and Germany. Other EU countries range from €15.00 to €25.00 depending on destination. The exact cost is shown at checkout.
Returns
Unused items can be returned within 14 days. Email webshop@greenteajapan.com with your order number before sending anything back. Return shipping is at your own cost.
Tea can only be returned unopened, with the vacuum seal intact. Once a food product is opened it can no longer be sold, so opened tea is not refunded.
Full terms on our returns page.
