Matcha 2018

I recently purchased a ‘comparative set’ of matcha from yunomi.life ranging from ‘culinary grade’ to ‘master class ceremonial’

It’s Saturday June 30th, before I started work I flew through all 5 teas as a horizontal tasting and then retried my favorite. Overall I thought this comparison was quite interesting. The heirarchy of grading, although it makes sense and I mostly agree with it, does not align with my preferences. Let me elaborate.

G5 Culinary Grade:
The aroma of the tea invokes tartness and matches my ‘scent memory’ of a quintessential matcha. In the mouth its a little bit sour and astringent, but also creamy. There is a noticable bitterness but overall it’s not unpleasant. The sourness keeps the bitterness in check. The flavor is grassy with a lime undertone. It has some similarities to bancha in its profile, which I relate to low quality.

Basic Ceremonial Grade:
Aroma is rich and sweet, woody in a sense of standing in a cold damp forest. The aroma gives a cooling sensation, which I became slightly addicted to and ended up smelling for quite a long time. The flavor is not sour but is slightly bitter and astringent.  It’s lively on the finish, creamy, bitter and wholesome. The fact that it establishes a sense of place gives it pretty good marks in my book.

C3 Ceremonial Grade:
Aromas of mochi, toasting rice, soybean flour, green tea cookies, and is potently fresh. In the beginning a faint bitterness that quickly diminishes. There is a hulking presence of olfactory richness. It’s pure, I think this is a great matcha. It’s only ‘flaw’ is the nearly negligible bitterness.

Premium Ceremonial Grade:
The aromas are really reminiscent of Japan, especially stores around Kiyomizudera, Kyoto selling washi paper or traditional souveniers; or the one shop where I bought my mom the little wooden doll in shinsaibashi, Osaka. The flavor is a bit more assertive than the other 3 so far. In comparison to C3 I feel it lost richness. I feel slight bitterness, but no sourness or astringency, overall not as fresh tasting as C3.

Master Class Ceremonial Grade:
Bright fresh grass, touch of sweet lime leaf. In the mouth its quite energetic, the acidity is high but the flavor matches it well. The acidity carries well into the finish and doesnt get sour, bitter, or astringent. It reminds of some of the high grade chinese powdered tea I’ve had. I would describe this as full of yang.

What I seek in good matcha is richness and a deep green ‘yin’ profile. I feel that master class is exactly the opposite of what I want to find. Although I must comment that in judging quality, its clear the master class is master class. Objectively absolutely flawless, but subjectively I wouldn’t buy it.

I rank my preferences in order from: C3 Ceremonial, Premium Ceremonial, Basic Ceremonial, Master Class Ceremonial, and lastly G5 Culinary.

Revisiting the winner: C3 ceremonial grade
After establishing my favorites, I returned to the C3 Ceremonial Grade to re-evaluate.

C3 Ceremonial Grade:
The aroma is wholesome, warm, and is what I would expect from Matcha with a bit of a white chocolate sweet note. It has a woodyness like an old farmhouse in a forest. Yes it has bitterness but I feel its somewhat complimentary, it blends in with the flavor and establishes the richness which I really enjoy.