Matcha is a super-powered stone-ground green tea from Japan. It has been a staple of Japanese drinking culture for over 1,000 years. However, if you are new to this drink, you may be wondering what type of matcha you should buy and what the different grades are for.

There are two main categories: culinary and ceremonial grade.

Ceremonial Grade

This is the top chef matcha. Ceremonial matcha is the finest quality powder available. It is ground from the youngest 1st harvest leaves with the stems and veins removed in spring. A rich, creamy, high-grade blend that’s sweet and sense-delighting. Energy jolt minus the buzz? Check. Smooth taste? Check. Above all, the taste and texture are the best.

The ceremonial grade is perfect to drink on its own, therefore sometimes it’s considered a luxury item. After all, if you blend it with milk it will likely lose the flavor, which for that Premium Grade Matcha works best. Also, don’t use it for cooking. That is to say, you don’t want to waste this limited edition matcha in the kitchen.

Culinary Grade

Culinary Grade tastes more bitter, and therefore is the perfect grade for lattes, smoothies, and baking in general. Further, we can talk about five types of culinary grade matcha, each with its own characteristics. However, we’ll focus on the Premium Grade and the Classic Grade (both available in our shop).

Premium Grade

This matcha is ground from 1st and 2nd harvest high-quality leaves in spring and summer. It has a rich sweet-earthy taste and creamy texture. This one is best enjoyed in lattes, smoothies, and lemonades as it mixes perfectly with liquids. In addition, t’s perfect for your daily cup of matcha as it’s not as expensive as Ceremonial Grade.

Classic Grade

On the other hand, the Classic Grade is ground from 2nd and 3rd harvest high quality leaves in summer. The strong green tea taste and earthy flavor make it perfect for example in smoothies, ice cream and baking. It’s waaaay more creamy than the other two, so your recipes will look amazing.

Psst! If you need recipe ideas just take a look at our blog.

To sum up, when talking about the different grades of matcha, it’s not about the quality that hits different, it’s certainly the taste and purpose we use it for. Ceremonial is sweeter, and Culinary is more bitter. Ceremonial is for sipping and Culinary is for mixing. It really doesn’t matter which matcha you prefer, as a result of buying any of them, you will enjoy all its benefits.

You can find the three grades in our shop, but if you can’t decide on one, order a small amount of all of them. And as we say in Maratcha: Ceremonial is for energy, Premium is for calmness and Classic is for fun.