Description
Extremely rare, this is a tea for Matcha connoisseurs who would like to dig deeper into the world of the Japanese tea ceremony and experience the sort of tea that would be used for a proper tea ceremony in Japan.
To prepare “thin” Matcha (Usucha) in a Matcha Bowl (Chawan):
- Put 1.5 – 2g (2 matcha scoops) into your matcha bowl. If necessary, sieve the matcha into the bowl to remove lumps.
- Add ca. 80 ml of water that has been heated to 70 – 80℃.
- Whisk using your matcha brush until small bubbles appear – your Usucha will have the consistency of a strong espresso with a nice foam on top.
To prepare “thick” Matcha (Koicha) in a Matcha Bowl (Chawan):
- Put 3.5 – 5g (3 heaped matcha scoops) into your matcha bowl. If necessary, sieve the matcha into the bowl to remove lumps.
- Add ca. 20 – 40 ml of water that has been heated to 70 – 80℃.
- Stir the matcha into the water using your matcha brush until it has the consistency of thick, melted chocolate.
Because Matcha in such a highly concentrated form as Koicha takes some getting used to and only real premium qualities reveal their sweet and complex character when prepared this way, we recommend that only the highest-quality teas be prepared as Koicha. Having said that, how you like your tea is down to your individual taste. Although we wouldn’t recommend trying more basic Matcha teas as Koicha, we would recommend preparing the premium quality teas both as Usucha and Koicha to see which style of Matcha you prefer.