One of the most popular and highest-rated options in the culinary category is Jade Leaf's Culinary Matcha. The flavor is rich and earthy, not sweet, and customers describe the powder as versatile and easy to blend. All Jade Leaf products are 100 percent organic and sourced from Japan, with this matcha farmed in the Uji region. It's affordably priced and available in four sizes, starting at 30 grams and working up to 1 pound. The company also prints handy recipes on its bags for easy-to-make matcha treats. Matcha is a type of green tea that's easy to identify because it comes in powder form. Unlike most teas where the leaves are steeped in water and removed before drinking, with matcha you actually ingest a ground form of the leaf itself. It often has a rich umami flavor, but other tasting notes can include sweetness, bitterness, grassiness, earthiness, nuttiness, and more. Matcha is highly versatile and can be used for drinking purposes as well as a cooking ingredient. Accordingly, matcha is sorted into one of two categories: ceremonial grade and culinary grade. The former is best for tea and lattes, while the latter is better for recipes and baked goods. The region that a matcha powder comes from is a baseline way to discern its quality, especially for new buyers. The best-case scenario is a single-varietal tea (meaning it comes from only one area) sourced in a primary matcha region of Japan: Uji, Kagoshima, Shizuoka, and more. Many products, particularly inexpensive ones, will be sourced outside of Japan—a sign of lower-quality matcha.

I get the feeling whoever is in customer service shouldn't be there. Yes a mistake was made but blaming the customer for it in a rather curt fashion and then only responding to direct requests, trying to push the work onto them at any given chance, I hope they get a professional in to do this job instead. The attitude wasn't great and performance only a notch above mediocre.So recently I was browsing around and saw this Matcha Green Tea from PureChimp (interesting name, I thought…) Anyway, I went ahead and bought it as it was fairly cheap relative to other ceremonial grade teas.

Matcha is a fine, rich powder, that is full of antioxidants. The deep green color is from its high chlorophyll content. A little bit about PureChimp Matcha Green Tea Product And The Brand EthicsDespite how detailed these processes seem, good matcha can be made by simple, even crude, means. Puyane told us: "I get a lot of questions like, 'How do I make matcha at home?' 'Do I need special tools—a bowl, a whisk?' When it comes down to it, you can make matcha in a protein shaker if you wanted to." I've been doing a bit of research and have found that the best way to drink this is not using boiling water (as that can burn the powder and make it taste fishy). The best temp is around 80°C which you can achieve using an electric kettle, or like me you can pour the boiling water out into a glass, then transfer it into another glass which should get the temperature a bit lower. Then you can whisk the tea into the glass (I use a bit more than the recommended 1tsp, I use 1 1/2tsp). Due to a brief harvest season, select growing regions, and the effort it takes to cultivate and grind green tea leaves, matcha powder is pricey, especially compared to coffee and tea. The price point has a high floor, and if you come across a brand selling ceremonial matcha far below other competitors it should raise some eyebrows regarding the quality. However, Chamberlain Coffee manages to sell its ceremonial matcha powder in the lowest average price tier without sacrificing quality. It doesn't have the rich umami flavor of high-end matcha powders, but it has a balance of sweetness and earthiness, and it blends well. Purechimp matcha stands out due to its vibrant green color, smooth texture, and distinctive taste. Its high-quality, shade-grown tea leaves result in a rich, umami flavor profile that sets it apart from lower-grade matcha products. Additionally, the company's commitment to ethical sourcing and sustainable practices further elevates its appeal among conscious consumers. Our favorite mushroom-boosted matcha is Renude's Chaga Matcha, which combines ceremonial grade matcha sourced from Japan with chaga mushrooms. Cacao, Ceylon cinnamon, and monk fruit sweetener are also added to create a delicious flavor. We tried the matcha ourselves and were impressed by how much sweeter it is than typical matcha, yet it doesn't contain any sugar. This makes it especially suitable for iced matcha too.

The only complaint I've had is if you really need to make sure the tea is whisked well, other wise it can be slightly gritty when you get to the end of the cup, however this is a very small complaint, and one easily rectified! If you have the chance to see a matcha's color, even looking up pictures online, you can get a better sense of its taste and quality. Brighter usually means better. Striking green hues indicate more flavor and less bitterness, while duller colors or yellowish tints are signs that matcha is either lower quality or better used for cooking purposes. But maybe you’re new to the world of green tea and you’re saying to yourself: “matcha, sencha? I’ve no idea what you’re talking about, I just drink green tea…”

Top 5 Matcha Powders

I’m enjoying the product so much and they have a great policy to give 5% of the profits to charity to help chimps. The most common style of matcha tea is usucha, or "thin tea." To make usucha, scoop 1 teaspoon of matcha powder into a bowl. Next, heat water to 176 degrees and pour 2 to 4 ounces over the matcha powder. Use a matcha whisk, also called a Chasen, to blend the water and matcha powder; briskly whisk in a "W" or "M" pattern for around 20 seconds until the matcha has evenly dissolved. From there the tea is ready to drink. You can add a creamer or more water as well as sweeteners like honey and sugar to suit your taste. I followed the instructions on the jar that said to put in about half a teaspoon of matcha into a little cold water and stir to mix it in. Once that’s done, you can pour in the water from the kettle to fill the cup and continue to mix it. Having a cup of green tea in the morning has become somewhat of a ritual for me over the years but I started to use products that had flavoring in them such as lemon, ginger, or jasmine. However, with the matcha tea, I prefer it natural and untainted with any other flavors. We considered several factors in selecting our top ceremonial matcha. Taste weighs heavily, of course, but price, variety of sizes, and sourcing region are components as well, which is why Matcha Konomi’s Akira Organic Ceremonial Matcha is a terrific all-around option, suitable for newbies to longtime fanatics. Just keep in mind that this is not the flat-out tastiest matcha powder you can buy; for that, look at higher-priced products (some of which are included on this list).

Each jar you get contains 50 grams of pure matcha powder, so if you just consume the recommended 1 or 2 cups per day using 1/2 teaspoon per cup, it’ll last you quite a while.

Expert Reviews

PureChimp matcha green tea has a very pleasant and savory taste while being mildly sweet and gentle on the taste buds. Culinary grade matcha can be enjoyed in traditional tea form, but it's best for mixing into recipes: smoothies, baked goods, salt—you name it. Since the tencha leaves are harvested later in season and ground with more heat, the resulting powder has a darker color and more bitter taste. This helps it "stand up to the strong flavors in milk, butter, and sugar," explains Puyane.