Matcha and green tea: what's the difference exactly?
It's not a matter of quality but of manufacturing: three production deviations explain the color, taste, and price.
L'essentiel
Matcha is a green tea. Same plant, Camellia sinensis, same family.
Yet the final product is almost nothing alike, neither in the cup, nor in the
price, nor in the way it is prepared.
Three differences explain all the rest.
1. We drink the leaf, we don't infuse it
This is the fundamental difference, and the one from which all others stem.
A classic green tea is infused: the leaves soak, release some of their
soluble compounds into the water, then they are discarded. You drink an extract —
perhaps a third of what the leaf contained.
Matcha is suspended: the leaf is ground into an ultra-fine powder,
and you ingest it entirely. Nothing is discarded.
Hence the opaque color, the slightly velvety texture, and the fact that matcha
settles at the bottom of the bowl if you don't drink it fast enough. An infused tea,
on the other hand, remains clear and stable. The water temperature is also adjusted differently.
This is also why matcha concentrates more of everything the leaf contains,
including caffeine: you consume not an extract but the entirety.
2. Shading
Three to four weeks before harvest, tea plants intended for matcha are
covered with cloths or mats that filter light.
Deprived of sunlight, the plant reacts: it produces more chlorophyll to
capture the little light available, and concentrates its amino acids. This is
exactly what gives matcha its electric green color and its almost sweet
roundness.
A classic green tea — sencha, bancha — grows in full sun. Its leaves are
yellower, its profile brighter and more astringent.
Shading is long, costly, and requires labor. It is one of the first costs
cut for cheap matchas, and it shows immediately in the color.
3. Stone grinding
After harvesting, the leaves are steamed, dried, then stripped of their veins
and stems. Only the leaf blade remains: this is tencha, the raw material for
matcha.
This tencha is then ground between two slowly rotating granite millstones. The
process is incredibly slow: about an hour for thirty grams. The slowness
is not a coquetry — it prevents the powder from overheating, which would destroy
the aromas.
This fineness, around 5 to 10 microns, is what allows for suspension. A green
tea simply ground in a mill would produce a coarse powder that would settle at the
bottom.
An hour of grinding for thirty grams: this is where a large part of the price
comes from.
What about powdered sencha?
You will come across much cheaper "powdered green teas", sometimes presented as
matcha. These are generally industrially ground sencha: no shading, whole leaves
including veins, coarse grind.
The benchmark is visual. Real matcha is vibrant green and slightly sticky to
the touch. A dull green powder that rolls like sand is not one.
Quick comparison
| Classic green tea | Matcha | |
|---|---|---|
| Cultivation | Full sun | Shaded 3 to 4 weeks |
| Part used | Whole leaf | Leaf blade only, no veins |
| Processing | Drying, rolling | Stone grinding |
| Preparation | Infusion, then discarded | Suspension, drink all |
| Appearance | Clear liquid | Opaque, frothy |
| Taste | Bright, vegetal, astringent | Round, dense, slightly sweet |
| Temperature | 70 to 80 °C | 80 °C |
Which to choose
They are not competitors. An infused green tea is light, thirst-quenching, you
drink several cups a day. A matcha is dense, it is drunk in small quantities,
and it requires two minutes of attention. To discover three very different profiles
in one purchase, our Discovery Trio brings together our three grades.
If you are just discovering, the question is not to choose between the two but to
know what you are looking for. And if it's matcha, the instructions are in
Matcha for Beginners.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does matcha contain more caffeine than green tea?
Yes, at comparable volume, since you ingest the entire leaf instead of an
extract. The exact amount mostly depends on the dosage you use.
Can matcha be steeped like a tea?
No. It is not soluble: without agitation, it settles at the bottom. It must be
whisked or shaken.
Is matcha necessarily Japanese?
Historically and technically, yes: the process — shading, tencha, stone grinding
— is Japanese. Other countries produce it, with varying methods and results.
Why such a price difference?
Shading, manual sorting, and an hour of grinding for thirty grams. The process
is incompressible.
Our matchas are shaded, made from the leaf blade only, and stone-ground.
View the range.
