The biggest difference between matcha and other green tea products is that the production process of fried tea or Youlu tea involves different degrees of kneading and drying besides distillation. Matcha can be suspended in water because it is very fine powder particles, but it must be stirred and foamed with a tea brush before drinking, and there will be no precipitation even if it is left for a long time.
The popular green tea powder (powdered tea) only grinds green tea leaves into "powdered tea", which is different from the traditional Japanese method of making matcha and its processing materials are also different. The color of green tea powder is green-brown, and it will be dark green-brown after flushing. Due to the coarse particles of green tea powder, it will precipitate quickly after brewing. Green tea powder is generally used in cookies, cakes, ice cream and other snacks in Japan, so if you want to taste real tea, you should pay more attention when choosing it.
Matcha originated in China, rose in the Tang Dynasty and flourished in the Song Dynasty. As early as the Tang Dynasty, people invented steamed green loose tea (ground tea) and revised the method of evaluating the color, aroma and taste of tea, which became an indispensable daily drink for people. In the Song Dynasty, it developed into a tea feast. At that time, Cai Xiang, the most famous tea expert and great writer, commented on the method of fighting tea like this in "Tea Story": break the group tea into small pieces, then grind it into fine powder, sieve out the tea powder, take twenty cents and put it into the scalded tea cup, and pour in boiling water, so that the soup tastes good, fragrant and delicious, and the best is the best.
In Yue Yan's explanation, Ru Dunhe in Qing Dynasty said that there must be something about ancient tea. His tea (matcha) is a pinch of tea, so one or two delicious fruit snacks must be chosen, which are called snacks and tea. Tea ceremony in Tang and Song Dynasties in China was the way to drink matcha. It can be seen that the tea ceremony in China has a history of 1000 years, hundreds of years earlier than the present Oolong Tea Road. But unfortunately, from the Ming Dynasty, matcha was no longer popular, replaced by tea, and tea residue was discarded. China Matcha Road was lost, forming a historical dating.
At present, Japanese tea ceremony and Japanese matcha, which are quite famous in the world, were brought back to Japan by Tang Dynasty envoy Rong after studying in China, and matcha has been preserved, inherited and developed in Japan. Japan's matcha and Japanese tea ceremony have now become the quintessence of Japan, and have been cited as national guests' gifts, which are regarded as the best in Japan.
Matcha is different from ordinary green tea powder and is not ordinary broken tea. The difference between matcha and ordinary green tea powder mainly includes the following two aspects:
1. The brief production process of matcha is: high-quality fresh green tea → steaming → grinding → superfine grinding → low-temperature drying → matcha. Matcha production adopts traditional grinding technology and modern superfine grinding technology, and the whole processing process is always carried out at low temperature, which can well retain the active components in tea.
2. Raw material requirements: Matcha requires high quality of raw materials, requiring the use of tea with high amino acids, protein and chlorophyll content, and low caffeine content in raw materials. Before picking, there are requirements for the picking time and leaf size of new tea. The production time of matcha is short, only about 50 days. Matcha made from high-quality new tea produced in April and May has the best quality. Tea varieties used for processing matcha are also very particular. This kind of tea tree is cultivated by asexual propagation technology, which ensures the purity of tea tree varieties. In addition, in order to ensure the quality of fresh leaves, in the process of planting, the staff also need to shade the tea trees for heatstroke prevention. Tea produced in this way is called covered tea. Matcha is made of covered tea.
Another way to eat matcha:
The famous "tea smashing" in Taiwan Province Province provides another way for friends who love matcha: the materials prepared are matcha powder, white sesame seeds, black sesame seeds, coriander and so on. Mash the materials into balls in a mortar, then pour them into hot water, stir them into a thick shape, and sprinkle with rice flavor. Adding salt or sugar to taste is the famous tea mashing, and you can also add red beans, mung beans and other ingredients when eating; Some are made directly from green tea leaves, and the practices and eating methods vary from place to place.
Some people like to mix matcha with tofu rich in protein, which can increase the vitamins in food and make up for the lack of nutrition in food itself.
At the same time, because matcha contains catechol with deodorization function, washing fish with tea soup can reduce the fishy smell of fish itself and has many functions.
Matcha skin care lotion: Matcha can also be made into whitening lotion without chemical components. The formula is to mix 2 cups of tea, 20 spoons of alcohol and 10 spoon of glycerol. For dry skin, more glycerin is needed (it can increase the moisturizing degree of the emulsion). After fully mixing, it can be put into a prepared container and stored in the refrigerator for about one month. It can only be used for three weeks at room temperature. Catechols contained in toner have a good effect of smoothing, relaxing and whitening fine lines on the skin, ensuring that you are hydrated after use.