Source: Brother Qiang's Foraging Record
Matcha is like a pool of clear green water, the unique emerald green color, as if it is a whisper of nature, and its taste is like its color, fresh, natural and pure, making people feel the beauty and purity of life. My daughter especially likes to eat cakes made of matcha, of course, there must be less delicious than my share.
However, every time I eat matcha cake or matcha ice cream, for me, an "old foodie", I always want to know what matcha is made of and why it is called matcha! It is said that the ability of "foodie" is unlimited, so after I asked many friends who make dessert shops, I finally understood! Today, I will tell you what matcha is made of and why it is called matcha!
Let's start with this: what matcha is made of
Let's start with the answer: matcha is made from tea leaves! It can be said that matcha powder is tea powder. Secondly, when it comes to matcha, many friends think that this is a special ingredient in Japan, in fact, matcha originated in our Wei and Jin dynasties in China, when people collected the first stubble of tender tea leaves in spring, and used steam to make tea cakes and store them. When waiting for the guests to eat, then take out the tea cake and bake it on the fire to dry, then grind it into powder with a stone mill, and finally pour it into a tea bowl and brew it with boiling water!
After brewing matcha, you also need to stir it in the tea bowl with a whisk until it foams before drinking. To put it bluntly, matcha was a ready-to-drink drink in ancient times. Especially in the Tang and Song dynasties, matcha was even more popular among people, "the blue clouds lead the wind to blow continuously, and the white flowers float and condense the bowl noodles", which is the praise of the Tang Dynasty poet Lu Tong for matcha, and it was also during this period that matcha was introduced to Japan from China.
Besides: why is matcha called matcha?
I see that everyone knows that matcha is tea powder, but it is obviously tea powder, why is it called matcha? In fact, the reason for this name is because there is a process of grinding with a natural stone mill in the process of making matcha, and in ancient times, when people drank matcha, they had to stir the matcha until it foamed, so it was called matcha with the homonym of "grinding" and "foam"!
Remember: matcha is not equal to green tea powder
Seeing this, many friends will say: matcha is green, so the raw material for making matcha must be green tea, so matcha is equivalent to green tea powder? It would be a mistake to think so! Remember, although matcha is made from green tea, it is not the same thing as green tea powder! If we encounter merchants who sell us green tea powder as matcha, to be honest, we will lose a lot!
Why? Because, although matcha is made of green tea grinding powder, it is different from green tea powder in a series of processes such as picking and grinding!
First of all, matcha has strict requirements for ground green tea, and the green tea that can make matcha can only be used to grow tea leaves in April and May in spring; Not only that, but only the best buds and leaves can be selected from the harvested green tea, especially only the buds and leaves that are picked for the first time can be used to make matcha. In other words, even if it's an entire tea plantation, you can only pick the buds and leaves once to make matcha!
Many friends will say: As for it? Green tea is used to grind powder, why is matcha so demanding for tea? In fact, the reason why this is done is because the second stubble of tea leaves or the powder of average quality tea grinding will have a very strong bitter and astringent taste.
Therefore, the tea plantations used to harvest and make matcha not only use the best buds and leaves at the time of picking, but also build a sunscreen screen over the tea trees one month before the harvest. Because, when the tea is reduced by light, it not only grows slowly, but also effectively reduces the bitter taste in the tea, and the focus is to increase the content of beneficial substances such as chlorophyllin and amino acids in the tea.
How to choose a good matcha powder?
Nowadays, more and more friends like to buy their own ingredients and make some delicious food by themselves. For example, there are many friends who buy matcha powder and make matcha-flavored ice cream or desserts. But Brother Qiang, I found that many friends don't know how to choose, so let's talk about how to choose high-quality matcha powder.
1. The color of a good matcha powder must be dark green or dark green, if it encounters yellow-green or earthy yellow, most of it is either inferior or fake matcha powder.
2. A good matcha powder is slightly bitter and then fragrant after the entrance, if it is a matcha powder with a strong bitterness after the entrance, it is either inferior or passed off with green tea powder.
Tips: Many friends buy matcha desserts in dessert shops, but only have a bitter taste in the mouth, but do not have the taste of matcha fragrance, which is the use of cheap green tea powder or very poor quality matcha powder.
Finally, I would like to advise you that many friends think that Japanese matcha is of the highest quality when buying matcha powder. In fact, the quality of our domestic matcha is the highest! Think about it, how much land in Japan is there for them to grow tea? It's not that they don't have high-quality matcha, but matcha is one of the most expensive ingredients in the country, and their production is far from enough. I'm Brother Qiang, a friend who likes this article, thank you for helping to like and retweet!