Dark Chinese Tea Ltd.
Dark Chinese Tea
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Healthy Instant Organic Matcha Green Tea With Private Label
MATCHA
In Japan, matcha translates to powdered tea. This is a beverage where the tea leaves are consumed, not strained like most other teas. Famous for being the tea celebrated in the Japanese Tea Ceremony, it can be enjoyed with or without ritual. The vibrant green color in matcha comes from careful cultivation. Tea plants are covered with mats several weeks prior to harvest, making it difficult for them to receive nutrients. In this struggle, the plant produces more chlorophyll and its leaves become supple. Once harvested, the leaves are dried, de-veined (stems removed) and stone-ground into powder.
When you drink matcha you consume the leaves. Matcha powder contains more health benefits by volume than brewed teas.
There are 2 types of matcha teas- koicha and usucha. These are Japanese Tea Ceremony terms and literally translate as "thick" and "thin" tea. Usucha comes from the leaves of tea plants that are less than 30 years old. Koicha comes from the first harvest of plants that are a minimum of 30 years old.
In Tea Ceremony koicha is brewed with less water than usucha. Koicha has a naturally mellower and sweeter taste and the tea is made thicker for that reason.
Matcha preparation is personal, and there are no rules outside of Tea Ceremony. Well, there is one rule- don't use boiling water. That's all! If you are new to matcha it may take you 2 or 3 attempts to find the concentration that is right for you. Koicha when prepared in tea ceremony is very thick, like syrup. If you whisk usucha like this the tea would be somewhat bitter.
Most customers do not prepare matcha to the syrupy thickness of Tea Ceremony koicha. While there is a qualitative difference between them (thick tea is composed of the highest quality leaves) there is also a significant difference in cost. If you have not tried matcha before we recommend that you purchase our inexpensive usucha first to see if you like matcha.