Matcha is as rich in history and cultural significance, which we'll cover here, as it is in flavor and nutrients. We’ve offered a couple tips on preparation in another post, and if you’re interested, we’ve also written a bit on the wider history of tea in Japan here.
Matcha has enjoyed a contemporary rise in appreciation, but it is also a throwback to much older forms of making and drinking tea. Before the tea leaf was preserved intact, dried leaves were powdered and pressed into cakes, which in turn would be broken up and powdered again to be mixed with hot water. Powdered tea was a staple of the Song Dynasty in China (10th until the 13th century), though whole leaf teas gradually overtook powdered tea, and by the time of Ming Dynasty in the 14th century, tea leaves routinely would be left intact.
While powdered tea was being overtaken by whole leaf tea during the Song Dynasty, the Zen monk known as Eisai was popularizing the technique in Japan at the end of the 12th century and beginning of the 13th. Eisai also wrote the first Japanese treatise on tea, entitled Kissa Yojoki, or ‘Treatise On Drinking Tea for Health’, which is credited as the beginning of what would become chado (sometimes referred to as chanoyu), or the Way of Tea, for its blend of Buddhist and Chinese philosophies, emphasizing simplicity and humility.
Matcha has remained central to Japanese tea culture since the 12th century. By comparison, the green leaf teas for which Japan is famous, such as sencha, are modern developments. Matcha remains the focal point of chado, which encompasses many things, from a way of life, or cosmology, to a ceremony. In his classic work, The Book of Tea: A Japanese Harmony of Art, Culture, and the Simple Life, Okakura Kakuzo made clear the deep significance of chado, and the hazards of its misapprehension outside of its cultural context.
The ceremony associated with chado has taken two forms, chaji and chakai. The chaji ceremony is more formal, and lasts hours, involving hundreds of refined steps. The chakai ceremony is briefer and more informal, typically lasting just over half an hour. Both ceremonies involve great skill, and to lead them properly calls for years of training.
There are two traditional ways of preparing matcha, koicha and usucha. Koicha is a thick drink, the matcha mixed with relatively little water. Usucha involves more water, and produces the drink famous for its froth. We’ve offered tips for usucha preparation here. The chaji ceremony will include bowls of koicha and usucha, whereas the chakai ceremony involves only usucha.
As part of the chado ceremonies, but also in everyday tea drinking culture, both styles of matcha are regularly enjoyed with a small sweet, or wagashi, and especially nerikiri, a confection typically made from white bean paste and rice flour, which has long been the ceremonial counterpart to matcha. Today, matcha is also regularly enjoyed as a latte, which is another way to mix the rich drink with a bit of extra sweetness.