Matcha A Green Tea Revolution in Baking

A Green Tea Revolution in Baking

- By Nikita Madan

Making matcha tea in Japan is a custom steeped in elegance, precision and centuries of silent respect. Every action in the quiet silence of a tea room is purposeful: the slow pour of hot water, the measured scoop of bright green powder, the rhythmic whisking with a bamboo chasen that gives the emerald liquid life.

Matcha is a finely ground, shade-grown green tea powder that has been enjoyed for centuries in Japan and is only now becoming widely known in the West. But unlike ordinary green tea, in which the leaves are infused and then discarded, matcha is powdered, allowing you to consume the leaves as well, and as a result, all of the nutrients they contain.

A culinary-grade matcha – ground for cooking and baking– offers the best balance of value and quality, imparting deep colour and flavour without being overly dusty. It mixes effortlessly into batters, doughs or spreads, and its substantial powdered form makes it simple to stir into liquids or sift with dry ingredients.

A Brief History: From China to Japanese Tea Ceremony

Matcha’s origins can be traced back to medieval China, where green tea powder was developed into a refined beverage during the Song Dynasty. Over time, powdered tea’s appeal declined in China, but it persevered in other countries.

Zen Buddhist priests who had studied in China brought matcha to Japan in the late 12th and early 13th centuries. The monk Eisai introduced tea seeds to Kamakura, Japan, in 1191. Master practitioners such as Murata Jukō and Sen no Rikyū refined the chanoyu (tea ceremony) with a wabi-sabi aesthetic of simplicity, while elite Zen monks and the samurai class practiced elaborate tea gatherings.