Matcha Powder vs Green Tea Powder

We've been getting lof of quesions from customers asking what is the different between matcha and green tea powder that normally found in the market. We hope this article will be able to answer this question clearly.

 

Matcha earns its great name because of the way it's grown, processed, ground and the great taste. Matcha is produced from Tencha green tea, but not all powdered green teas are matcha powder.

 

Green tea (sencha) powder (left) vs matcha powder (right)

 

Green Tea Powder

Green tea powder basically is powdered tea that produced from any green tea ground into powder. The price and quality of green tea powder can be very low and not suitable for direct consumption.

Normally green tea powders can be found in the market are sencha powder, it has no umami and taste very bitter, and suitable to be used in cooking and baking only. Many of them are sold as matcha powder with expensive price tag. 

 

Matcha Powder

Matcha powder, must meet certain criterias in order to be labelled as matcha

• Must be produced from Tencha (high grade shade-grown tea leaf)
• Stone-ground
• Produced from first flush tea leaf
• Pure cultivar

Matcha powder has umami taste and vibrant green color. The lower grade matcha not only suitable for cooking and baking, it's also suitable for matcha sweet beverage such as matcha latte or matcha smoothies.

 

Read our purchase guide to know how to pick matcha for your application.