Matcha Kick!

So lately I've been on a Matcha kick... I recently bought a Matcha set from Itoen and I love it! First off, let me give a little recap on what Matcha is for those of you who don't know what it is.

Matcha or  抹茶  (まっちゃ) as you'll most commonly find it in Japanese supermarkets, is green tea that is shade grown, picked and then laid flat to dry. Once It's dry, the leaves crumble up and then are stone ground to make the fine powder known as Matcha.  Matcha is really good for you to drink because it is rich in amino acids and contains the highest amount (more than 137 times more) of antioxidant EGCG's than any other green tea available.   There have been studies that state that EGCG is very good at treating many types of cancer's as well as other diseases. 

In Japan, Matcha is generally used for sado/chado (Japanese tea Ceremony) and that's where this story begins :)  When My husband and I went to Japan for the first time we went to a tea ceremony at the Tokyo Botanical Gardens and since then it started to peak my interest so the next time we were in Japan we had it at  Kinkaku-ji in Kyoto.  It was that time in Kyoto that I was the most memorable because till this day I can still taste the bold sweetness of the Matcha, it was the best I have ever had and I'm still looking for a Matcha that matches that one in taste.  I think I'm going to have to go high grade for that.  BTW, if you want better tasting Matcha, from what I've been told the Matcha from the Uji region of Japan is the best.

So getting back to the set I bought, it came with a bamboo whisk (chasen), bowl (chawan) and wooden spoon (chashaku) all for the low low price of $33 dollars! :) I think it was on sale. It's a really pretty and sturdy set, I was lucky to get this because after looking around the internet at different American and Japanese Matcha providers, this set seemed to be the best because it actually came with a tiny tin canister with Matcha.  Sadly, I'm not sure what type of Matcha it is grade wise or what region it came from.  It's probably not that high a grade because it's a bit bitter to me.   It also does not foam very well.  Good quality Matcha is supposed to foam up well and have a nice even consistency to it.  I guess it's ok for now.   I'm going to try to get some Matcha from this website, "O-Cha", which means "tea" in Japanese.  It was particularly recommended to me that I should try the following Matchas : "Kiri no Mori" and "Kiku Mukashi" . Since they are on the expensive side and Matcha is never cheap (if it's cheap, please stay way from it as it's most likely low quality) I'm going to have to wait a while till I have the extra funds to buy some good Matcha :)