ABOUT MATCHA - HIGH QUALITY TEA

Matcha tea is a Japanese green tea powder. It is a shade grown tea, what means that 4-6 weeks before the harvest, the Camellia Sinensis tea plants are covered with screens. The tea plants are largely shielded from the sun. This process increases the amount of chlorophyll in the leaf and amino acids, which gives the tea its great green color and a umami taste.

In Spring the first flush take place. The youngest and strongest leaves, also known as ‘baby or virgin leaves’, are picked, steamed, dried till Tencha tea is made. Then the Tencha is ground into ultra-fine powder.

 Nice fact: It takes more than 35 hours to grind 500 grams of matcha!

Organic Matcha from Hug the Tea is directly imported from the tea plantations in Kagoshima and Miyazaki, the south of Japan. Since 2015 Hug the Tea sells three qualities of organic matcha tea:

A. Ceremonial Matcha – Drinking grade

B. Premium Matcha – Blending grade

C. Classic Matcha – Kitchen grade

You ‘brew’ the Matcha tea traditionally by mixing about one bamboo spoon of Matcha powder with 60 ml of warm water (80 degrees) and whisk it for 20 sec with a bamboo whisk until it is a creamy and foamy green tea.

1. Put 1 bamboo spoon (½ gram) of Ceremonial Matcha in a bowl

2. Add 1 tablespoon of cold/warm water to the bowl

3. Make a smooth paste with the Matcha bamboo whisk

4. Add 60 ml of 80 degrees Celcius water to the bowl

5. Whisk it up for 20 seconds in a fast horizontal
movement to get foam on top.

Enjoy your Matcha tea! Also nice as an (Iced) Matcha Latte!

1. Follow the ‘five-step plan’ as mentioned next to this. Use 2 bamboo spoons (1 gram) Premium Matcha B instead of 1 scoop;

2. Foam 150 ml of plantbased milk in an (electric) milk frother. Tip: use soy milk or oat milk from Oatly;

3. Pour the Matcha from the bowl into a glass or mug;

4. Fill this with the frothed milk;

5. If necessary add some honey or agave syrup (vegan), to make it sweeter.

Enjoy your Matcha Latte!

The best way to prepare matcha is with the Japanese bamboo whisk (chasen). Hug the Tea sells three tyoes of matcha bamboo whisks. Also available in complete matcha sets.

The graph below shows the antioxidant activity for Matcha and a number of known antioxidant-rich foods…

Matcha is very high in antioxidants, especially EGCg. One cup of Matcha contains as many antioxidants as 10 cups of ‘normal’ green tea:

• Matcha is 115x richer in antioxidants than regular green tea.
• Matcha contains 92x more antioxidants than spinach.
• And 46x more antioxidants than broccoli.
• Contains L-Theanine and L-Arginine. Has a calming effect and strengthens the immune system.

Features & possibilities

There are many possibilities with Matcha. With this powdered green tea you can make Matcha Latte with foamed milk.

You can also add Matcha to your fruit- vegetables smoothie. Matcha is a naturel color, so you can also cook and bake with it, for example: Matcha (cheese) cake, cookies, pancakes, tiramisu, ice-cream, milkshake, risotto etc.

Qualities of matcha

There are different qualities & grades in Matcha. We do only sell 100% pure green tea powder. The higher the quality, how greener the color and the better the taste in terms of sweetness and creaminess.

Green tea face mask