How to
Most matcha that tastes bad was not bad matcha. It was good matcha made with water that was too hot, too little agitation, or too much powder. Four variables decide the outcome, and only one of them is the tin you bought. Here is the method, then the reasoning, then what to do if you do not own a bamboo whisk.
The short answer. Sift 2g of matcha into a warm bowl. Add 60ml of water at 70 to 80°C. Whisk briskly in a W motion for 20 to 30 seconds, keeping the whisk tips just off the base of the bowl, until a fine even foam forms. Drink it within a minute or two, before it separates.
If you searched for marcha, macha or maccha, you are in the right place. The word is matcha, written 抹茶, and it translates roughly as “ground tea”. Maccha is a legitimate older romanisation you will still see on Japanese packaging. Marcha and macha are simply typos, and they are common enough that they show up in India's search data as their own trend.
Everything else is preference. These four are physics.
Matcha is milled to particles in the range of five to ten microns, fine enough that static and humidity pull them into clumps inside the tin. A clump that survives whisking becomes a concentrated bitter pocket that hits you on the last mouthful. Push the powder through a small tea strainer with the back of a spoon before adding water. It costs ten seconds and it is the highest-return habit in the whole process.
A bamboo chasen is the traditional tool and still the best one, because its many fine prongs move a lot of water without introducing large bubbles.
You do not need a chasen to drink matcha daily. You do need something that moves water fast.
What does not work is a spoon in a full cup of water. The powder hydrates on the outside of each clump and seals the inside, and no amount of stirring will open it up again.
Drunk with water and nothing else, matcha has nowhere to hide, so this is the one preparation where grade genuinely shows. Use a ceremonial grade here and keep culinary grade for anything with milk, ice or sugar in it. Our first-tin guide covers the price floor below which a tin is very unlikely to be what the label claims, and the India brand rankings compute price per gram so you can compare tins honestly.
A traditional bowl of thin matcha, whisked with water and nothing else. The base method every other matcha drink builds on.
Ingredients
Method
FAQ
1 to 2g per bowl, with 2g being the standard for usucha. A level teaspoon is roughly 2g, but teaspoons vary enough that it is worth weighing one once on a kitchen scale to calibrate your eye. If your matcha tastes bitter, reduce the dose before you change anything else.
70 to 80°C. Boiling water scalds the powder and pushes bitter catechins forward. With no thermometer, boil the kettle and let it stand uncovered for four to five minutes, or top up with a splash of room-temperature water.
Yes. An electric milk frother is the closest substitute and costs roughly ₹300 to ₹800 in India. A sealed jar shaken hard for 20 seconds also works well, especially for iced matcha. What does not work is stirring with a spoon in a full cup, because the clumps seal on the outside and never open.
You almost certainly skipped sifting. Matcha is milled to five to ten microns and clumps inside the tin from static and humidity. Push it through a small tea strainer first, and make a paste with a little water before adding the rest.
For a plain bowl with just water, yes, use ceremonial grade. There is nothing else in the cup to cover a rough powder. For lattes, iced drinks and baking, a good culinary grade is the sensible choice and costs considerably less.
Matcha, from the Japanese 抹茶. Maccha is an older but legitimate romanisation. Marcha, macha and mocha are not the same word, and mocha in particular is a chocolate and coffee drink with no green tea in it at all.
Health claims about matcha are graded by evidence strength on our benefits page, and anything we have got wrong and fixed is logged on our corrections page. We do not sell matcha and we do not sell rank order, which is explained in our editorial policy.