Pure, Soothing, Powerful Tea since 2004

Pure, Soothing, Powerful Tea since 2004

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1. “Matcha is the best natural source of green tea antioxidants.”

Matcha is a form of green tea–it’s a shade-grown tea leaf ground into a fine powder. Compared to a traditional steeped green tea, matcha offers higher nutritional value since you are ingesting the whole leaf rather than drinking substances steeped out from the tea leaf. 

However, you need to know two things:

1) Does your matcha contain lead?

Make sure your matcha doesn’t contain lead. When you steep tea leaf, 70% of lead retains in the leaf. When you ingest a whole leaf, 100% of lead is ingested.

2) The quality of matcha

The higher quality matcha tends to contain a higher amount of caffeine. When you choose sencha powder, which is consumed in the same way as matcha, caffeine amount is naturally lower than matcha, about one-third to one-eighths, depending on the products.

2. “Certified organic matcha is clean and safe.”

Unfortunately, organic certification conducted by USDA does not take heavy metals into consideration. Certified organic matcha could be contaminated with a high level of lead if the soil is contaminated with lead.

Generally speaking, the lead amount in Japanese green tea is very low or not detected by tests conducted by third-party labs. However, you should make sure the green tea your clients consume has been tested for lead and lead contamination is very low or not detected. Our green tea and Matcha are not only grown organically but also tested for lead and radiation.

3. “The greener, the more potent”

Yes, everybody agrees on the visual power of the intense, bright green of Matcha. But, wait–where does the color come from? Does it really indicate the potency or the amount of Catechin antioxidants of green tea?

The green color is actually chlorophyll, a green color pigment. Chlorophyll is available in a wide variety of green vegetables from dark leafy greens such as kale to green peas and green beans.

Why is the green color of Matcha so intense? Because the shading period increases the amount of chlorophyll in the leaves. The chlorophyll is essential for photosynthesis, which allows plants to create energy for themselves to grow. When covered, the plants are depleted from the energy source, which is sunlight, so the plants increase the amount of chlorophyll instead to compensate for the lack of sunlight.

The intensity of the green color can be lost when the powder was exposed to air and/or light. But otherwise, the green color doesn’t tell you the potency or quality. When you compare Matcha and Sencha powder, Matcha’s green is supposed to be brighter than Sencha powder naturally, because Matcha goes through a shading period. And don’t get fooled by someone who says, “The one with brighter green is better for you.” The intensity of the green color is NOT an indication of the quality of the product. It is like you are comparing yellow pepper and orange pepper and arguing which one is more potent and nutritious.

They offer just a different color naturally. If you would like the beautiful neon green color along with pureness and strong Umami, try our SAE from Sakamoto Tea Farm or Uji Matcha from Kyoto, Japan.

4. “Quality powder dissolves better.”

Just stop and think: if you chop spinach, for example, really finely and put the ‘powder’ into the water, does it dissolve? No, and so doesn’t tea leaves. The Matcha product that dissolves into water is NOT pure. The powder dissolves into the water because of the chemical or filler.

5. “Stone-ground is the most potent.”

The massive stone mortars turn slowly to grind the leaves in small batches. “Stone-ground” sounds very romantic and it involves time, caring effort, and cultural history. One regular size stone mortar grinds only 2 oz of matcha per hour. Because of this inefficiency, most of the commercialized matcha use more “modern” methods, such as the ball-mill method, which produces powder much faster. Enjoy our SAE and Uji Matcha to experience the best silky Matcha.

The question is, is there a real value to stone-milled Matcha? Yes, there is–stone milled Matcha makes a bowl or a cup of Matcha with silkier, smoother mouth-feel. Why? The slow grinding process makes the round particles of powder. However, if you are using Matcha smoothie, sadly the silkiness of the stone-ground will be wasted. Smart sophisticated Matcha master would use inexpensive organic Matcha, such as our everyday grade, to make a nutritious tasty smoothie.

6. “Certified organic matcha is tastier.”

Do you grow tomatoes in your garden? Nothing can beat the tomatoes ripen on the vine in your garden–especially grown organically. We tend to assume “organic” should taste “better” but is it true to green tea and matcha?

Unfortunately, conventional tea and matcha can taste “better.” Conventional means you can use chemicals to grow the products. And the chemicals include synthetic fertilizers that increase the flavor. Japanese green tea boasts an intense Umami; however, the intense Umami is heavily relying on synthetic fertilizers. If you are drinking green tea or Matcha, do not get lured by the strong Umami of conventional products–as that is the outcome of chemical manipulation and the proof of the impurity.

7. “Decaffeinated green tea is not as potent as regular, period.”

Are you sensitive to caffeine but still want to get green tea benefits? It is true that the decaf process decreases the amount of some of the valuable nutrients from green tea leaves. You need to be sure the decaf process used is safe and clean so the process is not adding toxins to the leaf. The cleanest natural way to remove caffeine is the water process.

With the water method, water is the only solvent used during the process, and with the right technique chosen based on scientific facts, almost all the caffeine is removed effectively. However, the water also removes some water-soluble nutrition. Thus, if you are steeping the decaffeinated tea leaves, the steeped tea is pretty much like “colored water” with no nutritional value.

However, there is good news. There is a lot of nutrition left in the tea leaves–just not water-soluble. That means if you eat the entire leaf, you are still getting lots of nutrition, including antioxidants. So, bottom line–use decaffeinated POWDER in order to get the benefits from decaffeinated green tea. We offer Sencha powder that is made with organic Sencha green tea leaves decaffeinated with water process.

Buy Decaffeinated Sencha Powder Online

Now you may have a question–where can I find “decaffeinated matcha”? We offer decaffeinated Sencha powder instead of Matcha. Why? Because Matcha is supposed to be high in caffeine, naturally. Matcha was grown in shade purposefully so that it offers more caffeine and Umami (theanine). Decaf matcha is like “frozen Ice cream served on a hot plate,” in other words, “wasting the energy.” After farmers put labor into the shading process over the tea field so that tea leaves increase the amount of caffeine, you need to put more time and money to remove the caffeine to make”decaf Matcha.” Umami is also increased during the shading period–but unfortunately, Umami is highly water-soluble, as Caffeine, and decaf process removes it. Sencha powder and leaves are naturally lower in Caffeine.